The Faith of A Child

Jesus loves children. He wanted children to be around him, and he wanted children to come to him.

Mark 10:14 “When Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Jesus says that the kingdom of God only belongs to those that have the faith of a child.

Luke 17:2 “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

Jesus tells those listening how bad it is going to be for anyone who mistreats a child. Children are our future. We need children to come to Jesus, and adults do not need to get in their way. Adults need to lead children to Jesus.

Jesus loved children because children have a special kind of faith. A child’s faith believes the impossible is possible. Let me give you a couple of examples from the Bible.

1. Young David had childlike faith.

David was a 13-year-old shepherd boy. He was very obedient to his parents, and he was very faithful to God. He had the faith to believe God was capable of doing anything.

One day, this giant by the name of Goliath led the enemies of God into a battle against God’s people, Israel. Now, when I say a giant, I mean a giant. He was almost 10 feet tall and probably weighed close to 1,000 pounds with all the armor he was wearing, and the people of Israel, even though they had God on their side, were scared to death of Goliath the Giant.

No one in all of Israel had the courage to stand up for God to fight this giant, and this giant became so arrogant. Listen to what he says.

1 Samuel 17:10–11 “Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.”

Saul was the King of Israel. He was normally a fierce fighter, but on this occasion, he was scared of Goliath. He was too scared to fight. For 40 days, Goliath made fun of Israel and cursed God, but one day, that all changed.

13-year-old David, who was probably not bigger than many of you and weighing only about 100 pounds, heard this giant making fun of Israel and cursing God, and David did not hide, and he definitely was not scared.

First, David tried to get the armies of Israel to fight.

1 Samuel 17:26 “David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?””

1 Samuel 17:32–37 “David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!” But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.” David answered Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth.

If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.””

David was different from the adult army of Israel. He had faith that God would give him the victory just as God had done many times before. David did not want any armor from King Saul. He just wrapped himself in faith that God would do the impossible.

Well, the time came for David to go out to confront the giant, and can you imagine Goliath when he saw little David coming out to fight him. Goliath saw David, and he could not control his laughter, and once again, he began cursing God, but do you know what David said?

1 Samuel 17:45–47 “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel—you have defied him.

Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth.

Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.””

David was not going to fight Goliath in his own power, but he was going to fight him in the name of God. David had complete faith that God would make the impossible possible. Yes, Goliath was a giant, a bully, but David had God on his side. David had faith God would give him the victory. In childlike faith, David believed God could do anything. It was a faith that most adults do not have as evidenced by the army of Israel hiding in fear of Goliath.

David had faith, however. As he was led by faith and armed with a sling and five smooth stones, David defeated Goliath, and the story of David’s faith and God’s victory has been told for almost 3,000 years.

2. A young lad with fish and bread had the faith that Jesus could do anything.

John 6:8–11 “One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand. Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.”

Thousands of people had gathered to hear Jesus preach. They stayed around listening to Jesus all afternoon. At the end of the day, they had gotten hungry, and the disciples of Jesus did not believe that they could feed all the people as they tried to get them to go home to eat, but an unnamed little boy had enough faith to give everything he had to Jesus, expecting Jesus to work a miracle from what the little boy gave him.

This little boy had the faith to make a difference.

All of you are just like David and the little boy. You are capable of turning this world upside down. All you have to do is to have the childlike faith of David and this unnamed boy.

Faith is no good unless you put your faith in the right person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Here is what you need to do.

You need to place all the faith you have in Jesus Christ, and you need to present it to Him just as the little boy present those two fishes and five loaves. Give Jesus your all.

With all the faith you have, believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who came to this earth, who lived a life free from sin, who died on the Cross for your sins, and who was resurrected on the 3rd day and is alive today.

If you, with your childlike faith, will do that, you will be saved, and the moment you are saved, listen very carefully, the greatest and most unbelievable miracle ever takes place. I mean it is greater than David killing Goliath and greater than Jesus feeding over 5,000 people with the two fishes and five loaves that were given to him in faith by the little boy.

Do you know what miracle happens when you believe in Jesus Christ?

The moment you believe in Jesus you will become a child of God, and you will live forever with Him in heaven. My prayer is that you do that now while you are so young. If you, in faith, come to Jesus today at such a young age, you will have a lifetime filled with opportunities to share your faith in Jesus with all those around you.

If you want to experience this miracle, all you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ with the same kind of belief that little boy had when he gave Jesus his lunch. When you believe in Jesus, tell your pastor so he can baptize you into the church, and then you can serve Jesus Christ the rest of your life, and I am promise you that is what this world needs. This world needs young people who have faith in God and who put that faith to work by sharing the love God has for all mankind.