Psalms 127:3-5, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him. Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands. How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.”

Meditating on the truth inherent in this verse sheds interesting light on our society. I’ve had people apologize to me when I tell them I have six children and that five of them are teenagers (“You poor thing, I feel sorry for you”). I often hear people complain because their kids are home during a school break. When I tell them I homeschool my kids and they are home every day, the usual response is an apology or a sarcastic, “Lucky you.” There’s also the frequent “I can’t wait until they graduate” remarks.

On another level, nearly half of the kids in this nation are shuffled between divorced parents’ homes and all the “stuff” that entails (sometimes they are subjected to many broken relationships). Additionally, nearly every day there are children who ARE the daily news due to abuse and death from enraged boyfriends/girlfriends or ex’s of some dimension.

Let me now shift the focus to the 50 million aborted babies in this nation alone since the initiation of Roe verse Wade, excluding worldwide statistics. Will a generation ever come to the realization that every single aborted child was sent to Earth with the intention of being a gift from God, whose life and purpose contained only good and eternal significance? The horrific truth of abortion is always before the Heavenly Father and has continuously broken His heart since the very first one.

There is one additional topic, an extremely difficult prayer burden I battle daily, because the Lord has also broken my heart with His broken heart for the millions of children and youth worldwide who are victims of: 1) extreme poverty; 2) chains/slavery; 3) orphans of the street (current UNICEF report is 215 million); 4) pornography and the sex trade; 5) aids and plagues; 6) war-affected children; and 7) religious persecution (Must Read: Be A Hero: The Battle for Mercy and Social Justice by Wesley Campbell and Stephen Court. This book contains staggering statistics/details that are guaranteed to break your heart for the things that break the Lord’s heart as well. There are recent statistics available for research on any of these individual topics…the numbers will literally take your breath away). Every single one of these horrific, destructive issues and the countless lives they impact are the work of Satan, who comes only to lie, kill, steal and destroy individual lives in massive proportions. (Note: This list doesn’t even specifically address drug/alcohol issues children/youth (and many families) contend with, but it inherently crosses over a number of the categories.) Not one of these issues are part of the good plans or purposes that Father God intended for a single individual life, much less nations. This generation cannot continue to ignore these issues, pass them off as God’s will, nor blame God any more. The very prayer that Jesus used to teach all of His disciples to pray exhorts us to bring His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on Earth just as it is in Heaven. There is no evil or darkness of any kind in Heaven…only Goodness and Light. Therefore, a generation of Kingdom disciples should be pulling on Heaven daily on behalf of every single child and youth in the world not walking/not able to walk in the Lord’s will for their lives…regardless of the circumstances…a Kingdom generation becoming the vessels that receive and manifest the solutions the Lord has available for each individual life.

Awareness of/researching any of the preceding topics should be enough to make most people re-evaluate their definition of stressful…things deemed worthy of complaining about. Reading the verses from Psalms at the beginning of this article should also awaken a humble and thankful perspective with regard to the gift of the children one has been blessed with.

I’m at the other end of the spectrum where my teens are quickly approaching the age of flying away from our nest and pursuing what the Lord has purposed for each of their lives. Letting go of my blessings is one of those difficult things, even though I’ve always known they were only mine for a season to raise up for the Lord. I’m so very thankful for every year He has given me to be home with each one; nurturing and training them in every possible area, spiritually and naturally, for the glory of His name.

A word of advice for parents with young children and those stressful days when it seems there is no rest, no quiet, nothing is getting done, the kids are bickering, and life seems frustrating…as Tray Aikens sings, “You’re gonna miss this.” You blink and time is gone; time is something you can never recover. To parents who don’t understand the gift/the blessing of each and every child, whether a child recently conceived in the womb (planned or unplanned), or a child caught in the middle of a marriage relationship that’s seems to be going through difficult times for one of a zillion different reasons…meditate on the fact that each and every child is a gift sent personally down from Heaven just for you…a blessing from the Creator of the universe who loves you and wants to bless you…who loves your children and wants to bless them as much as He wants them to be a blessing to you and to others…a small reflection of His infinite love…intended to be a reward and to bring you joy.

We have reached a point on the timetable of history where it is absolutely necessary for us to cry out for the spirit of Elijah to be poured out on a generation. A generation whose “preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents. Otherwise He will come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6). A generation must be awakened and released who cares more about children and youth who are victims of major worldwide problems on the Lord’s heart and more about the sanctity of human life than they do about self-gratification. (In America we don’t really understand what need is in comparison to the issues millions of innocent children and youth around the world contend with hourly.)

These issues are too vast for anyone but God Himself, but He chooses to work through people. He’s looking for vessels He can use to manifest His love, His compassion, His protection, His provision, His plans and purposes, and everything else these millions of children and youth need. Each one is crying out for someone to care. Each one has been sent to this earth to be a blessing; not a burden, not something or someone to be ignored, not a statistic, not something or someone to be abused or violated in any way shape or form, but rather a blessing!

To every parent, the first thought of every day should be:

Psalms 127:3-5, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him. Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands. How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.”

To this generation, our daily cry should be:

“Dear Father God, make Yourself known to each and every child/youth who needs a perfect Father. Reveal Yourself to each and every child/youth who has no one to love them, protect them, provide for them, heal them, or teach them. Reveal the preciousness of every single child conceived in this generation.”

“Oh Lord, please send the spirit of Elijah through the fullness of Christ Jesus. Raise up and release a generation whose “preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents” (Malachi 4:5-6). Raise up and release a generation whose hearts and minds are set on You, Lord, and on the things that are on Your heart. Raise up and release a selfless generation, Lord, who are about their Father’s business here on Earth, just as it is in Heaven and just as Jesus modeled for us when He walked this Earth. Raise up and release a generation who loves You with their whole hearts, souls, minds and strength and who loves others with Your love. Empower this generation by the power of Holy Spirit and with the authority and compassion of Christ Jesus to destroy the works of Satan (the thief who comes to lie, kill, steal and destroy – his works of poverty, slavery, orphaning children and youth, fatherlessness, broken families, abuse, pornography/the sex trade, aids/plagues, war, religious persecution, drug/alcohol addiction, and abortion…resulting in darkness, bondage, oppression and death). Shine Your light all over this world through a generation preparing to be Your Bride, Jesus, and glorify Yourself in us and through us. In Your Beloved Name, Jesus, we pray. Amen”