The Samuel Generation

The First Book of Samuel, chapter 3. First Samuel chapter 3, and I am going to share something very special with you, something that I believe God wants to be shared. Yesterday we had a beautiful event attended by members of about 15 Hispanic churches from Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and there were a great many leaders here who work in the Ministry of Children’s Education, Early Childhood Education. It was a great blessing, with many workshops held here.

God has blessed our church with a program called AWANA. The letters stand for something that I cannot recall clearly right now, but AWANA has revolutionized children’s education. And while we are at it, we thank the Lord for all the teachers who, for so many years, have blessed our church through Children’s Sunday School and children’s classes. The Lord always seems to keep improving things, improving and improving them, so we thank God for all those teachers who have worked so hard in the past.

And AWANA has come to bless, improve, and complement what is already being done. Right now, upstairs, I would not be surprised if there were more than 100 children taking classes at different levels, from very young children to those who are a bit older. It is a tremendous blessing. And if you come here on Friday nights, the beams of this church are shaking because there are children jumping, worshiping the Lord, dancing, singing, and playing—all with an eminently spiritual purpose.

God is doing very beautiful things. And we have wanted to share that blessing because we are one of the first Hispanic churches in this region to adopt the AWANA program. So some teachers came from California and Florida, and there were workshops. It was a very great, very special blessing.

And they invited me to give the opening talk in the morning. And truthfully, I will tell you that although I love Children’s Ministry and believe it is something so special and so beautiful, that is not actually my calling. My calling as a pastor is, of course, to encourage it, because I understand the importance of children, and we have supported it. But there are other people here in the church for whom this is their gift, their calling, and their passion, and they are doing wonderful work.

And I said, ‘What am I going to speak about with authority concerning children’s ministry?’ Several alternatives occurred to me, but one immediately became fixed in my mind. An image came to me: the image of Samuel in the Temple as a child, when God speaks to him for the first time. And I want to share that because I shared it yesterday, and God gave me that word as something I feel is more than merely a teaching; it is like a word with which God wants to mark our church. I would call it a prophetic word, not only for our congregation, but also for the Latino Church and for other congregations.

But I am going to refer to the Latino church right now because we here are Latinos. Yet I include all congregations, and I would also like to proclaim this sermon, this word, to the brothers and sisters who listen to us over the Internet and to their churches, because I believe this is a word that God intends for the time now approaching—the time that is coming, the time that we, as the Church of Jesus Christ in general, are entering.

And I will not give much more of a preamble. Let us turn to chapter 3 of First Samuel. It says here:

‘The young Samuel’—let me pause here for a moment. When God gave me the image, I actually saw Samuel as a child, and I have always thought that Samuel was a child when he received this vision, this revelation from God. But I said, ‘Hmm!’

It says ‘the young man,’ so I began looking in the New King James Version and other translations, and it says ‘the child Samuel.’ Then I looked at the Spanish-language Bible of the Americas, and it says ‘the boy Samuel.’ But, not content with that, I wanted to look in the original Hebrew, because this is important: I want to speak about children, the importance of children, the destiny God has for children, and the call to the Latino Church and all the other churches to minister specifically to children—to a new generation.

I am calling this sermon, this word, ‘The Samuel Generation.’ God wants to prepare for Himself a generation in the spirit of Samuel. So I looked in the original Hebrew, and the word translated here as ‘young’ is naar in the original Hebrew, which means ‘child.’ The English definition I found was ‘lad, boy’; it can refer to an adolescent. And I believe Samuel was probably an adolescent.

So when it says ‘young’ here, do not think of an eighteen-, nineteen-, or twenty-year-old young man. I believe Samuel was much younger than that. I would picture him as a child of ten, eleven, or perhaps twelve years old. It is possible that he was entering that stage of puberty, when he was already becoming a little man, and perhaps this was what began it all. Perhaps God said, ‘This child is ready to enter his prophetic ministry,’ and initiated him through this word.

But it is very important that you not read ‘young’ here as meaning an adult—a young adult making the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

So: ‘The boy Samuel ministered to the Lord in the presence of Eli.’ Who is Eli, for the brothers and sisters who do not know? Eli was the high priest in Israel at that time. He was the most important priest in Israel, its head. But Eli was a man who had lost his vision. Eli was Israel’s spiritual leader, but as an old man he had lost his enthusiasm; he had lost his passion. His sons had become corrupt. They were also priests, but they had become corrupt morally and financially; they abused their priestly privileges. Eli had not corrected them and allowed his sons to commit all kinds of abuses in their priesthood.

