Welcome to Week 2 of the Family Fruit Challenge! This week we are learning about LOVE.
Below you will find a short devotional to read with your kids, a link to download Bible memory cards and fruit pictures, and links to fun songs and activities that will help you teach your children about the Fruit of the Spirit.
DON’T FORGET TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE WEEKLY NOTIFICATIONS ABOUT THE CHALLENGE!
Special thanks to our guest blogger today, Darrell Ferguson. Learn more about Darrell at the end of this blog post!
A DEVOTIONAL FOR KIDS ABOUT LOVE
Pretend you were walking through the woods with God. If he started going faster, you would run to catch up. If he stopped, you would stop. If he went up a steep hill, you would follow, taking his hand to help you up.
That’s what the Christian life is like. The Bible tells us to keep in step with Him—staying close (Galatians 5:25). When we stay close to Him, He makes some wonderful things grow inside our hearts. One of those things is love.
WHAT IS LOVE?
Loving God is when you really like being near Him and you want to obey Him.
Loving people is when you care about someone so much that you want to make them happy and help them love God. It means acting in ways that are kind and honorable, even when you don’t feel like it.
Jesus said the most important command in the whole Bible is this: Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
LOVING GOD
The way to love God more is the same as the way you love people more. Think of your best friend. You grew to know them and like them by enjoying time together.
It’s the same with loving God. If you spend time with Him, and you enjoy that time, that will help you love Him more.
So when you read your Bible and pray, think about God being right there with you in the room.
Enjoy having Him listen to you when you talk to Him. Enjoy having someone who cares about what you think. Enjoy having someone watch over you and protect you. Enjoy having someone giving you good gifts every day.
The Bible says that God is always with us and he will never leave us! (Deuteronomy 31:8) God always listens when we talk to him. (I Peter 3:12)
Another way to love God more is to enjoy the gifts He gives us. Whenever you eat some food or candy that tastes good, and you really enjoy it, that’s God saying, “I love you.” In your heart you can whisper, “I love you too, God!”
Whenever you do something fun, thank God for creating fun activities for you to enjoy. He wants to remind you that He loves you. So when something is really fun, say, “I love you too, God!”
The most important way that God shows us his love is by forgiving our sins. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.
When God forgives your sins, or teaches you something about Himself, say, “I love You too, God!”
If you want to learn more about how to love God more, you can listen to Darrell’s sermon series “Loving God with all Your Heart for Children and Teens.”
LOVING PEOPLE
Nothing will make God happier than if you love people the same way He loves them.
Loving people is when you care about others so much that you treat them better than you treat yourself.
The best way to learn how to love people is by thinking a lot about how much God loves them. Then, if you love God, you will love the people He loves just because He loves them.
But we can’t love people all by ourselves. Love is one of the fruits of the Spirit. We need God to give us his love so we can love other people! I John 4:19 says that we love others because God first loved us!
The Devil wants you to think that the way to be happy is to be selfish. But Jesus taught us that you will be a lot happier if you put other people first.
It’s not always easy to love people. Some people are hard to love. But God didn’t tell us to only love people who deserve it. And God didn’t wait until we deserved His love before He loved us (Romans 5:8). So we don’t have to wait to love someone until they are good enough. When we love someone that isn’t very nice, we are showing the world what God is like.
Think about someone you know who is hard to love. How can you show God’s love to that person today? How can you show love to your mom and dad, brothers or sisters? Pray and ask God to help you!
PRAYER
Dear Father in heaven, Thank you for giving us your Spirit to walk with us. We can’t love others without your help. Please, make love grow in our hearts—love for you, and love for the people you love. We love You God. In Jesus’ name, amen.
GET NEXT WEEK’S CHALLENGE DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX! SIGN UP HERE!
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT LOVE
DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE BIBLE MEMORY CARDS ABOUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Use these verse cards to help your children learn more about the Fruit of the Spirit. Read one each day and discuss what it means with your kids. Choose one verse card to memorize throughout the week. Print out the pictures of each “fruit” and display them in your home.
SONGS ABOUT LOVE
* Love the Lord Your God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdMIxCdlY-c
* Love the Lord (round) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlOMFxsFDY
* It’s about L-O-V-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOsnEkcKWKM
* Love Will Never Fail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS5or9cSLnE
* Love Will Never End https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91mYUm_TrV8
LOVE ACTIVITIES
LOVE BINGO – DOWNLOAD HERE
Brainstorm with your kids ways you can show love to others. Fill in each square on the bingo board. Cross off a square whenever someone shows one of the acts of love. Could be done individually or as a family.
THE LOVE MOBILE CRAFT – DOWNLOAD HERE
Create a mobile to display in your home that will remind your kids what love is all about. Based on I Corinthians 13.
CHILDREN’S BOOK ABOUT LOVE
Love Bird – A Fruit Fable by Shelleen Weaver (affiliate link)
EXTRA RESOURCES ABOUT LOVE
A story about loving your enemies
Another lesson about loving your enemies
DOWNLOAD FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT PICTURE CARDS
Download a set of 9 picture cards, one for each Fruit of the Spirit. There are two cards on each 8.5×11 sheet of paper. Display them in your home to help remind your kids of the Fruit of the Week!
WHAT’S NEXT?
Be sure to sign up HERE to receive email updates each week when the next Family Fruit Challenge is ready for you! An email will be sent to your inbox every Monday, with a link to the new blog post for the week. (10 weeks total).
Want to learn more about all our guest bloggers? MEET THEM HERE
OUR GUEST BLOGGER
Darrell (Richard) Ferguson is an author, pastor and host of the Food For Your Soul podcast. With experience as a former youth pastor, pastor, church planter, and counselor, he is passionate about teaching the word of God to both children and adults. Richard graduated from Moody Bible Institute and then went on to earn a Master of Sacred Literature degree as well as Doctorate of Religious studies.
Darrell and his wife Tracy live in Colorado where they enjoy their six grandchildren and the wonders of God’s creation. You can find Darrell at https://drichardferguson.com/ and you can find his newest book, Escape from Paradise, on Amazon. (affiliate link)
0 Comments