"I will shake the nations through the children. They will reach nations through my work, preach the good news, plant churches, heal the sick, prophesy to the nations. The children will carry the end-time message" - Father Anton Cruz, Founder of the Royal Kids Ministry (A word that he received from the Lord)
Child Soldiers. I can still hear this phrase echo in my head as I write this article. Whenever I think of the word "child", I am always reminded of colorful things, laughter, and comfort.
However, one day the Lord spoke to me the word "Child Soldiers" When I looked it up on Google, I saw, to my surprise, news articles about children being recruited as soldiers to fight for and with terrorists. Children as young as eight years old were wrapping bombs around their bodies, willing to kill and die for what they believed. I saw photographs of children holding knives-- the same knives used for beheading people. There was even a photograph of a young child holding a severed head. These were the young rebels-- the young radicals-- shown throughout the world.
According to recent studies, young people are demonstrating consistent characteristics of being progressive and extreme in every aspect of their lives. They are more advanced than the past generations in their social, motor, and mental skills. The main reason for this is because they were born in a time of global financial crisis, cultural diversity, and a thriving digital world. Yet, these young people are being awakened spiritually as well. It is only in this generation that we are able to see children preaching in churches as young as three years old.
Oftentimes, we think that children are weak, vulnerable, and innocent. However, it is these characteristics that make them stand out in the Kingdom of God. If we carefully observe them, children are highly sensitive to their surroundings and to the people around them. They easily feel for others. This is the perfect characteristic of an intercessor since an intercessor stands in the gap for others.
I believe that there is now a new breed of intercessors rising up. They are not advanced in years, nor are they scholars that are well known, but it is through their praises that God is ordaining strength to silence the enemy (see Psalm 8:2)
Even as I did my research, I became a witness to this new move that God is doing among the children. In India, the Royal Kids Ministry gives shelter, food, and education to underprivileged children, and street children. These children are taught the word of God and how to pray.
There are now 24-hour Houses of Prayer in India where the participants are these same children. People from different parts of the world are writing them their prayer requests because of tons of testimonies. Even here in the Philippines, there have been churches changing the norm of how children should be perceived, especially by the church. In Church So Blessed, the young ones pray for the sick and share the gospel with their families. It is amazing that parents are now coming to know Christ through their children. "Prayer is so effective, and if we should bring it to the children, we aren't just teaching them a basic principle in the bible; moreover, it is us equipping our future leaders." David Specht told me in an interview. David is part of Help International CMC, a non-profit Christian organization that is actively working to help the needy and poor of Metro Manila. They have their headquarters in Cainta, Rizal. Here, street children and young people are equipped with the truth of the word of God.
This is the reality that we are facing: if there are child soldiers in this world, there needs to be a counterpart in the Kingdom of God-- a generation that cries out for the revival of their nations. When they pray, healing happens, communities are changed, and salvation takes place. It is astonishing that as young as these children are, they already have a burning passion for the heart of God, and they fervently pray for others. Even at their young age, God is able to use them mightily. If we are to look back, "Samuel was ministering before the Lord-- a boy wearing a linen ephod" (1 Samuel 2:18). God spoke to Samuel when he was yet a young boy. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit adults have is the same Holy Spirit that the children have.
Right now, is there not an urgency? There is an ever-growing call to "gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast" (Joel 2:16). In a physical warzone, no one is exempted from doing something. There is a raging war in the spiritual realm. Will we keep the children from Jesus? Or will we train up child soldiers for God? It is now the time to raise up a generation like never before-- a forerunner generation that will cry out, "Prepare the way of the Lord."
We can be a part of this. Let us be fathers and mothers to children, training them up in the way that they should go so that they will not depart from it.
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