There Is No “Junior” Holy Spirit

Kids say shocking things. All parents can agree: you never really know what your child is going to say next! But kids also routinely surprise us with profound insights as well.

This last week, one of the “insight” moments happened. My 2-year-old daughter said something that reminded me how important it is to include our kids in spiritual things from an early age.

Before nap time, my 2-year-old and I  were looking at a collage book filled with pictures of family members. Alétheia likes to point to each person and say their names.

That day, she wanted to pray for everyone, so I asked what we should pray for. Most often, Alétheia would point to a face and tell me to pray for “peace.” So I dutifully prayed for peace over each person one-by-one: for my mom, dad, my grandparents, siblings, and their spouses, until Alétheia got to one person in particular and her face changed.

She immediately rubbed her back with great concern and said the person’s name, then “Back boo-boo! Pray, back!” So we prayed for their back and she seemed very relieved.

I hadn’t heard from this person in weeks, and had no idea if they even had any health concerns. But Alétheia’s prayer felt so specific that afterwards I immediately texted this person to tell them we’d prayed for healing over their back, and to see if they’d been having any issues. This was the response I got:

“Wow, that is so precious and amazing! I have been having terrible trouble w/ my back! For like the last month! So much so that for the first time in my life I’ve dreaded bedtime bc it hurts so much…but this morning was the first morning when my back hasn’t hurt… Your sweet little girl!! God answers prayers!”

That’s no coincidence.
Attribute this to what you will, but I believe my daughter had an insight from the Holy Spirit, and did ministry WITH me that day.

There is no such thing as a “junior” Holy Spirit. There are no spiritual grandparents in heaven. Nobody with a higher enlightenment that some receive and others don’t… the same Holy Spirit that lives in you can live and work and use WHOMEVER He wants with equal power. At any age.

Matthew 21:16b says “And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

Worship comes in many forms. If you are a believer in Jesus, and you are raising your children to know and love God, EXPECT to see Him work through them. Obviously, faith in Jesus is something each individual has to reject or choose for themselves at some stage in their lives. But why would we doubt a child’s openness to receive something from God just because they can’t construct grammatically perfect sentences?

Like many toddlers, my daughter collapses in giggles over made-up words like “wiggle-moose,” and she is still working on her ABC’s.

But we should NOT make the mistake of assuming a child is too young to be used by God. Or that a “baby Christian” can’t speak a word of knowledge, insight, scripture or prophesy that could absolutely level you.

The Spirit is the Spirit, manifesting how He chooses. We don’t want to miss out on the miraculous things He can and will do through the babies among us.

(NB: On my next blog I will write out some practical ways in how to bring children into the spiritual conversation. I may not know much but will share what we’re learning about this!)