Lesson 4
HOOK
Give every kid a piece of paper and have them wad it up into a ball. After you count to three, tell them that they are all going to throw their “darts” at you and you’re going to try to protect yourself with a shield (which is the shield the kids are going to make during the craft time). Try this several times and maybe choose a few kids to be the “target”.
BOOK
Read Ephesians 6 as you prepare this lesson. Verses 10-20 tell us about special weapons and tools that we need to be strong in the Lord. We are going to explain each of these in simple terms to begin to lay a foundation that a strong Christian actively uses spiritual tools to fight against Satan, our enemy, and pursues righteousness and the glory of God.
The Bible says, “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” The “evil one” is Satan. He is our enemy and he is always looking for ways to attack us and make us feel weak. But Jesus has given us many tools and weapons that make us strong so that we have nothing to fear. He has given us the Bible which tells us the truth about life and about God’s plan for us. He has given us the breastplate of righteousness, which makes us right with God so we don’t have to be punished for our sin. He has given us special shoes for our feet that are ready to share His love and peace with others so more people can come to Jesus. And this week we are going to talk about how our faith in God helps us put out Satan’s “fiery darts” that try to destroy our faith.
Memory Verse: Take up the shield of faith, to put out the fiery darts of the evil one.” Ephesians 6:16
LOOK
How would you feel if you worked really hard at building a tower with Legos, or blocks and a little kid came over and knocked it down? Or if you made a string of beads and the whole thing fell apart just as you were ready to put the last bead on. You would feel so frustrated and defeated. Satan wants to make us feel like giving up. He doesn’t want us to believe in God’s promise to take care of us. He wants our faith to be weak. As we grow up and get bigger all the time, it is important for our faith to grow. Can you think of a time when God took care of you or protected you in a time of danger? (Maybe a child got lost in a store, and God helped him find his mother, or maybe somebody was really sick and they prayed and God healed them, or maybe they prayed for a toy or special gift and they got it.) We need to remember all the ways God takes care of us and provides for us so that we can be strong in the Lord when we go through other hard times. God loves us so much and He wants the very best for us. That doesn’t mean we’ll have the latest video games or Barbies or clothes and sneakers. It does mean that we can put our faith and trust in Him to block out Satan’s darts that try to make us weak and scared.
TOOK
Next time you think that God doesn’t love you or that you’re all alone, remember all the ways that God has protected you and answered your prayers. God wants us to be strong in Him, so He has given us the shield of faith. We know that God is a BIG God and He takes care of every single thing. We don’t have to put our trust in what we can do or how strong we are, but in our VERY GREAT GOD!!
Closing Prayer: Father, we know that you made us and you know what is best for us. Please help us to put our faith and our trust in you when we are scared, feel alone or somebody hurts our feelings. Thank you for the shield of faith. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Snack
Craft- The children will make a shield. Put their full names on the back and let them wear them until it’s time to clean up. Collect each one at the end and put them in the box marked with the correct time of the service. There will be two containers for each service that will hold each piece of armor the child makes. When the 8 lessons on over, each child should go home with a complete set of armor.