One day I had the opportunity to hear a child praying for God to heal one of his toys that had lost an arm. At first it made me laugh so much, but after thinking about it, I remembered how many times as a child I also asked God for things that others would laugh at today.

It is something wonderful to see the faith of a child. It leads them to believe in things that we would not be able to believe as adults. Amazingly, no matter the circumstance, they are sure that when they talk to God, He hears them.

When we become adults, we often think it’s up to us to resolve our own problems. How many times do we get stuck because we just don’t know how to handle it? In those moments, we should seek God as children and ask for His help even for the simplest things.

It is interesting to see that when children approach God, they do it without too much protocol. They don’t set aside an hour of the day to do it. They do not first ask if God will listen or if their request is out of place. They just call on Him and know that their prayer will be heard.

Many of our children are in the midst of pain, abuses, and suffering. But I am sure that despite these conditions, they continue offering prayers to God full of faith, knowing that their demands are heard.

With that kind of faith and hope, we must also seek God in the middle of any adverse situation. Let us not allow our physical eyes to be a constraint. We were not limited by what we saw when we were children.

Let us have faith like children. It’s that child-like faith that will lead us to achieve all God has entrusted to us.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. — Hebrews 11:6

Prayer: Beloved God, help us to remember that our faith, more than anything, is action. Help us to believe like children do, confident in your promises so that we can walk confidently, too. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alejandra Amador is a Ministry Services Manager for Compassion Honduras.

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Scripture says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, yet we all fear things that are beyond our control. Who told us to be afraid and what role does faith play in helping us overcome these fears?

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Many sponsored children live in places where alcoholism, drug use and promiscuity are common. Pray that your sponsored child will grow in the fruit of the Spirit of self-control.

“Father, help my children not to be like many others around them, but let them be alert and self-controlled in all they do.”

“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and sober.” –1 Thessalonians 5:6, NIV

Prayer prompts copyright Bob Hostetler. Used with permission by the author.

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Where are you, and who are you with, when you experience deep, soul-nourishing worship?

For me, this happens whenever I am with a specific group of women on Wednesday evenings. Each time I gather for worship with these extraordinary women, I am in God’s presence with friends who, like me, carry stories of deep brokenness. Yet even deeper is our hope in the healing power of Christ.

At a recent gathering, we were introduced to a familiar worship song with a twist. Many of you will recognize the words of “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin. But this version features people singing from all over the globe.

Despite unfamiliar languages, we feel oneness of heart. And in that room of American women and foreign voices, my heart is transported to a group of Rwandan women.

Red dust covers my sandals. We sit in a circle on the ground of a small school room. Before I barely situate, three toddlers vie for a spot in my lap. Aunties and caretakers hold more little ones. Babies bounce, sleep, play.

In the circle, beautiful women read from the Kinyarwanda Bible. Their dark complexions provide a lovely contrast with their bright clothing. I cannot understand their language, but I am mesmerized by the words of God in this new and remote tongue.

As I bask in the beauty of these faces and the Word of God, my Rwandan friends begin to stand. A translator says to me,

“Now we dance praises to God!”

The brightly clothed women begin to sing and to dance. I cannot take my eyes off of their feet. They dance with abandon in the midst of their deep brokenness. That red dust covering the school room and my sandals? That dust fills the air with majesty.

Rwanda Worships.

American women worship in a small room in Colorado Springs and Rwandan women and babies worship in a small room in Kigali, Rwanda, and poverty is broken. God’s love shatters through whatever currently plagues, and love fills the room and we celebrate the dust.

Wherever you worship, however you worship, break darkness and just worship. You’ll be amazed at how your perspective will change. And you will join with the saints across the world.

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A little girl on the way home from church turned to her mother and said, “Mommy, the preacher’s sermon this morning confused me.”

The mother said, “Oh! Why is that?” The girl replied, “Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?”

“Yes, that’s true,” the mother said.

“He also said that God lives within us. Is that true, too?”

Again the mother replied, “Yes.”

“Well,” said the girl, “if God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?”

I like that little girl’s way of putting it. If God lives in us, then there’s no way of keeping Him from “showing through.” That’s the essence of Christian living — living in such a way that people around us will see God in our lives and glorify our Father in heaven.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:16, NIV

Prayer: Dear God, no matter which side of the bed we wake up on or what setback happens to us today, may You show through us in our lives, our families, and our work—not once, not twice, but forever. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fredrick Oduori is a Programs Director for Compassion Kenya.

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Light is one of the many metaphors used to describe Christians in the Bible. Jesus calls us to be the light as He is the light of the world.

But what does that mean?

We live in a world suffering in the darkness of sins under the domination of the devil. Wickedness is visible all around us.

Jesus came to the world to save lost sinners. Then He conferred to us the power to enlighten the world. As He is, so we are the light of the world.

Being light, we cannot and should not be unseen. Our preaching of the gospel is one way our light shines.

Our light should especially shine through our good works — no matter how small they are.

