At Home with God

  One day I had a revelation: When Jesus blessed the children, they were blessed!    Okay, I know that sounds obvious, but bear with me a moment while I explain. If Jesus walked into a room, blessed two of the people there, then walked out again, we would expect those two people’s lives to take a turn for the better from that moment on, wouldn’t we?    In other words, when Jesus blessed people, it was not a case of wishing the best for them, or even speaking a few nice words to make them feel well. Nor was it a superstitious act or a magic spell. Instead, it was a divine declaration that had the power to change the direction of a life. In short, there was power in the blessing that Jesus spoke: when Jesus blessed the children, they were blessed!    This is the Jewish understanding of blessing: it invites God’s presence to come to that person or into a situation. As we pray blessings over our children, we are inviting God to fulfil His will for their li...

How to Not Die Last year, while I was in the middle east, a lady from Iraq came and spoke with me. We have helped our children to learn how to pray, and many of them are becoming intercessors. Now we want to help them to evangelize. I have one question for you: How can we help our children to evangelize without being killed? This is not a problem that we often face in the West, indeed it was humbling to learn so much from her zeal and focus for the kingdom. Yet even as she spoke the Holy Spirit whispered the answer: We must teach our children to be Spirit-led. Many of us have shown our children how to lay hands on the sick. We may even have taught them and prayed for them so that they can hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them. But in both these cases, although the children have connected to the Holy Spirit, they have not been led by the Spirit. Instead they have chosen to listen and to pray in response to our instructions. These are great first steps in their journey with God, but now...

It’s Biblical Young children can connect with God. Jesus used a small child as a visual aid to show that the kingdom of God belongs to people who can be like the children. John the Baptist in the womb responded to the presence of Jesus in the womb (Luke 1). God points out to Jeremiah, the prophet, that before God formed him, He knew his future destiny (Jeremiah 1:6). When we work with the youngest of children we can have the great impact on their future lives. Moses and Samuel both grew up in less than perfect places, yet both had godly mothers who nurtured them in the first few years of their lives in preparation for their future destiny. When we work with children in our toddler groups, any opportunity we have to allow them to connect with God is a potential life-changing opportunity. So how can we help them to connect with God? The Word of God One Easter we taught some toddlers about how Jesus swapped everything at the cross. One person came on with a naughty sign around their neck....