Like a Child

Several years ago, while attending Christ for the Nations Institute, there was a period of time when I tried to get up early and spend some time in prayer.  Sometimes this resulted in me kneeling on a comfortable chair and drifting off into sleepiness.  But one morning God spoke to me.  He reminded me of when I was a young boy playing on the baseball team.  He reminded me of a swimming pool party our team had and how much carefree fun I had.  Then He said to me, “I want you to be like a child."

In one of my classes that very same morning, the teacher began talking about being like a child.  Obviously God was speaking to me.  The teacher shared the Scripture from Psalm 8:2 which says,

“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”

It may seem odd, but in the midst of our battles we can be carefree like a child.  One of our best weapons is simply praising the Lord.

When I was in the 7^th through 9^th grades my friend Mike and I went to “Spiritual Warfare” camp.  It was intended to be like a spiritual boot camp for young people.  The time we looked forward to the most was the evening services, lingering at the altar and afterwards celebrating what God had done.

Looking back on those times, I’m not entirely certain I completely grasped the concept of spiritual warfare.  Perhaps I did more than I now remember.

I recall, on one occasion, sometime during Junior High or High School, Mike and I were walking to a small, wooden bridge where we used to pray sometimes.  The bridge was in his apartment complex, down the street from where he lived.  We decided to run to our place of prayer, shouting like we were going into battle.  It was our battle cry.  Did we grasp the reality of spiritual warfare?  Perhaps we did.  Perhaps, in our youthful innocence, we were just having fun.  And, perhaps, that’s just the way God wanted it to be.

Spiritual warfare is serious business, but there also needs to be joy in the fight.  There are real responsibilities that we need to accept with maturity.  God has not called us to be childish, but child-like.  God has not called us to live in denial of the battle, but not to be overly focused on it either.

Even in the midst of the battle we need times of lightheartedness and refreshing.  We can’t get so bogged down with everything around us - all the bad things going on in the world and the cares of this life.  We need to take the time to enjoy the simple things and the beauty of God’s creation.  We need to take time to rest in the Lord.    

*the preceding was an excerpt from my book, Calling Out to Deep