We can give a ride to a neighbor in need. We can share our meal with a neighbor who is hungry. We can give a shirt to a neighbor who is shirtless. We can enable a child to receive the bread of instruction.

Doing all these things — not for our own credit but for God’s credit — shines our Christian light before the world.

Our light can shine by our testimonies, by our words materialized in our deeds and by setting godly examples in our daily lives.

We should be concerned with whether our light shines before our family, our colleagues, our friends, before society, and most of all before ourselves. We are to display the light not only outwardly, but also inwardly, because many times things are happening inside us that only God and us know about.

Let us be a light to our communities, our churches, our nations, and the world. Our light should outshine any spiritual darkness around us. We are instrumental in bringing the lost to Jesus and taking them from the deep darkness to the marvelous light of God.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. —Matthew 5:14–15, NIV

Prayer: Keep us connected to our power source, the Holy Spirit, so we can be brighter. Use us to make more impact on the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elissaint Jean-Jacques is a Disaster Response Coordinator for Compassion Haiti.

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Growing up, Rowel was the butt of neighborhood jokes. He was bullied and ridiculed simply because he wore tattered clothes, walked around barefoot, and had to peek into other people’s windows to watch TV.

His family was desperately poor and often didn’t have enough food to eat. But at the time, Rowel was a young man who did not have it in him to fight back.

He was used to being laughed at, shushed, and physically hurt even inside his own home — and by his own father, who would to hit him with sticks and a whip. One time his dad almost killed him with a machete.

“I was helpless. I didn’t fight back, but in my heart I kept telling myself, I’m going to be rich someday, and when I grow up I am going to show everyone in my neighborhood, especially my father, that I am good for something.”

When Rowel’s mother got sick from cancer, his family sold all of their possessions to pay for her treatment. They were left destitute.

Rowel is the youngest of eight siblings, and his older brothers and sisters cared for him and did their best to keep their family going despite their father’s drinking habits and violent ways.

“I saw my older siblings leaving one by one. Some stayed with relatives in another province, while some just ran away until there were only three of us left living with our father.”

It was at this time that Rowel started attending the Kabulig Child Development Center.

“It was only at the center that I got a sense of having a complete family.”

Milagros, the center director, remembers Rowel:

“Rowel is very close to my heart. He used to be very shy and would just stay in one corner. He didn’t want to be with people. He was bullied as a small child. It was only at the center where he gained self confidence.”

Eventually, Rowel became very active at church. He joined the praise and worship team as a back-up singer and spent much more of his time at church than at home.

Suddenly, not only did he enjoy talking with people, he began talking in front of people by teaching younger children and becoming a Sunday school teacher.

Milagros shares,

“I was surprised to see that he had become a devotional leader as well. His being a sponsored child really helped him. His father didn’t buy his school supplies; sponsorship did. Our center also took him to the doctor and dentist, and gave him the attention he needed as a young man.”

Thanks to this attention, Rowel was at the top of his high school class and earned a scholarship to college. He tells us,

“It was at the child development center where I realized that I can do something, and that I am intelligent.”

He was well on his way to achieving his dream of becoming a rich man when he enrolled in accountancy courses at one of the leading universities in the region and was, again, at the top of his class.

“I excelled in academics and began representing my school in several regional events when I was only a freshman.”

Rowel studied hard to become a wealthy, successful accountant. But he was motivated by a disheartening goal: to avenge those who looked down on him and hurt him when he was little.

“I didn’t tell anyone. But the anger and the pain were my driving forces. I really wanted to become rich.”

Thankfully, something happened that stopped him in his tracks.

During one of the youth camps at the student center, Rowel committed his life to the Lord.

“I wanted to serve Him full-time in a Christian ministry.”

Rowel then left the university and became the first Leadership Development Program student to take pastoral courses at a Bible seminary.

Today, he is a third-year student studying Christian ministries at the Febias College of Bible, one of the biggest seminaries in Metro Manila. He is vice president of the student council and a member of the pastoral staff at San Francisco Christian Church in the province of Bulacan.

When asked why he left his studies toward becoming a successful accountant and chose Christian ministries instead, Rowel explained,

“I want to help the church and communities. The Christian Ministries course is like social work, but is slanted toward ministry, and that is what I like to do.”

Over time, Rowel abandoned his desire to become a wealthy man because,

“The anger and desire to avenge myself disappeared.”

In 2009, while he was living on campus at Febias, Rowel received news that his father had died of pancreatic cancer. But by the grace of God, Rowel was able to say,

“My anger towards my father had also disappeared. I just wished he’d had the chance to become a better Christian.”

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I once decided to pay a visit to a friend of mine. I prayed to the Lord before leaving. On my way, I came across a group of children teasing a mentally ill man whom I had never met.

Suddenly he stopped joking with them, stared at me, and shouted with a thunder-like voice: “See! Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!”

I suddenly felt some heat under my shirt, yet it was December in Burkina Faso where the weather is nice. Sweat started running down my face. I was so scared that I almost took to my heels.

But it would have been disgraceful to run away.

