Before I move on with blog life, let me just conclude this series on my thoughts during prayer and fasting with this post (Betcha didn’t know there was a “series” huh?? –I didn’t either! hehe ). A bit late, I know. But I still think I should post it anyway.

There are so many verses on faith and prayer in the Bible. If there’s one theme that stood out for me this week,though, it is that of coming to God like a child. 

What does this look like for us?

To come like a child is to:

1. Come Asking boldly.

If you have kids, you would know exactly what I am talking about when I say that kids have no clue what they are asking for sometimes! For example, they would always tell me, “Let’s go to America tomorrow! I want to see my cousins there!”  as if it were that easy. To them, going to Disneyworld is just like going to the mall. Distance is not an issue. Money is not an issue. Time is not an issue. If they want something, they blurt it out and ask us for it— without hesitation.

I wonder why we don’t do the same, even if it is God himself inviting us to just ask anything in His name??

“Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” John 14:14

2. Come with an Expectant Heart.

When kids ask you for something and you say yes, to them it is as good as done. They go on with the rest of their day assured and carefree, knowing that their requests will be granted. Even without written contracts, a single “yes” from you is as good as a deal that is signed, sealed, and delivered.

What about us? Do we come to God with the same kind of expectation and peace?

“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.” 2 Corinthians 1:20

3. Come and Play.

What is one thing that a child never gets tired of? ….Playing, of course! No matter how late it is, as long as you don’t tell them to stop, they would find it in themselves to muster up enough energy to keep on playing. As long as they are at it,  they don’t get bored, they don’t complain (there are occasional fights, yes…that comes with the territory, but that’s another topic altogether), and they are full of joy. Why? Because they are kids! That’s how God wired them, and as long as they are playing, they are being themselves. They don’t have to tidy themselves up to play. There’s no need to concern themselves with “grown-up” issues. They can let their imaginations run free.

God has wired our spirits to pray. Prayer should not be something that bores us, for it is meant to give us joy and to energize us! When we pray, we too, can and should be ourselves. We don’t have to tidy ourselves up before coming to God. We don’t have to concern ourselves with things too overwhelming for us to understand. We don’t need a certain structure in order to pray. We can come and be ourselves for as long as we want.

Do we enjoy our praying time as much as children enjoy their playing time?

“I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Mark 10:15

Ever since I had kids, this has been a common scenario in my life:  Just as I finally get some time alone to do some things that require a certain level peace and quiet, one of the girls come running to ask me for something. It may be something as trivial as a hair clip to something that is a matter of life and death– for them, anyway. Either way, I noticed that our kids do not really have a good sense of timing. They just come whenever they feel like it, for whatever matter they  feel like discussing. They don’t stop to think about how to say things or how to express themselves properly. They don’t stop to think about how they look. There’s no need to put up a front. They come to you when they are sad and when they want to cry as if it’s the end of the world. They come to you when they are happy and overly-excited that it seems as though the whole floor has turned into one giant trampoline. They come to you when something scares them. They come to you when something bothers them. Often times, they even have a hard time articulating themselves properly. They often get their thoughts all jumbled up as they try to translate what’s going on in their heads into words.

Still— you, as a parent who loves them dearly,   listen anyway. Never mind that you were set on finishing that project for the house. Never mind that you were set on doing something else. You stop and listen anyway. It is a joy to see them come running to you. You don’t even notice the messy hair or the runny nose (well, you do, but you listen first and take care of that later). You don’t even notice the fact that sometimes they don’t make sense. You feel what they feel.  You’re the first to rejoice with them when they’re happy. You become sad when you see them crying. You would do anything to comfort them and make them feel safe and secure. You would do all those things because you love them. They are your children.

And they know it.

Our children know that they have complete access to us. They know they can come to you anytime and you would stop and listen to them. (Well, that’s the ideal response. We are but humans who fall short, after all). They know that by virtue of them being your children, they are granted that privilege of barging in (in a better sense of the word).

Sometimes though, our children grow up forgetting they have unlimited access. All of a sudden, they  have to wait for “perfect timing” to ask for their allowance or something they really like or to be allowed to go over their friend’s house. Before the weekend of the party arrives, they stock up on points by being extra nice– helping out with chores and studying really hard– to increase the chances of their requests being granted. A lot of teenagers grow up suddenly forgetting that they can come talk to their parents about anything and everything. They filter out what they think their parents would consider as “bad” stuff and share only the good. Instead of acting like children–members of the family, they begin behaving like boarders who just happen to stay and be  under the care of their parents.

When we started out in our walk with God, realizing what Jesus has done for us and that through Him we have been made children of God, there was no limit to our asking. We would be so excited to tell God everything– every desire, every disappointment, every detail of our lives.

Then we “grow older”. We forget about this unlimited access and we try once again to “earn” God’s favor by stocking up on points. We start editing what we say, as if He doesn’t see and know everything. We act as if there’s only a certain time when we can come talk to Him.

It’s my prayer that we would never grow old when it comes to our faith in God. I pray that we will always be like little children and know that we can come to God anytime, anywhere–  no matter how messy we look or how inconvenient the timing seems to be, or how difficult it is for us to articulate ourselves. I pray that we will always remember that by virtue of us being children of God (through the cross of Christ), we now have complete access to God, and we have the awesome privilege of barging in anytime, anywhere.

…And our Heavenly Father, our perfect Father whose ways and thoughts are far beyond our own (and who is beyond our capacity to disturb and interrupt)— is more than willing to listen.

…And yes, He is going to wipe off the tears and the runny nose, too.  :)

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

I’ve had this very irritating cough for a week now. I think it started because of the weird weather change– having typhoons in the middle of the summer heat. My throat would get so dry and extremely sore because of all the coughing. Hassle.

