Ears To Hear # 56

IMP
(Mischievous Children)

         The word that came to me this morning was “Imp”. “What does that mean Lord?”, I asked. As I searched it out in the thesaurus and dictionary, even man’s definitions fit in with what the Lord was showing me in my spirit.
         The Holy Spirit showed me that: Imps are little demons that attack little children.
         From here, the Lord directed me to so many scriptures, I knew I could not use them all and keep this article short. There were just too many. If you have specific questions about this article, I will be glad to send you the scriptures that verify what I am sharing today.  Even better, is for you to go to the concordance in your Bible and hear the Truth for yourself.

PEOPLE DON’T LIKE TO
TALK ABOUT
DEMONS

         “People don’t like to talk about demons, Lord.”, so I hesitated for only a moment because I cherish His Word that says: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38). 
         As Jesus cast out demons and gave His disciples the authority to do the same, so do we have that authority over them. 

TEEN-AGERS

         This word “imps” came to me as I was praying for some teenagers in my life. I went to the thesaurus and looked up that word. One of the words that had the same meaning was “demon”.
         When I considered some of the actions of these youths, I also remembered things I did at their age…and I repented. 
         My first definition by the Spirit this morning was: “Little demons that find ways to entice children to rebel and make fun of parents, teachers, and God-assigned authorities in their lives. Little demons that attack little children.”

LITTLE DEMONS
SEEM HARMLESS

         Little demons seem harmless. They cause children to act foolishly, doing things that are forms of rebellion to make them laugh. They cause them to make fun of what is good, right, and decent.  They are not subject to displaying good manners.
         “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” (Proverbs 22:15). “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (Proverbs 3:16)
         If you will look in your concordance today under the words: “foolish, foolishness, and fools”, I believe you will see the workings of what we might call “little demons” or imps.

ANTICS OF IMPS

ANTICS: Dictionary: Clown: an actor or performer playing a crazily comic role. Silly pranks: amusing, frivolous, or eccentric behavior. Ludicrously or amusingly strange.

        The antics of imps cause us to laugh. Many things babies and little children do are funny and worthy of our loving laughter. But these are not provoked by Satan.
         The Antics described from the dictionary above, begin to show up as soon as a child begins to demonstrate any form of disrespect or rebellion such as children in the Bible did to Elisha in 2 Kings 2:23. “And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.”  This brought a curse on them in the next verse.

JESUS CALLED THE LITTLE CHILDREN
UNTO HIM.

      

         Now we can see another reason our Lord called the little children unto Him, laid His hands on them, and blessed them. He knew the devil’s strategy from the beginning.
         “Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put [his] hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mark 19:13-14).

                                    “IMPS” GROW UP

         As the imps are allowed to grow…they become Big Imps…and eventually full fledged demons. They will eventually take over our children if we do not put a stop to them. Impish pranks don’t look so innocent when we see the results of “hazing” in colleges or in street gangs. To have such small beginnings, it shocks us when these imps move up to larger forms of destruction.   

HOW TO STOP IMPS

         We can stop the work of the “imps” by using the S/word of the Spirit: the Word of God. By not being ashamed to Speak God’s Words… saying what He says. (Mark 8:38). It is never too early or late to speak God’s Word over our children. His Word does not return void. It accomplishes what it is sent forth to do.
         It is never too late to teach our children how to defend themselves against the antics of the imps. 

UNDERSTAND

         We can help our children understand what is prompting them to do the things they are doing.  We can unrobe the imps and disclose their ulterior motives that make people act like fools.
         As parents and grandparents, teachers and friends, we can use the authority God has given us to cast out these demons. We can warn and make our children aware of the danger of “imps” and what they are trying to do to them. 

ANGELS

         Praise God for the angels assigned to watch over our children. But we are more often the messengers our Lord wants to use to warn them and protect them from the “imps”.

            

MY OWN EXPERIENCE

With Imps

         It is obvious that the devil did not want this message to go forth. I had numerous interruptions to keep me from completing it. My computer began to do strange things that changed the format of my writing. Different people came and called me aside to do other things, which was fine as I enjoyed their input about this article. But the most interesting thing was that I really felt like I had opened a hornet’s nest of little imps. As I attempted to get dressed to go somewhere with a friend, I could almost feel imps all around me…causing silly nuisances and minor accidents that didn’t usually happen…like spilling a glass of water or misplacing articles that were usually handy.

                                                  

                                                              

            This did not frighten me. I used the Word and knew they had to leave…which they did. 

END TIME PURPOSE
OF
THIS LESSON

         Perhaps you think I am making too big a deal of this, but I believe the message for us has to do with our “Awareness” of the wiles of the devil. As God is pouring out more revelation on us than every before, we should be able to discern more easily the tricks of the enemy to rob our families. And teach them to our children.