We, as adults can sometimes hinder the faith of little children due to our own unbelief. It’s time to stop it.
A few years ago, I wrote a book called, I Saw God Last Night, and in it, the Lord pressed me to emphasize the importance of the respect and encouragement of the faith of little children.
Most people will agree with me that, when speaking to a young child, it is very evident that they lack doubt; they believe what they’re told. So when a little one hears about the love of Jesus Christ, that He arose from the dead, and that He can do anything, they take that to the bank and run with it! (Not literally, of course. But spiritually, yes.) Their faith has not been tainted by the doubts of us adults.
I can attest growing up, having so much faith in Jesus and believed so much that He could do anything, to the point where…I even expected Him to (as many children do).
When I would tell adults about the things I believed for Jesus to do, I could tell there was a blockage of belief there (and no, it wasn’t anything crazy like, ‘If I jump off of a building, I know God will make me fly!’).
They would kindly, in what they felt was good reasoning, try to explain to me that God doesn’t do “this” or “that”. I never believed them. Still don’t!
There was another instance when a little girl once told me about how she had a beautiful dream about Heaven two to three years prior to our conversation. The vivid details of her dream were so immense, that it just blew me away! (None of which contradicted the Bible).
The little girl then told me that she could never forget that dream. When her mother walked into the room, she overheard her daughter talking about it and border-line rolled her eyes, brushing it off saying, “Yeah, she’s told me that dream, too.” This sort of upset me.
When I was but a young child, I remember my family and I going to Sizzlers for dinner. There was a light-fixture hanging above our table, so I just stared at the lightbulb since it didn’t have the white coating covering it. I was amazed by the interior glow of that lightbulb.
Well, I glared at it far too long to the point where I began seeing the squiggly patterns of the interior bulb even minutes after looking away. I told everyone at the table that I was seeing things floating around them, but no one believed me, except for my father. I’ll never forget that. His belief in me mattered.
If parents won’t even believe their own child’s testimony, what confidence does that give them as they grow older? Let alone confidence in their own words and testimonies.
Children don’t see things through the eyes of us, tainted adults. They see the truth until an older generation teaches them to doubt. This is why Jesus says we must become as little children in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
He’s not telling us to be childish, but yet, child-like!
Jesus takes this so seriously, even to say that, if you become a stumbling block for little children, it is better for you to have a millstone hung from your neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:3-6)!
In conclusion, if a child believes in miracles, let them believe. If a child believes in the power of God, let them believe. If a child has testified of the supernatural, let them believe it…and do not taint, taunt, hinder, or become a stumbling block for them.
Children are a pleasure to the heart and eyes of God, and we should re-learn from them, the child-like faith we once possessed. Besides, our faith is what moves God, rather than our wants and/or needs.