How to Raise a Kingdom Warrior

There are many days when mundane tasks take over and it’s easy to forget what we are really doing or what our purpose really is. Intentional parenting sometimes gives way to the busyness of daily life.

Wake everyone up. Start breakfast. Wake everyone up again because they didn’t actually get out of bed the first time. Feed the kids and, if you have time, feed yourself. Rush to get everyone dressed and out the door to school. Get yourself ready for the to-do list delineating the plethora of details your day holds. Pick up the kids. Do the dinner-home-work-bedtime dance. Bedtime. Repeat.

This could be a description of a majority of the days at your house and mine, right? But sometimes, my regularly scheduled line up is interrupted in a divine way that brims with the presence of God, and I’m vividly reminded that He has chosen my husband and me as His partners in shaping the souls of our sons into Kingdom warriors. He entrusted them to us, to point them constantly toward Him, to help prepare them for victory in spiritual battle. Sometimes this truth is more evident.

The Breakfast that Changed Everything

Like for instance, one morning about five or six years ago.

I’ll never forget it. I was standing over a frying pan, spatula in hand, slowly moving scrambled eggs over the heat. The scurry of little feet hustled behind me as the early morning rush ensued. There were clothes to put on, teeth to brush and backpacks to put in the backseat of the car. Meanwhile, I was in charge of filling tummies — breakfast for now and packed lunches for later.

Soon, two of our little boys sat on stools behind me at the kitchen counter waiting for their breakfast. Gratefully, the baby was still sleeping. I placed eggs, bacon and a slice of cinnamon toast onto one plate, set it down in front of one son, then returned to the stove to prepare a plate for the next.

It was only a few moments, seconds really, that my back was turned from the hungry duo. It wouldn’t have even been enough time for my son to take more than one or two bites off of his plate. So, maybe he’d been dreaming of his next statement the night before and his foggy imagination was just beginning to clear. Maybe he’d already been stewing over the issue for quite some time. Or maybe, just maybe, his sentiments echoed a deep God-whisper that the Spirit settled into his soul in that exact instant over a plate of scrambled eggs.

“Mom, will I ever be in a war?”

I Was Captured by the Truth

I whipped my head over my shoulder just long enough to flash him a sideways grin and furrowed brow. I chuckled a bit when I saw the blank, curious stare of his brother barreling down at him, too.

“Babe, what are you talking about? What do you mean?” I asked, assuming he had scenes of tanks and fighter jets in his head — a caricature of an animated battle from the latest episode of Tom and Jerry.

But he was serious, authentic … concerned, even. His melancholy expression gave away his intentionality about all of this. His fork was motionless in his hand, a pile of half-chewed food underneath one cheek. He was undistracted, carefully calculating how he should respond.

“Mom, will I ever be in a war, a battle … with Satan?”

I Was Stopped in My Tracks

There was silence while I gained my composure and picked my jaw up off of the floor. Have you ever had such a moment? When your 4-year-old kid uncovers some deep truth that stuns you, stops you in your tracks like a wide-eyed deer in headlights? When you’re faced with some gargantuan question that makes you start asking God for help …

Like right now, please, God.

What would I do with a child’s question that wasn’t so childish after all?

I turned to face him, walking over with the second plate of breakfast in my hand and a prayer in my heart. The plate went to my son, and the prayer to my Father. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to my boy who wielded a toy light-saber sword during his play time and wore a cape to the grocery store when we ran errands. I didn’t want my response to water down the Truth to the level of child’s play, nor did I want to elevate it beyond his young level of understanding. My heart beat a bit faster and louder, echoing in my ears. And then, surely, each beat began to drum out an answer. Thank You, Lord.

“Son, you are in a battle. Both of you are.” I turned toward his brother. “Yes, you, too.”

The attention of both boys was captured. The silent son asked questions without uttering a word. Their eyes were searing into mine. They wanted to know more.

So, I told them.

