Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 19:14, ESV)
Scottish preacher Dr. William Philip gives this wonderful illustration about the Christian’s position in prayer. “The story is told that one-day President John F Kennedy was in the oval office in a meeting with VIPs and leaders. Strict instructions had been given to White House staff and security that under no circumstances was anybody to come in and disturb this meeting. But at a crucial point in the tense talks and negotiations, suddenly the door flew open. Everybody looked startled; who would dare to defy the presidential decree? In marched a little boy. He walks straight up to the president, jumped up onto his knee, and cuddled in the lap of the most powerful man on earth. It was John F. Kennedy Junior, the son of the president. What no one else could have done, he was able to do without a moments hesitation. He had privileged access, and no one could stop him from coming to see his father."1
There is an incredible biblical truth here that William brings out in this illustration and that has to do with the position that the Christian has in Christ. You see, humanity was created to have a personal relationship with our creator. We see that in the first few pages of our Bible. Adam was created as a son of God to have a loving and personal relationship with God (Gen 1-2). However, through the temptation to know good and evil and to choose for oneself, all humanity not only fell in Adam but severed themselves from that loving personal relationship (Gen 3 c.f. Rom 5:12). Therefore under the judgement of God, being spiritually dead and cast out of his presence, there is absolutely no way in and of ourselves that we can make our way back to God; that is the judgement and that is the result of sin, we were cursed and are spiritually dead (Rom 5:15 c.f. Gen 2:17, 3:6; 1 Cor 15:21-22). To put that another way, by our very nature we are not like that little lad who can just walk into the throne room of God and have a chat with dad. No, for that to happen, for that relationship to be restored to what it was created to be in the first place; it had to come at a great price and that great price was the death of God’s only begotten son Jesus Christ in the place of His people (Jn 3:16).
You see in the cross we observe the absolute wrath of God poured out on the sin of his people (Gal 3:13, Rom 5:9, 1 These 5:9; 1 Jn 2:2), however simultaneously along with seeing the wrath of God at Calvary, we also see the incredible love of God in that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice given on our behalf (Gal 2:20, Eph 5:2, Rom 5:8), so that we might fully be restored to our creator and adopted into his family through Christ as sons and daughters (Rom 8:15, Eph 1:5). To say that another way, God’s wrath was poured out on His only begotten son so that he could pour out his Holy Spirit on His elect sons and daughters IN CHRIST and thus, in Christ alone, we are restored, adopted and invited to burst through any barrier and go to our Heavenly Father, not because we have done the work but because God has removed the barrier for us (Heb 4:14-16; 12:18-24).
What has any of this got to do with prayer? Well if you have been around children for any amount of time, you know that they have absolutely no filters when it comes to bursting into rooms and pouring their little hearts out (well at least mine don’t). They say it like it is and they don’t hide their little thought lives behind a so called bush either. That’s why Jesus uses children as an example about coming to him because they might not know all the right things to say or even the right things to do, but one thing is for sure; children know that they can go to their parents about anything, tell them anything and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their position in the family won’t change just because they didn’t get the right theological terms or Christian jargon right. Be encouraged church, our Lord gives us these illustrations not so that we will be disrespectful or haphazard in our prayer life, but to assure us that we must be fair dinkum with our heavenly Father taking the mask off. In other words, we can pour our hearts out in front of Him and say it like it is because we are his beloved blood purchased children in whom he delights and because of Christ, that will never ever change, so go boldly (Lk 11:5-13).
1William Philip, Why We Pray, (Illinois: Crossway, 2015). 48-49