{"id":2815,"date":"2018-03-01T05:55:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T12:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/?p=2815"},"modified":"2018-02-28T08:04:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T15:04:36","slug":"child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/?p=2815","title":{"rendered":"child"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"child\"<\/a>After playing \u2018cars\u2019 then playing \u2018dinosaurs,\u2019 Wilkes pulled out his medical toys. He checked my heartbeat, took my blood pressure, tapped my knee, and stuck something in my ear. Next, he was the sick patient and I was the doctor. As I examined him, I thought I would bring Jesus into the game: \u201cJesus, will You come and heal Wilkes? Please take care of him,\u201d I prayed.<\/p>\n

I noticed as I started this \u2018pretend\u2019 prayer that the almost-three-year-old straightened up in his sitting position on the floor and started looking around. After five or six seconds, Wilkes looked at me and said, \u201cHe\u2019s not coming.\u201d But before I could figure out a sensible reply, he followed, \u201cIt\u2019s OK; Jesus is in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next time I was at Taylor and Emma\u2019s home, Wilkes talked about Jesus again. \u201cHe\u2019s my best Friend,\u201d he reported. Taylor tells me such conversations are common at their house and this makes me smile. I wonder sometimes if God would like Wilkes to have faith like His grandfather\u2026 or would He want Opa to have faith like Wilkes?<\/p>\n

Some might want to discuss matters of \u2018understanding\u2019 or the \u2018age of accountability\u2019 or several other rational arguments against elevating the faith of a preschooler, but it would be good for us to try to understand why Jesus used a child to teach about His kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: \u2018I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My Name welcomes Me.\u2019\u201d (Matthew 18:2-5)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t grasp everything Jesus means, but I do know we can learn a lot from little ones. I think God would love all His children to look expectantly for Him to show up when we call His Name. And Jesus wants us to believe beyond a shadow of doubt that He lives in our hearts. And wouldn\u2019t it be great if all disciples spoke of Jesus as a \u2018Best Friend\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear;
\nWhat a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.\u201d \u2013 George Scriven<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master\u2018s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit \u2013 fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My Name.\u201d John 15:15-16<\/p>\n

\u201cI pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.\u201d Ephesians 3:16-17<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After playing \u2018cars\u2019 then playing \u2018dinosaurs,\u2019 Wilkes pulled out his medical toys. He checked my heartbeat, took my blood pressure, tapped my knee, and stuck something in my ear. Next, he was the sick patient and I was the doctor. As I examined him, I thought I would bring Jesus into the game: \u201cJesus, will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2818,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions\/2818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}