What is the spiritual warfare?
Psalm 8v2 says:
“You have ordained strength because of your enemies, that you might silence the foe and the avenger”
Satan and his forces are against us – seeking to stand in our way – to block our progress and to push us back. They try to restrict us, to hem us in, to take us captive, to tie us up. They want to take our life from us.
That’s the picture given by the three different descriptive words about our enemy in Psalm 8v2.
What’s the answer? How can he be stopped? Who can silence him and make him go away?
The answer: – Babies.
Those little non-speakers who are not yet on solid food. They can do it.
It may be difficult to accept, but there it is – “Out of the mouths of babies and sucklings, you (God) have ordained strength/praise to stop the enemy.”
What does it mean? What comes out of babies’ mouths that silences and stops the enemy?
From my observation as a father, four things come out of a baby’s mouth – 1) crying
2) sick 3) speaking in tongues? – probably. 4) gurgling.
I don’t think that crying or regurgitated milk are what the psalmist has in mind. Although there is nothing to stop babies having a gift of tongues, and it is an excellent weapon in spiritual warfare, I don’t think it is the intended answer here.
So what’s left? – happy gurgling sounds – that always brings a smile to parents’ faces – and I believe it is that which shuts the enemy up and moves him on.
Why?
If a baby is happily gurgling it means that the child is not hungry, is not uncomfortable, is not afraid or insecure and is not in pain or distress. Such happiness and security in a child is a manifestation of all that the Devil is against. It offends him and demonstrates that in this situation he is not being given any room.
So how can adults help children to fulfil their place in the victorious battle?
It’s simple – We are to do everything we can to make children happy. That is at the heart of spiritual warfare.
If children are being aborted in society and sidelined in the church – treated in both on the basis that the younger someone is then the less notice you need to take of them – then the Devil is happy and has all the ground he needs to fulfil his designs.
So it is unsatisfactory for the adults in the church to be engaging in all sorts of prayer and spiritual warfare programmes if the creche is not a happy place, or if young children’s uninvited participation is seen as an unwelcome interruption to the church service, or if families are having to struggle unaided to cope with life’s pressures.
It is not by accident that we are told in James 1v25 that our “religion” (what we do as an expression of our relationship with God) is assessed not on our liturgy or our use of charismatic gifts, but on whether we are targetting the widows and fatherless – so that any pressures of death, desertion or neglect which would rob children of their happiness are overcome by the ministry of love in Jesus’ family.
In these days of mission statements and having clearly stated descriptions of vision, could I suggest – “It is a primary aim of this church to do all we can so that babies gurgle.”
I recognise that you might use other words to say it, but the challenge is to make sure that we have not missed this first stage.
Children and Spiritual Warfare – second stage
So what about slightly older children? How can they be involved in spiritual warfare and how can we partner them in this?
In Matthew 21 there are children in the temple area shouting “Hosanna (Save now)! Son of David.”
These words when addressed to Jesus are praise for who he is and what he has come to do.
These words addressed to the people around are evangelistic preaching – telling them about Jesus and his mission.
These words addressed to God are prophetic prayer – they are calling for the Son of David to save now, and by the end of that week he was going to accomplish it.
Along with this, these words are a declaration against the Devil, and Jesus points to what these children are doing as spiritual warfare by linking what they are doing with the prophecy of Psalm 8v2.
So here are children involved in effective spiritual warfare – shouting about Jesus.
It was not considered appropriate by the leaders who thought that it was their prerogative to control what was said and done in worship, while Jesus was happy with the youngsters’ alternative extemporary liturgy!. You have porbably noticed that tension still existing today.
If we want our children to be happy and free and confident in expressing their love for Jesus and their commitment to his kingdom purposes, then we will want to know the sort of background that leads to such a powerful darkness-shifting expression that Jesus commended here.
So how did the children get to this point?
Firstly they were in a congregation where they “caught” it! In the earlier part of the chapter we see an all-age crowd on the streets – with adults pulling branches off trees, throwing clothes down to make a “carpet” for Jesus, shouting enthusiastically about Jesus and explaining to people who asked what they knew about him.
