The armor of God

Yesterday I was reading Ephesians 6 and was overwhelmed with a sense of the war in which we are engaged. We are given full armor to wage war against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil "that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm" (Eph 6:12).

I remember once coming home from school (teaching 3rd grade in a rough public school) and licking my wounds, asking God, "Why?" I also remember the distinct answer: "If you go into a war zone not wearing the armor you have been issued, who are you to complain?" As always, He was right. We live in a war zone, and if we go out without our armor on, we have no business complaining.

How do we teach that to our children, so that they taste that reality?