Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of school and church buildings being closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day fifteen of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day fifteen with an important reminder to know and experience God’s desire for you to draw near to Him as He draws you to Himself.

Draw Near to God

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.  I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth — everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Isaiah 43:5-7 (NIV)

Who in your life do you feel closest to?  Why?  What factors brought the two of you to that point of nearness in your relationship?  Were there other people who helped?  How?  When you think of your relationship with God, how close would you say you are with Him?  Why?  What has brought you to that point?  Have people helped you to draw near to God or have they made you feel more distant from Him?  How?  Knowing that God longs to draw His children near to Himself, how does your life express that longing of God to the children around you?

While physical proximity can help, feeling near to someone usually has more to do with a connection of the heart than a joining of hands.  God says that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.  As we share the love of God with a child of any age, we tell of His desire to draw them near.  Being wanted goes a long ways toward building the bonds of closeness and no one is wanted more fully than we are wanted by God.  His desire for the children around us, and for the child within us, is that each of us would be brought near to Him and find a closeness like no other.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help them know His love for them.  Pray that each child would be brought nearer to God as they see the example of your closeness with Him.  Pray that your desire would always be for a closeness with God that no one could separate you from.  Pray that each child would know they are wanted by God even if they feel unwanted by everyone else.  Pray for the courage to live in such a way that no child would ever believe they are unwanted.

In prayer,

Tom