Teach Your Children
April 16, 2023
Hello my SUMite family, Amanda here with you on this Monday morning. I had something wonderful happen with my kids about two weeks ago and I am so excited to share it with with you all (trying hard not to say "y'all" here HAHA!). Lets jump right in!
Let me start by saying I believe in spiritual gifts, I believe we all have them in one form or another as believers. I also believe these gifts can manifest at pretty much any age, child, teenager, adult, or senior citizen. I believe this because I was given the gift of prophecy at the age of 12! God wants his people working in his gifts, and there is so much work to be done it just makes sense that some of us would start young!
Anyway, since my son was about six he has been able to sense spiritual forces. He is 10 now and can always tell me when something is not right in our home, and sometimes he even knows what was likely the cause. I have taught him how to pray and take authority over the darkness when he feels like it is trying to invade, but this last time was a little bit different.
I was brushing my teeth one evening when he comes rushing in the bathroom with wide eyes and says, "Something isn't right and I think we should pray!". I asked him what was wrong and he simply said, "I saw something.". That was enough for me! This time though, I felt like it was time to teach him and his sister about anointing and blessing in addition to rebuking. I went to the kitchen and made a very small bowl of olive oil and we took it back to his bedroom (where he said the problem was). The three of us sat on his shaggy grey carpet and I explained to them the practice of anointing with oil, blessing the house, and each other. I told them before we started on the house I was going to anoint and pray over them. So they closed their eyes and I put a drop of oil on each of their foreheads, I held my fingers there and began to pray over them with my eyes closed as well. As I prayed I felt them touching my forehead. They had dipped their own fingers in the oil and were blessing me at the same time, and when I looked up they were also blessing each other!!! It was truly one of the sweetest moments of my life! We sat there like that for several minutes, touching each others foreheads and blessing one another, all of us smiling and giggling with joy.
After that it was time to anoint the house and anything else they felt lead to anoint! Of course, both kids' first thought was, "We should anoint daddy!", who was sound asleep during all of this haha! I told them to anoint our bedroom door and I would pray over daddy before we went to bed. After that we anointed every single window, door, mirror, TV, video games, all screens, and even our dogs! Once we had finished I asked my son how he felt and he said, "peaceful" :). I tell you friends I went to bed that night bursting with gratitude and joy! Stewarding children, being chosen for this kind of work, is such a tremendous gift!
I do not want to give off an unrealistic impression though! Not every night in our house is filled with this sort of spiritual excitement, nor am I always such a patient and joyful mother! haha! Hanging on to these moments though, and never letting ourselves OR our kids forget them, WILL fuel the fire of our faith and theirs! They will get us through the mundane, the frustrating, and even the dark parts of life.
Teach your children to ACT on their faith
Teach your children to TALK about their faith
And teach your children to REMEMBER the moments that strengthened their faith!
What are some of your favorite faith strengthening memories? Please share in the comments. I would love to read them!