The encouraging or perhaps challenging fact is that what the children in your church are expressing now is probably what they have caught from the congregation’s life. We can’t prepare our children for spiritual warfare without being involved ourselves.
Secondly, inappropriate things were cleared from the place of worship, in this case, people buying and selling animals for the sacrifices and money changing for the offering. There was nothing wrong necessarily in these things themselves, but they were in the wrong place – the area that was meant to give room for people to pray together. When the ground was cleared, the power came – and this was manifested in healings by Jesus and in the children’s devil-shifting expressions.
I wonder how much a congregation’s spiritual freedom in worship (and therefore the involvement of the children) is affected by the presence of objects in their place of meeting which have associations which are not in line with the place being set apart for Jesus. It would be interesting what a spiritual inventory might uncover – not just of things contrary to the Spirit of Jesus, but also things that should be more appropriately placed elsewhere.
Alongside this, if we are serious about making room in the place of prayer for children to develop in their spiritual lives, we will need to ask whether there is anything in what we do and the way we do it when together as God’s family that prevents or stifles children from becoming praising, preaching, prophesying, praying partners in the spiritual battle.
The danger of a prescribed liturgy, (however well-worded it may be), is that the form which is meant to safeguard children (physical and spiritual) and introduce them to relating freely and in love with their heavenly Father can instead take the place of that relationship and stifle its expression. Switched-off children scratching graffiti on the backs of pews and deciding when they are old enough that they don’t want to be there, give us indicators that room needs to be made for different things to be happening. As Jesus demonstrated in the temple courts, organising the bringing of “our sacrifice” in worship may be the very thing that is preventing what God wants.
One of my daughters was astonished to find that her young teenage friend who knows Jesus and whose church experience has been restricted to a liturgical background was totally unused to praying. How had this happened? It was probably because most of the words she had heard spoken in church life were those which people read, with the idea historically that failure to use these set words would somehow render the worship invalid, and that using other (that is “unauthorised”) words in worship services was not appropriate.
When the thing that is meant to help something happen gets in the way of it happening, it is time for a shift.
Added to the children’s experience of praising Jesus along with the adults in Matthew 21, they saw Jesus in action.The children saw blind and crippled people coming to Jesus and going away healed! There is nothing quite like seeing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation to get children on the move for Jesus and his kingdom.
The prospect of children praising, preaching, prophesying and shifting the enemy will no doubt once again bring a bit of opposition, as it did in Matthew 21 – but if the choice is between that and the opposition of the children – and Jesus, which will you choose?
My daughter, Jane was once on hand at a family conference week to write down word for word what six year old Bethany described:
There were two ways. One belonged to Jesus and the other to the devil. The Devil called to a group of children to come his way. Jesus was calling for them to come his way. The children screamed they couldn’t because the Devil was pulling them. Jesus cut the ropes the Devil was pulling them with. The Devil had nothing to pull with but he started to call the children to come his way. Jesus said, “You will follow my lead.” Most of the children followed him but one stayed with the Devil. He saw all the happy children and wanted to be with them. Then the boy said, “I will follow you, Jesus. I don’t want to follow the Devil.” Jesus said, “You won’t be on the edges. I have forgiven you and you will have a special place beside me.”
I meant to tell the children at the conference about this picture but I forgot until the last evening. We had already given opportunities during the week when children had given their lives to Jesus. I read the story and asked who it was for. Three boys gave their lives to Jesus straight away.
That’s the kind of effective spiritual warfare I would like to see much more of!
ORIGINAL ARTICLE FOR THE GO BETWEEN, SERF MAGAZINE
Children and Spiritual Warfare.
by Graeme Young – involved in Christian ministry for children.
Children and Spiritual Warfare – Let’s start at square one.
Satan and his forces are against us – seeking to stand in our way – to block our progress and to push us back. They try to restrict us, to hem us in, to take us captive, to tie us up. They want to take our life from us.
