BIG IDEA: God protects those who love Him.
This free Bible lesson, The Armor of God, will teach preschool and elementary students about the protection against evil enemy forces as described in Ephesians 6:10-20.
- The Belt of Truth
- The Breastplate of Righteousness
- The Boots of the Gospel of Peace
- The Shield of Faith
- The Helmet of Salvation
- The Sword of the Spirit
FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Ephesians 6:10-20
All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.
Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.
PREP & SUPPLIES
- printed, trimmed, & hole punched Psalm 100:5 Memory Verse Cards
- printed pictures OR real objects for Lesson Hook Activity (see below)
- printed “Armor of God Application” pages for each student
- pencils
- glue
- printed “Suit Up the Soldier” pages for each student
- printed “Pieces of Armor” for each student
- scissors
- coloring supplies
MEMORY VERSE: “The LORD is good. His faithful love continues forever. It will last for all time to come.” Psalm 100:5 (NIrV)
THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:
- Students will get a new card for their Memory Verse Collection today.
- Leaders may choose to:
- allow students to break into tables for 5-10 minutes to decorate their cards and reflect on the memory verse, and then come back to large group
- wait until small group time to pass out memory verse cards and allow students 5-10 minutes to decorate and reflect on the memory verse.
- ALTERNATIVELY: Allow students to get into groups and make up motions for the words of the memory verse and then present them to the large group. This should take 5-10 minutes.
- Leaders: Remind students and parents to add their card to their ring at home.
- If students need to get “caught up” with their collection, please be sure to send home (1) a binder ring, (2) a “title page” cover card, and (3) all of the cards up to this week.
LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY
(SLIDE 3) What do these items have in common?
Option 1: Show students pictures of items that protect.
Option 2: Show students real objects of items that protect.
Look at this group of items. Without saying anything, think about what each of these items has in common. “In common” means something that is alike. So, what is alike about each of these items? If you needed to create a category that all of the items would fall under, what would it be?
Allow wait time, and then call on a few students to give their thoughts and allow discussion.
Each of these items/objects are used to protect something. What is protected with each of these items? (allow responses and discussion)
We have items that protect our skin, eyes, bodies, and even our lives. All of these are “physical” things.
Did you know that there are things that can protect you “spiritually”?
What do you think it means to be protected spiritually? (allow responses and discussion)
The Bible teaches us that there are evil powers in our world that don’t like when we are living for God. We can’t see these evil powers, but we know they are there trying to tempt us to do things that go against what God wants for us. What is it called when we do things against what God wants us to do? (sin)
Evil powers try to tempt us to sin. They do anything they can to get us to go against what God wants for us.
Today we are going to learn about how we can be protected “spiritually” from these evil powers.
BIBLE LESSON
(SLIDE 4)
The apostle Paul wrote the book of Ephesians when he was spending time teaching people about Jesus. Is the book of Ephesians in the Old Testament or the New Testament of the Bible? (the New Testament)
We know that the book of Ephesians is in the New Testament of the Bible because the New Testament teaches us about the time that Jesus lived on the earth as a human, about how He died on the cross for our sins and rose back to life, and about the time after He went back to Heaven.
We can read about the war that is going on in our world spiritually in the book of Ephesians. Paul is writing a letter to the church in Ephesus, which is a city near Turkey in the Middle East. Paul is teaching the people about Jesus and he tells them:
Let the lord make you strong. Depend on his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor. Then you can remain strong against the devil’s evil plans. Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil. (6:10-12 NIrV)
Paul is teaching the people to get close to God so they can be strong against the evil that the devil tries to do in their lives. Some people do fight with each other, but what Paul is saying in this verse is that the biggest battle that we have as humans on this earth is against the evil powers that we can’t see. We don’t need to be scared of the evil powers because God is on our side, and God is much stronger than the devil.
(SLIDE 5)
Paul continues in his letter:
So put on all of God’s armor. Evil days will come. But you will be able to stand up to anything. And after you have done everything you can, you will still be standing. (6:13 NIrV)
Who can tell me what “armor” is? (allow responses)
(SLIDE 6)
Here is a picture of some armor. You may have seen armor like this before. Armor is used to protect soldiers in battle.
Do you think Paul is saying that we should put on all of this physical armor of metal to protect our bodies? (allow responses and discussion)
Paul is not saying that we should go out and buy physical armor to wear. He is using armor as a way to help the people, and us, understand the meaning of being protected spiritually.
(SLIDE 7)
Putting on God’s armor means that we learn about Him, grow close to Him, memorize Bible Scriptures, and pray and ask God for help in everything that we do.
When you believe in and trust Jesus to save you from your sin and you ask Him to be your Savior, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. The Holy Spirit never leaves people who believe in Jesus. We can always ask the Holy Spirit to protect us from evil and guess what? He will protect us!
(SLIDE 8)
That is our BIG IDEA this week. God protects those who love Him.
Later in this passage in the book of Ephesians, Paul teaches us about the 6 “pieces” of armor that we should “put on”. Think about “putting on” something, like a sweater, or your shoes. “Putting on” something means that you make the decision to wear it and then you actively put it on. It doesn’t just happen automatically.
