May 2007 | Posted in • Family | (0) Comments |
The other day my daughter Vanessa was telling me a story about our 2?-year-old granddaughter, Rivers. Vanessa was in her kitchen, preparing a dish to bring to a family gathering of ours. As she was feeling the rush to get done, she heard this gentle, sweet voice from the living room say, “Mommy, Jesus is my friend.” Is there anything more precious than a child speaking the words of God? What had been put into Rivers came back out.
When we hear our children say things, we often do a Joe McGee impersonation, “Where did that come from? Who taught you to say that?” If we will take time to evaluate our comings and goings, we may be surprised at what we have put inside our children. Many times we do not realize how much what we do or say influences them, until the appointed season of time that it is revealed.
“‘This is My covenant with them, My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,’ says the Lord, ‘from this time and forevermore.’”
- Isaiah 59:21
I remember a time over eleven years ago, when my two youngest children, Dave and Elizabeth, were 4 and 5 years old. During that season, I had been spending every opportunity possible in my closet praying, often late into the night when everyone was asleep. At times during the day, if there was someone available to spend time with them, I would pray.
One day, after this had been going on for quite a while, my 19-year old, Vanessa, came to me and said, “Mom, Elizabeth has been going and sitting outside your door when you pray. She asked me what were you doing, and I told her, ‘praying in tongues.’ Elizabeth wants to know how to pray in tongues like you. You may want to talk with her.”
I had been given the opportunity to put inside of my 5-year-old daughter what was inside me. Parents, we never know when our children are watching us. ? I was surprised, excited, and apprehensive. My 5-year-old daughter wanted to experience the Baptism of the Holy Spirit!
Earlier that year, by herself in her room, Elizabeth had accepted Jesus as her Savior. She then came downstairs and announced her decision to the family. Even so..was she old enough for this? If Holy Spirit could draw her to sit by my closet door and listen to me pray, putting the desire inside of her, then she was ready to have her own prayer language.
However, Holy Spirit did give me wisdom to wait and not rush things, allowing Him to bring it about in His timing. The day came. We were riding in the car when, without warning, Elizabeth said, “I want to pray in tongues.” My son David chimed in, “I do, too.” I suggested that she wait until Sunday and let the Children’s Ministry Director at that time pray with her ?, but she would not hear of it.
When we arrived home, I took her and David into the bedroom. We jumped up on my bed, and there we three sat, looking at each other. I have to be honest; as I looked at them, I was a little afraid. “What if this doesn’t work? . They are so young,” I thought. But immediately the Word came: “God did not give us a spirit of fear” So I began by explaining the what, when, why and how of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
David is outgoing and ready to jump in and make things happen. So, when we prayed, he immediately began to speak in tongues; in fact, he took off like a rocket praying, just like his personality.
Elizabeth, however, is my deep thinker, slow to speak, but great in understanding the things of life. She processes life differently than David, as she did with praying in tongues. She did not pray in tongues immediately.
I sent David out to play and proceeded to encourage Elizabeth. “You believed, you asked, and you have received your prayer language. It’s inside of you, waiting to come out.” She understood what I was saying and also went to play.
The next day, I was in the laundry room folding clothes. Behind me, I heard her gentle voice saying, “I got it, I got it.” As I turned around, I saw my Elizabeth with a radiant smile on her face. In her bedroom, by herself with Holy Spirit, she began to pray in tongues, just as she had done with accepting Jesus as her Savior. We were so excited!
I knew my Father God would take care of my little girl, that He would not disappoint her. She believed, she asked, and God isn’t a liar.“did He not say, will He not do?” Yes, He did!!
God has given us parents a blank canvas in each of our children; we begin filling it the moment they are born. We create in their hearts what we have in our own hearts. I encourage you to feed on the Word of God every day. Ask God for guidance as a believer, as an adult, and as a parent. It’s not easy being a parent, and none of us will do it right all the time. But, if we have a heart after God, and as we are willing and obedient to His word, we will put good stuff into our children. And they in turn will with our grandchildren. And on it goes
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