The case of the ill-fitting armor

We had a blast in Children's Church this morning. Maybe because our kids were still revved up from our VBS this week? Or maybe I'm the one who was still powered up. Whatever the reason, it was good today.

We finished up our unit on the armor of God and as always, I prayed that God would give us a lesson that would stick with the boys and girls. I wanted to tie everything together and challenge them to make good use of their armor.

God reminded me of the story of David and Goliath. When David first volunteered to fight the giant, King Saul took him aside and had him outfitted in the best armor Israel had to offer. But the armor didn't fit right and became a hindrance to David. He opted to trust his own armor - his relationship and trust in the Lord to be his protector and deliverer.

As I told the story, I chose one boy from the group and outfitted him in a pair of large blue jeans with a belt for the belt of truth. My husband's umpire gear, specifically his chest protector, represented the breastplate of righteousness, An over-sized hat for the helmet of salvation sat atop the umpire's face mask (shield of faith). An outlandish pair of tiger slippers brought gales of laughter from the kids for the "feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace," and a cordless screwdriver represented the sword of the Spirit.

Then I handed the young man a toy sling shot with a squishy ball and instructed him to shoot the giant (a large piece of plywood with the face of a giant on it with a hole cut out in his forehead, probably where the stone would have struck the giant.) Struggling to hold up his oversize pants while holding his screwdriver "sword.," he wasn't able to fight Goliath very well.
Even though he had his armor for protection, it didn't fit him very well.

The moral of the story is that you need a fresh experience with Jesus in your own life through prayer, Bible reading and time spent with Him each day - you need your own well-fitting armor - to overcome the hurts, fears and problems the enemy tries to inflict on us each day. Wow! God is awesome.