Sam said a beautiful and simple prayer last Thursday night. A sweet, lovely innocent prayer asking Jesus to come into his heart. I haven't posted about it yet as Sam wanted to be sure to talk to his grandparents before I put anything up on the blog.
This has been brewing for the past month or so. Sam is literally a sponge. He just absorbs information and then stows it away in his mind and thinks about it. Because of this, I make it a point to always have bible songs and stories on in the van and have been reading our Children's bible to them before they do their quiet time.
A few weeks ago, during one of the songs in the van Sam said "Mom, the song says I want to be a Christian in my heart, what does that mean?"
We talked about this and talked about how when you are ready and understand all that Jesus has done for us you can pray and ask him to come into your heart and lead and guide you. He thought about this for awhile and then said "Mom, can you pray this for me?" I told him that it wasn't a prayer I could say for him, it was one he had to do on his own. He paused and then said, "I guess I am not ready yet then."
In the weeks that followed we continued to talk about being a Christian and what that means. We kept reading the bible and learned about Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and David. We read about Jesus birth, his life, his work, his miracles, his friends, his death, his ressurection, his message, his mission and the new home he is preparing for us.
And Sam has been storing all of this up in his heart...and tonight he wanted to pray.
He told me that he wanted to pray for Jesus to come into his heart. I asked him a few questions first
Sam, do you believe in Jesus?
Yes
What did Jesus do for us?
He died on the cross for us even though he was perfect and did nothing wrong
Why did Jesus die?
Because we sin and Jesus took our sin away when he died. Because we are not perfect. We sin and make bad choices. We couldn't be with God because we are not perfect so Jesus died for us instead so we can be with God in Heaven. Jesus did that because he loves us.
What happened after Jesus died?
He rose from the dead three days later
Then Sam said he had a prayer to pray. He went on to recite the Lord's Prayer....which I have never taught him! As I said, he is a sponge. He said he memorized it from a song that I play in the van. He then prayed that he wanted Jesus to come into his heart and he believed in Jesus. He said that he believed in the bible and all the stories in it. He believed that Jesus died on the cross for our sin so we didn't have to and that he rose again and it getting heaven ready for us. He told God he wanted to be ready for when Jesus decided to come back. And then he asked for Jesus to give him a good sleep.
He had the biggest smile on this face after and then paused and asked - has the holy spirit arrived in me yet (we had read earlier about how the Holy Spirit came in a fire to the first believers) I reminded Sam that he probably wouldn't have the Holy Spirit come in fire for him but that Jesus would be with him and would help him make choices like Jesus.
He was so thrilled and as he climbed into bed he said "Mom, if Jesus comes tonight, I will be ready for him" and then his face fell and I knew what was coming. "But mom, what about Cole and Eliza, if Jesus came back and they hadn't told him they believed in him what would happen?" I spent some time reassuring Sam that God knows our hearts and God knows that Cole and Eliza love him and love learning about him and when they are ready too they will ask Jesus to guide them and we could keep praying that they will keep learning more about God" This reassurde him and he drifted off to sleep peacefully.
Our sweet boy. We are beyond thankful that he has such a heart for God at such a young age and pray that he continue to seek after God and follow in Jesus path.
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