Full Armor

Yesterday, I was looking up scripture from the trip to Poland to quote in my scrapbook. I am familiar with the verses on the "Full Armor of God", but enjoyed the opportunity for the familiar passage to be presented in a fresh way during the OPS trip to Poland last month.
Dale, who is currently serving in Poland as a missionary, gave an intriguing combination devotional and Polish history lesson to our prayer team. He and three young men (the sons of one of our hosts) appeared dressed in actual armor bearing shields and weaponry! (How cool is that?!)
The scripture reference began with Ephesians 6:10--- for those who are not immediately familiar with the passage:
The Armor of God 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
14Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
15and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;
16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Dale's teaching was an awesome time of preparation for our team before we headed out on our road trip that included the visits to Auschwitz and the Jasna Gora monastery where the Black Madonna is housed. One of our team members became ill on the return trip, but we had Dale's visual of the guys locking their shields together in order to present a stronger defense to inspire us to pray together for the health of our team mate. Our prayers for him were answered with his ability to rejoin us. He said later that he was feeling better after our prayers, but that his full restoration came about as we travelled on down the road singing our praise.