Ephesians 6:13-16
Rich Lanning
February 2, 2025
Gather
- Bible
- toy shields or supplies to make one
- nerf guns and darts or toy bow and arrows OR anything that can be thrown at the shield (small balls or wads of paper will do)
- a printed shield template
INTRODUCTION
Ask: Who is your favorite character who uses a shield? What is the shield used for? What would happen to the character if he or she didn’t have the shield?
Activity: Play a game of attack and defend with your toy or homemade shields and the “weapons” of your choice. Throw or shoot the “darts and arrows” while the kids use the shield to deflect them. Reverse roles and let the parents use the shield.
BACKGROUND
Christians have an enemy.
Ask: Who is our enemy?
Read: Ephesians 6:10-11
To fight against the enemy, God has given us some armor. Let’s remember the pieces we’ve looked at so far [in the sermon series through Ephesians]
Read: Ephesians 6:13-15
Ask: The belt of ________________ and the breastplate of ____________________________.
And the shoes of _______________________________________ for your feet.
Let’s talk about the next part of our armor.
Read: Ephesians 6:16
LOOKING INTO THE SCRIPTURE PASSAGE
Ask: If we’re going to use this, we have to know what it is, so what is faith? [Pastor Rich used an example of letting a chair hold up your whole body weight; this is a concrete explanation for kids]. Faith is believing that God is who he says he is and that he will do what he says he will do (Hebrews 11:6). When we believe this, we will obey God because we trust him. We’ll do what he says even when Satan is throwing “fiery darts” at us.
Ask: What are some flaming arrows Satan throws our way? What does he want us to do?
Maybe looking at a story in the Bible will help us understand this.
Read: Genesis 3:1-5
Ask: What did Satan try to get Eve to think about God and what God had said? He told her that what God had said was not true and that God was keeping something good from her.
How might Satan do that to us?
Pastor Rich gave three examples:
- Discouragement.
When do you feel discouraged? [examples: when someone has been unkind to you or when you receive bad news or when you mess up at something again]
What does Psalm 42:5tell us to do with discouragement?
- Fear and anxiety
What are you afraid of? When do you feel anxious?
How does Joshua 1:9 help us with fear?
- Temptation
What temptations do you face?
What does 1 Corinthians 10:13tell us about temptation?
APPLY THE PASSAGE
Activity 1
As a family think of as many Scripture promises as you can to help you “preach to yourself” when you face the enemy’s fiery darts. Begin with the examples in the section “Looking into the scripture passage” above. Make a list. You could print or write out the verses and place them into a small photo album or journal to use on a continual basis.
Activity 2
Decorate a shield (printed on paper or traced onto cardboard) with the memory verse on the front. Add some of the verses from Activity 1 to the back side to help you remember who God is and what he has promised to do.
Activity 3
Create playlists of songs to help your family “preach truth to themselves” in
- Discouragement
- Fear and anxiety
- Temptation
Activity 4
Spend time remembering as a family how God has shown his faithfulness to you. How did these times strengthen your faith? Thank and praise him for his goodness in these situations.
MEMORIZE
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16
Practice the verse: Place your shield from Activity 2 in your room. Say the memory verse every morning when you get up and then again before you go to sleep.
EXTRA STUFF
Seeing Jesus in the passage
Read: Matthew 4:1-11
Ask: How did Jesus deal with the temptations of Satan? How can we follow his example?
Look for specific verses to help with your individual temptations. Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4-5 are good places to start.
Digging Deeper (for parents and older kids)
Pastor Rich explained that one way we can take up the shield of faith is remembering God’s faithfulness to yourself and others. The Bible is full of stories that help us with this. Here’s just one.
Read Psalm 3. This was written by King David when he fled from his son Absalom (you can find the account in 2 Samuel 15-18).
What flaming arrows was David facing? How did he use the shield of faith? What was the result?
Songs to sing
“The Shield of Faith” (Seeds Scripture Songs
“O Church Arise” (Keith and Kristen Getty)
“Jesus Strong and Kind” (City Alight)
Books to read
Give God Your Worries by Sally Michael
