Teaching Children to Hear God's Voice

FINDING GOD

Debra Giles grew up in a loving home, but her parents were not Christians. Her mother was forced to go to church all the time when she was growing up and resented it. Consequently, she vowed when she was an adult to no longer attend. On the contrary, Debra always had a fascination with God. She recalls gazing at the stars as a child and talking to the Lord. She wanted to know more about the creator of the universe. 

At 14, Debra gave her heart to the Lord at home and soon found a spirit-filled church. Debra decided to start going to a Spirit-filled church. Her sister soon followed in Debra’s footsteps and got saved too. Their mother wasn’t happy about it and often prohibited them from going. Debra admits that those years were very challenging. 

Eventually, her parents began attending a Baptist Church where Debra’s cousin was the pastor. Her mom told both girls they had to participate in two monthly services at the Baptist Church. Then, they could attend two services a month at the nondenominational Spirit-filled church. When Debra and her sister visited the non-denominational service, they began learning about the gifts of the Spirit, generational curses, and generational blessings, and how to communicate with God. 

When she was a child, God began speaking to Debra with prophetic dreams. When she tried to share her experiences with her parents, they didn’t understand or pay much attention to what she had to say. On the contrary, her grandmother loved hearing about what the Lord was sharing with Debra. She explains, “Since someone I looked up to was willing to take the time to listen to what I had to say and, I felt, validate my experiences, I was okay.”

TRAINING KIDS TO HEAR FROM GOD

Determined to do things differently than her mother, Debra promised herself and God, to raise her children in a home where they could freely love the Lord and learn about the giftings and callings He had for their lives. Debra has raised four sons who all love the Lord and serve in ministry. She shares how you too can raise children with a heart after God in her book, Raising Prophetic Kids.
She provides practical exercises to help you nurture and develop prophetic gifts in your children. For example, you can:

• Encourage times of "soaking" - putting on Christian/reflective music and being quiet before God, asking Him to show, tell, or give something during that time.
• Have children draw prophetic pictures for people - give them a blank paper with someone's name and date and ask them to draw the first thought that comes to mind from God for that person.
• Encourage children to try different prophetic expressions like prophetic art, dance, worship, speaking, Lego building, cupcake art, jewelry making, etc.
• Practice prophesying over people by having children draw pictures and write sentences describing the pictures as words for others.
• Teach children to spend time outside to connect with God and His creation.
• Guide children in recognizing spiritual atmospheres and what to do when sensing negative spiritual influences.

THINGS TO AVOID

Debra also shares some common mistakes to avoid when practicing prophetic exercises, such as:

• Profiling or judging others based on outward appearance rather than discerning from the heart. Giving prophetic words based solely on how someone looks or dresses can lead to inaccurate prophecies.
• Having the mindset that it's okay to make mistakes when prophesying. While some grace is needed when learning, there should still be a reverence for accurately representing God's voice.
• Getting caught up in emotionalism, hype, or seeking an adrenaline rush rather than ministering from a place of peace. Prophecy should not be driven by emotions or what people want to hear.
• Giving "horoscope" style prophecies that simply tell people what they want to hear about themselves rather than what they need to hear from God. Prophecies should challenge and edify, not merely flatter.
• Not allowing God to change and purify you. Many times, it’s the hardships in life that develop character and cause us to listen to God. Debra refers to those times as “wilderness” training (like when the Jews wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because they didn’t surrender to God and allow Him to change them). Prophetic gifting requires brokenness, humility, and purity of heart.

Instead, some wise practices include:

• Exercising humility and being open to making mistakes is a learning process.
• Checking prophecies against Scripture to ensure biblical accuracy.
• Allowing time for God to develop Christlike character alongside the prophetic gifting.
• Seeking to edify, encourage, and comfort others rather than draw attention to oneself.

To learn more about Debra Giles and her prophetic ministry, please visit her website: www.DebraGiles.com. To purchase her book, Raising Prophetic Kids, please click the link: Raising Prophetic Kids.