What if you're a grandparent and you recognize the need to incorporate listening to Scripture (the best being rest time), but you missed that time with your children and don't know where to start for your grandchildren?
While I'm not a grandparent yet, I have had experience with giving "spiritual gifts" in many ways, and have spent time helping grandparents pray and invest into their families.
Sometimes, it's as simple as purchasing an audio Scripture set (and if apropos, a CD player to go with it), praying over your gift, and gifting it to your children for your grandchildren, or giving it straight to your grandchildren.
Sweetness Prepares the Way
What I've found with spiritual gifts is that they're often "sweetened" by including a physical gift. (When I say "spiritual gifts," I'm referring to Bibles, audio Bibles, and a few other tangibles that fall in that category.) For example, I have received words of the Lord for various people, including teenagers, through the years. These words were also spiritual gifts.
Most people expect a physical gift, such as money or tangibles. Obviously, a spiritual gift has greater weight, measure, and an eternally significant impact. However, if a person does not receive it, it has zero impact.
For most of the teenagers, I've included money in their cards with the words the Lord gave me for them. Other times, I've prayed over a gift, and for the person to be prepared to receive it, together with a card that shares about the gift and the heart behind it. For children, I often included some type of candy and something colorful, like balloons or stickers.
In fact, it's a biblical principle to associate sweetness with Scripture. Ezekiel spoke of the scroll he ate tasting as sweet as honey (Ezekiel 3:3). Proverbs 24:13–14 speaks of wisdom being compared to the sweetness of honey. In Rabbinic tradition, Rabbis used to write Scriptures on slates on the first day of school. They would have the children repeat the words on the slates, then invite them to lick the honey off the slate, as a reminder of Ezekiel (see "The Sweetness of Learning" by Dr. Marvin Wilson, Jerusalem Perspective).
My point is that associating physical sweetness with a spiritual gift helps the person come into an open-hearted stance in which they can receive the gift—and receiving is the point!
Anoint the Gift and Receiver with Prayer
Prayer prepares the way. The gift is anointed as you pray over it.
One time, I received a gift in the mail from across nations. When I opened it, love literally poured out of it and embraced me. My friend poured love and intention into the gift that she made, and it imprinted in the physical gift like a battery. Yes, a battery will run out eventually, but the memory of the jolt of love I felt remains.
Prayer prepares the person to receive. I have poured physically into strategic gifts I've made for people. After a few epic fails, I've learned to pray that they would be prepared to receive the gift, and that the time, place, space, dimension, and communication would be prepared and nurtured by the Father for them to be able to receive and respond. This kind of prayer prep has changed everything when I'm giving gifts. (Photo via Unsplash)
It's Not Too Late! This Is Your Mighty Role
What if the situation with your children and grandchildren doesn't make it as simple as praying and giving?
All of us have areas where we've tried and failed, or have blown it badly with our children and don't know how to heal or rebuild the breach. This does affect relationships with (and access to) grandchildren.
First, you need to hear that as long as you are alive on this earth, it is not too late.
"Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." (Mark 10:27 NIV)
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8 NIV)
Next, the solution comes first spiritually, and then you walk it out physically. Often, we try to solve a problem or breach in a relationship physically first. This universally accepted method gets us nowhere fast. You may not even remember when the breach happened or the moment when you blew it, but you recognize that there's a problem in your relationship with your children, or in them, and you recognize you played a part, or that it's connected to you.
You actually have a mighty role to play in your children's and grandchildren's lives.
"Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am He." (Isaiah 41:4 NIV)
Your heavenly Father placed you in your generation, upstream from your children and grandchildren. What you release spiritually and physically directly affects them. The stream of inheritance flows downward, not upward. There is no condemnation here! The Father chose to place you upstream from the children and grandchildren He chose to entrust to you. All this is His kind intention and good will. This news is for grace. What you change now with the Lord, doing business with him spiritually at your prayer altar, directly affects your children and grandchildren.
Your heavenly Father is merciful and kind to you, too. He alone knows what you've had to deal with as you have walked downstream.
Baby, You're Not Going Down!
Many times along the way, in this process and other rebuilding processes in my family, when I've felt overwhelmed and that it may be too late, the Holy Spirit has played this song from Amy Grant in my heart:
It takes a little time sometimes
To get your feet back on the ground
It takes a little time sometimes
To get the Titanic turned back around
It takes a little time sometimes
But baby, you're not going down
It takes more than you've got right now
Give it, give it time
("Takes a Little Time," written by Amy Grant and Wayne Kirkpatrick, Universal Music Publishing Group, 1997)
It's never too late with your heavenly Father! You have been chosen by your heavenly Father to be upstream from your children and grandchildren. No matter what it looks like or what has transpired, you have a mighty role to play. Your pressing in to do the "spiritual work," such as prayer, repentance, speaking blessing, breaking vows, disentangling from wrong alignments, making righteous decrees, and developing personal growth with your heavenly Father, etc., is the catalyst that first deals with the breach spiritually. From there come the good changes to the physical relationship.
The Spiritual First Breaks the Cycle
During a season of my own "turning the Titanic around," my son and I were locked in a cycle. He would grow angry, and I would grow angry because of his anger. The Lord led me into a year or more of focused, daily repentance for bitterness.
In one of these "cycle" moments, the Holy Spirit flashed a thought in my mind to stop and release my son's sin. "Your sins are forgiven, and your debts are released," I stated in a separate room. This is an actual empowerment Jesus gave as I walk with Him in His Spirit (John 20:23). Five minutes or less later, my son returned in perfect peace. I was stunned, considering we had been locked in this cycle. That day, it turned. I repented of bitterness within myself first, and then I applied the release of sin to my son. (Photo via Unsplash)
Yes, It Is His Will
Know that it is the Father's kind intention and good will for your children and grandchildren (no matter their age) to walk with Him in wholeness and fullness.
