“…a little child shall lead them” Isaiah 11:6

A few years back, I was extended the opportunity to attend a Children’s Intercessor conference in Chennai, India. I had never been to any part of India and honestly, I was not that impressed with going to ANOTHER prayer conference. My experience with most, if not all, of these ‘prayer’ conferences was a lot of talk and teaching about prayer, yet very little, if any, prayer actually took place.

The first day of the conference I was surprised by a banner that read “International Children’s Intercessor’s Conference (ICIC) and at the bottom it read 10,000 Children Intercessors. Wait a minute I thought, surely there will not be 10,000 kids praying? I quickly discovered that the leader, Anton Cruz had a mandate from God to raise up 10,000 children intercessors. At the time of the conference, he was only about 2000 short of reaching his goal. In all of my travels I had never attended a prayer conference whose sole purpose was to pray. Additionally, I had never attended a children’s conference that was actually led by children.

The more I asked questions of the ministry, the more I began to have faith in the up and coming generation. I found out that the children are given entire nations to pray for. Often, these children will pray for these nations all night. Since I was visiting from America, I definitely wanted to meet the group of children assigned to pray for our desperate nation. I did meet and spend time praying with these incredible little intercessors for America.

On another occasion, Anton had all the leaders that were in attendance to come on stage and allow the children to pray for them. I have received prayer from many people. Some of these are considered generals in the body of Christ. However, Never, and I want to emphasize NEVER, have I had anyone of these “generals” to pray for me for 45 minutes. I will never forget the transformation that took place as this perhaps 11 or 12 year old girl laid hands on me and cried out to God on my behalf for 45 minutes.

I watched as these children would pray for situations, nations or whatever the prayer focus was at the time and it appeared as if the praying children would enter a ‘zone of prayer’. It was absolutely amazing. I will never forget my experience with the children of India.

As I was traveling back to the states, I began to ask myself the question, why had I been so impacted by seeing praying children (many of whom were literally picked from the street and trash dump after their parents died of AIDS or realized that they were just not able to financially support them (I will address this in part 2 titled, “Man’s Perceived Trash is God’s Absolute Treasure). It then dawned on me that prayer in America for the most part is arguably one of the most talked and taught about, yet least practiced discipline in the Kingdom.

We have all been granted an open invitation to come into the very presence of God by the vehicle of prayer. I am reminded of the line in a song we sang as a child that goes, “…oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

What pain are you carrying today? Pain can be physical, emotional, social, financial, or psychological. The pain may be all of a sudden or it could have been going on for a long time. I want to ask you a sincere question? Have you prayed about the pain? Have you got someone to agree with you in prayer about the pain?

Prayer:

Let me agree with you now: Father, in the name of Jesus the Christ, I thank you because in all things you said to give thanks. You are such a good Daddy and your love for us is beyond measure. I agree in the spirit with my brother or sister that you would manifest your peace in the midst of the pain. Show them the purpose of the pain. Let them know that you are with them in the pain. They are not alone. I Thank you father that your presence is greater than any pain. I ask that you allow them to bask in your presence. I ask that you allow them to be still and know that you are God and I thank you that the children of India are praying for them.

Here is the link to most of the photos from the India trip:

https://picasaweb.google.com/pierremoranza/AllOfIndia?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLnr0M_5_sLvKw&feat=directlink

I received an email from a friend today named Mark. He had forwarded a devotion I had written to a cousin of his named Daniel. The devotion was from my experience in India. After reading over the email, I went back and reread the devotion I had written and sent to Mark. I saw that I had mentioned that I wanted to discuss another aspect of my experience in a later devotion. In fact I said, “As I was traveling back to the states, I began to ask myself the question, why had I been so impacted by seeing praying children (many of whom were literally picked from the street and trash dump) I will address this in another devotion.” Here is that devotion:

In order to fully understand where I am coming from in this writing, it might be helpful read over the devotion titled, “When A Child Prays”.

While visiting with Anton Cruz, an Apostle in Chennai, India who has a mandate to raise 10,000 children intercessors, he shared with me that many of the kids were found on the streets and some even taken from the trash. Anton’s ministry began when he was approached by two kids after a crusade. Here is his story:

At one of the evangelistic crusades, two young boys came to me after the meeting and started pulling at my clothes, saying “come, come.” I gave them money but they refused to take it. They asked me to come with them. The boys led me over to a small bundle and told me, “here is a baby we found in the street. Somebody has left this baby. Baby needs milk. Take baby to church and give milk.” the boys said. The boys were insistent and handed the baby to me and left. Anton wasn’t used to this. He was used to crowds, but not to individual ministry, especially to young children. As I was on his way to church, the baby died in my arms. I couldn’t sleep that night, but wept before the Lord and sought direction. I cried out, “Why did you bring that baby to me just to have it die in my arms”? The Lord spoke to me and said, “You are a good preacher. You can preach to thousands of people, but can you love a baby?” From that moment, my direction was forever changed by a small baby. Shortly there after, as I walked the streets, I saw the children of the untouchables, children of gypsies and also children of lepers. They touched my heart like never before.

