Fruit of the Spirit Devotions

When the global pandemic began at the beginning of 2020, children in the Manna 4 Lempira sponsorship program were no longer able to meet for church or bible teaching.  As a way to keep them learning the Word at home with their families, 6 of us sponsors came together and wrote a bible challenge booklet.  We each wrote one week of the challenge; then the ministry director compiled them into a booklet and had them distributed to all of the children in the program.  For my week, I wrote a series on the Fruit of the Spirit.  If you sponsor a child through Manna 4 Lempira who was in the program as of mid 2020, they have already received these devotionals.  However, if your child is new to the program or is part of a different sponsorship organization, this could be a great study to send to them.  You could send all 9 fruits at the same time or send 1 fruit in each letter over the course of several months with the devotion and verse for that fruit.  You can also customize it by adding coloring page for each fruit, fruit-themed recipes or scented stickers, and so much more.

My Amy with her banana-themed devotion about joy

Introduction: When you become a child of God, He puts His Holy Spirit inside of you to teach you, comfort you, and guide you.  The Holy Spirit makes beautiful things grow in our hearts.  We call these things the Fruits of the Spirit, because they grow in our hearts like fruit grows on a tree.  The fruits that the Spirit grows in our hearts are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  God promises that His children will always have the choice to use these things.

Memorize Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Descriptions & Fruit Analogies:

Love: Love means caring about someone and doing what is best for them.  When I think of love, I think of hearts.  A fruit that reminds me of love is cherries, because they look a little like hearts.

Joy: Joy is the happiness we get from God.  Even when we are sad about something else, we can have joy about God, because He is always with us.  When I think of joy, I think of smiles.  A fruit that reminds me of joy is bananas, because they look like smiles.

Peace: Peace is the calmness that we get from God.  It means we can relax and know that everything will be okay, even when something scary happens, because He will never leave us.  When I think of peace, I think of a calm place, like a beach.  I also think about standing tall and confident, and not being afraid.  A fruit that reminds me of peace is pineapples, because they grow in calm, tropical places like a beach; and they stand tall with a big crown of leaves on top.

Patience: Having patience means waiting for something that takes a while, without complaining or becoming anxious.  When I think of patience, I think of praying for something and trusting that God will answer, even if it takes a while.  A fruit that reminds me of patience is watermelon, because watermelons are huge, so we have to wait a long time for them to grow to full size.

Kindness: Kindness means being nice to others and doing nice things for them.  A fruit that reminds me of kindness is oranges, because when you open an orange, it is broken into pieces- to be shared with friends!

Goodness: Goodness means doing what is right.  All people have sinned, so none of us are good on our own.  Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins for us, so our spirits can be good again.  Then, He put His Holy Spirit inside of us to help us make good choices.  A fruit that reminds me of goodness is apples, because in the bible, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate a fruit (which people think was an apple) from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This reminds us that we need to make good choices.

Faithfulness: Faithfulness means believing in God and His promises, even when you can't see them.  A fruit that reminds me of faithfulness is figs.  In Jeremiah 24, God's people were held captive as slaves, while other people mocked them.  God showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs: one good and one rotten.  This was a symbol God's promise for the future.  God promised that His people who were going through trouble now would turn out prosperous like the good figs, and their enemies would be like the rotten figs.  They needed to have faith to believe this, because it wasn't what they could see at that time.  But later, it happened, and they were freed!

Gentleness: Gentleness is very similar to kindness.  It means being careful to say and do things that will make people happy instead of hurting them.  It means speaking soft words instead of harsh words.  When I think of gentleness, I think of something soft and fuzzy.  A fruit that reminds me of gentleness is peaches, because they are fuzzy on the outside.

Self-Control: Self-control means that God gives us the ability to control ourselves and use all of the other Fruits of the Spirit that He gave to us.  It means that we can always choose the right thing and never have to choose the wrong thing.  Instead of thinking of self-control as one fruit, we are going to think of it as a big fruit salad- because it helps us to use a mixture of all of the other Fruits of the Spirit.

 

Memory verses for each fruit:

Love:   1 John 4:19 (We love, because God first loved us.), John 3:16 (For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life), Romans 5:8 (God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.)

Joy: Nehemiah 8:10 (The joy of the LORD is your strength.)

Peace: Deuteronomy 31:6 (Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you.)

Patience: Galatians 6:9 (Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.)

Kindness: Matthew 7:12 (Treat other people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law of the Prophets.)

Goodness: Romans 3:23 (For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God) Tie into how our only goodness is through Jesus

Faithfulness: Hebrews 11:1 (Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.)

Gentleness: Proverbs 15:1 (A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.)

Self-Control: 2 Timothy 1:7 (God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.)

 

How Jesus Used the Fruits of the Spirit:

Love: John 3:16 tells us Jesus did what was best for us by coming to Earth to save us so we could have eternal life.

Joy: Luke 10:21 says Jesus rejoiced when He thought about the Holy Spirit and how He gives us knowledge.

Peace: Matthew 14 tells us Jesus walked on water in the middle of a crazy storm.  This tells us He wasn’t afraid, because He had calmness and trust in God to protect Him.

Patience: Mark 1:13 tells us Jesus stayed in the wilderness for 40 days while being tempted by the devil.  This shows that He had great patience while waiting for the season to end.

Kindness: In Matthew 19:14, Jesus told his disciples to let the little children come to Him.  Jesus loves children and was very kind to them.

Goodness: 1 Peter 2:22 tells us Jesus never sinned or said anything wrong.  This tells us He is the only one who is completely good, so He is the only one who can save us.

