Recently I was chatting with several teenagers who had received a prophetic word from a world renowned prophet. These teens didn’t like the prophetic words they received. When I asked more questions, I realised that these teens had assumed some stuff.

• One teen felt an enormous responsibility to fulfil the career spoken about.
• Another teen didn’t understand that some of the words spoken had multiple meanings. It was obvious to me, but not to the teen, that the meaning of several of the words were taken wrongly. This would bring a whole new meaning to the prophecy and change things hugely for this teen.
• Another teen was passionate about a particular hobby and wanted to turn his hobby into a professional career so he was disappointed that this ‘hobby’ was not mentioned in his future.

In this blog post, I want to share some principles that we use when we prophesy to kids. By kids, I’m meaning anyone under the age of 16.

When you prophesy over anyone, especially kids, you are always encouraging and strengthening and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3). You could liken it to giving them a set of binoculars to see a bit of the way into the future in regard to whom they are becoming.

Important ‘times’/seasons to give prophetic words to kids 

• At their birth
• Start of school
• Transition times eg grade 6 to year 7
• Baptism
• Transition to higher education or when trying to sort out subjects for future career.
• It’s great for every child to have a prophetic word so that their parent can help steward it for them.

Main Principles for giving prophetic words to kids

• Please keep all kids safe – emotionally, spiritually, mentally & physically.
• Keep yourself safe and above reproach.
• Don’t place huge a responsibility or expectations upon the child with what you say.

Practicalities

• Language – easy language that they understand. Thus, no big words. Use everyday language. Watch your tone and facial expression eg smile. A child can presume that if you are frowning then you are angry with them or telling them off. Obviously not the intention of prophesying!
• Parent / guardian / kids leader present for safety, accountability and ability to steward it well. Please do not prophesy over a child with no other adult present. This is unwise for yourself but can hurt a child emotionally and spiritually. Children can also take words spoken out of context and believe something quite different was said. We want to keep our children safe.
• Focus on character and identity.
• Don’t place huge expectations on them eg it is unwise to prophesy that they will be for example a Prime Minister of Australia one day (even if you think you clearly heard that). It is far more effective for children to say to them that they have a leadership gift that can be grown so that they can impact a large number of people and that they may find themselves in groups where they can be the leader.
• Not long winded. Remember children have a short attention span.
• Get down to their level physically so you are not towering over them and intimidating them.
• Don’t touch them eg don’t place your hands upon them.
• If you can, write it out and give it to the parents. Especially if the child is very young, it may not be necessary to speak it over the child. Ask God how you should deliver the prophecy.

What parents can do after a child receives a prophetic word

• Record it.
• Write it out.
• Pray through it.
• Discuss it with your child, how they felt and the meaning.
• Look at who it says they are ie their identity and character.
• Look at what it says about their relationship with God.
• Look at what they will do, their passions.
• Pray it over your child.
• Make it visual and put in their bedroom eg paint it, write the words on a poster, be creative with the words and how you can visually present it.
• Pray a blessing over them using the words.

What are the principles and safety guidelines you and your church follow in regard to giving prophetic words to kids? I would love to hear them. Please feel free to comment below. Thanks.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Using the paper cardboard cut outs of people, write a name on the back of each paper cutout until you have included the names of every person in the room. Shuffle the cardboard cutouts. Pass them out so that everyone in the room has one cardboard cutout. Ask each person to write or draw a prophetic word or picture on the front of the cardboard cutout without turning the cardboard person over to see who it is for. When everyone has finished drawing/writing, ask people, one at a time, to speak it over the person whose name is on the back.

2. Group Activation: Ask each adult present to write the names of each of their children (together with the child’s age) on the top of individual sheets of paper ie one name per piece of paper. Collect the sheets of paper. Shuffle them. Hand out the sheets of paper so that each child will have something written or drawn about them. If more adults present, they can join together to prophesy. Give people 10-15 minutes to write or draw on the sheet of paper a prophetic word for the child. Collect the papers and redistribute to the correct parents.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to remind you of someone who is pregnant or has a newborn baby. Write a prophetic word for that baby. You may even like to ask God to show you a prophetic object that would be suitable to buy for the baby as well.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a child who is in a stage of transition eg one school to another, primary school to high school, selecting career subjects at school etc. Write a prophetic word for that child, then pass it to the parent.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to remind you of a child with special needs. Write a prophetic word for this child. Ask God to show you an object or present that fits in with your prophesy that you could buy for this child. Give the prophetic word and the object to the parent when you have finished.