The devil is after our children. Kids face things in school today that we never had to face-things like drugs, guns, rape, and murder. Let's not deny our children the one thing they need to overcome temptation-the power of God. Children and youth today need the power of God; it's not an option.


We must do everything in our ability to make God's power available to them.   

God CAN Use Children
It is also very important that parents believe that God can use their children.

Willie George is one of my spiritual fathers. I'm doing what I'm doing today because Willie influenced my life 20 years ago when I was attending Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

One day I asked Willie, "Why is it so hard for parents to believe that their own children can step out into the supernatural and be used in the gifts of the Spirit?"

(Many times I had more faith in their children than they did. This seemed odd to me.)

I never forgot what Willie said: "It's because most parents know their children after the flesh."

Wow! Now I understood. Even Jesus "could not do any mighty works" in His hometown. Why? Because they knew Him after His flesh. They had no understanding of the call on His life or the gift of God in Him

Look for the Gift of God
Mom and Dad, don't look at your children after the flesh; look for the gift of God in them. Some of your children are called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors.

The following is a quote from Clarine Chun's book "Please Do Not Despise Me." (Clarine and her husband pastor a church in Malaysia):

The church is constantly expected to provide a program to keep their kids happy while Daddy and Mommy are in the worship service. Parents also have this mentality that their kids cannot understand the pastor's message, therefore they need to be taken out of the service.

Sometimes, I wonder when parents and adults are going to allow their children's spiritual maturity to catch up and be on par with their level of intellectual development.

It all has to start with our thinking. Why do you send your child for swimming lessons? Because you believe he's going to make it. Surely no parent will send his/her child for swimming lessons anticipating the child to drown.

Why do you send your child to art classes? Because you believe (with all the mess he will make) that he will learn art.

Why do we keep kids in an adult worship service? Because we believe in their spiritual abilities.

In Mark 11:23 we read a very familiar scripture,

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass he shall have whatsoever he saith.
(Mark 11:23)

The main thought of this scripture is that you get what you believe for and say with your mouth. If your children are not passionately in love with Jesus, maybe you need to change what you are believing about them and change what you are saying about them.

You can start the change right now. Take a few moments and ask God to forgive you for not believing that He can work through children. Then start to say things like:

Father, I pray for (your child's name) that his/her foot steps are ordered by You. Every time that ______________ sins or takes a step towards the worlds, I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict him/her of sin. _______________ is passionately in love with Jesus Christ. _____________ is hungry for the things of God. God has a plan for _________________'s life. God wants to use _____________ in a powerful way.

Pray this way for your children every day for one month and it will change how you think about your kids.

Source: Children and the Holy Spirit by Mark Harper
Excerpt permission granted by Mark Harper Ministries