The Fight for our Youth

Ricci Johnson-Wilson

March 15, 2024

 

In this message, I will share three visions and a dream that I had regarding our youth and those who are caring for them. I’ll follow that up with some important bullet/prayer points that those who carry a burden for the younger generation can act on.

I cannot express strongly enough the importance of us viewing this next generation through the lens of the Lord. He understands them better than any of us possibly can. From what the Lord showed me, they are hurting and feel more alone than ever before. Yet, they are called to be overcomers just like we were at that age. I can assure you, there were overcomers in the generation before us who stood in the gap for us so that we could overcome. I believe as intercessors, it’s our responsibility to pray these young people through this season of great difficulty.  

3/10/2024 – Vision “The Quest of our Youth”

In the early morning hours, after my prayer time, I sat down to get in the Word and prepare a message regarding handling tribulations. (Tribulation small ‘t’ not big ‘T’.)

I wrote “tribulation” on the paper and was immediately thrust into an open vision of young people walking around neighborhoods searching for Light. They were hungry, eager, lonely, and afraid, but they were ripe. Their external appearance was gaunt, but I could see in the spirit that they were plump and ready for the harvest. 

I saw three types of people who possessed the Light these young people needed:

  • Those who had the Light but out of their own concern over the chaos outside, were barricaded in their homes. They seemed very fearful, many had supplies in hand, almost as if they were waiting for a terrible crisis or even the Lord’s return.
  • Those who were distracted and so busy with their own lives that they did not seem to notice the struggles these young people were facing.
  • Those who were frustrated and even annoyed by the wayward condition of our youth. As a result, they appeared to be doing everything they could to just avoid contact with them. Not because they didn’t want to help them, but because they simply did not know how.

Over time, these young people grew more desperate. They began to weep as their anxiety levels increased until they were almost unbearable, yet still they found no one who could or would help them.

In the next scene, I saw chaos unleashed—it was speckled throughout the land. In some areas it was concentrated, constant, and intense. Other areas had isolated but frequent incidents.

Those who were inside their homes responded by drawing down the shades as though that would protect them.

Those in groups 2 and 3 were suddenly acutely aware of what was going on in the nation and their own lack of spiritual preparedness left them feeling panicked and still, unable or incapable to help the youth.

As for the young people, when their quest to find someone to help them proved fruitless, they became aimless, weary, despondent, and they sat on the curbs and stared hopelessly at the world around them.  

This is where the enemy, that roaring lion searching for those he can devour, was waiting.

The vision ended.

I cannot clearly express the devastation I felt after this. For days I prayed, seeking God for hope for these young people. What is His answer? He’s given me several visions of young people receiving dreams about Heaven, being vessels of His glory, being powerful intercessors, and so on. So, why this one? Why now?

Needless to say, I sought Him waiting expectantly for Him to give me His answer. A few days later, He began to answer.

3/14/2024 Vision “The girding”

I was praying once again for our youth. I’ve shared before, I’ve been heavily burdened for our young people over the last several years, but after the vision I had Sunday, I was feeling especially burdened.

I see the enemy’s assault on this generation and witness the effects of that assault on families every day. I carry it deep in my heart and at times, it pours out over the course of several days or even weeks as the Lord leads.  

Today, I felt led to pray over the families caring for this generation. As I prayed, I saw parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who are committed to stand until the victory is won. They were weighted down, weary. They had not given up the fight, but they were weary, and I could see that through and through.

I had a vision of a father, who is also an intercessor. The Lord came up alongside him and placed a girdle around him. Not an 18th Century girdle, but a 1st Century girdle, one similar in purpose to that which held the armor of the roman soldiers together and intact.

I stood there and watched as He wrapped this girdle around him. Then He shored it up, kind of like when you put on your child’s snow suit, nearly lifting them off the ground to make sure it’s properly secured while their feet dangle out the legs of the suit so the other parent can get the snow boots on… kind of like that. He picked him up and secured this armor to him, it literally fused to his spirit-man and began administering strength and stability into his physical body as he continued to pray for those he’d been commissioned to pray over. What the Lord was doing for him was incredible, an answer to prayer.

