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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Chapter 6 - Faith like a child

Maybe all parents get to experience seeing the faith of a child, but for me Noah truly humbles me quite frequently.  Over the past few years we have taught Noah about prayer and worked with him on praying and really thinking about his prayers not just praying the same thing all the time.  I know a lot of kids that recite the same prayer before meals and I admit I have a tendency to do it myself.  Prayer for Noah, on the other hand, is part of his reality.

I first decided I wanted to post this after we spent the last weekend with some friends of ours.  They have a son who is three and so Noah, Taylor, and their son Carter would sit together at another table while we ate. On one occasion, after Marcey had set the food before our boys and Carter's mom had given his food we looked over to find that Noah had all three of them holding hands and was praying for the food before they ate. All I can say is it made me so proud to know that those boys wanted to pray before they ate and didn't just dive into their food.

For me, that is not where the story begins or ends.  Like I mentioned, Noah's reality consists of prayer as a part of his life.  In my life I have found that if I want to see something happen I ask Noah to pray for it.  There is something that happens when that boy prays that is far beyond anything I can truly comprehend.  I know God hears prayers....God answers his prayers.   I don't know how many times I had asked Noah to pray for me to get a new job back before I got my current job.  We all knew I needed something that would be more suitable to having a family.  God answers.

I know the bible speaks in several places about the faith of a child and I wonder if that is where I am hindered.  Noah, just as so many other kids, still have an innocence about their faith.  As we get older our faith gets shaken and (for me at least) I long to have that same faith.  I long to believe my prayers are answered.

Now, I have plenty of reasons to believe, but sometimes the head doesn't always work well with the heart.  I have so many things I am thankful for, and God has done so much for me that I have a tendency not to pray for things because I don't feel like I deserve my prayers to be answered.  I know God loves us and cares about us, but I have a hard time believing in my heart that He has more that He wants to do for me and give to me.

That is why I can say I am truly humbled by my sons ability to pray.

As I write this, a scripture came to mind that says, "pray without ceasing."  I have always took the verse to mean we should always be praying, but what if it is more than just that.  What if it is a reminder that God wants us to be in communion with Him always because He still has more for us.  I say this because as I type this I feel like God is telling me to believe that He still has more for me and wants me to pray to Him and bring before Him the desires of my heart.  Not because He doesn't know, but because He wants to hear from me.



To somewhat top all this off, I have to share a video that a friend of mind told me about this past weekend.  It is of Francis Chan at the passion conference this past year.  I have been a Chan fan since his book Crazy Love came out.  This video is just another reason why I enjoy listening to Him share about God in his life.  For me it is amazing at how this has all come together for me the last few days.





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