It’s the same way with the Armor of God. You don’t physically “put it on”, but you have to make the decision that you want God’s protection in your life and then seek it out by asking the Holy Spirit for help.
(SLIDE 9)
Paul says:
So remain strong in the faith. Put the belt of truth around your waist. Put the armor of godliness on your chest. Wear on your feet what will prepare you to tell the good news of peace. Also, pick up the shield of faith. With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Put on the helmet of salvation. And take the sword of the Holy Spirit. The sword is God’s word. At all times, pray by the power of the Spirit. (6:14-18 NIrV)
All 6 pieces of armor are listed out in these few verses. Paul only tells us what one of them actually is. He tells us what the sword of the Holy Spirit is. What does he say is the sword of the Holy Spirit? (God’s Word)
What is God’s Word? (the Bible)
So Paul is saying that we can use the Bible as a weapon against the enemy evil forces. What do you think he means by that? (allow responses and discussion)
When we memorize Bible Scriptures, we are able to fight temptations from the enemy evil forces.
Remember when Jesus was tempted in the desert after He was baptized? (allow responses and discussion)
Shortly after Jesus was baptized He was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit where He stayed for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus used His knowledge of the Bible when He was tempted by the devil in the desert three separate times.
A sword is a type of weapon right?
God’s Word, the Bible is called the “Sword of the Spirit” because we can consider it a WEAPON to use against the enemy evil forces that we are fighting against. This is why it is so important to memorize Bible Scriptures.
(SLIDE 10)
Paul doesn’t explain to us exactly what the other 5 pieces of armor are, but we can figure it out if we think about it.
(SLIDE 11)
We already talked about the Sword, because Paul tells us exactly what the Sword is. The Sword is God’s Word, the Bible.
(SLIDE 12)
We are going to work together to try to figure out what each of these 5 pieces of armor mean for our lives.
Dear God,
Thank you for the Bible and all of the lessons that You teach us when we read the Bible. Help us to understand how we can use these pieces of armor that we learned about today to be protected from the enemy and help us to grow closer to you.
We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.
LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY
LEADER NOTES:
You can choose to allow students to work with a partner or require them to reflect independently.
Each student should get the full size page with the 3 column table to start with. *WAIT TO HAND OUT THE THIRD COLUMN STRIP UNTIL AFTER STUDENTS HAVE REFLECTED ON THEIR OWN FIRST.*
Spend some time discussing the truths found on the third column strip of paper after students glue them onto their papers.
You are each going to get a piece of paper that has all of these pieces of armor pictured in the first column of a table. Your task is to think about what YOU think each piece of armor means for your life and write your thoughts in the middle column. Then after a little bit of time, we will go over it as a group and I will tell you what each piece of armor means for your life so you can add it into the last column next to your own thoughts.
There is no wrong answer as long as you are trying and really thinking about what God wants you to learn. After you have had some time to think, I will be able to add to the thoughts that you have written down.
SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
Today, you are going to “suit up” in the Armor of God. Well, not YOU, but you are going to dress a soldier on your paper in the Armor of God.
This activity will help you to review the pieces of the Armor of God AND you will be able to take it with you to teach others about the Armor of God.
Each person will get a paper “soldier” and a paper with the pieces of armor that you will cut out and glue onto the “soldier”. Then you can color and decorate your “soldier”.
As you are working I want you to think about each piece of armor, what it means, and how you can use it in your own life.
Leaders may need to help younger students cut out the pieces of armor.
BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.
Discussion Prompts for Leaders:
- What are the 6 pieces of armor? (Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, Boots of the Gospel of Peace, Shield of Faith, Helmet of Salvation, and Sword of the Spirit)
- What does each piece of armor represent? (belt: what we know is right and true; breastplate: holiness; boots: being ready to share the gospel; shield: believing in Jesus; helmet: knowing salvation is secure; sword: the Bible)
- Who can “wear” the armor of God? (everyone who believes in Jesus)
- Have you ever felt God’s protection in your life?
- How does God protect those who love Him?
- What does it mean to believe in Jesus and be saved?
- What is this week’s Big Idea? (God protects those who love Him.)
- What is this week’s memory verse? (Psalm 100:5)
CLOSING REFLECTION
We learned that God protects those who love Him through His armor. The armor of God symbolizes things we can do to protect ourselves from the evil spiritual forces at work in the world around us. The armor of God includes the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Boots of the Gospel of Peace, the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. Each piece represents part of our spiritual lives that will protect us from the enemy.
Reflection Questions:
- Who can “wear” the armor of God? (everyone who believes in Jesus)
- What does it mean to believe in Jesus and be saved? (believe that you are a sinner and that Jesus paid for your sin when He died on the cross and rose back to life – then ask Jesus to save you from your sin and start following Him)
- What are the 6 pieces of armor? (listed above)
- What does each piece of armor represent? (belt: what we know is right and true; breastplate: holiness; boots: being ready to share the gospel; shield: believing in Jesus; helmet: knowing salvation is secure; sword: the Bible)
- Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?
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