Week #8
The Shield of Faith
Welcome to week #8 of Home-made JAM!
If you have missed any of the week's lessons, you can find them at www.splgrafton.org/fig
Start HERE
In the Bible, Paul talks about the spiritual battle we’re fighting against evil and tells us to put on the shoes of peace that comes from the good news about Jesus. Just as shoes help a soldier walk safely in a battle, the shoes of peace help us when we face bad and hard things.
Let's Sing!
This week we again have two songs we will use to help us focus on the Shield of Faith. The first one, Stand Strong will be familiar to you! This song reminds us that no matter what happens to us in life, God helps us to Stand Strong against it. The second song is another one we have sung as a part of Home-made JAM this Summer. There's Power in the Blood reminds us of Jesus' death on the cross for us, and how His power helps us to face everything that comes up in our lives.
Take some time to learn these songs and sing them with your kids!
Craft - Shields of Faith
Supplies
- “Shield of Faith” handout (1 per person) extra copies can be found in the resource section below
- crayons or markers
- plastic sheet protectors (1 per person)
- colorful duct tape (18 inches per person)
- clear tape
- spray bottles filled with water
Talk About Being Safe
God took care of Noah in a scary storm. He showed Noah how to build a big boat to keep him safe. God keeps us safe, too. Often God sends people into our lives to take care of us and keep us safe. Who takes care of you and keeps you safe?
Make a Shield
God puts lots of special people in our lives to help protect us and take care of us. We're going to make shields to remind us that God takes care of us by sending people to keep us safe.
- Give each person a “Shield of Faith” handout and some crayons or markers. Draw on your shields a picture of someone who helps you stay safe.
- After you have finished coloring, insert your shield into the sheet protector and tape the top closed.
- Take a 1-foot piece and a 6-inch piece of duct tape. Lay the 6-inch piece sticky side down along the center of the sticky side of the 1-foot piece, leaving a sticky section on each end, to create a handle. Attach the handles to the sheet protector.
Use the Shield
A shield can protect a soldier from many things. Let’s see if our shields can protect us from getting wet! Give a couple of family members a spray bottle, and encourage them to spray the shields as they are held up. Your shields protected you from the water. When we trust God, it protects our hearts. We can trust God and the special people He puts into our lives to take care of us. That’s faith!
Game - Stay Safe
Supplies
- large paper plates (1 per person)
- scrap paper
- painter’s tape
- upbeat music
- music player
Use Your Shield
A shield is an important part of a soldier’s armor. It helps keep an enemy’s weapons from hurting him. Let’s use our shields to protect ourselves in a game.
- Form two teams, and send each team to a different side of the room.
- Start the music, and encourage family members to stay on their side of the line while throwing paper wads at family members on the other side. Use your “shields” to deflect paper thrown at you.
- If all the paper ends up clustered on one side, stop the music and redistribute the paper wads before beginning the game again.
Talk About Faith
These shields protected you from paper wads. But we’re learning about the shield of faith. Our faith, or trust, in God helps us remember that God is always with us. Share about a time you need God with you.
God’s evil enemy wants us to forget God is with us. But when we trust God’s promise that He will never leave us, we fight evil with faith!
Object Lesson - Faith Bounces Back
Supplies
- balloons
- pennies
- permanent markers
- transparent tape
- ping-pong balls
- craft sticks
Watch How a Weighted Balloon Reacts When Knocked Over
We’re learning that God gives us special armor to fight our evil enemy. God’s enemy tries to make us doubt God really is who He says He is or really will do what He promises He’ll do. God’s enemy tries to knock down our faith, but we can fight back with the shield of faith by believing in God and all He says. Let’s see what it looks like to have a faith that fights back.
- Inflate a balloon and tape a penny to the bottom of the balloon (roughly centered opposite the tied knot).
- Then draw a face or stick figure on the balloon so the balloon is symbolic of a person.
God’s enemy likes to try to knock down our faith when we’re in hard times in our life. Sometimes God’s enemy makes us wonder, “If God is so good, why are bad things happening?”
- Blow as hard as you can on your balloon person to knock it over. It will pop back upright every time.
Sometimes God’s enemy makes us wonder if God really loves us or cares about us.
Take turns throwing a ping-pong ball at the balloon person to knock it over.
- Take turns using the craft stick to push the balloon person over and hold it down for a few seconds.
Talk About It
The balloon person always got back up after getting knocked down. Why do you think that happened? The weight of the penny on the bottom of the balloon pulled the balloon upright again even after getting knocked down hard. Our faith has weight to it, too—it can pull us back toward God when doubts and hard questions get us down. Faith helps us bounce back when God’s enemy is trying to get us down.
Wrap-Up - Shielded in Prayer
Supplies
- Shields (made as your craft this week) OR large paper plates.
Hold Shields
This week we learned we fight evil with faith. When we believe and trust God, we always win against God’s evil enemy. The Bible tells about “shields of faith.” The shields remind us to believe and trust God.
Pray
These shields remind us to trust God when we’re worried or scared. They remind us that God protects us and takes care of us. Talk to God about some worries you have and ask Him to help us trust Him. For each worry, extend your shield out and then bring it back close to your body.
Family Together Time
Have your family work together to decorate a shield of faith
- You could draw a shield shape on a regular piece of paper or go big and put it on a poster board!
- Decorate inside the shield with words or pictures that show things your family likes as well as things your family believes about God.
- Hang the shield on your door so you see it every time you leave home.
Resources
- Knight Handout - Use the same one EVERY week
- Shield of Faith Handout for this week's craft