Faithfulness: Several places in the bible, such as Luke 3:21, show Jesus praying.  This shows us His faith in His Father even when He couldn’t see Him.

Gentleness: In John chapter 8, a crowd of people were trying to kill a woman because she had sinned.  Jesus stopped them, forgave her, and let her go free even though she had done something wrong.  This shows that He is gentle and caring to anyone who accepts His gift of forgiveness and believes He died to save us.

Self-Control: In Matthew 4, Jesus was being tempted by the devil to bow down to him.  Jesus was without food or water in the wildness.  It would have been very easy for Him to become tired and give in, but He didn’t.  He controlled Himself and continued to worship God.

How to Throw a Quinceañera

In Honduras and much of Latin America, a girl’s quinceañera (15th birthday) celebrates her transition into womanhood and is often a bigger deal than her wedding.  It’s a chance to make her feel loved and celebrated, as well as a reminder of the plans God has for this next season of her life and how far He has already brought her.  As a child sponsor, I’ve made it my personal goal to help celebrate each of my sponsored girls’ quinceañeras.  As often as possible, this will mean being there for the celebration and throwing a whole party.  Other times, it will simply mean sending a dress and decorations so they can celebrate with their families.  I was recently blessed to be able to spend a weekend with my Estefani and her family in Honduras, celebrating her quinceañera at the beautiful Hilton Princess hotel.

Here are some of the gifts and elements we included in the celebration.  Whether you are visiting your sponsored child in person for the celebration or sending gifts in their backpack, I hope this gives you ideas of some things to include.

The gown & accessories: We got Estefani’s quinceañera gown from Amazon.  These gowns in stores often cost hundreds or thousands of dollars; but Amazon has several beautiful options under $100.  Just search "quinceañera gown" to see many beautiful options right on the first page.  Most of them are not on Prime and can take a few weeks to arrive, so plan ahead.  I got her tiara and bracelets from Claires.  The necklace and earrings were a gift from her aunt.  I also gave her some makeup as a gift for the occasion- some light blush and eye shadow, lip gloss, mascara, and eye liner.

Surprise dress: One element of a quinceañera in the US is the surprise dance.  I don’t know whether this is traditional or whether it’s a modern addition.  Typically, the surprise dance is when the girl comes out during the reception in a 2nd dress her guests haven’t seen before and does a dance that reflects something about her personality. Since Estefani’s party was just 6 of us in a hotel restaurant, there was no dancing.  Still, I’ve made it my own tradition to give my girls a surprise dress for their quinceañera.  In addition to the formal gown they know about ahead of time, I surprise them with this pretty-but-significantly-less-fancy dress on the day of the party.  The purpose of this dress is so she can have something more comfortable if she doesn’t want to wear her gown all night or if her gown doesn't fit; and so she’ll have something pretty to wear at home on her actual birthday if the party falls on a different day.  I did the same thing for my Melania for her quinceañera in 2014.   If you aren't visiting for the occasion or think the girl's parents may want to buy the fancier gown themselves, you could also send just the surprise dress.  I've done this with a few of my girls when I wasn't sure what kind of celebration they were having.  Here is Estefani wearing her surprise dress at home with a family friend on her actual birthday, the week after her party.

The ring: I asked my friend who attended another quinceañera  in Honduras about a month before this one what traditional things I should include.  She told me the girl’s mother had given her a special ring that would some day be replaced by her wedding ring.  This is similar to the idea of a purity ring; I just don’t use that name any more because I want my girls to know they are pure through the blood of Christ even if they make a mistake, and that it’s never too late to start following His plan for their lives.  The focus of this ring is to remind the girl of who they are in Christ and what He has for their futures, to encourage them to wait for that. I got Estefani this adjustable ring from Amazon since I wasn’t sure of her size.  It is shaped like a crown to remind her that she is a daughter of the King.  To be honest, there was so much going on at her party that I didn’t get to explain this meaning in detail when I gave it to her.  I sent a letter later talking about it.  My friend also told me that at the quinceañera she attended recently, the girl was given a special bible as a gift.  I had just given Estefani a bible in her backpack this past year which is why I didn't include one in the celebration, but this is another idea.  This bible is specifically a quinceañera design and is in Spanish.

 

The heels: One of the most important parts of a quinceañera is the heel ceremony.  This is when one of the parents changes the girl’s shoes from flats to heels- a symbol of growing up.  Estefani ended up being uncomfortable in her heels and wore the flats all night, but they'll be something special she can keep for when she's a little older.

The doll: Another part of a quinceañera is the last doll.  This is, traditionally, when the girl receives a doll as a gift for the last time before she becomes an adult.  Estefani already received the doll she really wanted (an American Girl) earlier this year and likely won’t be interested in them for much longer, so I just got her a small one from the dollar store as a way to keep the tradition.  I didn’t want to invest too much into something she’d likely never use.  Her little cousin ended up claiming the doll as her own by the end of the night and playing with it at the dinner table, which is fine.  Quinceañera dolls usually have fancy dresses to match the girl’s.  Even a Disney Princess doll or princess Barbie could work.

The photo album: As far as I know, this isn’t a traditional aspect of a quinceañera.  It is, however, something I’ve been planning for more than half of Estefani’s life. Since she was 7 years old, I’ve saved every photo I had of her and copies of every letter I’ve written to her in a folder in chronological order to make an album for her quinceañera.  Thanks to a distant relative, I was also able to get a few of her baby photos to include.  We had such a special time looking through this album together with her aunt.  I wrote her a letter at the beginning talking about her quinceañera and left some blank space at the end for her to add additional photos of her friends and family.