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Continued from Part 6-4
he Word of God describes children as a heritage from the Lord, and a blessing. As arrows in the hand of the mighty so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall speak to the enemy at the gate (Psalm 127:4).
Anyone could look down upon a "seeming helpless woman" until you see her children. The presence of children creates a sense of responsibility, respect and honor. The word of God says that children are a blessing. They are a gift from God. After everything I have been through in my life, I would not have had any courage to continue to live if not for my children. Like Paul, I have desired many times to depart from this life, yet the thought of my children continued to bring me back to life. I later realized that all the tremendous sufferings and experiences I have had are part of my apostolic processing.
Children are very precious gift from the hand of the Lord. They are the future of our nations and the continuity of life on Earth. The way we raise them will determine the future of our nation and other people. For instance, if the mother of the former German traitor had raised him up well, six million Jewish lives and the other four million lives that were wasted would probably not have happened. More so, if the once traitor President of one of the East African countries was raised up well, the nation would not have undergone what it went through. On the other hand, if Moses' mother had not raised him up, when she was nursing him, in the way he should go, he would not have been able to deliver the people of God from Egyptian bondage, and if Jacob did not raise Joseph in the way he should go, he would not have been used to preserve the lives of the twelve tribes of Israel from famine that devastated the Earth, but for his wisdom and position in Egypt where he was sold as a slave and later became the prime minister.
Every child has a great destiny that will impact generations of lives. Parents are the primary instrument in the hands of God to raise their children in Christ, to align their lives to their divine purpose. Each child I had, I already knew what the plan of God for him/her is. My job is to prayerfully raise them by divine principles; to intercede for them in prayers and to help them spiritually align themselves to fulfil their divine purposes.
The birth of each child however, gets the attention of the dragon, the devil. He assigns his demons against each so that as we try to raise them according to God's plan and purpose, the enemy works hard to distract them. It's a battle for the soul of each child. Many parents or Churches do not know that children do perish. Children without Christ do perish in Hell, but the plan of God is that we are to evangelize them and train them in His ways. I have talked about this before.
During my National Youth service Corps in 1989 I was posted to serve with the Children Evangelism Ministry. Before then, God had already called me during my University days as an intercessor. With my graduation however, I was planning to travel to the US, but the Lord told me that I was going to give Him that one year of service. So, I was posted to CEM, as the Lord pre-ordained. Thank God for His sovereign plan. I am ever grateful to Him for giving me such exposure.
During our intensive two week training in the camp, I was devastated that all they were talking about was: "children, children, children" I was distraught, and very confused. I could not concentrate. "What am I doing here?" I asked myself. Then during one of the training sections, I asked the Lord to please convince me that I am in the right place, just do something; show me something tangible. As the section was ending, we bowed our head to pray, the Lord opened my eyes. I saw children from the village where I was born and raised, moving aimlessly here and there. The Holy Spirit said to me: they are empty and frustrated within. Then He explained to me that in the life of every one is an emptiness which only God occupies. Until that gap is occupied by Him, the life of everyone is as described: aimless and unfulfilled.
The condition of those children touched my heart so much that I began to deeply weep where I was. The instructor acknowledged that the Lord was speaking to some people, and asked us to put everything in writing. From that moment, the passion to Evangelize Children and bring them to Christ was established in my heart and burns as fire.
In Lamentation, the Lord laments through Jeremiah:
Even the jackals present their breasts To nurse their young; But the daughter of my People is cruel, Like ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the infant clings to the roof of Its mouth for thirst; the young children ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them: Lamentations 4:3, 6
Can you hear the heartbeat of God towards children? Can we feel the need in the individual lives of our children, and the children in our neighborhoods? The word of God said that the children ask for bread - through their behaviors, through their rebelliousness, through their violent activities, through their endless computer games, etc, they want to fill the emptiness inside, but no one breaks it for them. At times, parents try to occupy them with many activities but their inner man is crying out for thirst, their God-established thirst. The same thirst that caused the woman of samaria to marry five husbands and was on the sixth boyfriend until she met the Lord Jesus, who quenched that deep thirst in her. The thirst she was trying to fulfil was not the thirst for husband, it was the thirst of what was unknown to her: the thirst for her Maker, her true Husband. When she met Christ, her thirst was fulfilled and she called others to come and drink the Water of life, the True water that quenches the thirst. That is the same thirst that causes the tongues of our children to cleave to the roof of their mouths. They are looking for Water of life, for the bread of life. That is the greatest investment we can give to our children. I remember returning from the Youth Service and started gathering the children in my village for Children Bible Club. They did not only respond in mass but I saw the hunger for God in them. They were receiving and memorizing the word of God like hungry people. It is like: they have found what they have been missing in their lives…those visual Bible stories, memory verse songs, I was completely bonded with them. It was one of the most glorious experiences I had…leading children to Christ. There is a great joy that is accompanied with ministering to children. You find Christ in their midst. Jesus said:
…verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me... Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven (Mathew 18: 3-5,10). They are so much surrounded by the glory of God because of their angels who always appear before God, bringing the glory of God upon them. And since their angels are always beholding the glory of the Lord, it also means that the names of those who watch over them, who spiritually mentor them also constantly appear before God as those angels constantly brings in reports concerning the children to God. Learn to love children in your neighborhood and draw them to Christ. Invite them to Church, later they will bring their parents. You realize you are a soul winner before God. It is written that whoever winneth souls is wise (Proverbs 13:30). You are therefore a workman together with Christ. Refer to my book: The Heartbeat of God: Salvation of Lost souls (copies also available in Lagos).
