Armor of God

Today's lesson was Doctrine and Covenants section 27 specifically verses 15-18.

We talked about war ~ what concerns the kids have about war, what weapons they would want to take with them into battle, what protective equipment they would like to have…

Then we talked about the spiritual war we are all fighting ~ the war that began in the pre-existence when Satan was cast out of heaven and into the earth (See Revelation 12:9). We talked about the weapons that Satan uses and what weapons we can use.

We read Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-18 and then talked about our armor – our WHOLE armor and how we were doing. Kiera was our warrior ~ she dressed up in the armor as we talked about it. President Harold B. Lee said, "We have the four parts of the body that…are the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. The loins, typifying virtue, chastity. The heart typifying our conduct. Our feet, our goals or objectives in life and finally our head, our thoughts…

"We should have our loins girt about with truth…And the heart…a breastplate of righteousness. Well, having learned truth we have a measure by which we can judge between right and wrong and so our conduct will always be gauged by that thing which we know to be true…Our feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (repentance, faith, Holy Ghost, prayer)…And then finally the helmet of salvation…Salvation is to be saved…saved from sin."

"Holding in our hand a shield and in our other hand a sword…the shield of faith and the sword of the word of God. I can't think of any more powerful weapons that faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in the which are contained the Word of God." (Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 9 Nov. 1954], pp 3-7)

I gave the kids a piece of foil and they wrote on that foil a fiery dart that the adversary throws at them ~ something that they struggle with. They then made arrows out of the foil and threw them at Kiera. She did a great job at dodging them. Then she got to throw them back at the kids and they used their scriptures as their shields. It was a fun object lesson.

Our Armored Warrior

Then in closing I used another object lesson. Mary came to the front. I introduced a potato which the kids affectionately named Sam Spud. I asked them a couple of questions and they had to truthfully answer yes or no. If they answered NO to the question then Mary was to peel the Sam. One peel off for every no in the class. Question 1 – Did you say your personal prayers last night and this morning? Question 2 – Did you have personal scripture study? Question 3 – Did you have family scripture study? Question 4 – Did you have FHE this week? Question 5 – Did you strive all day yesterday to be obedient? By the time we got done with the last question Sam had lost his armor ~ (his skin). It was gone! We are going to watch Sam over the course of the next few months to see what happens to him without his armor. We talked about how not doing all those things leaves us without our armor – without our protection. I told them to put their armor on – don't take it off!

Sam Spud

Day one without armor

I hope it was effective – I hope every time they see a potato they will think of Sam Spud and what is happening to him because he has lost his armor. They are great kids! Together we are going to win this war! Their armor is strong ~ We all have to be reminded to put our armor on and to continually shine it through prayer, scripture study, family home evening, obedience, following the prophet and our other leaders. One step at a time!!!!

Thursday

Today we talked about this quote...

"Don't let the workings of adversity totally absorb your life" 

(Richard G. Scott)

I put a sponge in some water to see how much it could soak up.  It pretty much absorbed all of it.  Then we talked about being absorbed by something and what that means and how our trials sometimes totally absorb us.  We talked about some of the trials that Joseph Smith was facing during this period of time.  We talked about the trials that the Savior faced during His life.  I posed the question - Does the Savior understand adversity?

Then we talked about this scripture...

"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." (D&C 24:8)

And we looked for the Lord's counsel and promises and how they can help us in our trials.  We substituted our names in the scripture ~ Rozla, be patient in affliction because you are going to have many; but endure them.  I am with you even until the end of your days.

Then I shared with them this quote by Elder Richard G. Scott...

"I testify that when the Lord closes one important door in your life, He shows His continuing love and compassion by opening many other compensating doors through your exercise of faith.  He will place in your path packets of spiritual sunlight to brighten your way.  They often come after the trial has been the greatest, as evidence of the compassion and love of an all-knowing Father.  They point the way to greater happiness and more understanding and strengthen your determination to accept and be obedient to His will." (Ensign Nov. 1995)

I love how he said that the Lord will send packets of spiritual sunlight to brighten our way.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have that Heavenly Father loves me - little old me - just a humble seminary teacher in Helena Montana trying to do the best I can and praying to help these precious youth understand the same! 

Today I'm grateful for my packets of spiritual sunlight!

Gratitude

This week in Seminary we have been talking about General Conference this past weekend.  Particularly what the Prophet had to say.  Our scripture block for the week included Doctrine and Covenants Section 21 which is basically Joseph Smith's call as Prophet of the church.  We talked about what it means to be "a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ..." (D&C 21:1)  A seer is "one who sees with spiritual eyes...he is an interpreter and clarifier of eternal truth.  He foresees the future from the past and the present. This he does by the power of the Lord operating through him..." (John A. Widtsoe)  Elder Widtsoe also said that "a prophet is a teacher.  He is an expounder of truth. ...He shows the way to human happiness is through obedience to God's law...All this he does by close communion with the Lord..."

So we talked about GRATITUDE.  President Monson asked if we remember to give thanks for our blessings.  Do we walk with gratitude?  A couple of things that I shared with the kids that touched me from his talk...

HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Give THANKS and then WATCH MIRACLES HAPPEN

 To be grateful is to touch Heaven

By being OBEDIENT we give to God GRATITUDE

I made a GRATEFUL board in our room.  Every day the kids are to write one thing they are grateful for that day and it can't be repeated!  When the board is full then we will write it on pieces of paper and put them in a jar.  When the jar is full maybe we will do a chain around the room.  But everyday we will be grateful!  

On Monday two of the girls are going to come to class with a letter they have written to President Monson expressing gratitude to him.  We will all sign it and then I will send it to him so that he knows the freshman Seminary class in Helena are striving to be obedient and grateful :)

Thank you President Monson for the reminder to be more grateful! And for your clear view of the future.  Thank you for being the one person on the earth that we can follow with complete faith!

List the first 5 things that come to your mind that you are grateful for... Today mine are...

• Lynn
• being a grandma
• being a mom
• my home
• good friends