Eli was already a man—and the Bible tells us; look at how Eli died: Eli fell from a chair where he was reclining because of a fright, and he was so obese that the very weight of his own body brought him down. And it was a punishment from God, by the way.

But Eli represents that spiritual vision which has declined and lost its first love, its fire, and its passion for God, and which simply performs its duties formally but has no passion, no vision, and no blessing from God. And this is important because Samuel represents, as it were, Eli’s replacement. If Eli represents corruption, lack of vision, and spiritual laziness, Samuel represents new life, anointing, a new generation, the word of God, prophecy, and supernatural gifts—a new time, a new church. So Samuel ministered because, when he was a child, his mother, who had asked the Lord for a child because she was barren, was given Samuel by God.

And this woman, recognizing that he was a gift from God, took that child whom she loved so dearly and gave him to Eli so that he would grow up in the Temple and grow up as a Nazirite, a man dedicated to the Lord. And I imagine that Samuel played there inside the Temple with some little toy with wheels; if he had one of those action figures children play with, or a little truck, it was in the Temple that he played with it. When he moved around and a priest came in to light the lamp to the Lord, perhaps he would watch him like this from between the doors. He grew up becoming thoroughly familiar with the gestures, the rites, the atmosphere, the fragrance of the different perfumes the priests burned in the Temple, and the words of praise sung by the various singers.

That was Samuel’s daily bread from the time he was a baby. It says that his mother visited him and brought him a special robe every year, but I suspect that this woman also went to the Temple and saw her son regularly, even though she had dedicated him to the Lord.

So Samuel was there in the Temple, right? It says that he was in Eli’s presence, ‘and the word of the Lord was scarce in those days; there was no frequent vision.’ It was a time of spiritual barrenness. Israel had become corrupt; the symbols of the Gospel, of the Lord, of worshiping the Lord had become corrupted. There was discouragement, neglect, and spiritual corruption. God did not manifest Himself. I believe it was very much like our own times, when there is a scarcity of the true word of God.

It says, ‘And it came to pass one day, when Eli was lying down in his room, when his eyes had begun to grow dim so that he could not see.’ His lack of physical vision also reflected a lack of spiritual vision. It says that ‘that night Samuel was sleeping in the Temple of the Lord.’ Why? Because he lived in the Temple, ‘where the ark of God was.’ Why did the Holy Spirit include the words ‘where the ark of God was’? Because Samuel was becoming thoroughly immersed in that environment where the supernatural presence of God dwelt, which called to mind God’s mighty acts in the history of Israel.

‘And before the lamp of God went out, the Lord called Samuel.’ At night they would go to bed, and before they blew out and extinguished the lamps, Samuel was perhaps already about to lie down. The Lord called Samuel, and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am. Why did you call me?’ Samuel thought it was Eli calling him. Perhaps his room was next to Eli’s, and he thought, ‘Someone called me.’

And because he had no experience in the things of God, he went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am. What do you want me for?’ And Eli told him, ‘I did not call you. Go back and lie down.’ So he went back and lay down. And the Lord called Samuel again—this child—and Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am. Why did you call me?’ And he said, ‘My son, I did not call you. Go back and lie down.’

It says, and clarifies here: ‘Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.’ He had no experience in spiritual matters; he did not know how to discern God’s supernatural movements, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. He had not yet entered into his priestly role.

[If someone—one of the faithful—could bring me a little water, I would be extremely grateful. Water would be best. Thank you, brothers and sisters.]

Nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. So the Lord called Samuel a third time, and he got up and went to Eli, and said once again, for the third time, ‘Here I am. Why did you call me?’ Then Eli understood that it was the Lord who was calling the child, the young boy.

Brothers and sisters, there is a specific way to relate to God and to hear the word of God. Sometimes God wants to tell us things, but we are so dull, so ignorant. That is why the people of God need to enter once again into a spiritual transformation that will enable us to hear from God.

God wants to communicate with His people. God wants to bring a prophetic word, but many of us are dull and clumsy, and because we have no experience in discerning the voice of God, we sometimes think it is our own thought, some psychological uneasiness, or something like that. And we must ask the Lord, ‘Lord, give us discernment and teach us how to open our souls and our lives to You, and how to be prepared to worship You.’