I viewed this renewed armor with amazement. The girdle encircled his waist and wrapped through his spiritual armor. The breastplate was secured and thickened. It went over his chest and connected additional armor that went down to his knees. It seemed fluid as it flowed with him, yet it contained the strength of iron. It was weightless yet provided tremendous strength and stability to the armor that was wrapped around him. I saw a newfound protection emanating from him as well so he would not be wounded. It was unlike any armor I’d ever seen before.

I saw a new-found strength literally penetrate this intercessor and the anointing that poured out of him flowed so heavily it was practically gushing. It’s important to note here that this did not remove the battles he was fighting through, the Lord however, was doing something mighty within him because of his persistent obedience to pray and remain steadfast. That said, the impact of the battles on him began to diminish with this new armor the Lord installed.

The whole time I watched on while the Lord worked on him, then He Lord looked at me and said, “I’m shoring them up for this hour” He nodded for me to look behind Him and I saw men and women as far as the eye could see standing behind the Lord. He continued “I’m preparing them to be unshakable warriors for My kingdom. Their obedience to this call of intercession for their children, is rolling out to the generation their children represent.”

The vision ended.

Too often people who do not have a burden for the youth or those that don’t have children, find themselves struggling to reach into their lives. They are almost afraid of them because they do not understand the struggles they face. We forget, they are our posterity.

The intercessors in that line, on the other hand, were fearless. They have come to understand, through their own battles, the struggles of this next generation.  They get them, they empathize with their struggles without justifying them. They see their fears without allowing them to fall into the victim mentality. They embrace them in spite of their challenges and help them to rise above. They don’t allow their guilt, their shame, and so on to keep them trapped. These intercessors understand and have learned how to pray them through to victory.

I remembered back in September of 2019; the Lord told me the Samuel Generation was rising. At that Gathering, we brought the young people forward and prayed over them, releasing them to their call. Not long after, He told me we needed the “Hannah Generation” to rise to pray them through to victory. He said there was a mantle coming that would raise up Hannahs.  

Who are the Hannahs?

They are the intercessors who pray into God’s will for this next generation. Through their intercession, they birth the real influencers and earth shakers in the earth, those who will transform nations for the Kingdom of God. We see this in 1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2 through the prayer and obedience of Hannah, Samuel’s mother.

Who are those of the Samuel Generation? This is not about one person, it’s about of generation of young people who will walk integrious before the Lord. Who will be unshakable in the face of power yet walk meek and humble. Samuel set up the government of Israel for Saul and prepared the people for their king. He was a prophet and walked under an apostolic mantle. He was also an intercessor. However, without Hannah, her obedience, and her walk as an intercessor along with her commitment to ensure Samuel fulfilled his destiny, the nation of Israel would have been a different nation. Why? Israel would not have had that crucial groundwork to develop and established its government. The people would not have experienced the purity of his judgeship. The school of the prophets would not have been built. Israel as both a nation and as a people, would have been completely different without the influence of Samuel.

Hannah part was not easy. What she did to ensure that Samuel’s destiny was fulfilled was challenging. She was an intercessor, she released her child, barely five years old, into hands of Eli, Israel’s high priest. She saw him grow up each year as she carried a new tunic to the temple, all without her day-to-day influence. Yet, somehow, she understood that her role was to birth her son’s destiny through an intercessory covering.  We can imagine her struggles to some degree but the extent of those struggles few understand. How she must’ve longed for her son.

It’s important to interject here that the Lord sees the struggles of those of you who faithfully pray for your children through their crisis. There are many battles out there and the Lord sees them all. We have autism, ADHD, we have wayward children, those who are deceived, those battling addictions, those in outright rebellion, and those who are anxiety ridden shut ins. We also see those who’ve fallen victim to gender ideology, and of course, our social justice warriors. But El Roi, the God Who Sees, knows the specifics of your battles and He is with you!

