Day 3: The Fruit of the Spirit
(When you see “these children”, insert the names of the children for whom you are praying.)
Lord, may these children display the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22
In Jesus’ name, Amen
What a list of characteristics! I look at that list and see much I myself need more of. And yet, it is the fruit of the Spirit, not my fruit. He will equip us and our children in the many places we are weak. In our weakness, He is strong. However, we must surrender to His Spirit—step aside and let Him work. This is our prayer for ourselves as well as our children.
We frequently pray aloud certain scriptures for our children and this is one of the most common prayers. Over the years, they have heard us pray this verse over them so much, they all can easily recite the list of the fruit of the Spirit. In addition, this list gives them a set of “surrender goals”. Goals are something that we work towards on our own. But we want them to have this list as “surrender goals”—areas they work toward surrendering to the Holy Spirit, that they may step aside and let Him do His mighty work in their lives.
Update: Well, I am back to the world of toddlers. And so now my house is filled once again with the sounds of toddler songs, tunes, and tv shows. One of my favorites of all time is Steve Green’s Hide ‘Em In Your Heart. When I first had these, they were on fat VHS tapes. I have re-ordered them now on DVD. I highly recommend these if you have young children or grandchildren. Now, let me warn you–you will have to endured the styles of the early nineties (Did I really dress my oldest kids like that?? Surely, not!) but they are still tried and true in teaching young children straight scripture. If you get them, check out the Fruit of the Spirits song!