God is telling us that there is a specific way to intertwine ourselves with and relate to His supernatural movement. [Thank you, dear.] And we need to learn how one responds to God. So it says here that ‘Eli understood that it was the Lord who was calling the young boy,’ and then Eli told Samuel, ‘Look, Samuel, go and lie down. And if He—God—calls you again, then you are to say to Him, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”’

I picture that little boy, right? ‘Okay. I’m going to tell Him, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening. Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”’ He goes into the bedroom, lies down again, and hears the voice of God. It says, ‘The Lord came and stood there and called as He had the other times.’ It was the Holy Spirit of God wanting to speak to Samuel, wanting to communicate something to him: ‘Samuel, Samuel.’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for Your servant is listening.’

Imagine that little boy saying those rehearsed words he had been told to say. Because God wants to reveal Himself to children too; that is why I speak of the Samuel Generation. God wants to begin speaking to children and to prepare for Himself a generation that hears from God. And look at how weighty the prophecy is that God entrusts to this child. It says, ‘The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel that will make both ears of everyone who hears it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli everything I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I will show him that I will judge his house forever because of the iniquity of which he is aware; for his sons have blasphemed God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I have sworn concerning the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for, either by sacrifices or by offerings.”’

And Samuel lay there until morning, and then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. [He was like a little Levite; he performed the duties of the house, and it was his responsibility to open the doors of the Temple.] And Samuel was afraid to reveal the vision to Eli [what he had heard; he was afraid to tell him what God had said about his mentor, practically his spiritual father].

Then Eli called Samuel and said, ‘My son Samuel, come here.’ And he answered, ‘Here I am.’ And Eli said to him, ‘What was the word God spoke to you last night? Please do not hide anything He told you from me, because if you conceal from me even one word of everything He spoke to you…’—‘may lightning strike you’ was what he meant—‘…may God do the same to you and even more if you conceal from me one word of what He spoke to you.’

I believe Eli knew that Samuel had been told something and that it had to do with him. His conscience was guilty, and he wanted to know what God had told him. He said, ‘Do not hide anything from me. Tell me everything, even if it is bad. I want to know it; I want to hear it.’ And Samuel told him everything without hiding anything from him, and then Eli said, ‘Well, He is the Lord.’ In other words: He is God; let Him do whatever He wants. If that is what He has determined for my life, I respect it and accept it. He resigned himself to the word.

And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. Just as God had said concerning Eli, so it happened to him, and you can read the rest of the story. “And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the LORD.” A new era begins; God’s prophetic movement begins to flow again. The wind of the Spirit begins to blow over the land once more, because Samuel, a prophet of God, is moving among the people.

“And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh.” Shiloh was a very specific place in Scripture where great miracles occurred. God began again. “For the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.”

Now, brothers and sisters, what God put in my heart to share with the children’s teachers yesterday, I now share with you and with the brothers and sisters who listen to us and watch us over the Internet. God says to the church of Jesus Christ: “Prepare for me a generation like Samuel’s,” and this is being spoken not only to the parents of children, but also to adults who have no children, to the men, and to the single sisters.

Look, God wants our churches to serve as incubators of prophets and evangelists, teachers and apostles who, in 20 or 15 years, will become that new generation God is going to use. Because I cannot explain everything to you unless you understand this conviction that is in the Spirit, and it is not mine alone, but the conviction of many people with whom I have been connecting, whom I have been listening to and reading, because God has placed this concern in my heart, and so I have been searching on the Internet and reading, and God is speaking to his people about a coming time when God wants to change many things in the world and wants to begin a new era in the history of humanity.

I feel that God is preparing a time unlike any other in the history of humanity, and I believe that before Christ comes—and again, I do not have time to break all of this down eschatologically—certain phenomena, certain events, must take place in the world.

I believe that God still wants nations to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are thinking simply in terms of individuals, of people, and that is very important, as Dr. Richard Booker said on Friday: there is a difference between the Gospel of Salvation and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Christ spoke of the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that has always made a deep impression on me, because the Lord said in his Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of the nations.” Notice that God always thinks in terms of communities. “You and your household will be saved.” If you read the prophecies in the Old Testament, they speak of the nations. Nations, again and again; it speaks of Egypt and Moab. God speaks of his judgment upon the nations.

It says that in the last days there will be nations that will know the Lord, and that is why I tell you that for several years now God has been revolutionizing my eschatology, and I am still not certain, but now I am understanding a little better, because there are concerns God has placed in my heart that do not fit with some things I traditionally hear in the eschatology of the church; but this goes back many, many years.

And God is preparing an era in which I believe the Church of Jesus Christ will be established as an institution of great authority among the nations.

I believe God wants the church of Jesus Christ to impact governments, impact legal systems, impact the academic world, impact the philosophical and artistic world, impact the media, and impact the corporate and financial world. We are always thinking in terms of one person. The devil thinks in terms of a nation, a system, a community, a doctrine, an academic discipline, an area of a nation’s life.

