Put on the Armor of Righteousness

I hate to toot my own horn, but I seriously am such a slacker at coming up with cool FHE lessons that I just have to say.....*TOOT TOOT*!  I have been driven by guilt to get it together this week.  And after reading THIS ARTICLE from April's General Conference I figured I needed to get my butt in gear.  My kids actually love FHE, but I am really bad about getting my stuff together and making sure that everyone is doing their part.  But I took on the challenge tonight and broke out a FHE lesson book that I bought who knows how long ago and decided to just start at Chapter 1 and go through the book until I reach the end and then look for another lesson book and just go through like that.  I just get so overwhelmed trying to think of what I need to teach my kids and what is actually in their mental range of understanding, that sometimes I would just rather not do it than bother with it.  I need to change my mindset and acceptance is the first step to recovery, right?

So tonight the lesson plan was about putting on the armor of righteousness.  The metaphor comes from Doctrine and Covenants 27:16-17.  The armor is actually representative of spiritual strengthening through our knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ.  Each piece represents protection from the adversary, meaning Satan.  The lesson plan really broke it down for my kids to understand, and even suggested making the fiery darts to throw at a picture of two versions of a man, one that is not protected and one that is.  In the lesson they used Velcro on the darts and on the men to make them stick.  Well, I don't have Velcro and I thought there was a slim chance my kids would actually get it to stick.  So I came up with a different version using the packing paper and cardboard boxes from the move.

Here is the sad person without armor.  I let the kids take turns throwing little rocks at him while Theo and I held him up.  First they had to give examples of the fiery darts the temptations that Satan will try to get them to do, such as lying, being disobedient and being mean to one another.  When they threw the rocks they went straight through the paper showing them that if they are left unprotected then they eventually be destroyed by Satan.

This guy is happy because he is about to be outfitted in the coolest armor cardboard can buy!

There is his armor ready to be placed on him.  I had the kids take turns picking a piece of armor and placing it on the man.

Here he is all decked out and ready for battle! 

 Just to give you a rundown on his armor and what they translate into for us:

Loins girt about with truth- In D&C 93:24 we learn that truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.  Knowing the truth will help us make righteous decisions.

Breastplate of righteousness- Many of the decisions we make are guided by the feelings and emotions of our heart.  If we protect our heart with a breastplate of righteousness, then the feelings and emotions that come from our heart will always be pleasing to Heavenly Father.


Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace- Learning all the parts of the gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, prayer, fasting, etc.) prepares us for battle against the adversary.

Shield of faith- Having faith in Jesus Christ and believing that he oves us and watches over us gives us peace and protection.

Helmet of salvation- Salvation is eternal life.  The way we choose to live our earthly life will determine what our eternal life will be like.  The helmet (which protects our head) represents salvation, and within our head is the knowledge of the gospel plan which we must follow to inherit the Celestial kingdom.  We must always keep this knowledge safe in our minds if we wish to return to Heavenly Father.

Sword of my Spirit- A sword can not only defend us, but can be used as a weapon against our enemies.  The Holy Ghost acts in the same way.  He is there in our time of need to help us make correct decisions.  He also warns us against dangers and is an invaluable weapon against the adversary.

After our guy was completely outfitted we took a second round of rocks to him.  You can really see the kids chucking that rock as hard as they can, and they still weren't able to penetrate past the armor.  

Tobie

Miriam

Emma

Hannah

It was a fun night, even though we almost didn't get to this part of the lesson. With 4 rambunctious kids you really got to keep the talkie talkie to a minimum if you want to keep your sanity.  Just give the kids some rocks and let them go at it, hopefully the lesson pelted their brains as much as those rocks pelted the paper!