The Armor of God

Day 1-Practice the Passage

  • Pray.
  • Introduce the memory verse.
    • Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 6:10-18. Younger kids can memorize Ephesians 6:13a-18a. This is a long one, but we will be working on it for most of the summer.
    • Older kids-look up the verse and highlight it in their Bibles.
    • See the “Battles In The Bible” page on this website for You Tube videos to watch that have great signs and motions that will help your kids memorize the verses and keep them engaged and excited to practice the passage everyday.
  • Read the verse aloud. Older kids can follow along as you read.
  • Watch the You Tube videos or come up with your own signs/motions for the passage.
  • We will break the passage down by learning one or two of the verses each week. So today, read the entire passage once or twice, but let’s focus on verses 13-14 for younger kids and verses 10-11 for older kids.
  • Activity-

Day 2-Why Do We Need Armor?

*You can combine days 2 and 3 if you’d prefer.*

  • Pray.
  • Practice the first couple verses of the memory verse.
  • Show a picture of a Roman soldier. Explain that back then it was common to see Roman soldiers, and people would have been familiar with the armor they wore. http://ohamanda.com/2013/06/07/armor-of-god-free-printable-art/
  • Ask, “Why does a soldier need the armor?”
  • Read Ephesian 6:10-12.
  • Ask, “Why do we need to put on our spiritual armor? How often should we put on our armor (everyday-“put on” conveys the idea that this needs to be our continual, life-long, purposeful attire)? Who is our enemy? How does he try to defeat us or bring us down?”
  • Read Ephesians 6:13.
  • Ask, “So, what do we do to resist the enemy and stand firm?”
  • Read Ephesians 14-18.
  • Ask, “How many times in the passage are the words “Stand firm” repeated? Why does Paul keep writing this?”
  • Activity-

Day 3-What Armor Do We Need?

  • Pray.
  • Practice the first couple verses of the memory verse.
  • Ask, “If you knew you were getting ready to go into a battle, what would you definitely want to have with you?”
  • Like we learned yesterday, we have to be prepared for spiritual battles that are sure to come. We have to be ready so that when Satan attacks us with temptations, deception, false information, and other struggles, we can stand firm.
  • Read Ephesians 6:14-17. Show the picture of the Roman soldier and point to each piece as you read.
  • Discuss each piece of armor. Where does this armor go? How does it protect us? Why do we need it?
    • belt of truth
      • Soldiers had to gather up all the loose ends of their tunics with a belt so they would not be hindered in battle. We need to be fastened up with truth/truthfulness so we don’t have anything hindering us.
    • breastplate of righteousness
      • The soldier’s breastplate protected his vital organs. As we practice faithfulness and obedience to God, His own righteousness grows in us and is our main protection.
    • feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
      • Roman soldiers wore boots with nails in them to grip the ground (kind of like cleats). The gospel of peace is the good news that through Jesus (when we have accepted Him as our Savior and Lord) we have peace because we are confident that God is on our side and He is our strength in the battle. SO we can stand our ground.
    • shield of faith
      • Large shields were used to protect the soldier’s whole body. Our shield is our faith, our trust in God. When the enemy throws temptations at us, we can be fully protected by trusting in God and not listening to the deception of Satan.
    • helmet of salvation
      • The helmet protected the head. Paul is speaking to believers when he wrote this, so salvation is not referring to salvation from sin and separation, but it is speaking of the hope of eternal salvation, even amidst doubt and discouragement.
    • sword of the Spirit
      • The soldier’s only weapon. God’s Word is the only needed weapon and is stronger than any of the enemy’s weapons.
    • I used the commentary in my NASB MacArthur Study Bible to help me understand each piece of armor we need to put on.
  • Read Matthew 4:1-11 (or simply remind kids about the story if you are short on time or have short attention spans).
  • Ask, “How can we tell Jesus was prepared for “battle” against Satan’s schemes? What weapon did He use to fight off the temptations? What are some steps we need to take in order to be better prepared for battle? If our weapon is the Word of God, what do we need to do (Psalm 119:11)?”
  • Read Ephesians 6:18.
  • Ask, “What should we always be doing? Why is prayer and alertness necessary everyday?”
  • Pray. Thank God that he gives us armor and everything we need to stand firm against Satan’s attacks. Ask him to help you learn His Word and put on the full armor every day.
  • Activity
    • Have your kids use things they find around the house to dress up in their “full armor of God”.
    • Pinterest has a lot of great game ideas and activities for all ages that will help them learn about the Armor of God.
He came up with the idea of finding stuff around the house to make his “Full Armor of God”.