You are in the lineup; He is girding you up!

So, let’s go back to the girdle and address the spiritual aspect. As I said, it was fluid, it was imbued with strength, grace, and wisdom. I saw them swirling throughout the liquid. 

With wisdom we can see God’s plans and purposes, we can view things through His lens and not our own, we can learn from His Word, and that enables us to declare His Word rather than our own. When you are talking about forging destinies through prayer, this is critical.

Consider the youth, those mouthy influencers, the pro-abortion, pro-transgender, pro-everything liberal kids… those we shake our heads at, those who frustrate us, those who recruit the masses to think like they do. How do we pray for them? Do we see them as lost and despondent young people sitting on the curb like the Lord does? Do we look at them and see them through the eyes of the Lord? Do we pray Scriptures like Jeremiah 29:11-14a over them?

 Jeremiah 19:11-14a “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you.  Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,’ says the LORD…”

This is God’s love letter for His people while they were in exile due to their own rebellion to Him! Yet, it proclaims the fulness of their destiny to come forth when the discipline is complete.

Do we love this generation enough to carry them through this fight for their future?

The Hannahs do, and this is why God is girding them up.

Now, what is God’s plan for the young people?

1/22/23 Dream – “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy”

In the dream I entered two different types of physician offices. I checked in, passed through the nurse’s station, and then was escorted into the exam room. On the registration desk, the nurse’s station, even in the exam room were drawings of dreams and visions that children and young people were having about the glory of God. These included dreams of heaven and profound revelations about the love of God.

I asked the doctor about them, and he said parents were frantic and rushing their children in because there seemed to be a sudden onset of these experiences and they were concerned. However, once these parents entered the office and saw so many other pictures laid out, they realized other children and even young adults were experiencing the same thing and somehow this brought them peace.  

Friends, these drawings, which honestly, looked more like professional art, were everywhere! They were each so detailed and magnificent in nature! The dreams and visions these children with no prior artistic skill were capturing on paper would astound scholars and art designers alike! The images were so detailed one would think a graphic designer developed them.

The children shared them at school and among their friends and it was so prevalent, it became the focus of classroom time, astounding the teachers and administration alike. All the children wanted to do was speak of Heaven, the Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, what He really did for us, the life of Christ, heavenly things, the Mysteries of the Kingdom and on and on! One of the most remarkable things was the fact that the Mysteries revealed to the children were breaking barriers between the generations, children were given prophetic revelations, and as they shared, adults were falling on their faces and weeping in joy and repentance. The scales that formerly blinded them were falling off their eyes!

These incredible experiences spread across so many children were causing revival to break out within entire school districts!

Some of these children were not from Christian homes, but God was miraculously revealing Himself to them through these dreams and visions. This was not limited to pre-adolescent children in fact, the high schools were ablaze with the fire of God! It seeped into the college-aged youth and prodigals were coming home because they had dreams that brought such healing to their hearts, they were able to forgive where necessary, repent where needed, and then return.

The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven flowing through the youth were so profound, divorces were canceled, and couples were reuniting. Families were being restored, healed, and delivered.

The Lord showed me start to finish, the path some of these families and educators walked during this season. To witness the restoration of a family from start to finish was remarkable to say the least. It reminded me of the Scripture:

Joel 2:28-29

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.”

No matter what anyone says, remember this: the Lord is pursuing our youth, but it requires our partnership with Him to fulfill His will in their lives.

Like I shared last week about Daniel:

  • He understood the Word and the prophecies given by the Lord on behalf of Israel.
  • He took action through prayer.
  • He stepped out and at the appointed time, revealed God’s plans to those who held the power to set the Israelites free to return to the Promised Land.

