Kids of the King, Arise!

This month THREE young people from Ontario sent thoughts about rainbows they had seen. Here are some of their thoughts.

Around 8:15 p.m. last night, I went to the patio door and looked outside. I saw a large colorful beautiful rainbow, and in fact it was not just one rainbow but double rainbow. When I saw the double rainbow,

• I felt that God was going to fulfill his promise that has been given to us in double portions.
  
• I sensed that He is saying that as we go after Him, His promises are there for us to take. He wants to give these promises to us. He is a covenat keeping God.
  
• He wants to give us double the promises, double the blessings.
• These promises are for us and our city.
• God is with us even in a storm or hard times.

One other young boy shared how when a REALLY strong wind hit the city of Winnipeg, “it was just like God’s wind coming in, and that He was letting us know that he was going to be there when we do the Love Winnipeg event tomorrow”

This picture shows 2 boys putting on the “rainbow coat” and bringing groceries to a poor inner city lady.

KIDS PRAYER CORNER This month continue to put on your rainbow colored coats. Let’s ask God to help you see the people around you… wherever you go through Jesus’ eyes. As you do so PRAY: that the kids you meet at school or play would know they are loved. that YOU would be an instrument of that love. that your family and friends would be safe during the summer holidays. that this summer many kids would come to know Jesus at camp. Pray for people that you may hear about that have lost their job, or are sick or too weak to pray. That is called “standing in the gap”, and God loves it when we do that for others. Ask God to give you creative ways to show Jesus’ love in a BIG way this summer. IDEA: one boy shared how the Lord told him to pray for homeless kids whenever he found some change on the ground. He then collected the money and added to it to bring a blanket to a homeless shelter. * Share with us the creative ways that the Lord Jesus prompted you to show love this month. It may give someone else an idea as well.

Imagine yourself on Jesus knee. You have some concerns and would like to talk to him about them. Look below and see if any of these concerns are there. He is able to help with ALL your problems. Isn’t that wonderful!

HANDY LITTLE CHART - GOD HAS A POSITIVE ANSWER:

Josh who has written some of the devotions for kids by kids in the past has had an amazing opportunity to live in South Africa the last number of months. He writes..

We have been going to Hillsong Church here in Cape Town. It has been a great experience of the power of God through music and praise. It has been a real blessing to be a part of the Thursday night worship nights and seeing people from many different places coming together to worship God. Hillsong recently had a “Touching Heaven” night. The entire service was just singing and praising God. It was amazing. It seems to me that South Africa’s worship is something that they could offer to the King. It could be one of the glories of South Africa

My favorite song that they sang was “Revelation Song”

Last year a young boy in Edmonton drew this prayer picture. He said “When the church puts on Joseph’s rainbow coloured coat God’s glory will dwell there.”
Hmm, what do you think God was trying to tell us?

Let’s look very quickly at Joseph. He was the 11th son of Jacob. He was loved wherever he went and didn’t give up no matter how hard it was. He heard God’s voice and God gave him a strategy to preserve and provide for many people. He obeyed what God showed him and prepared and was ready when hard times came. Because of that he cared for the hungry and the poor. He cared for his family, the Jewish people. He had the authority that God had promised him he would have when he was a kid. He could have given up and thought that the dream that God had given him was dead. But NO in God’s time it came true. He became the deliverer of Egypt.

All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of God looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground…Ezekiel 1:28

Where else have you seen a rainbow in the Bible? Look at the thoughts about Joseph to help you figure out how you can put on God’s rainbow colored coat. Can you figure out who Joseph was like in the New Testament?

SING THIS SONG AS A PRAYER:

Open up my eyes Lord, that I may see
Open up my heart Lord that I may believe
The love you have for me

1. Pray that God would give people of all ages dreams, to see what is on His heart for your nation.

2. Pray that God would reveal His game plan or strategy, so that many people would see God’s love and provision and care. Pray that many people would turn to Jesus.

3. Pray that God would raise up someone or many people like Joseph in your nation, that would obey, and walk in God’s authority and love God with all their hearts.

• pray that families would be united and cared for
• pray that the hungry would be fed
• pray that the dreams and visions that God gave people long ago would be restored.

4. Pray That the eyes of the Jewish people would be opened up so that they can see who Jesus really is, their deliverer!

Over New Years a few years ago there was a LARGE gathering of mostly youth that came together to pray for the United States, in Kansas City, U.S.A.

