Can Children Prophesy?

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” – Acts 2:17

This scripture makes it clear that it is God’s will that our children prophesy. This begs the question: Why don’t we see it happen more often? Kids rarely prophesy in the sanctuary, but it also seldom happens even in kids’ church.

The biggest problem is not with the kids, but with the teachers and kids pastors. Most people don’t believe that the kids in their class can prophesy.

You may say, “But I can’t control if the kids in my class prophesy. That’s as the Spirit wills.”

That’s true, but it’s also true that the leader in the classroom can open or shut the door to the Holy Spirit’s movement. You can fill up the schedule with so many things that there is no room for the Lord to move.

Look at young Samuel’s story in the Bible.

In chapter one of 1 Samuel, we see that Hannah was barren; she had no children. One day, Hannah went to the temple and poured her heart into God. Hannah promised God that if He gave her a son, she would give him to the Lord for the ministry. God answered Hannah’s prayer. She conceived and gave birth to a strong, healthy boy. Hannah named him Samuel, which means “asked of God.”

When Samuel was weaned (my guess would be between the ages of 2 and 4), Hannah brought him to the temple and gave him to Eli to train for the ministry. Who knows what Eli thought of this—maybe he thought Hannah was trying to get free child care. This was not an easy thing for Hannah to do, but she was very determined to keep her promise to God.

This brings us to the story in chapter three, where God speaks to Samuel. God said to Samuel four times before Samuel was able to receive the word from God.

Why did God have to speak four times?
Was it the will of God for Samuel to hear for the first time?

Of course, it was. If God is calling you by name, I think it’s pretty clear that He wants to talk to you. So why did God have to call him four times? What happened between the third time and the fourth time?

Verse 7 is very enlightening. It says, “Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.”

This tells me that Eli was not doing a good job as Samuel’s teacher because Samuel did not know the Lord yet and hadn’t been taught to hear from God. Hannah brought Samuel to the temple to be trained in ministry, but Eli wasn’t doing his part. Eli didn’t teach Samuel about these things because he thought, like many adults do, that God can’t use children until they “grow up.”

Let’s look at verses 8 & 9: “A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if He calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”

Notice in verse 8 that it says, “Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.” I believe that is the first time Eli thought, “Hey! Maybe God’s talking to you, Samuel.”

Here is my point: Samuel did not receive the word from God until his teacher believed he could.

There are three individuals involved in this story:

God
The teacher
The child

It took all three to “have faith” before Samuel received.

Samuel would never have received the prophecy if Eli hadn’t changed.

I have some good news. You can change today. Change what you believe in. Get a vision for the kids in your class prophesying and begin to teach them about the Holy Spirit. Picture the kids in your class worshipping Jesus passionately.

If you teach them, they will follow. You can start today.