Right now, our youth are in bondage to deception. I had been asking Him for months to show me what His plans were and how He was going to resolve what seemed to me, an impossible situation. How could He transform them so completely? How does He see this generation and what are His goals for their lives?  Then He answered.

2/18/2023 Vision “The Bow and Arrow of our Lord”

I saw the Lord with a bow and arrow in His hands. He pulled back the bow and shot the arrow and it pierced right through the minds of our youth. With it came the antidote to the deception they are in today. This antidote spread through their minds and penetrated every part of their thoughts and emotions with the power of God. Clarity and understanding began to wash over them as the cleansing agent within this antidote flooded their bodies. Relief set in as their thoughts began to connect with what they know in their hearts to be true. The conflict, the rage, the frustration all dissipated as His Shalom and Truth began to wash over them. Anxiety melted away, fears, and insecurities lifted as they finally embraced their Heavenly Father as the One true God.

I saw an orphan spirit broken off our youth, these young adults were restored and became the vessels of His Justice they were created to be! The vision ended and I just wept before Him in gratitude for what He’s about to do for our children!

I want to add here what the Lord told Bob Jones:

“He said I am going to bring 1 billion youth to myself in one of the greatest awakenings of all time.  I’m going to glorify Myself beyond anything that has ever happened that’s every been done in scripture.  I am going to repeat it thousands and thousands of times.  And I want you to go back and tell them this is what I am going to do in one great wave.  So throughout the years I have stayed alive because I am going to see it.  I was told I would see the first of it. I will see it.  I was also told that I would see the glory.  The glory is here to stay, it will never leave again.  And that glory is a preparation for a harvest beyond imagination.  One billion youth, over half the population of the world is under 18. One billion at once.  I am not saying that will be all because there will be those that are already saved.  One great harvest.  One great increase of over a billion.  I believe that it will probably begin around the year of 2020.”

That said, my dear brothers and sisters, God is nowhere near done with our youth and as His intercessors, as those tasked with raising up a godly generation after us that they might inherit the Nation and bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven into our nation, we need to understand this truth! It is the destiny of this country to release the Gospel, it’s the destiny of our youth to carry that Gospel message forth. I believe the heart of the Lord today is to encourage us, the mothers and the fathers, the grandparents, the aunts, and uncles, to press in on behalf of our children with great fervency. The move of God that is coming in the days ahead will impact them more than any other group of people. After all, the promise of the Lord is that in the last days, He “will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28)

We, the intercessors, are the one of the keys of unlocking these plans and purposes God has for our youth. He wants to reveal Himself in a mighty and powerful manner and then use their victories and their lives as overcomers to help turn this nation back to Him. They are part of the weeping and sweeping work of the Lord that I discussed last week. They are part of the New Breed of Believers, the New Breed of Journalists, Educators and so on! 

Look at what God is saying to His prophets and grab hold of those promises and engage with His Spirit as we pray into their lives with faith. Through this “girding up” of His intercessors, He is releasing a new anointing upon us to pray for them, let Him use you in this hour!

Let’s look at what Scripture says about the Lord girding us up.

Ephesians 6:12-18

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Here the use of girding is in reference to the loins. This is important, because it holds the armor together. This is also about maintaining truth. Gird your loins with the belt of truth!

What are the loins referring to in Scripture? We don’t see this very often but it is a key to this message.

3751 osphýs – properly, the hip (reproductive area); used figuratively in 1 Pet 1:13 of the “reproductive” (creative) capacity of the renewed mind.  Consider also Romans 12:1-3.

[3751 (osphýs) is “the seat of generative power. “To smite the loins” referred to a fatal blow – “forever ending” anything that would (could) come from the slain.

