I was teaching my Wednesday night kids club about the power of their prayers and we read this astonishing Psalm together:
“Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty. Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him Lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!”
Psalms 8:1-9
Per usual, I can’t teach God’s Word to anyone—without Him also teaching me some important lessons!
I mean—read that Psalm again if you need to—this lesson is of critical importance!!!
As the children prayed for God to do mighty miracles for the children of Ukraine—like stop the rockets, change the heart of Putin, and have the Russian tanks run out of fuel—it occured to me that when I pray with little children, my prayers are somehow—more earnest and real. In the course of modeling prayer for them, perhaps I’m modeling it even MORE for myself. God doesn’t want us to pray pompous flowery prayers just to hear the sound of our voice or impress others; rather, He desires our humble, childlike spirit.
The model prayer Jesus taught us begins, “Our Father” which necessarily places us in the role of children. Like children in the presence of a loving father, we should drop our inhibitions and pray like we BELIEVE in the power of our Heavenly Father. He is BIG and STRONG and HE CAN stop Russian rockets. Ah, to hear these children pray, reminded me of some things I’d forgotten about being a trusting child when talking to my Heavenly Father. I need to pray with the faith and simplicity of a child who KNOWS her Father WILL come through!
Through childlike prayers, God will “silence the enemies and the avengers.”
