"Would You Baptize Me, Dad?"

What an honour and privilege it was as their Dad to be asked by my children if I would baptize them, then take them through the waters of Baptism as they fulfilled their next steps of obedience in the Lord. Three years ago under very difficult circumstances I argued with the Lord that my kids were too young to make their own faith decisions. God rebuked me saying that my children were His children FIRST, entrusted to me to raise them as He directed. He gave me a strategy to shut down the nightmares, the fear, the anxiety and halt the trauma they were struggling with from a broken home.
We identified behaviors in our lives, articles in our home, and attitudes in our hearts that did not reflect Jesus to get rid of, and we identified the good things we wanted to replace those with. After a simple teaching on these things relating directly to the struggles they were having we prayed together as I lead them in a confession of faith in Christ, a renunciation to the spirits of fear, anger, shame and control, and the generational iniquities we carried in our bloodlines. Then a commitment to a life trusting in Jesus and serving him. As we ordered the spirits of darkness to leave, we also invited the Holy Spirit of God to come in and fill all the vacated places of our lives and asked God for the manifestation of it for our comfort and reassurance. Demons vacated, even with little screeches, kids got set free and healed and delivered. Then with the laying on of their fathers hands, they received the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That same hour, burning the household articles God had identified to get rid of, my children were filled with a tremendous joy, freedom and song. The younger spoke in tongues with a few words right away. The elder experienced the presence of God through his body and a new freedom with gratitude and joy. A few weeks later as he extended his hand to pray for other folks at the altar in church I heard him also praying in tongues for them, and I marveled at the goodness and greatness of God. My own fears for the safety and wellbeing of my kids during times when I could not be with them was mitigated in that moment, knowing that God was not just watching over my children, but had demonstrated to me that he was IN my children, with love, power and a sound mind, by His Holy Spirit. Three years later, at their request, I had the added joy and humble privilege of baptizing them both into the name of the Father, and the Son, Yeshua Hamashiach, and of the Holy Spirit. Obedience is better than sacrifice!