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                     Where Have All The Children Gone?

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By David Wilkerson
February 1992
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          The apostle Paul wrote, "The Spirit itself beareth
          witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
          God" (Romans 8:16).

          "Children of God." We often use this phrase to describe
          ourselves as believers. But I believe we use these
          words too flippantly, with little understanding of the
          power and depth of their true meaning.

          What does it mean to be a child of God? It means simply
          to be God's dependent - that is, "one who is unable to
          exist or function without help; one who is controlled
          by another." A child of God knows he cannot control his
          own life. He is incapable of functioning without the
          Lord's daily help. He lives wholly dependent upon God
          for everything.

          Of course, I am speaking here of spiritual children.
          There are no such "dependents" existing in the world,
          because sinners are self-sufficient people. They see
          themselves as achievers, "can-do" people. They preach
          that whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve -
          that with the right mental attitude, a person can do
          anything. Frank Sinatra popularized their theme song:
          "I did it my way!"

          Sadly, there are very few children in the house of God
          these days as well. The church has been flooded with
          self-help books of all kinds. Many are about taking
          matters into your own hands: winning your own victory
          over self, doubt, fear and loneliness. Yet they're all
          part of the flesh's tendency to avoid total dependence
          on God Himself!

          Many in the church today believe if you have the right
          formula, you can figure out everything for yourself and
          solve your own problems. This attitude says, "God, You
          gave me a good mind. I'll just think this through. I
          know if I do that properly, I can work everything out."

          This self-help message is also being preached from our
          pulpits. Ministers promise, "If you can think it, you
          can do it. If you can name your blessing, you can claim
          it. Just speak the word into existence!" Beloved, this
          message is nothing more than humanism - a
          self-centered, self-fulfilling "gospel of self!"
          Preachers by the thousands are trying to teach people
          how to cope - but it is impossible to cope in this
          life, outside of the power of Jesus Christ!

          As I was in prayer recently, the Holy Ghost said to me,
          "David, where have all the children gone?" He was
          saying, in essence, "I have so few children left, so
          few dependents. Where are the believers who live today
          wholly dependent upon Me?"

                    ------------------------------------

             Jesus set a Child in the Midst of His Disciples -
          And Gave the Church a Powerful Insight Into His Heart!

                    ------------------------------------

          At one point, Jesus found His disciples arguing among
          themselves. They wanted to know: "Which one of us is
          going to be the greatest in Your kingdom? Which one of
          us will rule the most cities and be the most productive
          for You? Which ones will sit on Your right and left?"
          "And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him
          in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you,
          except ye be converted, and become as little children,
          ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew
          18:2-3).

          What Jesus did was amazing, shocking and profound. He
          looked into the faces of a congregation that was
          already converted - a group who sought the words of
          eternal life - and He called for a complete turnaround
          in their relationship to Him. The phrase He used here,
          "Unless you are converted," means in Greek, "Unless you
          are revolutionized in your thinking!"

          Jesus was saying, "Forget about who will be the
          greatest! Unless you completely change the way you
          think about your walk with Me, you won't even make it
          into the kingdom!"

          Multitudes of Christians spend their lifetime thinking
          about heaven, singing about it and longing to go there.

          But many will miss it entirely because they did not
          learn the very lesson Jesus tried to teach His
          disciples here. I believe He's saying, "Don't get your
          eyes on heaven - on ruling, reigning and doing great
          things in eternity - until you first learn how to walk
          in this life. Otherwise, you won't even make it there!"

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             "...And Become as Little Children" (Matthew 18:3)

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          This scene is one of the most powerful object lessons
          in God's Word. Yet we have missed its greatest
          significance!

          Christ here is revealing a powerful truth. He is
          saying, "You've got to rethink your relationship to Me
          - you have to revert to childlike ways!"

          Upon reading this, I certainly do not want to revert to
          some childish emotions. I see them in my little
          toddler-grandchildren: selfishness ("Mine, mine!"),
          stubbornness ("No, no!"), and jealousy. God help us if
          we revert to the things we see in toddlers! That would
          be total bedlam.

          But when Jesus speaks of being childlike, He does not
          mean a single childlike characteristic. He is talking
          about something much broader - and that is a child's
          human condition.

          Some interpret Jesus' message in this passage as being
          about trust. They say, "Jesus wants us to be trusting,
          the way a little child is." But trust has little to do
          with a child's human condition.

          For example, my ten-month-old grandson, Elliot, is not
          capable of trust. He simply doesn't know what it means.
          When he is hungry, he has only one weapon: a good pair
          of lungs! He can only cry. Elliot isn't trusting;
          rather, he is totally dependent. That is his human
          condition. And he is dependent on his parents, whether
          he trusts or not.

