Suggested Emphasis: God helps us fight Satan.
Paul wrote his epistle to the church in Ephesus to help them understand God’s power and how He wants Christians to behave. To help them be “strong in the Lord” Paul uses the example of a soldier’s battle armour to explain that God gives Christians spiritual weapons of strength to fight Satan.
- What happened before this story?
- What happens after this story?
- List of all Bible stories and themes on this website.
Way to Introduce the Story:
Sing “I’m in the Lord’s Army” with the children. “Who wants to explain what that song means? Are you really in an army? What does it mean to be in the Lord’s army? When a soldier in an army goes into battle he fights an enemy. Who do you think is the enemy of the Christian? That’s right; Satan—or sometimes he is called the Devil. He is our enemy because he wants us to do bad things and make God unhappy. He doesn’t even want us to go to heaven to be with God! When a soldier goes to battle he wears special gear (show some if you are able to obtain army gear). The gear that a soldier used to wear in the time that our New Testaments were written was called armour. Armour helped soldiers win battles. Do you think a regular soldier’s armour would help fight Satan? No, Satan is an invisible enemy. To fight Satan, a person has to be in God’s special kind of army and be God’s soldier. God’s soldier wears special kind of armour.”
Ways to Tell the Story:
This story can be told using a variety of methods. Always remain true to the facts found in the Bible but help children connect to its meaning by using drama, visual aids, voice inflection, student interaction and/or emotion.
Click here for visual aids and story-telling methods.
- Who is the enemy of Christians? Satan
- Who are God’s soldiers? Christians
- What is the armour of God? (name any or all of these) Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, Readiness of the Gospel on the Feet, Shield of Faith, Helmet of Salvation, Sword of the Spirit (Word of God).
- I’m in the Lord’s Army Song
- Shake the Devil Off Song
- Cast Your Burdens
- Refer to the Song Page on this website for more options.
Learning Activities and Crafts:
- Look up “armour/armor” in a concordance or bible dictionary.
- Look up songs in the church song book that talk about the “Christian Battle.”
- Have a “sword drill” where the teacher calls out a scripture reference and the children race to see who can find the scripture in their bible first.
- When the children have learned about the armour how about an army march outside the building? Perhaps you could march to a certain place and have part of your lesson there for a change.
Check the Teaching Ideas page on this website for ideas that are adaptable to any lesson.
Other Online Resources:
- Colouring page and puzzle worksheets (Calvary Curriculum)
- Colouring pages (churchhousecollection.com)
- Colouring pages (Calvary Curriculum)
- Colouring page with labels (makinglearningfun.com)
- Printable poster/page (number 1) with soldier picture and descriptions of the armour (terryartworxstudio.com)
- Lesson: Elaborate lesson with lots of visuals and reproducibles available. You may have to be creative in finding “armor.” You could maybe use pictures of armor that the military of the region uses or even actual uniform pieces if those are available just to have something physical that the students can relate to (kidsbibledebjackson.blogspot.co.nz)
- Shield: Cute idea for making a shield from a hub-cap (bibleclasscreations.blogspot.co.nz)
- Various activities and crafts-1 (churchhousecollection.com)
- Various activities and crafts-2 (churchhousecollection.com)
- Craft: Printable paper doll of soldier and armour (calvarywilliamsport.com)