God is bringing a kind of transformation to the church so that it begins to think big, so that it begins to think… Years ago I wrote this: The Master Plan, which is still on the Internet. I have not even bothered to look for it. About four or five years ago, God led me to write this document about precisely what God desires from apostolic government.

And at that time I did not understand as much as I understand now. All the things God wants to do, how God wants us to prepare to invade, to establish. In my spirit I see an era coming in which the church of Jesus Christ will have great authority as never before.

Right now, if we look at Europe, the church of Jesus Christ is utterly decrepit, completely laid low. In the United States, the condition of the evangelical church grows worse every day; in many areas, there is no difference between an evangelical and a pagan.

Governments no longer take Judeo-Christian values into account. We have lost the universities; we have lost the media, the journalists, The New York Times, the New York Post, The Boston Globe; Internet pages do not register the impact of the church.

People like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are very interesting, but no, they never command intellectual or political respect. We make fools of ourselves many times. And I love those people; I believe they have pure hearts, but they are not what God needs, what God wants at this time to command attention.

There are hidden people whom God must bring out and fill with the Holy Spirit. There are Moseses who are still in Egypt, but God wants to take them and turn them into liberators of his people. And the church must prepare that so that we can truly speak in the prophetic Spirit.

Nowadays, in our countries, as in Guatemala, for example, and in other countries, evangelical presidents arise, and they make fools of themselves, fail, and fall short. In Brazil, 30–40% of the population is evangelical, but the difference cannot be felt.

In El Salvador and Puerto Rico, there are large numbers of evangelicals, but ask yourself whether government, social justice, and the progress that the advance of the gospel is supposed to represent are manifested in the structures of our cultures. No. They are not. Here in the United States, there are great congregations of thousands of people; the most highly developed pulpits are found in the United States, and yet this country continues to tear itself apart more and more spiritually.

The devil continues to gain more and more ground because the church makes no difference. The devil does not care if 100 or 1,000 megachurches arise, as long as he keeps the media, the universities, the hospitals, the government, the corporations, and the social agencies. Because he thinks in terms of systems and has legitimately taken possession.

Brothers and sisters, God wants to change things. Every time I pass by Harvard and see all those buildings, that great neighborhood, that incredibly powerful city that Harvard is, do you know what I think? They stole it from us. Because Harvard was founded as an institution for training ministers. The first person who gave money to Harvard was John Harvard, and he gave his library and the equivalent of about 10,000 dollars to found that university; and for many decades—more than two centuries—Harvard was a place where God was feared through the gospel.

At least there was fear of God, and for a long time it was a place with passion for God. Today it is an engine of terrible secularism and rationalism. Those things have been stolen from us, but I believe God wants to restore that and wants to prepare a generation for himself. Do you see? That is where I am going. These are times of change.

We are going to see changes, and we are a transitional generation, but I believe that in 15, 20, 25, or 30 years, if Christ has not come—and I personally believe there is still time before his coming, although he could come right now—but in 15, 20, or 30 years, God will want those children who are now playing upstairs—and not playing, but receiving teaching and the Word, and who come on Fridays—to be the generation that is in control and causes the presence of God to be established.

The Word of God in this nation: that they may be lawyers and government officials and businesspeople and journalists; that they may reflect the values of the kingdom of God, and that the Church may have power and authority, that God’s prophetic movement may be in the midst of the earth, and that those little children may become adults filled with the Holy Spirit. With a prophetic word to give to presidents, prime ministers, and the leaders of powerful institutions. That Samuel generation God is preparing—and that means that the church today must be preparing that generation for the Lord.

That is the point God has made to me.

God says, “Prepare for me the generation that I am going to use to conquer territory.” Now, after all of that, we know that God has his coming, and again, no one knows how all this fits together. The problem is that speaking about these things requires so much nuance that one would have to spend hours dotting every “i.”

But suffice it to say, times are approaching. Great transformations and great influence await the church of Jesus Christ, and God says: “Prepare for me the generation that I am going to use to establish my dominion for a time before my Son comes. So that then I may seek a church that delivers to me what belongs to me, and delivers it to my Son, and my Son delivers it to me. And I may be All in All, as the apostle Paul says.”

So it is important for us to understand that Samuel is born in the context of that decrepit church, that fallen church represented by Eli. The people of Israel have become corrupt; there is no strength, no word, no passion for God.

