Putting on the Whole Armor of God

One of my favorite FHE lessons comes from Ephesians 6:10-17

10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11   Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,
12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13  Therefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14  Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15  And your feed shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

• You can start out discussing this FHE with the conditions of the world, the subtle tools of Satan in these latter days,and that we are not left alone to fend for ourselves against these things. We have the pieces of the Armor of God to protect us, but we must be willing to wear them.

Discuss with your family the meaning of each piece of the armor:

• Loins girt with truth-  seeking truth of all things, being virtuous,chaste
• Breastplate of righteousness-this piece covers our heart and symbolizes keeping righteousness in our heart
• Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace-this piece covers feet and shins, which are on the floor as we pray.  Prayer is how we prepare ourselves for our daily lives, communicate with the Lord.
• Shield of Faith-when we maintain our faith or strengthen our faith the Lord, build our testimony, we can withstand anything Satan can send our way.
• Helmet of Salvation-this covers our head, helping us to remember what we allow into our minds
• Sword of the Spirit –which is the word of God and cuts through falsehoods, lies and untruths

If you wish, use the printouts of the dolls and armor pieces, found here for the body, and then here for the armor, for discussing each piece as a visual.  One for each child works well, coloring each piece as you discuss it, then gluing them in place.  We made a poster in our family that has been up for years (see the worn, well traveled poster at the top of this post)

Additionally, if you have it, you can dress a child up in pieces of costume armor, discussing each part as you go (improvise where you need to). And the best part is when the rest of the family gets to throw” fiery darts” (red paper airplanes or simply, crumpled red papers) while the child uses any piece of the armor to knock it away.  The people throwing the fiery darts call out some tool Satan might use to tempt them, such as, disobedience, poor choices, lying, bad TV shows, etc.  It’s great to watch our Latter-day warrior bat them away.

Another armor of God object lesson is to show what happens if we remove our armor, even piece by piece.  You’ll need:

• 2 oranges
• large clear glass bowl, or a  truffle bowl or 2 clear pitcher
• water

Fill your containers with enough water so that the oranges are floating well above the bottom of the container/s.  They float because they are protected by the peel, which can be likened unto the armor of God. 

Begin to remove the peel, one piece at a time, discussing which piece of armor might come off, what someone might do to remove it, then place the orange back in the bowl.

That first time, depending on how small a piece has been removed, it may float at the same level as the unpeeled orange, but you will find that as you continue to remove it piece by piece and place it back in the bowl each time, it sinks lower and lower…..
Until the peel is completely removed and the orange is resting on the bottom.

You’ve made your point, the impact is made and they remember this one.

Serve the oranges for FHE snack.

Teresa is a mom to 4 Latter-day Warriors, who wear their armor proudly.  You can find their family goings on and a few homeschool activities at Wockenflock Daze.