          Jesus was focusing on our condition - our utter
          helplessness - not on trust, faith or innocence. The
          child He brought into the midst of His disciples was to
          be a mirror of their own helplessness - not just
          spiritual helplessness, but also natural, human
          helplessness.

          Helplessness is an inability to defend or help oneself.
          Jesus was telling His followers, "Look at this little
          boy. He is totally defenseless. He cannot cope with
          life alone - he must be fed and clothed. And he is a
          picture of you. You must see yourself as defenseless -
          as helpless as this little boy."

          I agree that we must learn to trust God, and that
          without faith it is impossible to please Him. Indeed,
          we are to grow up and become men and women of spiritual
          maturity. We are to put away childish things. We are no
          longer to be children in our understanding.

          But never in our lifetime can we put away our human
          condition of a child's dependency! God wants us to see
          ourselves as totally, absolutely incapable of facing
          this life by trying to figure out or take care of
          things on our own. We must see our condition as one of
          utter helplessness!

          How would you describe the children of Israel at the
          Red Sea, if not as helpless? They were hemmed in on
          every side and could do absolutely nothing about it.
          Only a loving Father God could make a way of escape for
          them. They didn't have faith - and they went forward
          only because Moses had the faith to have the sea
          opened. They were as children - absolutely helpless!

          King Asa and Israel were utterly helpless against the
          Ethiopians. A million-man army and three hundred
          chariots marched against them at Mareshah. Scripture
          says Asa cried to the Lord, "Lord, it is nothing with
          Thee to help, whether with many or with them that have
          no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee,
          and in Thy name we go against this multitude... Let not
          man prevail against Thee" (2 Chronicles 14:11).

          "So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and
          before Judah" (verse 12). Listen to Asa's prayer:
          "Lord, we are helpless. We can do nothing. The power is
          all Yours - and we are dead unless you help us!"

          Today the Lord is saying to us, "I have so few such
          children left. They talk about Me and sing about Me
          every week in church. But when they find themselves in
          a hard place, they are not dependent upon Me!"

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           "If Thy Hand of Thy Foot Offend Thee, Cut Them Off...
             And If Thy Eye Offend Thee, Pluck It Out" (Matthew
                                 18:8-9).

                --------------------------------------------

          I have sought a revelation on this passage for many
          years. We know the Bible is against self-mutilation.
          And the most prevalent interpretation is, "If your
          hands reach for sinful things, or your feet take you to
          wicked places, then stop it- cut these practices out of
          your life. If your eyes look lustfully, then stop it,
          no matter what the cost!"

          Yet I believe what Jesus says here means much more. It
          has to do with the lesson Jesus is teaching in this
          same context: It is a rebuke against self-effort. It's
          all about our helplessness!

          He's saying, "If your hand tries to work out your
          problem - that is, if you're taking matters into your
          own hands - then stop immediately! If your feet run
          around desperately trying to solve your trouble, then
          stop running! If your eye looks to something or someone
          else for help - a man or woman whom you think may be
          the answer to your prayer - then by all means, stop
          looking and pluck out that type of thinking
          immediately!"

          I used to do these very things in Teen Challenge. A man
          once donated a house to our ministry, and we sold it to
          help buy a building in Brooklyn. About six months
          later, I was in deep financial trouble - we needed
          about $5,000. I sat in my office, thinking, "Who can I
          call?" Suddenly, in my mind's eye, the man's name
          appeared, and I thought: "He gave us a house worth
          $55,000!"

          I told my associate, "Call him on the phone. We'll get
          our $5,000!" Ten minutes later, my co-worker came back
          with his head down. He said, "I've never been so chewed
          out in my life." Then, instead of getting on my knees,
          I said, "Surely there's somebody else who can help." I
          wasn't praying - I was thinking!

          Oh, how it hurts God when we keep looking for a person
          or something else to solve our problems! We think,
          "This is my dream. If I can just get past this certain
          point, it will solve everything!" We go around with our
          hands, feet and eyes searching for answers - but God is
          saying, "Cut it out! Stop it! It offends Me!"

          Jesus makes it clear that there are serious
          consequences when we try to make things happen without
          relying on Him. He says it will cost us eternal life!

          "What?" you say. "Do I have to pray about everything?
          Do I have to depend on God for all?" Yes! That is the
          humility of a child! It means spending the rest of your
          life saying, "It's better to live totally dependent on
          the Lord than to be cast into hell trying to do it on
          my own!" "It is better for thee to enter into life halt
          or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to
          be cast into everlasting fire" (Matthew 18:8).

          Here is yet another stern warning in the same passage:
          "But whoever causes one of these little ones who
          believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a
          heavy millstone be hung around his heck, and that he be
          drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6).