And I believe these children are developing in the midst of a church like that, one that needs strength and renewal. The power of God must flow in the church, in our church, in the churches of Christ. Right now, these children represent the hope of a New Testament church filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

And those children are going—they are there now, developing in that context—so that is very important. Those children are growing up in the context of a worldwide church that needs renewal and needs a visitation of God’s power.

Second, these children, this Samuel generation, require parents who, like Hannah, love, value, and desire their children. The Bible says that “Hannah brought him a robe every year.” Hannah did not wash her hands of Samuel because she had given him to the temple; no, Hannah continued fulfilling her duties as a mother. And I imagine that she visited her son continually. Hannah desired a son. When she came before God, she poured out her soul, asking the LORD for a son, and the Lord granted her request.

Nowadays, brothers and sisters, people often do not value children. People do not want to have children. Now, we Hispanics, thank God, do not have that problem. We are reproducing incredibly, like rabbits. This is growing; even if they close every door in Texas and California to us, we are already in here, and no one is getting us out. We will continue to grow.

Sociologists say that one of the greatest revolutions taking place in the United States is the growth of the Latino community, you know? That is the way it is. By the year 2050, this country is expected to be almost 30% Latino. So imagine that. People here are going to have to learn to eat plantains and tortillas and drink Goya Malta, whether they like it or not, because the people of God, the Latino people, and the church of Jesus Christ have a great duty to disciple that community and our children, brothers and sisters.

We have the duty to raise them in the fear of the LORD and to offer the Lord young people, a generation that, in 10 or 15 years, will revolutionize this nation. I believe God has brought the Latino nation here as a prophetic community. Our values are wholesome values; even those who do not know the gospel as we know it are God-fearing people. The problem is that if we do not disciple them and do not evangelize them, they will simply become secularized, as the other groups have.

That is why the church of Jesus Christ is called to be a militant church and to have the vision to deliver our community to the Lord and say to him, “Father, here are the Hispanics to make a difference in this country.” So that we may provide the balance, because this nation is now being pulled one way and the other. They are like Israel between two gods, and when our community is able to vote, and when that generation reaches the time to vote and assert its Christian values, that is what will make the difference in this country.

Even now, we are already making a great difference, but we will make an even greater one. That is why we must love our children. Parents, I tell you: value your children. As Hannah valued Samuel. No, do not just leave your children here. Some brothers and sisters arrive at church and drop off their children as though they were a hot potato; they let them loose over there, come in here, and forget about their children.

Where are your children? Sometimes I walk through the classrooms and stairways and find children hanging from one of the railings of… and the parents do not know where they are. Take your child to class and tell them, “You stay there, or you already know what is going to happen to you.” Take them to class; stay close to them. During the time of worship, do not let them run loose; no, let them learn to worship the Lord. Value your children; give importance to your children.

And I say to the fathers, to the men: Men, love, educate, and disciple your children. Do not leave all the work to the women. Gregory and Omar were telling me the other day that they have noticed young fathers coming to the front with their children in their arms. Listen, that is precious. That means we are getting the idea. How wonderful it is when those men also assume their role as disciple-makers!

Listen to me, men have a very important role to play in educating children. Do not leave the work to the women alone. Men, get involved in blessing your children. I would love to see men up there working in Sunday school, working in AWANA and in all these ministries.

Men, please! Take responsibility for your work, for your share of the work. Let us not leave it only to the women. I celebrate what the men are doing and how they are growing, but we still need more. For we have the duty to value and love our children, and do not leave all the work to the church. Although Hannah consecrated Samuel, she remained involved in her son’s life.

We have to value children. Children have souls; children have spirits. God wants to speak to children just as He spoke to Samuel. We need parents who love, value, and desire their children.

Third, the Samuel generation requires people who will consecrate and give their children to the Lord from an early age. The key here is to consecrate, to give. Parents, take your children and actively consecrate them to the Lord; bless your children every night, pray for them, and declare God’s blessing over them.

Declare a prophetic destiny over your children; pray for them and say, “Father, I give You my son; I give You my daughter. He will be a man of God; she will be a woman of God. She will be a prophetess; she will be a counselor; he will be a counselor to Your church.”

Brothers and sisters, look, I always tell the Lord that even if my daughters do not become great and illustrious women, may they love God. That is the one thing that matters most to me. Now, glory to God, they will be—and already are—special women, but above all I want them to love the Lord passionately. That is the most important thing. Make sure that your children—consecrate your children to the Lord and take pleasure in seeing them grow in their love for God.

Give them to Him, bless them, lay hands on them, anoint them, and declare God’s favor over them.

