“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
Some of the most precious prayers I’ve ever heard have been from young children. Their prayers seem uninhibited by the limitations of their physical experiences. They still believe God can do anything. Their image of God has not been damaged by the failure of those who are supposed to love them. Jesus taught us to come to Him like children for salvation and for our every need:
“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3-4
To wield powerful prayers, we must also learn to pray with the unlimited expectation of a child. When I pray with children, my prayers are somehow more earnest and real. Perhaps in the course of modeling prayer for them, I’m modeling it even more for myself, right? 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.
Perhaps that’s why 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 can drop our inhibitions and pray like we BELIEVE in the power of our Heavenly Father. He is BIG and STRONG and He can stop a war, He can draw our loved ones by His Spirit, He can heal a relationship.
According to Psalm 8, God has established a stronghold within children and it is their prayers that God uses to “silence the enemies and the avengers.” This is an age-old theme in the Bible. God uses the weak to confound the mighty and thus, more greatly display His glory and strength:
“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
It is difficult to imagine anything more weak and helpless than a baby or young child; yet aren’t we ALL completely helpless without God? When we have the attitude of being poor in spirit, we indeed, live like children who possess the Almighty power and wisdom of God’s kingdom. When we are pure in heart, we see God like a child does. Then, when people see us—they see God. But more importantly, when God sees us, He is looking at the heart of one of His sincerely trusting children.
