Today is the fourth lesson in the Armor of God Series and it is all about the Shield of Faith. This lesson is definitely for the boys! It’s filled with superhero connections and even making your own shield. I really love the illustrations and videos that go with this lesson as well. I hope you can find it helpful. If you’ve done this lesson and have other great ideas, please mention them in the comments! Also, all printable files are at the end of this post.  (post contains affiliate links)

Welcome Question

“What does it mean to have “faith”?”

Recap from Last Week

This week, we will learn about our fourth piece of armor in the armor of God study! Can anyone remember what we talked about last time we met? It was the “gospel of peace” as shoes on our feet. We need to put on our shoes ready with the gospel of peace and tell our friends and neighbors all about Jesus and what He has done in our lives!

Large Group Lesson

This morning, we are going to talk about the shield of faith. Ephesians 6:13-16, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;”

Shield of faith intro video: https://youtu.be/KehjLBIp2ZU

Yikes! Flaming darts! That doesn’t sound pleasant at all. If we have all this armor on, why do we need a shield? Every piece of armor has weak areas, right? A shield can cover any of those areas whenever it needs to. It’s an extra level of protection. Let’s see how helpful a shield is. I need three super brave, older volunteers.

Shield Illustration: Choose three volunteers, give every child one piece of paper to crumple up. The three volunteers will first have nothing to protect themselves from the “arrows” or paper balls. Have only half the group throw first. Then give the three volunteers a shield (umbrella, cardboard, etc.) and have the rest of the group throw their paper balls.  (illustration based on http://ministry-to-children.com/lesson-the-shield-of-faith/, I made my shield from thick poster board and added a duct tape handle to the back) 

Which one protected you more? Nothing or your shield? Obviously the shield was more helpful. You see our shield of faith is nothing without God’s power. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We can’t see God can we? We can’t physically see what He’s doing in our life, but we know He’s there. We have faith that He loves us and will take care of us.

You know this makes me think of superheroes a little bit: Thor has his hammer, Iron Man has his super cool suit and we have our Shield of Faith. Someone else had a shield too. Captain America. Captain America is super strong, but what does he always have with him? His shield. Take a look at this video.

Video Illustration: Captain America’s Shield  (Warning: this video clip does include a gun–our kidmin kiddos handled it fine, but I know this is can be a touchy area with children)

Captain America had to trust in his shield. Did he know his shield would protect him? No! He just picked it up and then trusted that it would keep him safe. We must have faith that God will protect us against Satan and his sin attacks.

The Bible is full of stories of God’s faithfulness AND of people having great faith. David had faith to fight Goliath, Noah had faith that God would protect His family during the flood, Esther had faith God would be with her as she faced King Xerxes, and the disciples had faith that Jesus was God’s son. In Matthew 17, Jesus heals a boy who is possessed with a demon. The disciples tried to heal the boy, but couldn’t and they ask Jesus why He could, but they could not. Let’s read verse 20: He said to them,“Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Jesus tells the disciples all they need to have is the faith the size of a mustard seed! Do you know how big a mustard seed is? Let me show you (show them a mustard seed). It’s a super tiny, little seed. And that’s all the faith Jesus said the disciples needed.

When we face challenges or hard times, we only need the smallest bit of faith in Jesus to take care of us. When we grow in our relationship with Jesus our faith grows as well. That tiny seed, gets a little bigger and the next time something even harder comes, our faith has already grown. Our faith is believing in the person of Jesus Christ, believing He is God’s son and that He defeated death so we could spend forever with God in heaven. Can we see all that? No, but we know it is true and worth fighting for. 1 Timothy 6:12 says, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

We need to grab hold of our shields of faith and run into battle knowing that God will protect us and defend us against sin and Satan.  

End in prayer

Small Group Questions

Take time to introduce yourself and have the kids tell their names.

1. What is our piece of armor today? The shield of faith
2. What does it mean to have faith? It means to trust in God, even though we can’t see them
3. What does a shield protect? Weak areas in armor
4. What does our faith protect? All of us, it’s our trust in Jesus to protect us
5. How much faith did Jesus say we needed? Faith the size of a mustard seed
6. What can we do with just a little faith? Move mountains!
7. How do we grow our faith? We learn more about Jesus and trust in Him more
8. Who are some people in the Bible that had great faith? David, Noah, Moses, Esther, etc.
9. When is it hard to have faith?
10. Do you believe God will protect you?

God loves us all so much and wants to protect us. The more faith we have in Him, the greater things we will see Him do! A big part of our faith is having a relationship with Jesus. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus or have felt the call on your life to follow Him, then talk to me or your parents about praying to accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Close small group time in prayer.

Bible Challenge

Today our verse is Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Last week’s verse: Romans 10:15b,  “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

K-1 Ask if anyone remembers last week’s verse. Go over the verse for this week and explain words the kids might not know. Each child will make a paper plate shield. They will write the word “Faith” on it and then decorate it as they choose. At the end, they can use their shield to defend against the paper balls that were used earlier.

2-4  Ask if anyone remembers last week’s verse. Go over the verse for this week and explain words the kids might not know. Each child will make a paper plate shield. They will write the verse on it and then decorate it as they choose. At the end, they can use their shield to defend against the paper balls that were used earlier in the lesson.

Please return to large group and choose one child for small group recap.

Dismissal & Verse Cards

Pass out verse cards as children are released.

Printable Lesson and Materials

Shield of Faith Printable

Hebrews 11:1 Cards

Thanks for letting me share,