There's a Crack in Your Armor Perry Stone

A NOINTING YOUR SHIELDS The Romans called the large shields the scutum . Each was built with two layers of wooden strips (similar to plywood) laid at right angles to each other and heated so that they could be pressed into a curved shape. After being formed, it was covered with sixlayers of animal hide. A soldier had to maintain his shield by caring for the leather animal skin covering, which could become dry. The danger of a dry shield was that the covering would become brittle and vulnerable to fire. To prevent a dry shield, the soldier carried olive oil and would rub the surface of the shield with oil. The prophet Isaiah instructed men to, “Anoint the shield” (Isa. 21:5), or to prepare them for battle. The oil represents the Holy Spirit, as oil was used to anoint spiritual leaders in the Bible, and afterward the Holy Spirit would come upon them (1 Sam. 16:13). Our faith must be anointed, or energized by the fresh oil of the Holy Spirit, to effectively quench or put out the fiery arrows of the devil! Each Christian must keep his or her shield anointed. As I stated above, a Roman soldier would rub olive oil into his shield to keep the leather from drying out. Just as drying out caused the shield to be more vulnerable to a fiery dart, dry churches produce dry shields and leave the Christians more vulnerable to a hot attack from the adversary. If no practical applications of the Word are taught, and the atmosphere is dead and boring, it is a dry church. Our shields must be regularly anointed by solid and practical teaching. I have discovered that if I exercise faith without an anointing, then more mental toil is required, and the human mind will wage war