“Special Witness: The Shield of Faith,” Friend, July 2003, 39
Special Witness:
The Shield of Faith
From an April 1995 general conference address.
Did you know that President Boyd K. Packer likes to paint and to make wood carvings? He teaches us about having faith in Jesus Christ.
The Lord revealed why “he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets.” It is “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph. 4:11–13).
The ministry of the Apostles—the Presidency and the Twelve—therefore is to bring us to a unity of the faith.
As it has been since the beginning, the adversary [Satan] would divide us, break us up, and if he can, destroy us. But the Lord said, “Lift up your hearts and rejoice, and … take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, … taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (D&C 27:15, 17; emphasis added). …
… That shield of faith is not produced in a factory but at home. …
The ultimate purpose of all we teach is to unite parents and children in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, linked to their generations, and assured of exaltation in the presence of our Heavenly Father. …
The plan designed by the Father [is] that man and woman, husband and wife, working together, fit each child individually with a shield of faith made to buckle on so firmly that it can neither be pulled off nor penetrated by those fiery darts. …
In the Church we can teach about the materials from which a shield of faith is made: reverence, courage, chastity, repentance, forgiveness, compassion. In church we can learn how to assemble and fit them together. But the actual making of and fitting on of the shield of faith belongs in the family circle.
Illustrated by Steve Kropp