          God's Word is clearly set against any mistreatment of
          children. But Jesus isn't talking about child abuse
          here. Again, in this context He is saying that it is an
          offense to God for anyone to teach that we are
          self-sufficient. He is warning against false teachers
          who would offend young believers with any gospel that
          caters to self-love and self-will.

          Shepherds today would be producing Christians who do
          not depend on the arm of the flesh. But instead,
          they're turning childlike hearts away from total
          dependency on God - and toward self-motivation and
          self-esteem! Jesus says it would be better for these
          men if they had never been born.

          The teachers of the modern prosperity message have
          offended an entire generation. They have put stumbling
          blocks before thousands of believers, urging them to
          seek all the goodness and blessings of a caring Father
          - but saying nothing of the obligations of a disciple,
          the rod and the chastisements that go with being a
          beloved child.

          If you're a parent, you care for your children by
          providing them with good things - but your also care
          for them by chastising and disciplining them. My father
          used to say, "This hurts me worse than it hurts you."
          He was speaking of the physical realm. But in the
          spiritual realm, his discipline was the salvation of
          his children!

          Right now you may be under the rod of the Lord's
          discipline. But if you are, it's not because you've
          sinned - it's because God loves you. His love is
          motivating it all!

                      -------------------------------

                   Standing Beside the Child In the Midst
                       Was the God of the Universe!

                      -------------------------------

          The disciples loved Jesus. They had confessed to Him,
          "We believe You are the Son of the living God." Yet we
          have to wonder if that truth really gripped them before
          Jesus' resurrection.

          The Holy Spirit dealt with me while I was preparing
          this message. He asked me:"Who is it you pray to so
          much? Who is it you sing so much about? Whose child are
          you?

          I said, "It's You, Lord. You're the god of the
          universe."
          He answered, "Don't forget that."

          Dear saint, that hit me! And I discovered that this is
          the key to utter dependency! If you grasp this key, you
          won't need a checklist to know, "Am I trusting as I
          should? Am I really following His Word?

          It must register in your mind and soul: "I really am a
          helpless child. But I am God's child! The everlasting,
          Creator God is my Father - He rules the universe. I am
          the child of a Father who knows all and controls all.

          This is where the ministry of the Holy Spirit becomes
          so glorious: He first bears witness with our spirit
          that we are the children of God. But then He goes
          further to reveal that we are also "heirs of God, and
          joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17).

          As you read this message, you may have no trouble
          admitting a condition of helplessness. Perhaps you are
          unemployed. As you look to the future, everything seems
          hopeless. You may readily identify with a helpless
          child. You can say, "Yes, that's me - unable to handle
          my debts, my hands tied, unable to make anything
          happen!"

          But standing by the child amidst the disciples was
          Another - One with a hand on that child's shoulder. God
          stood there - God in Christ! And I have no doubt that
          child crawled into the Master's lap and hugged Him in
          total rest and peace. You see, children easily
          recognized Jesus for who He was - they sang hosannas to
          Him!

          We all are helpless children indeed - but we're
          children of Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe!

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          Dependency is Not Just Recognizing How Helpless You Are
                                     -
              It Is also Seeing How Powerful Your Father Is!

                 ------------------------------------------

          Dependency on God means three things:

            1. Committing yourself to God's absolute power.
            2. Submitting to His will.
            3. Waiting for Him to act in His proper time and way.

          Do you know a Christian who's in a panic situation?
          Let's say you ask him, "Do you believe God has the
          power to deliver you?" His answer probably would be:
          "Yes - God has all the power needed. Nothing is
          impossible for Him."

          Then you ask:"Do you believe He cares about you, that
          He loves you?" His answer might be, "I'm not the best
          Christian. I've made mistakes. But, yes - I do believe
          God loves me, that He cares about what happens to me."

          Finally, you ask: "If you believe He has all power, and
          that He cares for you - then why are you always so
          fretful, full of panic and fear?"

          Your friend will answer, "Because nothing is happening!
          Things are getting worse, and I'm on the brink of total
          disaster! Those who talk about trusting God have jobs.
          They're not in my position - they don't know what it's
          like! I get my hopes up, and then they all get dashed.
          Everything turns up zero!"

          This is why so many have lost hope - because they've
          moved from helplessness to hopelessness without seeing
          the other Individual in this story - the One who has
          His hand on that child's shoulder!

          In this life, we will experience hardships. It's not
          only the wicked who suffer, but "many are the
          afflictions of the righteous" (Psalm 34:19). And
          through such trials, you will end up either hating God
          or casting yourself completely into His care.

          Beloved, the Holy Spirit has come for just such times.
          He has come not only to keep you pure, but to keep you
          from disaster. He has been sent to lead and guide you
          through all trials, crises and hopeless situations.