That’s the picture I get from the three different descriptive words about our enemy in Psalm 8v2.
What’s the answer? How can he be stopped? Who can make him shut up and go away?
The answer? – Babies.
Those little non-speakers who are not yet on solid food. They can do it.
You don’t believe me – do you?
But there it is – “Out of the mouths of babies and sucklings, you (God) have ordained strength/praise to stop the enemy.”
What does it mean? What comes out of babies’ mouths that silences and stops the enemy?
From my observation as a father, four things come out of a baby’s mouth – 1) crying
2) sick 3) speaking in tongues? – probably. 4) gurgling.
I don’t think that crying or regurgitated milk are what the psalmist has in mind. Although there’s nothing to stop babies having a gift of tongues, and it is an excellent weapon in spiritual warfare, I don’t think it’s the intended answer here.
So what’s left? – happy gurgling sounds – that always brings a smile to parents’ faces – and I believe it is that which shuts the enemy up and moves him on.
Why?
Because if a baby is happily gurgling it means that the child is not hungry, is not uncomfortable, is not afraid or insecure and is not in pain or distress. Such happiness and security in a child is a manifestation of all that the Devil is against. It offends him and demonstrates that in this situation he is not being given any room.
So how can adults help children to fulfil their place in the victorious battle? It’s simple – do everything we can to make children happy – that’s at the heart of spiritual warfare.
If children are being aborted in society and sidelined in the church – treated in both on the basis that the younger someone is then the less notice you need to take of them – then the Devil is happy and has all the ground he needs to fulfil his designs.
So it’s no good the adults in the church engaging in all sorts of prayer and spiritual warfare programmes if the creche is not a happy place or if young children’s uninvited participation is seen as an unwelcome interruption to the church service, or if families are having to struggle unaided to cope with life’s pressures.
It is not by accident that we are told in James 1v25 that our “religion” (what we do as an expression of our relationship with God) is assessed not on our liturgy or our use of charismatic gifts, but on whether we are targetting the widows and fatherless – so that any pressures of death, desertion or neglect which would rob children of their happiness are overcome by the ministry of love in Jesus’ family.
In these days of mission statements and having clearly stated descriptions of vision, could I suggest – “It is a primary aim of this church to do all we can so that babies gurgle.”
I’m not joking! Okay, you might use other words to say it, but the challenge is to make sure that we have not missed square one.
Children and Spiritual Warfare square two!
So what about slightly older children? How can they be involved in spiritual warfare and how can we partner them in this?
In Matthew 21 there are children in the temple area shouting “Hosanna (Save now)! Son of David.” These words when addressed to Jesus are praise for who he is and what he has come to do. These words addressed to the people around are evangelistic preaching – telling them about Jesus and his mission. These words addressed to God are prophetic prayer – they are calling for the Son of David to save now, and by the end of that week he was going to accomplish it. But along with this, these words are a declaration against the Devil and Jesus points to what these children are doing as spiritual warfare by linking what they are doing with the prophecy of Psalm 8v2.
So here are children involved in effective spiritual warfare – shouting about Jesus.
It was not considered appropriate by the leaders who thought that it was their prerogative to control what was said and done in worship. Jesus was happy though with the youngsters’ alternative extemporary liturgy!. Have you noticed that tension still existing today?
If we want our children to be happy and free and confident in expressing their love for Jesus and their commitment to his kingdom purposes, then we will want to know the sort of background that leads to such a powerful darkness-shifting expression that Jesus commended here.
So how did the children get to this point?
Firstly they were in a congregation where they “caught” it! In the earlier part of the chapter we see an all-age crowd on the streets – with adults presumably, pulling branches off trees, throwing clothes down to make a “carpet” for Jesus, shouting enthusiastically about Jesus and explaining to people who asked what they knew about him.
Do you want the good news or the bad news? What the children in your church are expressing now is probably what they have caught from the congregation’s life. We can’t prepare our children for spiritual warfare without being involved ourselves.
