Hi all!

So last time we talked about God and His good angels, and about Satan and the angels that chose to follow him INSTEAD of God. Satan and the demons are always trying to keep us from God. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:10-18 that we can fight against their evil and lies and stay strong for God. We can put on some armor to protect ourselves.

Do you know what armor is? Soldiers and knights wear armor to keep themselves safe when they fight. We can practice everyday putting on “armor” to keep us safe and strong in God. It’s not real armor…it’s things we can do to keep our minds focused on God.

For this lesson, as we talked about each piece of armor, i “armed” my children and we dressed up in the armor of God. After the lesson, we drew a little guy and added armor to him (for something we could hang up as a visual reminder).

The Bible tells us that in order to stand strong in God, we can wear the belt of truth. We can memorize Bible verses so when someone says something like “God doesn’t really love us” you can say “Yes He does! John 3:16 says He loves us so much He gave up His own son in our place!” When you have the TRUTH of God’s word, satan’s lies can’t keep you from God.

Next, you can put on the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate is kind of like a vest that covers your heart. Our hearts are sinful, but when we trust Jesus, He makes us righteous (or RIGHT with God). Our hearts can not be turned from God if we wear HIS righteousness. We aren’t strong by anything WE’VE done…we stay strong in our hearts by remembering what HE has done for us.

Next, you can put on the shoes of the gospel of peace. God didn’t ever want to be apart from us. So He didn’t send His son Jesus to remind us of all our bad choices. He came to give us peace. To bring us back to Him. We can also be at peace with other people, knowing that God is in control.

We also need a shield…a big cover. The Bible says we have the shield of faith which will get rid of any arrows from the enemy. Satan and the evil things in this world will try to get to us. They will try to tell you God isn’t real, or God doesn’t love you. They will try to get you to make bad choices. But you can hold up your shield and say “NO! I have FAITH, i believe that God loves me and knows what is best for me. I follow HIM!” In James 4, the Bible says that if we resist satan, he will run away from us. When we choose God’s way…satan has to run away! (Remember…he’s afraid of God!)

We can wear a helmet of salvation. We know God saved us. A helmet protects our head, and our eyes (we see people with God’s love). It protects our ears (we choose to listen to good words, good music and Godly advice and teachings. We also choose to NOT listen to lies about ourselves or about God.) It protects our mouth (when we remember that we are God’s and He saved us, then the words we speak are words that praise God and make Him happy.)

The Bible says our weapon against evil is the sword of the Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts when we trust in Him. HE will fight for us. God Himself fights for us!! Isn’t it funny that the only weapon we have isn’t even anything WE do? We can’t win against satan…but God can…and He already has.

The Bible also reminds us to pray. To talk to God about everything…big or small, when we’re happy or sad. When we talk to someone, we feel close to them. When we focus on talking to God, there’s less time to think about bad things or make bad choices. We should always try to focus on God.

Thanks for reading today. Love to you all!