Here’s another one that bothers me, probably more so because I’ve fumbled this one up with so many kids. It involves explaining how God speaks to us. Now, I don’t want to get into a spiritual debate due to differences in theological viewpoints, that’s not what this is really about. Feel free to disagree, but if we have a discussion, lets keep it to the point about not confusing kids pertaining to how we hear God’s voice.

Too many times when teaching kids how to hear God’s voice (outside what is written in the Bible), we tell kids that God probably won’t speak out loud, so we typically won’t hear what he has to say to us through our ears. Instead, we have to listen with our heart becasue that’s one of the ways he speaks to us, to our heart. You’ll know when he’s talking to you. Maybe I’m just the minority. These words have come out of my mouth before and I’ve heard them come from others. How confusing is this? As a Christian, fully indoctrinated in Christianeese, this makes sense to me or I can get the gist of it. But to a new believer or a child who sees the world through a literal viewpoint, this sounds kinda stupid.

I think we have we have to be very clear about what it looks like to hear God’s voice. Here’s just a sampling.

1. God does want to talk to us and he does have something to say. It’s not usually a matter of whether he’s talking, but more a matter of if we’re listening.
2. The Bible, God’s word, is his primary message to us. Those who seek his voice should probably spend more time with their nose in this book. God can and will speak to us outside the scripture, but it always comes back to the scripture. Does what God is saying to you line up with his word? If not, it was probably the pizza you ate last night. God will never contradict the scriptures.
3. God will speak to us through others. This is why it’s so important to surround yourselves with godly company. It’s funny when people say, “I felt like the pastor had been reading my mail.” No, God’s been reading your mail! When I have difficult decisions to make, I listen to what Godly people are saying to me. When someone calls me out on crap I’ve been doing, I listen. Too many times someone has shared something with me either directly or indirectly and over several days or weeks, God’s used those words to create change in my heart.
4. God will speak to us through the Holy Spirit. However, he’s not going to speak to your heart, your heart can’t hear anything silly. What this is going to look like is a thought is going to pop into your head. It could be something the Holy Spirit is saying to you. It could be your own thought. It might just be a good idea. However, it’s up to you to discern what is from God/Holy Spirit or what is from you. (1 Cor. 2:10-16)

I think that when teaching kids who to hear God’s voice, we should probably spend more time teaching kids how to be discerning as opposed to creative ways to hear the voice of God and the best way to be better at discerning is to spend time in God’s word and hiding it in our hearts.

Teaching kids how to heard God’s voice doesn’t have to be weird or mysterious. We can be honest and clear and as kids grow in their faith, knowledge and wisdom, they to will be able to discern what God is speaking to them!

So yesterday I started this series by posting about how many kids mix up God with God the Father which may seem like I’m getting picky, but it does create confusion around the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit with God the Father. Today’s closely ties into this concept of “trinity” confusion.

When I was four years old, I asked Jesus into my heart. I really did. The funny thing is that when I was young, I literally pictured my heart having a little door on it and inside was a little bench that Jesus could sit on. I eventually came to understand that Jesus didn’t really live in my heart just like I came to understand that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist. However, for many years I continued to tell children how they could invite Jesus into their hearts. Habits die hard, don’t they?

Why do we tell children to invite Jesus into their hearts when Jesus doesn’t come to live in their hearts? Kids are so incredibly literal. When explaining this to kids, they have a very hard time seeing beyond the picture of Jesus literally living in their heart. If kids really are so literal, why can’t we be a little more straight forward with kids? They’re not stupid. I just think that we fail to clearly explain what is happening. Maybe we’re too quick just to “get kids saved” that we neglect to give them the full picture of what surrendering their lives to Christ really means.

So, let’s review real quick?

• Where is God the Father? In heaven, right?
• Where is Jesus the son? In heave too, at the father’s right hand.
• Where’s the Holy Spirit? That’s right, the Holy Spirit is with us. When Jesus left, he promised the Holy Spirit would come.

So, I was made to have a relationship with God, but my sin keeps me from him. However, if I recognize my sinfulness and need for saving and believe that Jesus provides a way to have a relationship with God and I let Jesus be in charge of my life and let him guide me from this time forward, I can be restored in relationship with God. As a result, the Holy Spirit comes to live in me, comfort me, guide me and encourage me. Isn’t that the gist of it?

Sure, it takes a little longer to set all of that up and it’s not as easy to say as just inviting Jesus into my heart. I don’t think we should give kids false information just because we think they’ll understand it better. It’s the most important decision they’ll make in their entire lives. Although I don’t expect every kid to fully understand every implication of following Christ (I’m 33 and I haven’t gotten there yet) I do think that every child can see a clear picture and make a personal decision.

A few weeks ago I finished writing an article on the Holy Spirit’s role in recruiting. Writing this article was amazingly refreshing and a great reminder of the things I often forget or neglect. Here’s all I can say. They Holy Spirit wants to help and we need to remember to let him. He proved it to me in a beautiful bit of confirmation that I’d love to tell you about.

I finished writing this article just before the weekend… about letting the Holy Spirit help in your recruitment process. After service that Sunday, my wife came up to me and said, “Remind me to tell you about the person I saw in the garage (our coffee/bookstore) today.” It wasn’t until later that night that I remembered to ask. She then went on to tell me about someone she saw earlier that day. There was this man who came up to the husband of my Early Childhood Director. He seemed very outgoing and fun. More importantly, he really engaged with his kids… he had them eating out of his hands, so to speak. Sara said, “you gotta get this guy on your team.”

So, I then sent an email to my Early Childhood Director’s husband. I prefaced the email saying, “This is a highly unusual request.” I went on to tell him what Sara saw and that I’d like to connect with him if he’s not serving somewhere else. He wrote back within minutes. He said that this guy had served in the Children’s Ministry for years and totally loved it. Even more, the guy had even said that day that he was thinking about plugging back into the Children’s Ministry. Now tell me, does the Holy Spirit want to help or not?