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Childlike Faith

"Truly I tell you," He said, "unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child--this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

      Matthew 18:3-4

When it comes to children, there is no such thing as having a filter. They say EVERYTHING that pops into their little, growing brains. You never have to worry what they are thinking. I have been working with kids since I was about 14, a child myself I suppose. I love kiddos. They are silly, honest, real, and not self conscious. 

I am currently a 2nd grade teacher at a Christian school. Our curriculum includes Bible integration, so I get to point everything we learn back to God’s word and His original design for the world. We sometimes start classes off with a Bible story, worship song, memory verse, or prayer. There is nothing that melts me more than listening to a child pray. Their prayers are real, tender, vulnerable, and powerful. When I ask for a volunteer to pray, I am not kidding you when I say that every hand in the class shoots up. If a student isn’t picked, they get upset that they do not get to pray (not a bad thing to be upset about, right?)

We recently had Dengue, COVID, and Influenza A floating around the school. There was a week where one of my classes had 8 out of 20 students out due to illness. I wish you could have heard the way these students prayed for their sick friends. As they asked the Lord to pass His healing hand over their classmates that were hurting, I had to fight back little tears welling up in my eyes. There is just something about the prayers of a child. 

I am very passionate about the global church and being aware of what is happening in the world, so that we know how to pray for our world. I shared with my students about the war in Israel, and we took some time to talk to God about what was happening. They asked God to help the innocent and for His protection over everyone. These are unscripted, straight from the heart prayers. 

I had a conversation with one of my students the other day about how we should shine our lights for Jesus. We talked about how some people are just not kind, even people who say they love Jesus can be mean and hurt our feelings. Her response was so pure and straight to the point. She said, “You know teacher when the Fall entered the world and there was sin, it made people really bad. Then they hurt people.” She looked up at me with her big brown eyes and her piggy tails swaying with her head as she spoke. 

What would it look like if we all had this childlike faith? Where we are in awe of our Creator again, talk to Him like a friend and not use all the fancy Christian lingo? What if we looked at the Bible through a child’s lens and had that childlike wonder again? 

Matthew 18:3-4 tells us that we won’t enter into the kingdom of heaven unless we humble ourselves like children. We need to take off selfishness, pride, and people pleasing. We can start here.

God, give us that wide-eyed childlike faith. Remove all the things that hinder us from having intimacy with You. Take away performance, striving, self consciousness, and pride so that we can walk humbly with You and others. Open up all of our senses to see you in new ways and be in awe of our Creator, our Savior. Give us childlike faith. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Abundant Life

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life abundantly.

John 10:10

Before moving to the Dominican Republic, I used to think that this passage meant that we would have a full and plentiful life, abounding in the things we need and even enjoy. 

I have been learning so much over these past five years while living here. My eyes have been opened to so many things. Some things I wish I wouldn’t have seen or experienced. Or even watch others around me experience. The road has been very hard, but my God has been so, very good. Life here isn’t at all what I thought it would look like. I have been stretched in so many ways and had some real, raw, on my knees begging God to intervene moments. 

Here is the truth, abundant life is not about having all our needs met and living richly. Nope, abundant life is in fact about being so whole in Christ that it doesn’t matter if all your needs or wants are met. 

James 1:2-4 tells us to consider it pure joy when we face these trials because the testing of our faith produces perseverance that results in being mature, not lacking anything. 

Abundant life isn’t about not having physical lack, but rather having no spiritual lack. 

Paul is probably one of my favorite Bible characters. Okay, who am I kidding? I have so many Bible characters that I admire, but he is definitely up there on the list. In Philippians 4 Paul shares that he had lived with nothing, he had lived with plenty, and he found what it was to abound in every circumstance. It was Christ that gave him strength.

You see, the fullness of life that Jesus is talking about in John 10:10 is about being so anchored in Jesus that we aren’t even concerned about what we have or do not have. We know where our hope lies. We are confident that no matter what happens, we have eternal life through Christ Jesus. We lack nothing because we are complete  in Jesus. He is our everything. Whether we are in need or in living plentifully, our spiritual cups are overflowing because we are in Christ. It is the kind of life that no one, no thing, not even the enemy can take away. We are secure in Christ. This is an abundant life.

On the Throne

There is a passage in Scripture that we hardly ever talk about. In Isaiah chapter 7, we see that the kings of Syria and Israel want to form an alliance to attack Jerusalem. Meanwhile, King Ahaz, who reigned in Judah at this time, was freaking out. He was not a righteous king by any means. In fact, Ahaz is known for worshipping idols and being someone who refused to repent. While King Ahaz received the news of the potential attack, he chose to respond out of fear instead of faith (Isaiah 7:2). If we jump down a few verses, we see that God’s response to the potential threat on Judah is, “It will not happen, it will not occur.” (Isaiah 7:7)

I have to admit that this is a story I have even skimmed over. But there are two things that really stood out to me this time. 

  1. How many times do we, similar to Ahaz, react out of fear instead of faith?
  2. We only see what is right in front of us, but God sees what is behind, in front, and in the future. He sees it all, and He isn’t threatened. Rather, God is sitting on His throne and already knows how each thing will play out. 

I think about the war waging right in front of our eyes. The enemy has always been after the body of Christ. We know this, and we know that he is persistent. He knows how this story ends. He knows that his end cannot be rewritten and his power is limited, so he is working relentlessly now while he still can.  However, over the last year or two, evil has become so blatant, and the attack on God’s Word and people is growing more and more intense every day. 

I have been spending so much time researching Jesus’ return and almost daydreaming about the day that He will come back for us. The day that Jesus will make everything new. The day that every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. I am so excited for this day, and yet I am still here in my temporary home watching so many turn away from their Creator and turn towards the ways of the world. It really breaks my heart, and sometimes even frightens me with how far we are getting from God’s original design. 

But here is another thought that I have been pondering…God already knew that all these things would happen. Revelation is very clear that this world will become darker and darker until the coming of Christ. God already foresaw everything that is happening right before our eyes. And do you know where He is right now? He is on His throne. 

When I think of a throne, I think of power. Authority. Sovereignty. That’s my God. 

But He isn’t like any other king that has sat on their throne. No. My God is the ultimate authority. He holds all the power. No one  comes even close in comparison to Him. He will have the final say.

God is not intimidated, He is not shaking in His boots like Ahaz. God simply says, “The enemy is already defeated.” Period. Punto. Ya. 

If we as disciples of Christ know that the enemy is already defeated, then why do we respond out of fear instead of trusting in the One who holds all authority? This is a question I ask myself often, especially when I am smack dab in the middle of a difficult season. 

But this is the hope that we cling to as Christians…

Jesus Christ died for our sins.

He defeated the grave and rose on the third day.

He is coming back for us one day.

And while we wait, His resurrection power and Holy Spirit is living inside of us to share the Good News here on Earth while He is sitting on His throne. 

There is a worship song that I really love by Christine D’Clairo. It is called En El Trono Está (He Is On The Throne). The song says, God is faithful, He is able, it is bigger than any giant that I could face. I will be firm forever. God alone is on the throne.

I highly recommend this song! It is in Spanish, but even if you don’t understand every lyric, it is a powerful song! 

Our God is on the throne, so let’s not be like Ahaz. Let’s be people that choose to respond out of faith instead of fear because we know that our God has the final say.