Today the Angels Sang for My Daughter

“Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10

Today after I came home after work, my daughter Naomi came to me and said, “Daddy, this morning I asked Jesus to take all of the yucky stuff out of my heart, and I asked Him to live inside of me. I told Him I was sorry for being a sinner and wanted to be better.”

We have been praying for Naomi since she was born. Many times, I have pleaded with God to strengthen her soul through the Holy Spirit and to have Christ dwell in her heart by faith. I have asked God to root her and ground her in love and to show her the length, width, height, and depth of Christ’s love, which surpasses all understanding. I begged God to fill her with His fullness (Ephesians 3:14-21). Today the fruit of that prayer has come upon our house.

Test of Faith

You may be a little skeptical of this decision, and truthfully, you have that right. I myself am a little dubious. I have a hard time believing that five year olds understand their sin in depth enough to know they are enemies to God and are under His divine judgment. However, I cannot delegitimize her faith, as uninformed as it may be, because of a lack of knowledge. Let me walk through her decision this morning and her prayer to help solidify a few things.

My wife or I did not instigate her prayer.

Stacy was reading to them a catechism book this morning. Today’s story focused on salvation (John 6:47). A young boy named Bill was told the gospel and realized he needed Jesus. At the end of the story, Naomi asked Stacy several questions relating to salvation; “How did Bill accept Jesus into his heart?” She then told Stacy that she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. Stacy told her she would have to do that on her own and that mommy would not say a prayer with her. The prayer that she said was entirely on her own.

“Dear Jesus, can you please take all of the yucky stuff out of my heart. Help me to not sin against you. Please come into my heart and make me better.” (paraphrase)

As best as she could, she confessed her sin and her desire to want Jesus to be her Lord.

We have noticed God at work in her, especially in the last few weeks.

Almost every night, as a family, we sit down and read either the catechism or a children’s bible. During this time we pray, sing, and have an in depth time of study. We usually end with questions and prayer. There have been times when we have discussed sin and how it offends God and the consequences of our sin, and Naomi wept.

On Saturday, the day before Easter, we watched the Jesus movie as a family. Afterwards, we sat for 45 minutes answering questions about belief, how does Jesus come into your heart, why does she sin, and what would happen she died right now. We were very forthright with her and did not hide anything from her. We had many opportunities to get her to say a “sinner’s prayer.” I could have easily manipulated her to say something to that end. Instead, I left it open. I simply asked her if her sinned bothered her enough to talk to God about it. She would reply no. I left it at that and trusted God to work it out.

I prodded her heart for understanding.

When Naomi told me of her decision, I questioned her about her faith.

Daddy: What is sin?

Naomi: “It is what I do bad against God.”

Daddy: “What are some things that you do that is bad?”

Naomi: “I disobey my mommy and daddy and hurt Ethan.”

Daddy: “Why did you want to pray this prayer today?”

Naomi: “Mommy was reading the story about Bill accepting Jesus, and I knew I needed to that (John 6:37).”

Daddy: “Why?”

Naomi: “Because I am a sinner and I want to go to heaven.”

In the past few weeks, I have asked Naomi other questions:

Daddy: “Do you love Jesus?

Naomi: “Yes.”

Daddy: “How do you show your love for Jesus?"

Naomi: “By obeying him.”

Daddy: “If you die without Jesus, where would you go?"

Naomi: “To the bad place where there is fire.”

Daddy: “Where do you go if you love Jesus?”

Naomi: “To heaven.”

What next?

To have a child except Christ at such a young age is a blessing. However, it must come with much prayer and discernment. There is a lot of unknown territory that must be traveled through. If Naomi is a true child of God, Christ will manifest Himself in her (John 15). She will daily trust Him and listen to His voice (John 10:14-16). If her salvation is genuine, over time, we will see her take up her cross and deny herself, and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). We hopefully and cautiously move forward. Praise God!

I told Naomi I was proud of her and that I would pray for her in her faith. Stacy and I are going to wait a bit before she is baptized. We want to be sure she understands what she has done and that her faith is her own. We will talk with our pastor and seek his wisdom as well. We have always contended that our children would take communion, if they were saved, no earlier than age thirteen. Communion is a very serious matter. The apostle Paul warns of judgment if it is taken insincerely (1 Corinthians 11:17-33). We want to be sure that Naomi is genuine and fully enjoys the blessing of remembering Jesus in that manner.

Please pray for Naomi. Please pray that God would strengthen her faith, increase her knowledge of Him (Colossians 1:9-12), protect her purity (Proverbs 22:11), and help her to be radically in love and obedient to King Jesus (Matthew 16:24). Also, pray that God would continue to give us wisdom to raise our children with a passion for His supremacy in all things.