Anyway, that’s not really what I wanted to share. I actually want to express how deeply touched I am by Alyanna (my eldest), and how she has been this whole week. <3 <3 <3

You see, I haven’t been able to read books to them for the past few days because of my throat. Since then, she took the role of being the storyteller and volunteered to read short stories to her sister. Of course, her pace is still slow, but she really tries her best! She reminds me of Dory of Finding Nemo, when she was talking “Whale” (an exaggeration of course!…she might be able to read this and get offended! hehe). Also, on two occasions when I was really down because of the stinging pain from all the coughing, she came into the room with a bottle of cough syrup for me to take. Mika was tagging along because apparently, she has been appointed by her older sister to be the “cupbearer”, so mommy could drink more water.

Everyday she has been praying for me, too. She would lay her hands on my throat and pray the most sincere prayer: “Jesus, please? Please? Please? Can you please heal mommy and take away her cough na? Please? Please? Now na? Today can you heal her na please? Thank you Jesus.” And a few minutes after praying she would ask to check whether or not I still had cough.

I know everything I just shared is nothing, really. Mababaw, so to speak. But if you know Alyanna, you’d know where I’m coming from. She’s not really the caring and affectionate type, but I can see that lately she’s been stepping up and becoming more compassionate and expressively sweet, much to my delight.

This afternoon when she came home from Kids’ Church, she asked me,  ”Mom, you check. Do you still have cough or Jesus healed you na?”. I asked her why she wanted to know (I thought she wanted me to read books to her already), and she told me that she wanted to check because they had just prayed for me in Kids’ Church. Again, I was extremely touched that I could not help but turn all mushy and I told her how grateful I was for all her prayers for the past week, and how I’m sure God has healed me already (my cough really has decreased by 89.7%! ). As I kept saying “Alyanna, thank you ha? Thank you so much for always praying for me to get healed. I really appreciate it!“, she replied to me in a very matter-of-fact tone— “Yeah! We should just pray because that’s a lot better diba? It’s better than taking medicines and going to the doctor pa diba? We should just ask God, because…He’s GOD!”

(Amen!)

I love how kids make things plain and simple. Just ask…and keep on asking God, because….He’s God!  I love how our children can be so confident when they ask God for something. I love how even if they know they’ve been praying the same prayers, they can still keep on praying and asking with equal amount of hope and faith. I am reminded of Abraham, who did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:20,21).

Lord, I pray that You will give me this kind of faith— consistent, unwavering, fully persuaded. I pray that you will give me this kind of faith— faith that believes and hopes in You, “just because” You are God.

Dennis and I had quite a day— Both of us had to be in Greenhills by noon because call time for the worship team (which I was a part of today) was 12:30, while Dennis also had to finalize everything for his preaching. The whole afternoon and night was work, ministry, work. We both had a great time serving God and the church today, but I was also looking forward to going home and just relaxing after a day’s work. I was looking forward to maybe a movie treat while muching on some snacks in the comfort of our bedroom (using a laptop, of course, since we don’t have TV in our bedroom anymore).

Can I just share this??  We were about to go upstairs just earlier tonight when Dennis and I got a very cute treat from our daughter, Alyanna. She saw her dad’s Bible on the coffeetable and started to open it……

ALYANNA: “I’m just going to preach to the people, okay?!” (With a very excited tone, both arms in a “Hi I’m Alyanna, I’m from quezon citeeeey!” gesture)

“Okay, everyone! Let’s just praise God….Let’s make God happy okay??” (one arm raised, as if asking for the people’s amen…of course, by “people” I mean, me and Dennis)

ALYANNA: *points to the Bible which was facing us, just as teachers do in storytelling time*  “So, this is Jonah…and he said to the bad guy…to make Jesus happy, okay?”

(The Bible starts to slip off since it’s too big for her)

“Uh..I just need to get a table and a stage okay? wait….” *Puts her Bible on our coffeetable*

“Okay, mommy will sing and praise Jesus and then I’ll come back and preach after mommy worships God okay? Mommy sing!” (she calls me to the “stage”)

“Here mom! on the stage now…..worship God people!! Clap your hands!”

—-*clap!clap!*—-

“Okay, I’m just gonna preach but first everyone let’s watch this movie…” *walks off to the side and watches, just like the pastors do whenever a video starts to play*

———————-

“Okay, now the kids will be singing. They will wear a skirt just like a princess and then sing and dance and take a bow…Okay kids!” *calls the imaginary kids to the stage and walks over to the side so the kids can take the stage*

“Oh, they’re not yet starting because the teacher is still talking to someone…….oh, now they’re starting already!!”

……..”Okay, thank you kids!” *goes back to the center of the stage*

“I have a mic here, only one on my face okay?” (describes the kind of microphone her dad uses to preach)

“Okay, preaching time!…. God said to the kids….they will go to a princess store…..and they will go up and down but Jesus is still up and He’ll go down to the kids…..” (and she “expounds” on this topic, which I totally don’t get)

———this part is all jumbled up in my mind….all I get is a princess, a princess store, a castle, the kids’ skirts…..———-

“Oh no, the boy grabbed the toys and it’s broken and God said, Do not grab because if you grab it will get sira already….and God said we have to share our toys and if we don’t we will get a rod because we have to obey…..”

———and for another five minutes it was a series of mommy leading praise and worship, watching a movie clip, and Alyanna preaching again——

“Okay, let’s pray. *Raises one arm up towards the people*  “Lord, thank you for those that will eat food, and then after mom sings, we’ll eat already our snacks, okay? Amen.”

————————-

Alyanna never fails to amuse us…and amaze us. Just when we thought that our kids don’t pay attention in big church (what we’ve coined our adult service), they do this!

PS: video to follow