The kids might laugh at me. So I decided to keep advancing, no matter what happened. The mad man kept shouting, “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!” I boldly passed by him, not daring to look at his strange face.

He went on repeating the same words until I was far away. At that time, I did not have a deep understanding about my identity in Christ, hence my great fear.

Like a flashlight turning on, the words of Jesus in John 17:23 and Luke 4:34 came to my mind. My fear turned into a tremendous joy and confidence!

Now I understand clearly that the Father, Son, and Spirit are in me. What a privilege to have them all in me! Since then, I know that I am not alone.

As co-laborers for the Kingdom, we should display godly character in whatever we say or do. Are we not created in His likeness?

Our partners, the children we serve, and all those we come across should see Jesus Christ in us. We should know our identity and manifest the life of the one who abides in us. Let us make the difference, for we have been set aside for God! Lord God, help us be like you!

I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. —John 17:23, NIV

Prayer: Lord, help us display Your character. Mold us in Your image and let the world see You through our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Abdoulaye Diallo is a Curriculum Specialist for Compassion Burkina Faso.

Read all the One in Spirit devotionals.

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Making the decision to support a child living in poverty is a commitment — financially and relationally.

A big component to committing to child sponsorship is knowing the organization that you are partnering with. You should feel comfortable with where you send your money, and we believe there are six questions you should ask before deciding which organization is right for you.

1. Who implements the program?

For us, the answer is the church. We have over 5,700 Implementing Church Partners (ICPs) and they work diligently to tailor our holistic child development model to the local, contextualized needs of each area.

Our church partners know the children on an individual basis; they know each child’s individual needs, and they implement the program in the name of Jesus.

• How do we decide which churches to partner with?
• What does partnership mean at Compassion?

2. Who most directly benefits from the program and from my donation?

The beneficiary of our child sponsorship program is the individual child. As an organization, we don’t target community development or work toward regional poverty reduction.

Rather, we work with each child on a unique and individual level so that his or her specific needs are addressed.

The families of Compassion-assisted children receive additional or indirect benefits from their child’s sponsorship, but our focus is the one child. The result of this strategy is that by changing the life for one child, we work toward a critical mass that can transform an entire community or even a nation.

• Child Development vs. Community Development: Is One Better Than the Other?

3. How often does the child participate in the program?

The standards we have defined are:

• At a minimum, every child development center operates 4-8 hours of programming each week, at least 48 weeks out of the year.
• Individual child attendance is taken each time the center is open.

Many of our development centers structure the frequency based on local, contextual needs, but all of them meet this standard.

4. What program does the child experience?

Our programs are summed up in the phrase, “long-term, Christian holistic child development.” We want them to do more than combat economic poverty. We want to release children from spiritual, social and physical poverty, too.

That’s holistic development: addressing every major aspect of the child’s being, every element that they need to survive, develop and thrive.

5. What if the child has unique needs?

Because our church partners work one-on-one with children, they are more aware of the children’s unique and individual needs.

Church workers are poised to note significant changes in child well-being, behavior, or family situation and address these issues through Complementary Interventions (CIV). Through CIV funding we work to prevent and respond to the distinct needs of each child.

6. What is the role of the sponsor?

At Compassion, our one-to-one sponsorship model isn’t a funding mechanism for other programs; it’s a facilitated relationship that changes lives.

Our sponsorship program is an opportunity for individual sponsors to minister to individual children in the developing world. That’s why we emphasize correspondence and sponsor engagement — we know that the grace-filled words of a sponsor can accomplish just as much in the life of a child as a few dollars every month.

Partnering with the local church in a one-to-one relationship is a child sponsorship model we have seen work well for more than 60 years. Would you consider becoming part of our family and support a child living in poverty by becoming a sponsor?

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If you ask most people in my country what Christians believe, they can tell you, “that Jesus is God’s Son and that He rose from the dead.” But if you ask the average Dutch person how Christians live, they are struck silent.

I’m afraid it’s hard for us to show the world another way of doing life. How much do our lives really differ from our neighbors? Our parties, gatherings, duties, calendar and concerts may be “Christian,” but do we really spend our time any differently?

Do we worry about different things? Are we really willing to show love when people frustrate us, to forgive when others hurt us?

Do we choose to live in relationship with others, no matter what, or is it more important to convince others we are right?

I wonder what would happen if non-Christians associated Christians with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

It might make them more open for God, who loves us and whom we serve. In ourselves, we can’t go the extra mile in “living a different life.”

But in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can.

We are meant to receive God’s love, to respond to it, and to transmit it to people around us abundantly.

Maybe even more so when it’s difficult and seems more attractive not to do so. That gives us a huge opportunity to show the world who God really is.

Let’s encourage each other to make more and more of God visible in our lives and relationships.

Thanks so much to our field staff. They are an example and encouragement for me — and I trust for many others — in living out the image of Christ!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. —Galatians 5:22–23, NIV

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength and courage to live lives that are marked with the fruits of your Spirit. Help us to love others abundantly. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ina Wasseveld is a Project Manager in the Compassion Netherlands office.

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