Fourth. That Samuel generation is a generation born under a supernatural anointing in response to the needs of God’s people and of this age. There is a special anointing: those children, this generation of children, have a calling, a prophetic anointing upon their lives, and we must recognize it.

See it in your little child. Church, let us see it in those children: like Samuel, they have a special calling. Those children are destined to do great things and to prepare for that powerful coming of the Lord in our time. So see them that way, care for those children, protect them, invest in them, and prepare them for the Lord. For God is saying to the Church: “Prepare My Samuel generation for Me. Prepare My generation of transition. Prepare My generation that will replace you in the work to which I have called them.”

And as a church, we have a sacred duty to invest, strive, and work. I also say this to the churches that hear this message: prepare that generation that will govern and establish great things in the times to come. It is a generation with a supernatural anointing.

Fifth, it is a generation destined to replace the present church, which to some extent has lost its supernatural anointing. Just as Samuel replaced Eli in the priesthood—the prophetic power in Israel—we have things to do, and God will use us, but in truth that coming generation will be like the generation that entered the Promised Land. We are called to prepare those children for the Lord and educate them for the Lord so that, when they enter adulthood, they will be ready to do the work God wants them to do.

They are called to replace us.

Sixth, that Samuel generation is a generation specifically anointed to restore the prophetic and to move under the prophetic anointing. Those children will become adults who hear from God and receive the word of God. They will move under a powerful anointing, a weight of God’s generation.

It is a generation chosen to do great things, and we must educate them as Eli did: instruct them and accustom them to worshiping the Lord. We must bring them to the front so they can dance, sing, and lead; we must lay hands on them and ask them to pray for others as well. We must teach them to pray and worship; we must believe that they will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

We must believe that they will prophesy; we must believe that those children will do very great, very powerful things, and we must train them so that they know how to move in the supernatural anointing.

It is a generation destined to bring revival and renewal to the church, because the word of God is scarce now. The church has mere glimpses; there are small flashes of God’s glory and presence in the church in this age. But now God wants to use that generation to bring revival to us. The problem is not the world out there; the problem is the church.

When the church is revived, the world will take its direction from the church. When the church stands up and begins to live supernaturally, grounded in the word of God, the world will have to take notice.

When God moves in the Church, the world... the Bible says, “God has given us the world.” God has given us the earth. It says, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth; therefore go.” That is what the Lord Jesus Christ said. He has power. The devil wants to make us think that he is the one who has power, and in one sense he is the prince of this world, but above him—he is an illegitimate prince—is Jesus Christ. And there is a part that belongs to us, and we must prepare for the Lord that generation which will strike the world hard with its anointing and replace us.

Eighth, that Samuel generation must grow up in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God is. Like Samuel, they must grow up close to the gifts, knowing the power of God and becoming deeply connected with Him. Let us instruct our children in a supernatural vision.

What I like about the AWANA ministry is that the children grow up with something like a warrior mentality: they have flags, they have vests, they have their little bags, they have their ranks, they have their songs, they have their dances, and they have their symbols. These children grow up differently. They learn Bible verses.

Do you know, brothers and sisters, that nowadays many churches believe it is through lots of technology, lots of video, lots of PowerPoint presentations, and all of that that we will make a difference? I believe all of that is good and that we should use technology, but the devil has had so much power over children in this age that many of our children are already spiritually corrupted and need deliverance.

They need very strong medicine; they need solid food. They need the ABCs of the Christian life; they need people to pray with them and for them; they need the anointing and the baptism of the Holy Spirit imparted to them. They need to learn how to use the weapons of warfare, because they are at war.

The devil has sought to possess their souls. The Internet corrupts them; the media sexualizes them prematurely and turns them into consumers prematurely. Children are already ordering their parents to buy them the latest $150 sneakers because otherwise they feel ridiculous. Girls are corrupted at the ages of 12 and 13; they are already sexually active, and the young boys have become predators, victimizers of the girls. This accursed system of schools, the Internet, and all those demonic things is teaching them rebellion against their parents, unrestrained sexuality, a consumerist attitude, secularism, and rebellion against authority.

The devil has tried to put everything evil into them, and the powers out there are cooperating with the enemy. They are undoing what the church tries to do under the guise of supposedly rational, secular values and paradigms that are truly doctrines of demons being instilled in them. And that generation needs a special power to burn out what the devil has put into their hearts.

There are children today who, at the ages of 7, 8, and 9, are already addicted to pornography because the Internet has corrupted them. Children nowadays grow up in their own subculture with iPods, text messaging, the Internet, Twitter, and all these things—Facebook, YouTube, and everything else. Children no longer need their parents; they are growing up in their own subculture and are being discipled by the secular world. They need deliverance; they need healing.