We see by the Greek, when we gird up the loins, we are dealing with the reproductive capacity of the mind and/or the reproductive capacity of the individual. That which allows what we have to then pass on to the next generation. What do we want to pass on? Truth. Whether they are our children genetically or whether they are our spiritual children, we have a responsibility to pass the Truth of God, His will, and His ways onto the next generation. We have to raise them up as overcomers. We have to pray them through when they don’t want to listen. We have to stand by them and sometimes over them and fight off the enemy as he seeks to devour them. They are our heritage, our posterity, they are our responsibility. We cannot leave them at the curb despondent and hopeless. We simply can’t!

I’ll close with this…

I sat before the Lord this morning meditating on Ephesians 6, the revelations the Lord had given, and I asked Him for wisdom for us as intercessors, those He is girding up so they can stand in the gap for our youth. He provided me with some bullet points for us to either pray for or take action with.

  • Pray for courage – many are afraid of the young people today. They don’t understand them. They see them erratic and difficult to deal with. The truth is, children feel the chaos in the nation today and they don’t have the emotional capacity to understand it and this produces chaos within them. Pray for courage to speak peace and strength into their lives.
  • Pray for evangelists to rise up and touch the lives of those children sitting on the curb. If you have a burden for the lost, you are either called to pray for them or you are called to be an evangelist. Reach into the lives of these children, it’s scary at first, but we must overcome that fear for their sake.
  • Pray for wisdom and revelation: I know people do not understand the youth today. Many are so lost—it’s more than what you see on the surface. They are looking for purpose. Often they find it as Social Justice Warriors. I’ve talked about Cultural Marxist Ideology that the Social Justice Warriors cling to before, it’s deceptive, it’s destructive, and it’s being used to tear down the nation. Those who’ve fallen into the trap are aggressive, they roll out lies as facts and their approach is often intimidating which is in the Manual of Cultural Marxism. We often just want to avoid them, but we need to see them through God’s eyes. Pray for people to rise up with courage and love to influence their hearts and minds in order to rescue them. They are in bondage. Just like the drug addict is in bondage to their drug of choice, the SJW is in bondage to the deception of Cultural Marxism. They really believe what they say. We must pray for wisdom and revelation on how to pray this through and open the door to their hearts.
  • Pray for truth to penetrate and break the deception off their lives. These kids hunger for truth. Unfortunately, the world tells them the truth is found “within” rather than through God’s Word. We frequently hear “well that’s not my truth” or “that’s your truth” or “you have your truth and I have mine.” We are living Isaiah 59:14-16a: “Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) stands far off; for truth has fallen in the street (the city’s forum), and uprightness cannot enter [the courts of justice]. Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right].“ 

 

Let’s remember that John 8:32 says  “And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” We must bring the truth these kids need, it will set them free. Jesus said in John 16:13  “But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].” He was telling us even then how to handle the things we are encountering; this requires prayer for both the giver of truth and the recipient’s heart and mind to receive truth.

 

  • Look at the youth through the eyes of the Lord. Remember friends, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, we need to see the youth through His eyes. They are lost. Whether they are shut-ins living in their parents’ basement as it were, or mouthy Social Justice Warriors for everything we stand against, they are lost and they need the Lord. He’s waiting with His bow and arrow to penetrate their minds with Truth, and you just might be the arrow He uses.
  • Finally, the children of today are our posterity. Our founding fathers wrote about them in our Founding Documents. If we don’t sow into their lives through prayer and action, how can they step into role God destined them for tomorrow? The Lord told me last year (June 13th message) that we were going to see a Rebirth of our Nation. The shaking that’s occurring even now—and will increase in the coming months leading up to the election—will help to shake these kids awake. It’ll serve as a giant red pill to them and the nation. When we begin to rebuild, we need these brilliant, energetic, passionate young people, those New Breed of Believers I keep talking about, to come alongside us and be part of the rebirthing and process and the restorative work that will follow as we reclaim our nation.

The truth is, we can only accomplish with and this through Him. But, the beauty is, He already has His eye on the target, our precious children, He’s just waiting for us to get up, and get in line to receive the shoring up we need to finish the battle!

Blessings & love,

Ricci