“God says, keep doing what you’re doing up here!” said an 11-year-old boy I had never met.

I guess I’d better back up a bit. My wife Mary and I have had the privilege of preaching kids camps for the past 35 years. It has been quite a blessing, seeing literally thousands of kids receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit as the Lord has descended down upon them. Often, if the Spirit of God really falls heavily at the beginning of a camp week, He leads us into talks about the gifts of the Spirit by the end of the week.

South Texas Camp 2013 was such a series of camps. Week after week at camps, kids were being powerfully filled with the Spirit by Tuesday nights! We began to teach the kids about the gifts of the Spirit. Usually the first gift many kids seem to get is a word of knowledge. That is, the Spirit of God gives them a unique word from God with an instruction attached. Such a child may hear God say, Your teacher has an illness. Tomorrow at school go pray for her. Or, Your mom has had a bad day. Go home, clean the house, and tell her ‘God says it will be OK.’

Well, Mary and I had been praying. Do we ever get too old to be kids’ camp speakers? We had asked God to speak to us during these three South Texas Camps. It was the last day of the second week of camp. I was off the platform and down on the steps in the altar area. A young 11-year-old boy came and stood before me at the altar and announced God had a word for me. He pointed to the puppet stage, the illusion tables, the fancy decorations, and the high tech stuff and said, “God says, keep doing what you’re doing up here.”

God had used this young boy in a word of knowledge. He did this simply because we had taken the time to explain to the kids what the gifts of the Spirit were. We had encouraged them not to be scared. If they felt God wanting to use them in some way, we told them to go to a leader and let that leader guide them.

God used this young man to bless us and to answer our prayers—but even greater, that child began his journey in the supernatural as he learned to discern the voice of the Lord. And he learned to have the boldness to follow through.

Teach your kids about the gifts of the Spirit. Teach them to learn to hear God’s voice. Teach them to go to a parent or a leader for guidance if need be. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He will guide your kids into an amazing spirit-filled walk.