Anton’s complete story is at: http://children-hop.org/aboutus.php

God says to Cyrus thru the prophet Isaiah that He was going to give him, “treasures of darkness or treasures out of darkness…(Italics mine)” As I reflect on my conversation with Anton Cruz, I see how important it is that we not look at what we think we see. Let me ask you a question. What do you see when you look at people? Often, we see those that we perceive to be educated, dressed in nice apparel, working in large offices buildings, and driving a ‘nice car’ as being good law abiding citizens. If you are familiar with the Enron scandal you know that this perception can be misleading. Other times, we look at a particular race or hear a specific dialect and automatically assume the person or group is inferior or superior to us. I am aware of the caste system in India. This attitude is detrimental in God’s Kingdom.

Challenge:  I want to encourage you today to see Him for who He is, in all of His glory. I John 3:1 says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us…” The word ‘behold’ means to look upon until you are changed by what you see. I have said for years that we become that which we behold. We are to look at Him until we are changed (into His image) by what we see. When we see Him, we then are able to see others thru His eyes and treat them accordingly.  When others saw kids as trash in the streets of India, Anton saw the treasure that was dormant in each of them.

Prayer:  Father in the name of Jesus the Christ, open the eyes of my understanding that I may see people thru your eyes. Let me not judge based on a person’s appearance, or any of their obvious externalities. Allow me to continuously look at your son and reflect His glory as I deal with people of all races.

This passage alone is pregnant with revelation. One thing I noticed immediately is that the thing that you are (or should be) the most sure of is the VERY thing that will be tested. The one thing that Jesus knew for certain was that He was God’s son. You say well how do you know for certain Jesus knew? Jesus knew because God had just declared it to be so. Unlike you and I that struggle when we hear God say something to us (especially if it is GOOD), Jesus did not struggle to hear his Father’s voice.

Many of you may be aware that my wife and I lead a life team at our church called the ABC’s of the Prophetic. It is a foundations class on hearing and discerning Gods voice. We meet the last Friday of every month. During our last meeting, I challenged the group with the idea (and TRUTH) that we really do hear when God speaks. Jesus says in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice”. Most of us never get to the fact that we actually do hear his voice because we are still wrestling with the first temptation that came to Jesus., “…If you be the son of God…” or in this case, am I really his sheep? What if God really does consider you to be one of his sheep? You may say,”but I am a smelly sheep, I am a dirty sheep, I am the black sheep, I have had sheep out of wedlock, I have killed other sheep, I have lied to and about sheep. All of that may be true but it does not negate the fact the YOU ARE STILL HIS SHEEP!

Others you know may be saying, “I don’t want to have anything to do with that Jesus guy, I have my own God, I am into my own world.” What if God is saying to them as well, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16) Notice the other sheep that Jesus says are not of a particular fold…but they are still sheep that He is interested in bringing. Unlike the other sheep that do hear his voice, these sheep (not currently in the fold) will also eventually hear his voice. Jesus says, “…they will hear”.

I could bring out truth upon truth in John 10 because like Matthew 4, it is also very pregnant with revelation. What I really want to focus on is the title of this devotion. What if it’s God? Let’s look at the first 8 words of Matthew 4: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit…” Do you see here that Jesus was led by the Spirit? Do you also see where He was led to? Not the place of worship, not the sanctuary, not the Holy Place, not the palace, not the Kings table etc. He was led BY THE SPIRIT into the wilderness.

The Lord spoke to me to encourage you to STOP cursing your wilderness…and for God sake STOP blaming the devil. The story is told of a man who walked out of a church (building) and saw the devil sitting across the street on the curb crying. The man walked up to the devil and inquired as to why he was crying and the devil replied, “Those Christians are always blaming me for everything.” Just like Jesus was led BY THE SPIRIT to the wilderness, you too MUST go thru your wilderness experience. We sing a song titled, “Lord I Want To Be More Like You,” Do we really want to be like Jesus? He was despised and rejected by men. He was not welcome in his own town. He was talked about and misunderstood. He was not a Republican, nor was he a Democrat. He had no place to lay his head. He only did good, but the religious leaders of the day considered him a heretic and mad man. Ultimately he was killed for his beliefs. What happened to the song I heard you singing a few minutes ago? Do you still want to be like Jesus?

We must mature in our faith to know that Jesus not only died for us, He also showed us how to die. If Jesus experienced a wilderness, could it be that He did so to show us how to do it as well. Do you remember what happened while he was there in the wilderness? Of course he was tempted by the devil. But remember, it was NOT the devil that led him there. He was led by the Spirit!

What if it is God that is allowing you to go thru the process. We must understand that we do have a purpose. Actually, WE DO NOT have a purpose!!! He has a purpose and we get to participate in His purpose. Shall I give you a scripture reference for you not having a purpose? “…And we know that all things work together for good…and are the called according to HIS purpose. My only purpose is His purpose. His purpose also has a pace (it manifests in His timing). After pace there is process (a.k.a the wilderness) and ultimately we get to the product. So we have purpose, pace, PROCESS and product.

The other thing that happened while Jesus was in the wilderness is, “… angels came and ministered to him.” If you are in a wilderness, I want you to know that the angels are available to minister to you and THEY WILL. Finally, after the wilderness, the Word tells us that, “…Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” If we will walk thru our wilderness, we like Jesus, will come out better than we went in.

Today I ask, what if it is God that has led you into a wilderness season?

Father, thank you that my steps and my stops are ordered by you. Help me not to curse the tough times I am in and also to not waste strength and faith doing unnecessary warfare. I trust you and I know you are leading me in everything I do for I have and continue to acknowledge you in all my ways. In all things I say THANK YOU!