I've heard a recurring theme from parents over the sorrow of their grown children's choices, and the parents' helplessness as they've watched their children and prayed for the Father to change them.
Again, the Father designed you to live upstream from your children and grandchildren. While you cannot force your will on them, and while you may feel helpless after many prayers with few results, please hear this:
What you change within yourself first, at your prayer altar before the Father in repentance, and through a holy exchange of life with the Lord Jesus Christ, does affect your children and grandchildren. Furthermore, when you ask the Father to apply it to them, too (then seal and guard it), that amplifies the impact. (Don't forget to include your spouse.)
Spiritual First Steps
Here are several key spiritual and practical first steps. This is not a list to follow religiously. We have it so ingrained in us to make a physical step first and then continue on in that pattern that it's helpful to get a glimpse of what it looks like to take action spiritually first.
Know it is the Father's will for you and your family to continuously become more like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). He has paid for you all to have this. You don't have to beg or plead. You can stand in faith and confidence. This is like free "money," if you will, because the Father gives His YES from heaven, and you give your AMEN on earth (2 Corinthians 1:20). Yes, this alone (a one-time AMEN on your part) does oversimplify some prayers and the process of asking for forgiveness that we have to walk through, but He is completely FOR you walking in this way.
Make a daily habit of going to your prayer altar and repenting for sins known and unknown against God and man, and every word you should not have said (I recommend including bitterness, fear, pride, perversion, and idolatry). The Holy Spirit will shine His light on anything else that needs to be addressed, or addressed in more detail.
Come expectantly (God says "boldly") to His throne of grace to receive for yourself and your family (Hebrews 4:16). It transformed my life when I began asking daily for His grace before arising.
Allow the Father's processes within you to cause you to live in new patterns in His Spirit. This takes more than one prayer. Its effect, however, will be felt by all around you, and even cause downstream ripples in your family.
Should you have a blow up, or should a conversation reveal a place where you caused injury, humbly ask for forgiveness. As we own our failures and ask for forgiveness, it produces seismic shifts in hearts and, therefore, relationships.
Watch for times of need and/or vulnerability. That is the most opportune time to show mercy and grace. For instance, God forbid a family member should experience sickness, or trouble, or a need, or even a "crash" in their life from sinful choices which causes them to wake up. But if they do, that's an opportune time to drop what you're doing and to show up in meaningful ways with love, care, support, and attentiveness. This is your love, mercy, and grace in spiritual action in times of physical vulnerability or need.
The Father does not cause sickness when Jesus paid to redeem us from it. However, He does "Romans 8:28" it by making it work for good, should it occur. It is actually the Father's model to show mercy in times of vulnerability.
"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:4–5 NIV)
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 KJV)
Pray for them. Speak blessings over them in your prayer time. Ask the Father if there's a physical gift you can give that will minister to them, then pray over the gift and pray that they will be prepared to receive and respond.
Practical Ways to Get Scripture Into Your Grandchildren
Pray over an audio Bible that you purchase. Pray for your children to receive and respond to it, and incorporate it for your grandchildren, if possible. (Photo via Unsplash)
Should your grandchildren still be young enough to visit and play, turn on Scripture as you engage in activities such as art, building blocks, Play-Doh, whatever healthy activity that's age-appropriate.
Even if you're on a tight budget, YouTube has many audio versions of Scripture available for free. Furthermore, there are Bible apps. Biblegateway.com—an amazing, free, searchable Scripture site—provides an audio Scripture app which you can download. Or, you could read a chapter to your grandchildren. Whatever way you can find to get Scripture into your grandchildren sows life to them now and for their future.
"So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11 KJV)
Coloring or painting Scripture is a fun way to incorporate Scripture that is age-appropriate. Speaking a verse together and talking about it is another great way to make it memorable. When listening, it's easy to get large portions of Scripture moving through; that's the wide-angle view. Reflecting on a much smaller portion, such as one verse or a small group of verses, causes it to go deep.
Finally, if your grandchildren are grown and you realize you've missed key moments, I pray the Father's great blessing and grace to you and yours. We have all missed key moments and are amazed at what we did not know and where we failed in parenting. Your heavenly Father alone is the perfect parent. He's also the one who stands outside time and beckons us to "redeem time" in Him (Ephesians 5:15–17).
Recognize that these spiritual steps apply to your grandchildren as well. Ask your heavenly Father to lead you in redeeming the time with Him, which often, if not always, starts with repentance. Repentance is both recognizing our sins and confessing them, as well as changing our mindsets from earthly ways to the Father's ways. Ask your heavenly Father to give all your children and grandchildren a heart to know Him and His Spirit and Scripture.
You have a mighty role to play in your children's and grandchildren's lives. Your heavenly Father's good will and kind intention placed you upstream. Every day is a new moment in Him to begin again.
"Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am He." (Isaiah 41:4 NIV)
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Crystal Wade
Hope StreamsÂ
Email:Â contact@hopestreams.net
Website:Â www.hopestreams.net
Crystal Wade writes to help people connect to their heavenly Father, and to keep good pictures of him visible—through real life stories as well as through prophetic words and teachings. Crystal and her husband Stephen received a commission from the Father to connect the generations to him and to each other so that they can start well, live well, recover well, build well and finish well. As part of that commission, they release materials to assist people of all ages in connecting to the Perfect Parent.
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