Why Kids Should Pray for Impossible Things
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One of the things I’ve noticed after more than 20 years in kids ministry is this:
Kids don’t struggle to believe God can do big things.
Adults do.
When kids pray, they don’t hold back.
They pray for miracles.
They pray for healing.
They pray for situations that feel completely impossible.
They believe Jesus meant what He said.
They don’t overthink it.
They don’t analyze it.
They don’t filter it through past disappointment.
They just believe.
And somewhere along the way, something shifts.
As adults, we begin to pray differently.
We start to pray safer prayers.
More controlled prayers.
More “reasonable” prayers.
Not because we don’t love God…
but because we’ve experienced life.
We’ve seen prayers that didn’t get answered the way we hoped.
We’ve walked through disappointment.
We’ve learned to protect our expectations.
So instead of praying for mountains to move,
we start praying for strength to climb them.
And while that kind of prayer matters…
we may be missing something important.
Jesus didn’t say to outgrow childlike faith.
He actually said the opposite.
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
He pointed to children as the example.
The way they trust.
The way they believe.
The way they come to God without hesitation.
What if kids praying for impossible things isn’t naive?
What if it’s actually biblical?
What if the kind of faith we’re trying to teach them…
is the very faith we’re supposed to learn from them?
Kids don’t need to be taught to believe small.
They need to be encouraged to believe BIG.
To pray bold prayers.
To trust God fully.
To believe that He is still working, still moving, and still able.
Because He is.
And maybe the greatest thing we can do in kids ministry, and as parents,
is not to shrink their faith to match our experience…
but to grow our faith to match theirs.
If you’re looking for a simple way to help your kids grow in this kind of faith, I created a children’s book called Move Over to help them understand that God can do the impossible.
