Fruits Help
Harvest: The teaching point of this game is that we need the Holy Spirit to help us develop the ‘fruits’ in our lives. We cannot be ‘over-comers’ of all the bad things in our human nature without Him.
Explain a Fruit and To Be or Not to Be: The aim is to collect the most cards by giving examples of how the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ may be shown in everyday situations relevant to the age of the players.
An extension of this game may be to ask older players to give examples in Scripture of where these ‘fruits’ were exercised.
Fruit Chains: The aim is to familiarise the players with the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ by taking it in turns to lay down the sequenced stories for each ‘fruit’. The Holy Spirit cards can stand for any card of a player’s choosing if they do not have a card to lay down. The teaching point here is that when we lack the resources to show the ‘fruits’ in our lives (e.g. we find it hard to love someone), then we need the Holy Spirit to come alongside us and help us (e.g. Romans 5:8, when we have no love, the Holy Spirit will ‘pour it into our hearts’, so we can love the unlovely.)
Fruit Matrix: A teaching point in the actual game-play is to see how the Holy Spirit often begins with one ‘fruit’, bringing it into our lives little by little, then slowly He builds these ‘fruits’ into every area, by adding other fruits that connect to the ‘fruit’ already being laid down by Him. For example, the Spirit may begin to bring peace into a person’s life, and then joy is added to it as they realise how God cares for them.
The finished rectangle with all the fruits laid out, is rather like a picture of where the Holy Spirit is taking each believer as He makes us more and more complete in Jesus, through the growth of the ‘fruits’ in us (Colossians 1:9; 2:10).