Jesus Needs Children
by Becky Fischer
This is my favorite picture of myself when I was a little girl. I was about five. The owner of this pony would lead it through neighborhoods and people would get their pictures taken. As a little girl I loved horses. This picture reminds me of the story in the Bible where Jesus told his disciples to “find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’
No One Wants an Unbroken Horse
Here in North Dakota a “colt which no one has ridden” means an “unbroken” colt. It can’t herd cattle. It can’t be used yet in rodeos. It can’t even be used for joy riding. In fact, you shouldn’t even ride young colts normally because you don’t want to damage their backs. The point is a “colt which no one has ridden” has no marketable value. If they sold it at the livestock ring, unless it had a good pedigree, you probably couldn’t get a lot for it.
Jesus Needs the Children
But Jesus instructed, “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Sure enough, someone challenged the disciples when they tried to take it. But soon it was taken to Jesus. The disciples threw their mantles over the back of the colt. Jesus mounted it, and rode it through the infamous streets of Jerusalem.
This little colt can be compared to children—untrained, ill-equipped, those having no “marketable value” in the eyes of the world. But Jesus says, “I have need of them.” Jesus told his disciples to seek them out, and bring them to him. Today many will challenge people who try to train them in prayer, healing the sick, and in all other ways being used by the Master. But Jesus is still saying today, “I have need of them.”
Now, as then, we must not flinch in the face of confrontation, but rather throw our “mantles” of the apostolic, prophetic, evangelism, prayer, worship, and more over our children, and train and mentor them for the Masters use while they are still children.
*Printed by permission of Kids in Ministry International