Have your children experienced God’s answered prayers? Have they experienced a God that is alive and working…that cares?
So many children in the church don’t experience God’s answered prayers as they grow up and as a result tend to view God like they do Santa, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter bunny: a childish fairy tale that they should grow up and grow out of.
I had the privilege this morning to speak with Bill Burch, a wise friend and grandpa. He said, “When I was growing up, my mom had to depend upon God for a loaf of bread to feed us and I always saw God come through. She really depended upon God.”
We want our children to know God provides; He is there, He cares, and He is at work. We want our children to know with confidence that what the Bible says about God answering prayers, listening to our cries, and enjoying our praises, is true!
“Ask, and it shall be given to you: seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.”–Matt. 7: 7
“It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”–Isaiah 65: 24
We encourage you to pray together! Seek God together…Believe He will answer! Make a prayer board and post your prayers on it! When God answers the prayers, pin them on the other side of the board. Watch as you run out of space on the answered prayer side of the board! Share answered prayers with your children as you hear about the wonderful things God is doing…in your lives and in the lives of others. Share what God is doing NOW…Not just the great, miraculous stories of the past.
We hope and pray that our children grow up experiencing a loving, caring, active God, so they seek Him, love Him and serve Him with a mighty faith.
Written by Jonathan
Rev. Jonathan Cronkhite has been serving youth and families for the last 28 years. With the heart of a pastor, he encourages and equips families to have Homes Devoted, through conferences, workshops, coaching, and writing. Married to Carrie for 25 years, they have 5 children, three of whom are young adults. Jonathan enjoys working alongside and discipling his teenage sons and their friends, renovating and flipping homes. He supports Carrie as she leads a home school co-op, and together they practice hospitality and serve in the community.
Comments 3
Hey Jonathan,
Always good to get these little tidbits of powerful inspiration from you. So true. Right on again! I literally just had this conversation with my 6 year old yesterday. It was the last day of VBS, and at dinner time, I asked her to talk to me about what she learned today. She explained that they talked about the Walk to Emmaus (though she didn’t call it that), and how there was a man who walked down the street with 2 other guys, talking about Jesus who was recently crucified. And then she said that they went inside, broke bread and ate together, and when that happened, they 2 men discovered that they were actually walking with Jesus the whole time, and it was just now revealed to them.
When she finished, I said, “Man, what a great story, huh?” And she said…”Yeah, is that a true story?” Almost assuming that it was JUST a tale. It launched us into a great conversation talking about the common stories that she hears over and over from the OT. We talked about the Bible as truth, and then got to talk about how people experienced God in the pages of the Bible vs. how we experience Him present day. Interestingly enough, we watched the movie Monsters, Inc. later that night…and she said that it would be cool if those cool monsters would come into her bedroom at night (I don’t think she actually wanted that btw), and we said…monsters aren’t for real. She said that she already knew that. I don’t think that Santa is going to be real to her for much longer either…she’s a really bright kid. In any case, what you say about make-believe and stories vs. the very real, very active and very alive God that we love and serve today…those need to be differentiated with our kids. Thanks for this reminder and encouragement.
I’ll be in Melbourne, FL for the 8th year of RADIUS in a few weeks. Not sure if our paths will cross, but I sure hope they do.
Blessings,
Kevin Grills
Author
Kevin,
Thanks for the affirmation and a real life example of this being lived out! You are doing a fantastic job making God known at home! I hope we are in town when you are here.. I’ll definitely stop by if we are here. Text me the week. I’d love to do a video interview of you telling this incident! That would rock!
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