Armour Fun

Dave suited up

Last week at Gap we went through the Armour of God - this seems to be a running theme in my life at the moment.  I asked Dave Oxley, one of the elders to come and share his story with the kids, which I almost forgot to ask him to do in all the excitement.  The Armour of God is one of my favourite sections in the bible and I LOVE to teach it because there is so much you can do with it. 

Huggi and I ready for battle

As I described each piece of the armour I got Dave to put on a piece of it until he was fully dressed in the armour.  He was a little bit confused about the pink slippers as the "shoes of the gospel of peace", but he went with it.   After I had described the armour I gave an illustration of putting two naartjies in a jug of water.  With their peels on the float, I then started peeling the one and saying, "he forgot his helmet today, he forgot his belt this day..." until it was completely peeled.  Once peeled the naartjie sinks.  I then explained how without the armour of God we drown in the craziness of our worlds and that we need God and his armour to keep floating and walking through life.  

After the talk the kids got a chance to make armour for Huggi and myself.  The boys were horrified that i took the slippers and used them as my shoes and the girls never made shoes. they refused to listen to my reasoning of there being four boys against one girl and were convinced that we cheated

With the designers

I put my armour on

This morning while I drove to work I was still feeling pretty despondent,  my mind was a hundred miles away as I let my thoughts go to places they shouldn't go and I "moped" at the thought of going to work.  When I parked my car outside the building I looked up  at it and sighed before I took out my bible and devotional.

My devotional was on how God is our refuge and our strength, Psalm 41:6  "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble"

I sat thinking about that verse and what it means, especially the words refuge and strength.  I then prayed through it and gave up the fight of being at work and let God take over - I asked him to be my strength for today.  I also knew that without him there was no way I was going to be able to make it through today. 

After being at work for a bit, I started to feel despondent again and I smsed Tree to pray for me.  I then thought - "Why don't I put my armour on?"  So I quietly and quickly prayed the armour of God.  I remembered how when I do this it helps me refocus on God and to just stop focusing on how despondent or sucky I feel and to remember that I'm not in this alone, but that God is with me. 

It has helped, I'm not feeling as despondent as before and I'm leaning into God to get me through this "phase" at work.  I'm also ready for whatever comes my way because I have my armour on and God is with me. 

xKx