Have you ever wanted an answer to one of these questions: What is a result of having the Spirit with you? How can you tell if you are feeling the Spirit in your life? What does the Spirit feel like? How do I know if I don’t have the Spirit with me?
Galatians 5:22-23 is such a valuable resource. It lists simple descriptive attributes that help us know if we have the Spirit of the Lord in our life.
I love to teach this to children and teenagers but the list can be a challenge for them to remember. I came up with a fun saying that helped me remember them in order: Can you see how it matches up with the attributes?
Little Jolly People Keep Green Grapes From Mashing Snakes
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control: against such there is not law. Galatians 5:22-23
There are two options for the last attribute because the final word listed in the King James Version is temperance, a word not commonly used, so I substitute self-control which has the same meaning but is more understandable. Little Jolly People can keep Green Grapes from Mashing Toys instead of Snakes if you prefer the word temperance in the list. Feel free to change the mnemonic device or create a better phrase of your own.
Songs or sheer repetition may help your children more than a fun saying. If so, you may enjoy one of the youtube links below. Whatever method we choose, I hope the fruits of the Spirit can become more a part of our vocabulary, and most importantly more a part of our daily thinking and living.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-hrxEjWxkE Colorful, catchy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWoWDdeD-ns Geared to preschool age, include signs (ASL)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rezg4jYFoj0 May help older children memorize it
Just a few a verses before these in Galatians 5 is a list of the “works of the flesh” or the result of not having the Spirit. This is also a valuable reminder of what to avoid. Fighting, arguing, jealousy, giving everything a sexual connotation (lasciviousness) are not fruits of the Spirit.
What can we do to feel more of these delicious fruits of the Spirit in our lives and avoid the yucky works of the flesh?