          "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little
          ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels
          do always behold the face of my Father which is in
          heaven" (Matthew 18:10).

          We've almost relegated this verse to a little
          Sunday-school ditty: Every child has a guardian angel.
          I don't doubt that's true. But Jesus is saying so much
          more here! He's saying, "Don't despise those who, like
          children, have given up trying to figure it all out.
          They have cast themselves completely upon My care. And
          their Father has a host of angels who'll do anything
          needed on their behalf!"

                  ---------------------------------------

                The Holy Spirit Will Fan Your Faith in God's
                               Faithfulness!

                  ---------------------------------------

          God does not always take us through the easy way. As
          was true for the believing Hebrews, the way includes
          much hardship and suffering: "Call to remembrance the
          former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye
          endured a great fight of afflictions" (Hebrews 10:32).

          Is this true of your life? You went all-out for Jesus,
          making a full surrender - and His light was turned on
          in you! Then suddenly you entered a time of great
          suffering. Your problems and trials mounted up!

          "Ye were made a gazingstock " (verse 33). You became a
          spectacle to the whole world, a picture of suffering,
          and example of tribulation. The world around you
          wondered where your God was, and why you were suffering
          so much.

          "[You] took joyfully the spoiling of your goods" (verse
          34). Think of it: The Hebrew Christians were cast in
          jail, and their fellow believers were imprisoned. They
          lost their nice houses, all their furniture and clothes
          - all their earthly goods.

          We may come to that place soon in America. Will you
          handle it as the Hebrew Christians did? The Scriptures
          say they not only endured it - but they endured it
          joyfully! What did the Hebrews have that helped them to
          remain joyful in such trials? The answer is in verse
          34: "Knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a
          better and an enduring substance." They had their eyes
          on the return of Jesus! They were living for eternity!

          They did not throw away their confidence in God when
          all this was happening. On the contrary, they had the
          same promises we have - and they trusted.

          "But call to remembrance the former days" (verse 32).
          The author of Hebrews was calling on these believers to
          look back and remember the Lord's deliverance!

          A dear Christian woman told me recently how her husband
          lost his thriving business ten years ago. The couple
          was nearing fifty years of age when they lost
          everything. Late in life they had to start over, with
          virtually nothing. So they moved into a small apartment
          - and they prayed together and grew in the Lord.

          She testified, "Never in the past ten years has the
          Lord failed us. And these have been ten of the
          happiest, most productive years of our lives. God used
          all the hardships to bring us together, while many of
          our friends were falling apart and getting divorced.

          "We don't spend much, because we don't have much. But
          it has been better now than when we had it all. There
          were times when we needed $10,000 and God met that
          need. We look back and we can see God's faithfulness.
          He's brought us through!"

          Dear saint, God always brings His children through! I'm
          not saying you won't go through hard places, and maybe
          even lose a job or a house. we all need to be prepared
          for that. but the Bible tells us, "Cast not away
          therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense
          of reward" (Hebrews 10:35).

          "Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the
          will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a
          little while, and he that shall come will come, and
          will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith"
          (verses 36-38).

          It doesn't matter how hard it gets, because it won't
          last very long; Jesus is going to come again! And
          whether or not He comes during your trial, He promises
          to deliver you.

          Here is the only way you and I are going to make it:

                  ---------------------------------------

           We Must Trust Our God To Take Care of His Dependents

                  ---------------------------------------

          Those who shrink back in fear and unbelief will end up
          in destruction: "them who draw back unto perdition"
          (verse 39). God has not pleasure in them. They will
          fall, and they'll end up in darkness and confusion.

          I see such shrinking back among so many today. They
          have no faith; they do not abandon themselves to God's
          care. They see themselves as helpless, forsaken,
          abandoned children. They have not cast themselves upon
          the Lord, saying, "Yes, I'm helpless - but I'm a child
          of the Almighty God!"

          Beloved, I have a loving Father who will never fail me.
          And I'll not accuse Him of failing me! He's going to
          see me through, one way or another. I may not have the
          lifestyle I'm accustomed to. But if He brings down
          everything around me, and I maintain my faith - I will
          have joy, happiness, peace and all that I need!

          As you read this, you may be facing an unknown future.
          You may not know what is just ahead for you, in your
          career or for your family. You may be in a situation
          that calls for you to face the impossible.

          Right now, the Holy Spirit is calling you to childlike
          dependence on your Father. He's urging you to cast
          yourself upon Him in utter helplessness. And He's
          calling you to remember: You are a child of the
          Almighty God!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
          be posted publicly on other web pages. The Lorain
          County Free-Net Chapel holds exclusive rights from
          World Challenge, Inc. to publicly post these messages
          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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