Simple Prayers

Matthew 18:3 And Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

This weekend, our church had a Spiritual Formation retreat. I had the privilege of working with the children, 1st-6th grades. The worship of children is always an amazing sound. They are uninhibited, shameless worshipers. We sang Undignified and had a great time being silly and shouting out. But, then, we sang God of Wonders, and the sound coming from the hearts and voices of those children was sweet, but strong. They meant what they sang--the lyrics of Praise to our God of Wonders, the Lord of all creation. I memorized it--burning it forever in my mind. It was such a picture of pure, perfect, impassioned worship. I could feel God's presence in that room as he sat smiling down upon them.

I hadn't planned to do anything more than music that morning. I planned to finish up my duties and then go down and hear the speakers for the retreat. But God had other plans for me. We had more children than expected, and our Children's Minister asked me to go with him and take the 1st and 2nd graders on a prayer walk around the church. Their prayers were amazingly simple, but pure, honest, true prayers. It was such an incredible blessing to hold hands with these children, and hear them take turns at each stop, praying for the people that would inhabit that particular room throughout the week. They looked over the city of Arlington and prayed for our leaders. They looked over at the Youth building, and prayed that the older kids would be good examples to them. They prayed over the Preschool rooms, and prayed that they themselves would be good examples to the Preschoolers. They prayed for their parents, they prayed for our staff, they prayed for Mission Arlington.... Thank you, God for the privilege of hearing those prayers and sharing in that time with them, and with You!

As we entered one of the 3rd grade Sunday school rooms, I saw a list of prayer requests on the wall, in the handwriting of the children that attend that class every Sunday. One read, "Dear God, please help my Mommy while she is in the hospital." Another read, "Dear God, please help my sister be okay." But the one that struck me the most was from a little boy. It simply said, "Dear God, help me be smarter." What wisdom that little boy had in his prayer!

It reminded me of Solomon in 1 Kings 3. God tells him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give to you" and Solomon asks for wisdom--or more specifically--"a discerning heart". 1 Kings 4:29 says, God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

Lord, like Solomon and this precious 3rd grade boy, help me not to live within my own abilities, but to grow in Your wisdom.