Every evening, I lead my boys (ages 11 and 14) in devotions for spiritual growth. It’s always a beautiful time of encountering the sweet presence of Holy Spirit, worshiping Him, reading the Word, and learning to hear His voice.
Sometimes our devotions will vary, but I usually read scriptures out loud and we discuss in depth how it applies to our daily lives. Then I read out loud a current God story or faith building story.
One night, our faith building story came from a book titled, “My Craziest Adventures with God” by the Praying Medic.
The author shared that we need to do small things to activate and grow our faith so we have bigger faith to do bigger things. An example he gave was an ‘activation’ that can be used with kids.
In the story, he presented a penny to a child and demonstrated how it won’t stick to the wall by itself. But when you ask Holy Spirit to come and by His power hold it to the wall, He will hold it there.
My youngest son nearly jumped out of his seat and said, “I want to try that!”
Now, I have big faith, cultivated over many years of prayer and seeing God answer those prayers in miraculous ways. Yet, my first thought when my son said he wanted to try this was, “Uh oh. What if he takes this leap of faith and it doesn’t work?”
I chastised myself inwardly, then decided in my heart that I’d remain excited and would enthusiastically encourage him. And if it didn’t work, I would tell him we could try it again tomorrow.
He found a penny and held it to the wall. He prayed out loud and… the penny stuck! It stayed for about 30 seconds then fell off. He prayed again and it stayed. Weeks later, it’s still there.
My oldest son jumped up, wanting to try it. He pressed a penny to the wall and immediately it fell. He gave a disgusted look like, ‘Why did I think this would work?’
I told him, “You need to pray!”
He prayed out loud and said, “Holy Spirit come, and by your power hold the penny to the wall.” As he prayed, we distinctly heard a crackle sound and the penny stuck. It was amazing!
Weeks later, I’m happy to report his penny is also still stuck to the wall.
Then my youngest son prayed over a third penny and it also stuck. He sat there marveling for a few minutes, then ran to his room. He returned with a hook that had a fishing weight on it and he gently placed the hook on the penny. The penny stayed! My jaw dropped.
He ran and grabbed another weight, doubling the weight to hang on the penny and tried again. And the penny stayed on the wall!
This experience has dramatically changed both of my son’s prayer lives. They have seen firsthand how the supernatural can overcome physical limitations. They now pray with authority and confidence, with a sense of wonder and awe.
My youngest son said to me, “Mom, I’m going to pray more now, because I know it’s working!”