Secondly, inappropriate things were cleared from the place of worship.
In this case it was people buying and selling animals for the sacrifices and money changing for the offering. There was nothing wrong necessarily in these things themselves, but they were in the wrong place – the place that was meant to give room for people to pray together. When the ground was cleared, the power came – manifested in healings by Jesus and in the children’s devil-shifting expressions.
I have been wondering recently how much a congregation’s spiritual freedom in worship (and therefore the involvement of the children) is affected by the presence of objects in their place of meeting which have associations which are not in line with the place being set apart for Jesus. It would be interesting what a spiritual inventory might uncover – not just of things contrary to the Spirit of Jesus, but also things that should be more appropriately placed elsewhere.
Then, if we are serious about making room in the place of prayer for children to develop in their spiritual lives, we will need to ask whether there is anything in what we do and the way we do it when together as God’s family that prevents or stifles children from becoming praising, preaching, prophesying, praying partners in the spiritual battle.
The danger of a prescribed liturgy, (however well-worded it may be), is that the form which is meant to safeguard children (physical and spiritual) and introduce them to relating freely and in love with their heavenly Father can instead take the place of that relationship and stifle its expression. Switched off children scratching graffiti on the backs of pews and deciding when we or they are old enough they don’t want to be there are indicators that room needs to be made for different things to be happening. As Jesus demonstrated in the temple courts, organising the bringing of “our sacrifice” in worship may be the very thing that is preventing what God wants. My daughter was astonished to find that her young teenage friend who knows Jesus and whose background has been restricted to a liturgical background was totally unused to praying. How come? Probably because most of the words she heard spoken in church life were those which people read, with the idea historically that failure to use these set words would somehow render the worship invalid, and that using other (that is “unauthorised”) words in worship services was not appropriate.
When the thing that is meant to help something happen gets in the way of it happening, it’s time for a shift.
And there’s more!
The children see blind and crippled people coming to Jesus and going away healed! There’s nothing quite like seeing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation to get children on the move for Jesus and his kingdom. So – when do children in episcopal churches in Scotland see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation? Certainly something of this has happened over the years in the Moray, Ross and Caithness DERF’s Jesus Adventure Camps. Experience there shows that given the opportunity, children from Scottish Episcopal churches are well able to experience and minister Holy Spirit gifts, but what about their weekly church experience? My understanding is that this is an important part of what SERF exists for.
The prospect of children praising, preaching, prophesying and shifting the enemy will no doubt once again bring a bit of opposition – but if the choice is between that and the opposition of the children – and Jesus, which will you choose?
My daughter, Jane was once on hand at a family conference week to write down word for word what six year old Bethany described:
There were two ways. One belonged to Jesus and the other to the devil. The Devil called to a group of children to come his way. Jesus was calling for them to come his way. The children screamed they couldn’t because the Devil was pulling them. Jesus cut the ropes the Devil was pulling them with. The Devil had nothing to pull with but he started to call the children to come his way. Jesus said, “You will follow my lead.” Most of the children followed him but one stayed with the Devil. He saw all the happy children and wanted to be with them. Then the boy said, “I will follow you, Jesus. I don’t want to follow the Devil.” Jesus said, “You won’t be on the edges. I have forgiven you and you will have a special place beside me.”
I meant to tell the children about this picture but I forgot until the last evening. We had already given opportunities during the week when children had given their lives to Jesus. I read the story and asked who it was for. Three boys gave their lives to Jesus straight away.
If you would like to read more of what has happened with children “on active service” over the past 13 years, you could read my account in “Spying Out The Land”- the new generation preparing for revival – £5 plus £1 post and packing from Young Resources, Roquharold, Kemnay, Inverurie AB51 5NX tel 01467 621250. Ask for information about other resources to help children to be ready for all that God wants to do through them, or check out our web site – www.youngresources.co.uk
I would be happy to discuss further the issues I have raised here, and to help in any way I can to help children to fulfil their calling – my email address is [email protected].