In the first Avengers movie, Thor had come to get his evil adopted brother and ends up fighting Iron Man. Captain America joins to stop the fight so that they can talk about it. Thor took a swing at Captain with his hammer. In reaction Captain holds up his shield to protect himself from the hammer's blow. Not only did it protect the Captain but the vibration from the gong like sound wave, sent Thor and Iron Man flying back plus knocking down the surrounding trees.
Captain had faith that the shield would protect him. He believed in what it was made of and the strength of it to keep him safe from whatever might attack him. He also used it as a offensive weapon in striking the invading space aliens.
The Roman soldier's shield was more like a rectangle and when marching into battle with other soldiers they became like an armored tank. As they marched in rank and file the soldiers in the front would hold their shields in front of them. The ones on the side to the side that was exposed. The ones in the center over their heads. While the ones in the rear took care of their backs.
That is is what makes our shield of faith such an important part of our armor. We can use it to protect ourselves from every angle that the enemy might try to attack. There are several questions that pop up about faith, so let's examine them.
WHAT IS FAITH?
There is a whole chapter in the Bible dedicated to faith and the first verse of that chapter gives us the definition of faith, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 NASB).
HOW DO I GET FAITH?
We find out that in Romans 10:17, that we get faith from hearing the Word of God. One of the best ways to study the Bible is to read it out loud the first time you read the verses through.
I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH.
Once again we look to the Bible about how much faith we have: "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." (Romans 12:3 NASB). God has given each of us a measure of faith. Faith is something that you need to exercise to use it. The more you use it the more you know how to.
Like Captain America we have to learn how to use or faith to sheild ourselves from the fiery darts that our enemy throws at us. Part of faith is knowing who we are in Christ and that is found by reading the Bible.