– 9 Min Read
Introduction
I had the privilege this past week to speak to a group of kids about prayer. The opportunity for the small devotion arrived rather suddenly, but it was by no means an inconvenience since my kids were going to be attending the event. As I thought about what exactly I wanted to speak on, I prayed to the Lord, seeking His guidance. As it turns out, in that exercise of leaning into the comforting arms of our Sovereign Lord’s will, I realized that this would be a great thing to talk about. In a moment when I felt uncertain, I thought it best to seek the Lord’s will. That is a great thing to teach our children. How many times do you remember feeling uncertain when you were a child?
Prayer is a mighty thing; not because we are mighty, or the act of prayer itself is mighty, but because God is mighty. Prayer is all about God’s omnipotence. If God is not all-powerful, then prayer is meaningless. It may make one feel good, but it really accomplishes nothing. See, our God is not our grief counselor or sounding board. He is much more than a divine hearer, He is a divine Creator, Savior, Friend, and to top it all off, He is all-powerful. He is the one we can come to for comfort in the uncertain. We realize our weakness, our lack of ability to foresee the future, and so we come to the mighty one, the omniscient one, in our uncertainty. God is not uncertain about anything. He has declared the end from the beginning.
Remember the former things long past,
– Isaiah 46:9-10 (LSB)
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My counsel will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,
We Have Access
Our children need to know that they can come to God on their own. They do not have to wait on their father or their mother, their grandparents or their pastor. If they come to God the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ, they are welcome! There is no coming of age, there is no dressing up; there is simply direct access to the Father afforded to them by the blood of Jesus. The way I have explained this privilege to my children is that they “must come to God in Jesus’s name.” This is important for them to understand. They do not need to approach God as “a child of Heritage Baptist Church” or “one of Andrew & Katie’s kids.” No, they must come to God by the name of His Beloved Son. One of the many things which Christ accomplished by His crucifixion and resurrection was that He made God accessible (John 14:6; Eph. 2:18; Heb. 4:14-16, 7:25). Mind you, not just for us, but for our children also.
But this is something that adults need to know as well. Typical of children is their ability to project themselves into a room, or a conversation, where they really do not belong. It may be that they are still developing a catalog of social cues, or that they just have blind confidence. Whatever it may be, it is more common to tell children to excuse themselves than it is to convince them their presence is permitted. This is certainly not the case for every child, for I am speaking in generalities. But this, my friends, is a great opportunity afforded to us in teaching our children to pray. Our God and Savior welcomes all the little children. Every single one of them. Because the only prerequisite needed is that you are an empty-handed sinner coming through Jesus. Since He welcomes all sinners who come by the way of Jesus, and all children are sinners, we can beckon them to approach Him.
And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
– Mark 10:13-16 (LSB)
We Have A Heavenly Father
Since Mark 10:15 is mentioned, this would be a good time for us to highlight how important it is to understand God as our Father. Certainly, the first member of the Trinity is ascribed the title Father, but the divine Himself, nonetheless, is to be viewed as our Father; “See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God; and we are” (1 John 3:1). The very concept of being a child of God assumes that we are to understand God as Father. Knowing that we can approach the Creator God as a child and He our Father, is quite comforting. This is not only comforting for us adult believers but for believing children as well. God is our Heavenly Father.
Anytime God speaks to us, He does so through our fallen earthly language, our expressions, our idioms, so that we may understand. Calvin referred to this as the divine speaking to the creature with a “lisp“. When God speaks of Himself as having “wings” or “eyes” (Exod. 19:4; 2 Chron. 16:9), He is using anthropomorphic language. God is Spirit and does not have wings or eyes or a face. God is simply speaking to His fallen creatures in this way because this is how we talk, and He wishes to help us understand. God desires for us to know Him better, but the finite cannot comprehend the infinite, so He must speak to us in a “lisp.” Therefore, because God introduces Himself as “Father“, He is seeking to communicate many familiar things to us.
Fatherhood is something our God wishes for us to understand about Himself. For the first member of the Trinity to take upon the name “Father” must mean that there is a Son. We are told that the Father loves the Son (Matt. 3:17; John 3:35, 5:20), which means that we can trust God is an eternally established, loving Father. He is the perfect Father, and now, by way of Jesus, His beloved Son, we can boldly come to Him as His children. Being a Father is not new to Him, for God does not change as man (Num. 23:19; Malachi 3:6). He has always been Father and therefore can be completely trusted in and loved by His adopted children as their Heavenly Father. How natural this relationship will be for children, who greatly understand the concept of the father-son, father-daughter relationship.
If there is any difficulty, although this is not the word we should think to use, it is in that for those children who have a horrible understanding or experience with their earthly fathers. Though yes, this may present a challenge, we should not think of it as so difficult; rather, we ought to show them how greater and sweeter the Heavenly Father is! Contrasts are great teaching tools, especially for children. They may quickly realize that God, unlike their earthly father, is perfect. Therefore, they can find great comfort in knowing that their requests, petitions, and prayers are always heard and He always seeks their best interest (Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13, 12:32; Rom. 8:28).
We Need Child-Like Faith
Part of what it means to be a child of God is that we live up to our name as well. God is our Father and we are His children. This does not mean that we act like children; we have that problem enough already in American Evangelicalism. Paul did say, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11). But there is a specific element our Lord wishes for us to exercise in our being child-like. Just as there may be some bad connotations to the word “father”, as discussed above, it is not to be so when viewing God the Father. The same is true of us as children of God. In Mark 10:15, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.“
How does a child receive anything? He or she simply asks! The point of our relationship with God is not what we can do for Him, but what He does for us. God said that “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14), those who simply come to Him as a child. This means that we come to God with nothing in our hands, no achievements, no accomplishments, like children. This is the type of people who receive the kingdom of God. We simply come to Him as needy children, relying on His lovingkindness. This is “so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, because it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and this not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:7-9). This is also how we are to pray. A child has simple prayers.
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Therefore, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
– Matthew 6:6-8 (LSB)
Some adult believers can learn a thing or two from children, and prayer is one of them. God enjoys the simple prayers of the heart. Meaningless repetitions, going on and on, rambling and rambling, are not pleasing to the Lord. Those who seek to present themselves before fellow man as holy by their prayers truly present themselves before God as a babbling fool. God already knows what we need before we even ask Him. Children are particularly gifted at offering simple, heartfelt prayers. Take comfort, dear Christian, that there is no such thing as a perfect prayer that an imperfect person can offer. But God, who is merciful and kind, receives our imperfect prayers through Christ by grace.
God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us – as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.
– John Calvin
Conclusion
Let the children pray. Let them pray before bed and before supper. Let them pray in bible study and in family worship. Do not hinder them, but let them come to God. As they pray, you pray over them. Pray that God would receive them through Christ and love them better than you can. Be a praying family! How can you expect your children to learn how to pray if they do not see you pray? How do you expect them to be devoted to prayer if you do not pray? Let us also learn from the prayers of simple children, who do not stress about using all the “right words”. Remember to not be hesitant in coming to God. Let us take comfort that we have access to our Heavenly Father by way of the blood of Jesus and that He welcomes us as His own children and delights in our communion with Him in prayer.