That is why we have to give them fire; we have to give them the Holy Spirit; we have to give them the word of God; we have to educate them in the temple.

Close to where the ark of God is, which is a symbol of God’s power and presence. We must invest in our children; we must bring them to church; we must fight the enemy tooth and nail, because he wants to place his seal on our children first, since he wants to kill the prophetic spirit.

The devil wants to do what he has always done: like Pharaoh, who wanted to kill the Hebrews when they were born, and like Herod, who wanted to kill that generation so that the Messiah would not arise. Nowadays the devil wants to destroy that prophetic generation, and the church must stand up and say, “No! We are going to fight for them, and we are going to instill a spiritual mentality in them.”

Parents, let us understand that we are at war for the souls of our children and that we must present to the Lord a generation as He needs it to be for His purposes in the last days. Forgive me, but this is important. I have a couple more points, and I promise you that I am coming in for a landing now.

That Samuel generation must receive intensive, continuous, biblical spiritual training and education, as Samuel did. They must learn the Scriptures and verses, know the figures and books of the Bible, memorize choruses, and dance before the Lord. We must train them to be warriors.

They must be instructed in the mysteries and content of the Word of the Bible; they must be trained in how to communicate with God and how to respond to Him when God speaks. Very important.

The next-to-last point: it must be—that Samuel generation must be—given, consecrated, and surrendered to God as His property by parents who understand the special prophetic calling that generation has to usher in a new era in the life of God’s people and even in society at large.

We must give our children to the Lord and say to Him, “Here is my offering. You gave me this daughter, and I offer her to You as an instrument in Your hands.” Consecrate your children to the Lord, give them to God, and say to Him, “Lord, this is Yours for Your purposes. It is a spear, an arrow, a bullet, a cannonball, a projectile that I want to place in Your hands so that You may break through barriers, tear down walls, and bring a new wave, a new system, into the life of Your people.”

Consecrate your children to the Lord; give your children prophetic names. Begin to prophesy over your children; envision the kind of son or daughter you want, and prophesy it—declare it before the Lord. Speak to your child and say, “I declare you to be a woman of God, a counselor, a Deborah, a Sarah, a Mary among the people of God.” “I declare you to be a Gideon; I declare you to be a Caleb; I declare you to be a Samuel; I declare you to be a Joshua in the life of God’s people. I consecrate you for revival; I consecrate you for renewal; I consecrate you to proclaim the prophetic word; I consecrate you to be a professional filled with the Holy Spirit wherever you go, so that you may declare that the glory and honor belong to God. I consecrate you as a singer, as a psalmist, as a prophet of God.”

Declare God’s future over your children and consecrate them to the Lord.

And lastly, the Samuel generation will be called to bring order both within and outside the church. That generation will remove and appoint kings; it will remove and appoint prime ministers and presidents; it will consecrate people for the service of God in the secular world; and it will inspire holy fear among unbelievers, because the power of God will be so strong in it that it will be as though prophets, apostles, and God’s anointed ones were walking upon the earth declaring the glory of God. The world will have to pay attention and tremble before the decrees of those men and women filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now the church is disgraced, defeated, and persecuted; it has no relevance, no currency; it is not heard; it is ridiculed. People proclaim the death of the church. Time Magazine, Newsweek, and highly renowned writers boast that the age of the Christian church in the United States is already in decline, and they foolishly proclaim that now science, knowledge—ridiculous, ridiculous.

In these postmodern times, the devil still holds people’s hearts, making them believe that the solution lies in more knowledge, better psychology, better anthropology, better sociology, better biology, and chemistry, when all of that already... they themselves now confess that all of it failed. It failed in the twentieth century, and now the devil wants to renew it again in the twenty-first century—crazy things. Science and knowledge have never been the solution for humanity, and they want to rid themselves of those who believe by branding them with the label of fundamentalism.

They think that by labeling us fundamentalists, they are already putting an X on us and erasing us from the scene. Religion, spirituality, will never disappear from the human sphere because it is written in the human heart. God wrote it there. No one will be able to escape it; it is in the genes, it is in biology, it is in chemistry, it is in the electronics of the human body. No one will be able to escape it.

And the best days of the Church of Christ are still ahead of her, brothers and sisters. We have to prepare a new generation for the Lord; we have to keep investing because what is coming is great. We have to be envisioning the great things God is going to do and preparing for God His prophets, His teachers, His apostles, His evangelists, His male and female pastors. People filled with the Holy Spirit, moving in the power of God.