Creating the Prince Warriors Series

Every single hour of every single day, a war is waging between us and a very certain enemy. He is a part of an invisible, and, yet, extraordinarily powerful kingdom that is the root of all of our experiences on earth. In fact, this enemy’s reality and our dealings within it are even more important, more critical, more impacting than our earthly actions — at our jobs, in our homes and even at breakfast over a plate of scrambled eggs.

• Will I take what I shouldn’t?

• Will I cheat on this test?

• Will I cave to peer pressure instead of standing for truth?

• Will I fold to laziness or be dedicated to the task?

• Will I follow God’s leading or yield to my own desire?

• Will I model humility or pride?

• Will I watch that show or turn it off when the salacious scenes have taken a turn for the worse?

• Will I give in to immorality instead of holding out for what I know is God’s best for me?

The struggles. The frustrations. The arguments. The pressures. The lies!:

• You’re not good enough.

• You’re not pretty or handsome enough.

• You’re not capable.

• You aren’t worthy.

• Nobody loves you.

• You can’t be forgiven for that.

The struggles reveal the battle; they are signposts pointing to the tug-of-war waging in the invisible realm beneath the surface of our reality.

Two worlds. Here and there.

The Battle of Realms

Contending in the there heavenly places is the prefix for claiming victories in these here earthly places. Understandably, we forget that. Face-to-face with issues that are bearing down on us day in and day out, we turn our weapons on the wrong people and things. But the fighting that we do here against her, him, this or that, is a fruitless wasting of efforts, a vain exhausting of resources that need to be reserved for there — the realm in which all things are resolved in Jesus’ Name. Yes, most often we forget … until our 4-year-old asks a question that bubbles it back up to the surface again.

It’s a tale of two worlds, an ongoing saga in heavenly places for which each of us has been fully suited and equipped to walk in victory.

My other son, who’d mostly been quiet in this exchange, finally had questions that slid from his mind and into his smiling mouth.

“Armor? You mean we actually have weapons? Really?” To say the least, he was thrilled.“Yes, sweetie. And this armor ensures victory every single time.”“Mommy, I want to learn to use it.”“Okay, baby. Let’s get to work.”

And, that’s exactly what we did. My challenge was set. I felt like God was holding a neon sign in front of my face:

“Daughter, if your kids could just grasp this at an early age, imagine what it would mean for them as they grow into teenagers and then adults. When they go off to college. When they’re married with families of their own. Imagine how different their lives could be if they knew who their true enemy was, what his most common strategies are, and what their most useful tools are to defeat him. What if they came to know now that victory is really already theirs.”

So, starting that very day, I began helping them to memorize and understand Ephesians 6:10-20. And, inspired by our discussions, I started writing. I figured that if Jesus sometimes used fictional stories to make His teachings relatable, then possibly a fictional, adventure-filled tale would help my children understand this delicate topic as well.

An Epic Saga

And that’s how The Prince Warriors series was born. I wrote each saga and read them to my children long before the thought of publishing them for your children ever really entered my mind. And so, it’s truly an honor to share them with you now.

In these books, the preteen characters discover Ahoratos, the unseen realm. There, they meet their guide who gives them their armor, helps them to understand their enemy, and shows them how to defeat him and claim victory. In Ahoratos, the characters learn that the trouble they have in their “everyday world” is directly related to what is happening in this unseen realm. So, they learn how to battle against their enemy and achieve victories that translate into success in their lives on earth. They learn how to take the enemy seriously, strategize against him, and use their armor to stand firm.

I hope that The Prince Warriors series will open the door for you to have a conversation with your tween son or daughter about the enemy — that it will give you an opportunity to make sure they know that although the Devil is invisible, he is certainly not fictional. Hopefully, it will draw a sense of curiosity from your sons and daughters, enough to crack open a door of conversation that will lead straight to Ephesians 6, and an opportunity for you to tell them that they are warriors disguised as regular kids. I hope it will give you a chance to tell them — to show them — that they are equipped for victory!

The Prince Warriors is an epic, fiction, adventure trilogy that brings to life the invisible struggle ensuing in the spiritual realm and uncovers some of the truths from Ephesians 6:10-18.