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What Kids Teach Us About Talking To God

"An old preacher I used to know often said, “If you have a serious prayer request, always get children to pray. They ask with great faith and God hears them." by Mary Wooten
Child Praying

My friend in another state was scheduled for open-heart surgery and I was planning to stay with her at the hospital and during her first days back home. The Sunday before traveling, I asked three young girls at my church to pray for Miss Judy that the surgery would go well and that she would recover quickly.

“I won’t see you for a month,” I said. “When I return home, you will be on break from school, travelling with your families. So I will report back to you when we meet again.”

They nodded and promised to pray.

A month later, the father of the first-grade girl stopped me in the hallway before worship service began.

“How is your friend after heart surgery?” he asked.

“She’s recovering slowly.” I was happy that he knew about it.

“One evening before bed my daughter told me we must pray for Miss Judy’s heart,” he said.

I thanked him.

“You know, I was surprised,” he continued. “Some evenings I would forget, but my six-year-old daughter remembered every night at family prayers. I guess we should ask children to pray more. They take it very seriously. It was a good lesson for me.”

That was Jay, a professor of elementary education at a university in our town, learning from his little girl. We can all learn a lot by observing children. Jesus knew this when he put a little child in the midst of his disciples and said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven …” (Matthew 18:3).

An old preacher I used to know often said, “If you have a serious prayer request, always get children to pray. They ask with great faith and God hears them.

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