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Connecting our Children to God
A few years ago, God taught me something that changed the way I pray for my children. It is so commonplace in our home and routine now, that I often forget how strange it sounds when I mention it to others. It has changed how my husband and I relate to God, pray for ourselves, and our children. In short, it changed our lives.
Something deep within me has always yearned for a deeper understanding of God and heaven. It wasn't until I was pregnant with our first child that I began to receive a glimpse of a spiritual realm on earth. Many of you reading this may understand the feelings I am about to explain. I was suddenly "aware" that another life was growing inside me and that little life was keenly aware of my reactions to everyday activities. I immediately began a quest to know how this could be.
My Quest
My journey began with a seminar on blessing babies in the womb. The speaker shared the story of a friend who had recently given birth to their second child. The mother was concerned that her four-year old might feel slighted and began to watch for any "suspect" behavior. One day after the mother had laid the baby down for a nap, the four-year old asked permission to go see the baby. The mother stayed outside the door just enough to hear her four-year-old bend over the crib and gently ask, "Can you tell me what He looks like? Can you still remember Him? I've been here so long, I've forgotten."
Scripture
We know from scripture that we are born with an internal understanding of God.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you." Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV).
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV).
"Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them." Romans 1:19 (NKJV). Consider the passage of Luke 1: 41-44 that explains how John the Baptist when in his mother's womb, recognized the presence of Jesus. Note that Mary was only a few months pregnant with Jesus when this occurred.
"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." Luke 1:41 (NKJV).
We can also read of the twin bothers, Jacob and Esau, in Genesis 25:23. Here God tells Rebekah, their mother, that two nations are in her womb and the older shall serve the younger. In Hosea 12:3, we read that in the womb Jacob took hold of the heel of Esau. Could this mean that in the womb Jacob sensed his destiny and made a choice to claim his birthright? Consider the New Testament rationale in Romans 9:11.
"For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls." Romans 9:11 (NKJV).
Medical Evidence
There is also medical evidence indicating that the baby has some degree of understanding before it is born. We know at the beginning of the seventh month of pregnancy the baby develops hearing and can discriminate sounds. The baby understands cause and effect. Ultrasound pictures have shown how a baby places its hands over its ears when loud music is played. How did the baby instinctively "know" what to do? This brings to mind Aristotle's paradoxical phrase: "one cannot learn anything without first knowing something."
In my quest, I read one research study that documented how an unborn child grew emotionally agitated (by the increased heart rate) each time the mother thought of having a cigarette. The baby associated the drop in oxygen supply caused by smoking with the unpleasant sensation. Yet the mother only thought of smoking, she had not yet put the cigarette in her mouth. Whoa! That one caused me to stop and think. How is that possible?
Research in prenatal psychology has shown that the thoughts and emotions the mother experiences toward her baby has a profound impact on the baby. How can a developing baby be this intellectually sophisticated? The brain isn't even developed yet. Medically it seems impossible.
God of the Impossible
Man is a three-part being. We are body, soul, and spirit.1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) tells us, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Consider the countless stories of people who have been in comas with no brain activity. Yet somehow when these people recovered and came out of the coma, they were able to remember conversations they overheard in their hospital room. This gives further support to the idea that the human spirit isn't dependent on the brain to function.
Think about this: if you believe in an after-life, that Christians inherit eternal life, what is it in you that is still living?
The soul is made up of our emotions and our will. Our soul needs our body and our brain to function. Our spirit does not. Genesis 2:7 states that "man became a living soul" (KJV). While John 4:24 clearly designates that God is a spirit.
"God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth," John 4:24 (KJV).
Talks about the soul and the spirit. While Hebrews 12:9 actually refers to God as the "Father of our spirit." Hebrews 4:12.
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and the spirit. . ." Hebrews 4:12 (NASB).
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of our spirits and live?" Hebrews 12:9 (KJV).
Perhaps the best explanation of God communicating to us through our spirit and not our soul is Romans 8:16.
"The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God." Romans 8:16 (NASB).
Okay, so at this point of my journey, I was completely freaked out. My spirit has memory and emotion like my soul but my soul is dependent on my body and my spirit is not. My spirit functions completely even if my body is dead. It isn't dependent on my brain. So what is my spirit dependent on. . .? This is when I had my "ah-hah" experience that changed how we prayed.
Changing How We Prayed
As in the story of the four-year-old that I shared above, I came to understand and believe that in our spirit is a memory of God. God put it there! His blueprint is on the inside of us. Most of us aren't aware of it and cannot remember it. The memory fades with time. God began to teach me that if I could remember who my divine Father is, then I would truly know who I was. Most importantly, our spirit is how God communicates with us. He speaks to us through our spirit, not our mind. Have you ever wondered why children have a "child-like" faith? During childhood it is easier to rely on your spirit instead of your mind.
Perhaps that four-year-old could remember something but also knew he had forgotten. I wondered if the younger the child, the more vivid the spirit's memory. My husband and I began to change what we were doing with our children. As we studied the scriptures, we saw that God designed us to relate to Him through our spirit. We began to wonder, if we purposely work on developing our children's spirits, will they have a better understanding of God?
It is neat how God prepares your heart for something that He knows you wouldn't accept unless He did it gradually. One way that He works in my life is to place a curiosity or interest in me to know more about something, so I dig deeper and learn about it. This drive to know really became intense with the birth of our first child. We could just feel she knew God even before she was born. I began searching and when I was pregnant with our third child, I also stumbled on a seminar about the importance of blessing babies in the womb and the concept of nurturing the human spirit .
God led me to specific scriptures as I prayed for the baby and I began to write specific blessings for the baby based on the scriptures. My husband would read scripture to the baby every night. We figured that although the baby couldn't understand it, perhaps the baby's spirit could. If the spirit isn't dependent on the brain to function, then how do we know what happens when our spirit hears God's Word?
As we began doing this for our three children, we realized that something was awakening in us. I'd like to share with you a blessing from Psalm 1 that I wrote for our third child. I prayed this over him several times when I was pregnant and still do today.
Blessing
"Child, I bless you with delighting in the law of the Lord, the Most High God. I bless you with knowing your Heavenly Father's love in such a way that you crave His Word everyday. I bless you with surrounding yourself with Godly counsel so you will not stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful.
I bless your spirit with remembering your Heavenly Father, His voice, His face, and His presence. I bless you with an ability to turn your spirit toward the Father so often that it is your first response whenever you feel anger or fear. I bless you with living your life this way so that you will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither and whatever you do will prosper.
I bless you with hearing the voice of the Lord and an awareness of His timing for your life. I bless you with trusting Him enough to wait until it is the season He appoints for you to bear fruit. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth."
A Connected Spirit
Since we began nurturing the spirit of our children, I discovered that I am more aware of my own spirit. I can distinguish the voice of God from my own thoughts better than I could before. This is a skill that I want my children to learn: to hear God's voice immediately and accurately. The idea of blessing their spirit seemed weird to us at first but now it is a daily routine. We end each day with a blessing at bedtime. If we tuck the children in without it, they are quick to remind us, "Dad, you forgot our blessing!" It is so neat to hear them ask for it. Somehow deep within them, they know they feel good afterward. That is enough proof for me. I thank God that when the day is done, I can lie down in my bed knowing I have taken one more step in connecting my children to Him.
Copyright © 2008-2015 Dorena DellaVecchio, Ph.D.
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