CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 731

“Like a Child”

Luke 18:17 (NIV) I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
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A true story about a mother and her four year old son illustrates child-like faith.

The boy’s maternal grandfather was the sole father figure in his life and they were inseparable. Pa, as the boy called his grandfather, would pick him up after school on the nights when his mother could not. They would play pirates, and knights and Robin Hood make-believe games. They even dressed alike: pocket T-shirts, baseball caps and jeans. They had special places they would frequent, restaurants, toy stores and playgrounds. The young boy had even memorized Pa’s telephone number and would call him every morning and night, sometimes several times in a row and Pa never grew tired of it.

Then Pa became critically ill and died. The mother internalized her grief at the loss of her father and dealt with it by avoiding any discussion about Pa, his death or his life. Her son, on the other hand, explored Pa’s death with all the zeal and curiosity of a four year old. “Is Pa in space?” he would ask. “Is he like an angel?”… “Where is heaven?”

One evening while dinner was being prepared, the young boy sat quietly coloring in his Spider-Man coloring book when he broke the silence and said, “I love you, too.” His mother laughingly instructed him that he should respond with ‘I love you, too’ only after someone said ‘I love you’ first. “I know”, the boy responded, “Pa just told me that he loved me, and I said ‘I love you, too’. Recognizing his mother’s disbelief, the boy continued, “Oh, Mommy, He tells me he loves me every day. He tells you too. You’re just not listening.”

This story is a perfect example of the childlike faith God wants us to have. God tells us He loves us every day. We need to accept His love and His plan for our salvation even though we cannot fully understand it. We need to put aside our need to analyze and define God by parameters that we can comprehend.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

The Gospel seems too simple. Would we be more comfortable if God’s plan for salvation could be categorized, quantified, and proved through mathematical formulae? We suffer from analysis paralysis when we attempt to place God in a box that we are comfortable in defining, measuring, and understanding with our intellect.

We are surrounded by a cacophony of physical and mental ‘noise’ each day and in the midst of it all God is communicating His love to us. Every day, the free gift of His salvation is being communicated to you. Are you able to hear Him through the noise of your lifestyle? To truly listen is to purposefully eliminate the noise and tune in to what God is saying to you. Are you listening? Can you respond to Him, ‘I love you, too’?

May you open your heart to hear God speak His love to you. May the Holy Spirit give you the measure of childlike faith to accept the kingdom of God. May you receive eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior and be able to respond, ‘I love you too’ each day.

Close in prayer, thanksgiving & dedication of your work to the glory of God