Kia Ora Bay Kids Whanau,
At the beginning of this term, particularly in Team Bay Junior, we made a commitment together to continue to pray for someone special in our lives who doesn't know Jesus or who hasn't yet decided to follow Jesus. We chose our friends at school, our family members, other relatives, and special people in our lives. It was an absolute privilege to hear these names bravely said out loud and to hear the precious connection that each name held.
We have held their names in our hands for five weeks now and prayed for them to meet Jesus, to know Him, to be rescued by Him, to experience His love and forgiveness, and to learn how to follow Him. And we haven't given up. We have also prayed that we would have opportunities to be Jesus to these precious people, our friends and family, to show them His love and kindness, even in small ways.
And this experience has been so rich. I have felt so deeply encouraged by walking through this leap of faith with the children, in partnering with them in hope and perseverance, and in knowing that I am not alone in my desire for my brother to know Jesus too.
My faith has been strengthened, my confidence and boldness has been lifted, and I love knowing that I belong to a community of pray-ers, who are unafraid to ask for big things, to not give up, and to believe in following Jesus. Though this community is in reality a bunch of kids, your crazy kids in fact, they are a source of great encouragement, and wonder, and I am learning a lot.
Praying with kids is a beautiful thing. They are bold, specific, clear pray-ers, and they ask God for what they need with simple and trusting language. They are direct, emotional, and honest in their prayers - there are no layers, no carefully formed sentences, no fluffy bits, or long-winded build ups, and no hiding. They are wholly themselves in front of a Big God who loves them right back and has time for them with the small stuff and the big stuff.
What a contrast to my own complicated prayer requests, sometimes so full of nuance and carefully constructed sentences, that I'm not sure if I'm really laying everything at His feet or if I’m sneakily holding on tightly instead.
There’s an enviable quality to praying like a child, as an adult it’s hard to undo some of those layers, fears, hesitations, and complexities that we carry with us into prayer.
Matthew 18 verse 3 in the NIRV says this, ‘Jesus said, “What I’m about to tell you is true. You need to change and become like little children. If you don’t, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’
Previous to this reply, the disciples had asked Jesus a question that came from their own disagreements about who among them was the greatest. (We never learn 😅) They wanted to know who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus answers them by telling them that they need to change / to "turn" / to return to ‘square one’ to become like children or they would not even enter the kingdom of heaven. He’s making a call to a return to simplicity, to humility, to dependence and trust.
The Amplified Bible says it like this, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
And we get to do this too. We get the chance to change our inner selves, our old ways of thinking, the patterns of our lives that are not flourishing. That's the gift of praying with our children, the gift of their simplicity, their humility, their dependence, and their trust.
It is a privilege to see God through their eyes, to borrow a sense of their faith, and to enjoy their wonder and their straight up honesty. This is the stuff of the Kingdom of Heaven and it’s really refreshing. So don’t feel that you need to teach your children complex theologically sound prayers that hold the tension of suffering and eternal hope. Teach them how big their God is. How much He loves and sees them. How he sent Jesus to rescue them. And how He hears them. Enjoy praying with them and being prayed for by them. Because if someone needs prayer because they have a cold, they will pray for the snot to run out, clear out, and stop being annoying, with a resounding Amen and a hand carefully placed on the ‘safe spot’ up by the shoulder. And if another child isn't sleeping because of bad dreams, they’ll just tell Jesus to take the bad dreams away and ask for good sleep, and kindly add that they need prayer for that too. It will be fast, overly informative, and fun!
SPARKS PRAYERS
Here are all the ways we prayed at SPARKS last Sunday afternoon. You can do these at home together as a family too.
We said the Gathering Prayer together from our Sunday service, learning into an e.g. of repeated prayer, communal prayer, prayers said together.
We talked about prayer as part of our Worship, something that you can praise God for, thank Him for bravely out loud or in your head
We leaned into some silent prayer, some Listening to God Time, just small and gentle, waiting on pictures or words or feelings, practising the skill of stillness, of listening, of creating space for His voice and His presence
We resettled ourselves with a Breath Prayer, a small phrase, a movement, and a breath to calm ourselves. ‘I you O Lord, breathe in, I put my trust, breathe out’, a verse to lean into in tricky moments
We wrote down our ‘Sticky Prayers’, little post-it notes with simple starters for prayer needs or thank yous or wonderings about God, small spaces, little thoughts, stuck on wall
And we continued with our ongoing led Prayer together for someone special to know Jesus, holding their name in our hands
We finished with little prayer groups, creating time to pray for one another, stating our prayer need in the middle and having our peers pray for us, just a beautiful picture of Community and trust in God
So thank you for letting me be part of this rich prayer journey with your children. It’s a joy. They have taught me a lot, they have grown in their own confidence, and you should probably know that they tell me quite a lot of your family news at prayer time 🙏 😉 🤣 😇.
Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Psalm 116:2 Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
Arohanui,
Charlotte