"Back Up"

There was a time when I stepped back,

‘Bout far as I could go,

Avoidance was my middle name,

I dreaded conflict so.

I found I might avoid it,

But it seemed to track me down,

And every time I broke and ran,

I kept on losing ground.

Silently and quietly,

The Spirit let me know,

If all you do is back away,

It’s impossible to grow.

You have to face things head on,

If they intimidate,

You’ll find it is much better,

They can’t manipulate.

You can’t win every battle,

To think so is naive,

But if you don’t stand up and fight,

God’s best you won’t receive.

He’ll meet us in the conflict,

And strengthen every stand,

Help you hold the shield of faith,

Through Him all things you can.

So if you know you’re backing up,

Your back’s against the wall,

It’s time to come out swinging,

Walk in the Spirit tall.

“…hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil…” (Eph. 6;16, NLT)

Faith is pictured as a shield in this verse. A shield against what? All the fiery arrows of the devil. Wait, really? The devil is shooting fiery arrows at me? Doesn’t sound good, does it? But there is a spiritual conflict and the enemy deploys real spiritual weapons which call for a spiritual protection. The parts of spiritual armor all describe a different part of our identity in Christ. But the function of the shield of faith is described graphically. Hold it up and the devil’s arrows can’t come through. Period. It’s time for us to stop backing up and avoiding conflict. It’s time to faith up and win.

Lord, help us faith up, not back up, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Don Dane, dondane.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Don, and God bless you.