Many times in some of our Churches, because we do not so much consider that children do face the judgment of God, or that they do perish, we tend to focus almost all our resources in the adult department. At times, it's seventy days fasting and prayers for adults. Most deliverance services are for adults, and we channel our finances and plan most crusades, programs just for adults. Most of those programs could be every two weeks whereby we change their names: Financial breakthroughs, Prophecy nights, three days of deliverance, hour of grace, three days of cross over, and so. These are not bad, but: what about the children? Whatever is happening to the adults are also happening to the children: demonic attacks, generational rebelliousness, bad dreams, and family curses and crises - they all affect the children. As we fight for ourselves, let us carry our children along.
When we look at the history of events or even what is happening right now in our generations, we see that children are never spared either from the anger of God, or from the wrath of devil. When God commanded that the Amorite nations be wiped out, He asked them not to spare anyone including the children. When He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, children were not spared. During holocausts, wars, children are also victims. In the Middle East, both children and adults are paying for their faith in Christ with their heads. Children have to confess Christ or deny Him in the face of swords…and they confessed that they will not deny Jesus: He has been with them since they were born. In the same way, as people are dying and facing the judgment of God concerning Heaven and Hell, children as young as seven years old without Christ are also condemned to Hell.
It is our responsibility to continue to see that our children are at peace with God: to evangelize them, lead them to Christ, always teach them the word and consistently intercede for them. God expects us to begin putting His word into the lives of our children as soon as they are born. The Bible records concerning Timothy that… from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). Timothy's parents diligently taught him the word of God from infancy and he grew with it. When Miracle, my daughter was two to three months old while I was in Nigeria, I brought her out from the Church one Sunday as the Pastor was sharing the word of God, that's what many women do during sermon. They often bring the new born outside to breastfeed them or just be with them outside as the message is being preached. The Holy Spirit asked me to take her back inside the Church to listen to the word being preached. She was only two or three months old. This shows that they can understand the word of God as early as they were born, even when they were in the womb. He wants us to feed them with the word just as we are feeding them with breast milk. I believe Muslims are doing good work in feeding their children with Koran, and they write those words on the board, wash them and collect the water. They then give their children the Koran water to drink so that the teachings of Koran will penetrate into their blood streams. God wants us to put His words into our children at all times, by reading it to them, singing it to them, talking about it to them when we go out, sit down, come in, discipline them. I wrote in details about this on part 5 of this series: Train up a child in the way he should go: http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/gloria-grace/022115.html
…That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged (Deuteronomy 6:2); You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD (Leviticus 18:5).
When you continue to invest the word of God into your child (ren), you are investing life, long life, and prosperity into them. The commands of God are life. The Lord Jesus said: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life (John 6: 63). And, when the devil tempted Him to turn stone to bread, He answered him that man shall not live by bread alone, but (will live) by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The word of God is the source of our lives. God said that we (the just) shall live by faith (by the word). So then, the word you are putting into your baby, children on daily basis is life, long life, and everlasting life. Everything else in this world is death. You are also crowning them with wisdom, understanding and excellence that will cause them succeed in life. Take advantage of this and reach out to your neighbor's children, if you can! Blessings!!
…TO BE CONTINUED.
If you need resources for the children/youth department of your ministry, you can send email to: [email protected].
For more resources, refer to my books:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_23?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=archbishop+gloria+grace&sprefix=archbishop+gloria+grace%2Caps%2C298&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aarchbishop+gloria+grace
http://www.amazon.com/HOW-DO-INVEST-OUR-CHILDREN-ebook/dp/B0065V1V38/ref=sr_1_cc_8?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1426556053&sr=1-8-catcorr&keywords=archbishop+gloria+grace
http://www.amazon.com/RAISING-GODLY-CHILDREN-FOUNDATIONS-PRAYERS-ebook/dp/B008AAKV2E/ref=sr_1_cc_5?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1426556053&sr=1-5-catcorr&keywords=archbishop+gloria+grace
Continued from Part 6-4
© Archbishop Gloria Grace
