The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  Even when we nurture our child’s spirit, stay tuned in, and deal with generational issues, sometimes our child has an unusual change in behavior for no apparent reason.

In John 13:10, Jesus said, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.”   Jesus referred to the “bath” as receiving Him as Lord and Savior.  However, as we know, we can get dirty from going outside, so we frequently need to get cleaned up.  This principle of cleaning up after going outside applies spiritually as well. 

Social interaction can “transmit” spiritual dirt.  Also, once our home is dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ and cleansed of anything associated with witchcraft, it is possible that some “dirt” may still come in with the groceries, mail, or an object that seems innocent, and that causes the children to act out. For more information on cleansing and protecting homes from spiritual darkness, I recommend Chuck Pierce’s book Protecting Your Home from Spiritual Darkness.

For example, Andrew* really enjoyed a video game which his spiritually sensitive parents had approved.  They detected no witchcraft in it.  So, innocently enough, Andrew’s parents bought him a shirt which featured the “star” of that video game.  Shortly thereafter, Andrew and his siblings exhibited an unusual change in their behavior.  The children were drawn to play that game nonstop, acting pensive when their parents refused to let them.  Andrew and his siblings began to speak disrespectfully to their dad and blatantly refused to share toys with each other.

This behavior stood in contrast to their usual manner of relating.  The parents back-tracked the behavior change, and realized that this unusual pattern correlated to the shirt they purchased for Andrew (although it did not contain anything overtly sinful or occultic).  Conferring together, they privately spoke to Andrew about the meaning of idols, explaining that an idol can be anything to which we give our full attention and priorities.  The parents gently mentioned that a video game can be an idol (as can any thing).  They explained the change in behavior they witnessed in Andrew since purchasing the shirt.  They apologized to him for buying the shirt and threw it away, explaining to him that they had made a mistake which needed to be made right.  Together, Andrew and his parents decided to shelve that particular video game.  Quickly, Andrew and his siblings returned to normal, respectful behavior.

Another cause for a sudden change in behavior–or acting out–is social interaction.  Spending time at school, playing at a friend or family member’s house, going shopping, or out around people where there is social contact can sometimes transmit “dirt” to our children (and ourselves as well).

If your children (tweens or teens) are in a bad mood or acting out, take note. Where were they recently? If they’ve just been around people (even via social media or phone), they’ve just received “dirt” from social interactions which is the root of their acting out or up. In those cases, we can ask the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse the whole family from all social interaction, contact, and any involvement with sin and to restore peace and order to our family’s spirits and home.

In fact, we no longer wait for our children to act out from social interaction. We use a version of this prayer at least once a day.

Cleansing Prayer

“Father,  please cleanse our (name family members) eyes, ears, nose, mouth, heart, hands, senses and gates, spirit, soul and body, from all social, physical, involvement and sin. Wash us within and without with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Send Your angels to remove from us anything that will not bow its knee to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and take them under guard to His feet for His jurisdiction. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, amen.”

* Names have been changed.

(excerpt from Perfect Peace by Crystal Wade, copyright 2010)