God tells us: “Celebrate, marry off your sons and daughters, open businesses, build churches, because you are going to need many places where people can come to receive My word. Prepare vessels for Me—not just a few vessels—because the oil I have to give is abundant, and it will flow throughout the whole earth. So prepare a generation of leaders for Me. Prepare a generation of leaders for Me, because I need them for the work to which I have called them.”

That is God’s call to the Church of Jesus Christ at this time. Let us prepare the Samuel generation; let us prepare the generation that will establish David and Saul, that will anoint kings, and that will walk inspiring fear in the world around them because God Himself will walk with them. That is the word of the Lord for this church and for the Church of Jesus Christ at this time.

Let us stand. Parents, bring your children here for a moment. Those of you who have children, bring them here for a moment. And we are also going to pray for those who are upstairs, and prophetically we are going to declare God’s anointing over that generation this afternoon. In the name of Jesus. We declare that these children are warriors, generals, presidents, doctors, journalists, writers, artists, counselors; they are Deborahs, Sarahs, Ruths, Esthers whom God is using right now, in the name of Jesus.

Come all the way forward; come all the way to the front, and if the front seats need to be pushed back a little, please do so. Mothers and fathers, come closer. All the way forward, all the way forward. Even if you have to come up here, let some of you come up here so that others have room. Let some of you come up here.

Let us give these children to the Lord, and we also consecrate to the Lord those who are upstairs. If the children want to come up here, let them come up however they can, or come up with them yourselves; do not hurry.

In the name of Jesus, we declare new times; we release a special anointing, and may this simply be a firstfruits. This is simply a symbol of what God is doing and will continue to do in Latin America, Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, Australia, Central Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Russia, Mongolia, and Tibet. The Lord is doing great things.

In the name of Jesus, we declare a special anointing flowing today. This is the Samuel generation, the Samuel generation. We declare an anointed generation filled with the Holy Spirit, a prophetic generation. We declare a prophetic generation. We declare that these children will be the spearhead God will use—spiritual warriors who understand the move of God.

Place your hand on your child right now and declare a new generation, a powerful move of God, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, fullness of life, revelation. Children who see visions, dream dreams, receive prophetic words from God, and move in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of Jesus, we declare new times, a flowing of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit of God, a flowing of the power of God, a flowing of the power of God. A new generation. A prophetic generation, a Samuel generation, a generation destined to change destinies, a generation that has authority to flow in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of Jesus, we declare wise parents, understanding parents who know their calling and know what God has called them to do. You are guardians, you are nurturers, you are spiritual mothers, you care for God’s property. Your children are the talent God has placed in your hands. Make sure to raise your children in the power and fear of God and to provide them with wholesome environments where the presence of God can flow and do things.

In the name of Jesus, I release a heavenly anointing upon the children of this congregation, upon the adolescents of this congregation. I seal their minds and hearts against every scheme of the devil, every act of malice by the enemy that seeks to possess their hearts and souls. We declare them to be a prophetic generation that flows in the power of the Holy Spirit, filled with the gifts of God, wise and knowledgeable in the use of the implements, utensils, and vessels of God’s temple.

In the name of Jesus, we declare the adolescents and young people of this church anointed, filled with the Holy Spirit, and wise in the use of the weapons of spiritual warfare. In the name of Jesus. Their hearts are sealed; we declare the anointing—God’s anointing is flowing at this moment. The fire of God is sealing their hearts; the warmth of God is flowing.

Children, receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit; children, receive the word of God; children, receive revelation in your spirits and your hearts. Children, receive—receive, in the name of Jesus, grace, God’s grace, a fresh anointing from God. God’s anointing. In the name of Jesus, thank You. A fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the children. Be blessed; be filled with the prophetic spirit of Samuel. The prophetic spirit of Samuel. Holy Spirit, flow; glory of God, flow.

“Raise up a generation for Me,” says the Lord. “I am preparing a generation for Myself; I am reserving for Myself an elite generation, a priestly generation, a warrior generation. I am preparing My generals for the harvest of the last days,” says the Lord.

“My glory will rest upon them. The ark of My power will move upon them. I will uphold their word and will not allow a single word of theirs to fall to the ground; as I did with Samuel, I will do with them also,” says the Lord. The word of God in the hearts of these children. A new spiritual order. Hallelujah. We thank You, Lord. Help us raise up a mighty army for You, Father.

In the name of Jesus, we declare Your anointing; we declare Your glory.

The glory of God upon these children. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank You, Lord. We receive Your double portion. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.