fruit of the spirit

Welcome again!

Today’s lesson is from Galatians 5.

(Our lesson from last year can be found HERE)

So this time Paul was writing a letter to the Galatians (people who lived in Galatia). In this letter, one of the things Paul reminds the people is to live how God wants them to live. He says before they knew God, they did whatever they wanted. And everyone sins….so what showed was their sin…they were angry, and mean and thought only about themselves. But, he says, once we know God, God’s spirit lives in our heart and we should become more like Him everyday. And that will show too! (How do we get closer to God? We pray and talk to Him! We sing praises to Him and we read the Bible: His words to us).

The things we do that show we are sinful or that show we follow God are called fruit. Just like fruit trees grow and show off fruit, people grow too and show off what’s inside their heart. Sometimes people grow more and more into their bad choices. Sometimes, they grow more and more to be like God. A yucky tree makes yucky fruit and a good healthy tree makes yummy fruit. Just like trees, people who make bad choices show off yucky things and people who make Godly choices will show good things. These are called the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit is what shows when God’s spirit lives in your heart. And the more you become like Him, the more these things will show.

So what ARE the fruits of the Spirit? Paul says they are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

We drew trees with 9 branches and then drew a picture for each fruit as we discussed them.

Love-heart

Joy-smiley face-(being excited about God’s plans)

Peace-cloud-(not worrying, but trusting God)

Patience-clock-(waiting with a happy heart)

Kindness-flower

Goodness-halo-(obeying God)

Faithfulness-mountain-(always trusting God, not loving other things more than God)

Gentleness-lamb

Self-Control-tongue-(being able to take time to make good decisions, not just doing whatever we want right away. We drew a tongue for this one because it can be very hard to think before you use your words to make sure you are using NICE words).

And since these are fruits of the Spirit…that means this is what God is like! If we are like Him, we will show these things and He is love, He is joy, He is peace, He is patient, He is kind, He is good, He is faithful, He is gentle, and He has complete self-control.

Also:

We like THIS VIDEO from the “What’s in the Bible” series.

There is also THIS SONG from Steve Green’s “Hide ’em in your heart” album.

This is our song for the fruit of the spirit.

Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!

Hi there.

This month we are studying the teachings of the new testament (or, how to live a Godly life). Today’s lesson comes from Galatians 5:22-23.

Did you know that apples grow on trees? And bananas too! Lots of fruit grows on trees. One way you can tell if a fruit tree is healthy and strong is that will provide a LOT of GOOD fruit.

The Bible tells us that just like trees, there are some ways we can tell if someone is strong and living for God. These are called “fruits” of the Spirit (because God’s Spirit lives in us and helps us when we believe in Him.)

(We did our craft AS we covered each item) I drew a tree on each child’s paper and cut out the circles as i talked with them. Then they drew the illustration on each circle. (Bear in mind, my kids are 3…so some of these drawings may look a bit rudimentary. You could draw the outline and have your child color it in, or you could find some clip art if you wanted a more polished look.)

The first way people will know that we love God, is that we will be loving. The kids drew a heart on this circle. (We talked about love just the other day, so it was a great chance to go over again all the things that Love is! See 1 Corinthians 13)

The second way people will know we love and serve God is that we will be joyful. That means that we can be happy, even if something sad happens, because we know God cares for us and will help us. It’s ok to be sad. Even Jesus was sad sometimes, but even when you’re sad, you can know in your heart that God will always be there for you. For this one, we drew a smiley face.

The 3rd way we can show people that we love God, is that we will have peace. Do you know what that means? It means calm. We don’t have to worry about things that might happen, because God is taking care of us. We know we will live with Him forever and that He is always there for us. We drew a dove for this one (with *some* help from mom).

(You could also talk about the dove during Jesus baptism, how that was a sign of God sending His son in peace and not wrath towards humanity. Also, the dove with Noah…that God had been angry and washed all the sin away, but promised He would still find a way to be with us and that He loves us forever.)

The next “fruit” we will have in our lives is patience. That means waiting with a good attitude. It can be very hard to be patient. When you love God, though, and you know He has everything under control, it can be a little bit easier sometimes. For this one, we drew a clock.

We will also be kind. Kindness can be helping a friend, giving hugs or listening to them. There are SO many ways to show kindness to others. This time, we traced our “giving” hands. (We also remembered our lesson on giving from earlier in the week).

When we love God, we will make good choices. We try to do the right thing. Sometimes, when no one is looking, it can be easy to do the wrong thing, but if we really love God, we will try to always do what is right. For this one, we drew a crown.

People will also know we love Jesus by our faithfulness. Faithfulness means not giving up. Loyal. It can also mean trusting. We can be loyal to those we love and we can be loyal to God. We spend time talking to Him and reading the Bible. We can also trust Him forever and forever. And the Bible also says that God is faithful too. He is faithful and will love us forever. We drew a cross and remembered God’s faithfulness to us, even when we do bad things, He still loves us and sent His son Jesus to die in our place. THAT’S how committed He is to us.

When we love God, we will also show gentleness. (This was an easy one for our kiddos to understand). We drew a soft lamb.

The last way we can show people we have God in our lives, is by our self control. That means that we control our emotions and our choices. You can have self control by not yelling or hitting. You can show self control by not eating too much candy. You can show self control by being a good listener. What are some other ways we can show self-control?

For this last one, we drew some pieces of candy.

If your kids believe in God, you can talk with them about which ones they might struggle with. Being open and sharing what is hard for you can be a great tool for your kids too.

Altogether, our trees looked like this:

Here is our song for this lesson.

I would LOVE to see your finished creations. Feel free to share them. Thanks, love to you all.

He Bids Them Come

A place of encouragement to help teach your little ones about Jesus and His word

Fruit of the Spirit

Fruit of the Spirit