Dreaming For Your Kids

Ron Luce

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. - Joel 2:28

We hear Joel 2:28 in church and think about how revival needs to come to the younger generation. But, instead of concentrating on that part of Joel 2:28, I want to draw your attention to the "old men will dream dreams" phrase.

I used to overlook that part of the verse most of the time, thinking, "I'm not going to be old for a long time yet, so I'm not going to talk or think much about the old men dreaming dreams." But it is the older people in our society who dream dreams for the younger generation; and so it must be the parents who dream dreams for their children.

They Didn't Ask for This Garbage

Looking at the culture barrage hammering our teens, whether it's what is sold to them, written to them--movies and music--or the point-and-click pornography available to them, there is one thing we can all agree on: Our children are not the ones who invented these things.

Just about every one of these social influences, media entertainment, technological inventions or opportunities on the Web destroying kids, have been dreamed up by the older generation. These older dreamers prey on young people because they have plenty of money. They appeal to young people's most corrupt desires to get them to empty their pockets.

The fact is, the kids didn't ask for this garbage; they were sold it by people trying to make a lot of money without any thought to moral consequences. Of course they will tell us, "If people didn't buy it, we wouldn't make it" as if it's a moral obligation to sell people things that will destroy them just because they buy it.

Here's the question: Are we not dreamers? Cannot we, the people who love God, dream a dream for the young people in our churches? Is it only the secular culture that has a dream for our children?

You can protect your kids from the disaster of being shaped by a confused generation of adults selling media, but it will take deliberation. It will take sweat. It will require emotional and mental engagement with your kids, starting when they are at a very young age.

Dream for Your Kids

Dream a dream for your kids. You can determine if they will be entertainment oriented or service-to-others oriented; constantly appeasing the flesh and desiring the next thing to engage and tantalize them, or those men and women who lay down their lives as a sacrifice for others? As you dream for your kids teach them how to think critically and pursue growth in their relationship with the Lord. If you sacrifice now, you'll reap a blessing for the rest of your life; and the world will never be the same.

Not only must we be the dreamers, but we must also teach our kids to be the dreamers for their own generation. These will soon to become the leaders who will soon determine the culture and morals of America. You can help them get a vision of how God could use them to change their generation and make a difference in the world.

Every time we allow our kids to watch, see, feel, touch and embrace this culture, they become a part of a dream belonging to someone else. The fact is, we must either be the dreamers or we will be a part of somebody else's dream.

Merely giving birth does not make you a parent. Sacrificing while your children are small, laying down your "deserved" freedoms and deeply thinking about how you're shaping your children will ensure their lifelong freedom from the chains of slavery to our culture. It's called loving your children.

It's called being a parent.