One young man, a 12-year old, shared a vision he had in prayer several days earlier, in which the Lord showed to him that on Dec 31 God was going to “pour out all the bowls and let them run over”. Then yesterday, on Dec 31, the front-page headline of USA Today, speaking of the football “bowl” games, declared “The Bowls Runneth Over”. Here was a regular newspaper saying what this young boy had sensed in prayer.

In 1996 while praying for reconciliation between people groups and regions in Canada, a nine-year-old girl had a picture of “a huge bowl filled with rainbow colored liquid that was about to be poured out, over a dry area.” This was at the beginning of an outreach to Mexico and on that outreach a pastor at one of the venues we were at mentioned. “Ever since you have been here there have been rainbows in the sky every night! This really reassures us that God has not forgotten us!” In the following years we were involved in numerous other reconciliation events and VERY often there would be a double rainbow either at the start or end of the mission.

Now these prayer pictures are they scriptural?

Well, check out. Numbers 16: 41-50. Here is a story of a time that the Israelites sinned, and God punished them. Moses instructs Aaron to take a censor (or bowl) and fill it with incense and fire and run into the midst of the dying people holding the bowl up as a symbol of prayer, and as Aaron stood between the living and the dead the Plague stopped!

And again Revelation 5:8 …

the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and was holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints….

When it speaks of the bowls being poured out it means that God is answering the prayers of those praying.

Last year a lady Jan Aijahn showed me a picture of a huge Metal sculpture that she had made. It was called “the prayers of the saints”. I thought this would be a good picture to have to remind us of the importance of filling up these bowls in prayer. The next while we will be posting a number of prayer initiatives, such as the Global Day Of Prayer, Children at Risk and the Ears 2 Hear prayer alert. So as you join in think of these bowls that are being filled up in heaven in response to your prayers.

About 40 years ago there was an incredible working of God in Indonesia. They tell how the teams of people who went out to share the good news about Jesus. Included in them there were 8 groups of children. There were from 8-10 kids in each group ranging in age from 6-10. They were known as the children’s teams.

These kids went to school from the 1st to the 4th grade. Every morning they left for school at about 7:00. School lasted to 1:15 and then they went home to lunch. From about 4-7 every afternoon Monday to Friday instead of playing like most of the kids , they would come together to pray. They would kneel and put their hands together and pray - not only for others right around them but for the whole world. And they would be so concerned that they would weep. Then the Lord would give them perhaps a word of prophecy , or instructions or reveal something special to them

On Saturdays school only lasted to 12 noon. About 2 o’clock on Saturday afternoon the team of kids started to walk to a nearby village.Nearby could mean anywhere form 5-15 miles away. through the jungle. This was a weekly thing, and no adult ever went with them. When they were asked if they were afraid, they replied. “Why should we be afraid ? There is always an angel going ahead of us, and one on the right side of us, and one on the left side and one behind us. We just follow them through the trails and they keep us safe.”

Many times when they walked through the jungle it was dark. They didn’t have maps. God told them just to pray for light. He gave the children of Israel light, so why wouldn’t He give light to us too, they thought. The Bible never changes.The light God gave after they prayed would be like the landing light of an airplane. When the light would go left, they would go left and when it moved to the right they would move to the right. As it went forward, they would go forward. Finally they would find the village, church or home God wanted them to minister. The Lord led many times like this through the darkness of the jungle. “We wouldn’t know the way but we just followed the light!”

Wherever they went God used them to bring many people to Jesus.They just believed what the Bible said and as they went out, God healed people, and showed Himself mighty with many signs and wonders.

(From “Like a mighty wind” by Mel Tari published by Creation House 1971)

OPEN YOUR EYES AND FOLLOW THE LIGHT

Here are some things to pray for this month.
1. WAKE UP:
When you wake up each MORNING ask God to help people to wake up and be able to tell what is good and what is not good. Pray that they would have the courage to speak out for what is right

2. BE SALTY: Jesus told us that we were to be salt in our world. That is a funny thing to say. BUT did you know salt was used to keep food from going bad. It also puts flavor into food. AND in some countries Salt was used to show that you PROMISED to keep your word. So maybe it isn’t such a funny thing to say. So each time you reach for a salt shaker this month;
-pray that God would use you to bring God’s flavor wherever you go.
-pray that He would help you keep your promises.
-pray that moms and dads would keep their promises to each other and to their kids.
-pray that God would use you to speak out for truth and purity wherever you go.

3. Praise and Thanksgiving: Think of all sorts of things you can be thankful for when you go to bed at night. Find some verses in the book of psalms and make up a song to sing before you go to sleep. (eg: s. 33 1-3)GOOD NIGHT

God of the City