One of the most fun things about being a parent is helping your kids figure out their own spiritual gifts. Sometimes that can be a very eye opening experience. Last night my 4 year old came into my room and wanted to sleep in our bed. That’s never fun with the kicking and of course the only time she would ever wet a bed is if it’s ours. So I got her set up in the chair across the room, she’s still little enough to sleep in it. And hopefully, sleeping in a chair makes her miss her bed and not try to come in our room all the time.
That leads us to this morning. I was having a dream that disturbed me. I was looking for my kids to make sure they had finished their showers. I don’t know why it was such an emergency, maybe it was an allegory for me trying to make sure they are all saved before the end comes. But it was urgent and I was frantic. This was an absolute emergency freak out session. I couldn’t find the girls so I left the bathroom and went yelling through the house. My 4 year old pops around the corner, showered, dressed in a little dress, shoes already on ready to go and cute as a button.
I was so excited to see her! One found! So I asked her in the dream, has your sister had her shower? Is she finished? Is she dressed and ready? It was at this point that this same little girl sleeping in the chair across the room answered me. Yes! It woke me up from the dream and I asked her why she had said that. She told me I had asked her a question and she was answering. What did I ask you? Did I ask about your sister? Yes daddy I was just answering you.
Now that may sound weird to a logical mind. I mean if I was talking in my sleep, the answer would have been no. Sister was in bed, no shower, she’s not up or ready. So why did I get a yes? I doubt if I was talking in my sleep at all to be honest. That is part of the spiritual gift set that runs in my wife’s side of the family. My wife can hear my thoughts and answers them quite often. This skill set has served her well in her career and it comes with several other amazing things that she can do, like know something she doesn’t know for example. She doesn’t always understand why other people can’t just know what they don’t know or hear what people nearby think or diagnose an illness from across and room and often heal it. In the medical field that comes in pretty handy and it doesn’t hurt that she’s brilliant and has the work ethic the Bible teaches us all to have.
But seeing that in my littlest little girl is so neat! When I was her age I just had nightmares and was terrified of what turned out to be my best spiritual gift. No one around me believed that my nightmares had meaning, they just thought I was a dumb kid. For my kids I want to explore those God given gifts as much as possible and make sure they know it’s normal to be spiritual and supernatural. Christians are all given supernatural gifts! We are supposed to be using them for the Kingdom.
That isn’t what happens in the church most of the time is it? Supernatural gifts are what often drive Christians into the occult just to get answers. They find all the wrong answers but they are at least allowed to use their gifts for something. What a sad state of affairs? In the last days many false prophets come. The Occult teaches about the return of the Jedi (not the movie), the superheroes with gifts and abilities who take over the earth. The vast majority of movies and tv shows tell this good defeats evil story with these superhero abilities. One story after another tells this same ancient occult tale.
The problem is the story isn’t true. This ancient occult tale is the based on the story of the battle of Armageddon. Many ancient prophet, following after the wrong system, told this story from the wrong side. Down on the ground there will be an army gathered to fight against the man and army in the sky. That army will of course be Jesus and all saved people. But in the occult version that’s the evil army. This is the story Hollywood is selling, try to kill Jesus with spiritual gifts when He returns because He’s the bad guy.
These occultists write about Armageddon as if they know something. One occult book teaches that it would be wise to nuke the Vatican rather than allow Christians to gain power and attack the world. They clearly don’t spend much time in the Bible because they have the story wrong. They are going to be attacking us. In their own words they will be attacking us and their words agree with the Bible which also says they will be attacking us. We overcome the dragon by not shrinking from death, not by fighting but by truth mattering more than anything in this world including life itself.
To keep our kids out of the occult, and stop them from fighting against us in the end as the Bible says many will do; we need to teach them to use their gifts for Jesus! Building God’s Kingdom is the purpose of spiritual gifts, it’s why He gives them to people. Me I have dreams and visions, I can sense and feel things, and I have an unusual ability to blend into the background and do amazing things with no one seeing me. Funny thing to me is other people take a few words from me and go build something amazing with it! I would never build what they build but I can just speak the idea out and it grows in someone else. It’s beautiful and I think most of my fruit for the Kingdom comes at the hands of others working out ideas God breathes from me to them. Yet no one knows my part, I remain hidden and I like that in my Spirit, though the flesh always wars with the Spirit.
I never discourage my children from playing with their supernatural gifts either. Turn on a song and see if something happens. Did you see something in your mind? Good now we just have to learn to use that for God’s purposes. What did you dream? Good now let’s learn what God might be trying to tell you, be sure to pray about it. Do you feel that? Do you hear that? What did you see? We have to get our kids involved in God’s supernatural gifts before some witch comes along and teaches them wrong. They have to know it is a God given gift, it is Biblical and it is to be used for Jesus. We all use our gifts even when we don’t know they are gifts or spiritual. We need to wake up to the reality of God in our lives. He’s speaking to you and your children but He doesn’t just speak your language all the time. He leads you through a process of knowing Him. He gives more to those who go after Him and to those who ignore Him, even what they get falls to the ground. Don’t ignore the voice of God, know it so that you won’t follow the voice of the stranger when the days get dark.
Practice Outlaw 