Spiritual and Emotional Healing

Tate Publishing

One day as I was driving in my car, the Lord showed me a picture in my mind's eye. The picture was of me, standing there in my spiritual armor. There I was ... fully "dressed." I had on the helmet of salvation. My loins were girt about with truth. I had on the breastplate of righteousness. My feet were shod with the gospel of peace. I had the shield of faith in my left hand, and the sword of the Spirit in my right. I was decked out to the max!

It's the shield of faith that I'd like to tell you about here. At that time, I noticed two things about my shield. One was that it was full of arrows. God's enemy and ours, Satan, had thrown many "arrows" my way. This shield ... faith ... stopped them from reaching me. I was grateful beyond words to my Lord for this wonderful gift of faith.

The second thing I noticed was not so good. That shield, as wonderful as it was, was very small. At that point in time, I didn't give this detail a second thought. I just went about my business and drove to wherever it was I was going.

However, in later years the Holy Spirit brought this vision back to my memory. Specifically, He caused me to focus on the size of that shield. I began to think that perhaps there were MORE arrows shot my way. Maybe some had gotten past the shield because it was so small. Maybe it didn't catch all of them. I wondered about all the arrows that had gotten past that small shield ... where did they all go?

What's the purpose of a shield? Where is it located on our bodies and what does it protect? Well, we carry it ... therefore it resides in our hands. When an arrow is shot at us, we protect the vital parts of our bodies with this shield ... our head (mind) and chest (heart). Those arrows that made it past that shield had lodged themselves in my MIND and in my EMOTIONS!

Once I realized this truth, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the Scripture that talks about removing the log from our own eye so we can help remove the speck that is in our brother's eye. (Luke 6: 42) For a split second in time, I wondered what that Scripture had to do with arrows shot past a shield. Then the "light" came on ... and I knew. Just as we must remove the log from our eye, so it is that we must remove the arrows from our mind and emotions! When we get a splinter in our finger, it must be removed. If it's not removed, it stays under the skin and eventually begins to fester. The same thing happens with those wiles of the enemy that have been shot at us and get past our shield of faith. Those arrows "fester" in our minds and in our emotions. In order for our minds and emotions to be healed, they must be removed!

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?