Give It to God

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24

Props: large broken toy

            Once there was a little boy who had a favorite toy.  How many of you have a favorite toy?  (Allow for response).  One day as he was playing with his favorite toy, it broke.  He was so sad he almost cried.  All of you have had things go wrong in your life.  It might be that your family has split up, or fights all the time.  Maybe the kids who live around you call you names.  Maybe your parents do things that hurt you, or maybe they’re not even around at all.  Just like the little boy’s toy broke, all of us get a broken heart from time to time.  About that time his grandfather was walking by him and noticed his sadness. 

            “What’s wrong?” asked the grandfather. 

            “My favorite toy broke,” replied the boy.

            The grandfather offered to take it into his shop and fix it, but the little boy refused to leave it with him.  He said that if he left it, he didn’t know if he’d ever see it again. 

            “I promise to fix it and give it back to you,” said the grandfather.

            But the little boy didn’t believe him, and he held on to his broken toy.  God has said that He will take care of our problems if we will give them to Him and trust Him completely to take care of them.  You may be unsure that God will take care of your problems and fix them for you, so you choose to keep worrying about them.  Learn to trust God.  The next day, Grandpa came around again and asked about the toy.

            “It’s still broken,” answered the boy.

            “I’ll take it and fix it for you,” offered Grandpa.

            Finally, the boy agreed to let his grandfather take the toy.  But he had a hard time letting go of the toy and trusting Grandpa.  That night, after Grandpa had left his shop, the boy went in and took his toy back.  He put it on the shelf in his room and went to sleep.  Sometimes when you’ve prayed about things and asked for God’s help, the answer doesn’t come right away.  So you may think that God’s never going to answer.  Don’t give up, though.  Let God take care of the problem and don’t take it back from Him by continuing to worry.

            Early the next morning, Grandpa came into his grandson’s room and gently woke him up. 

            “I noticed your toy was missing from my shop.”

            “I’m sorry Grandpa,” said the little boy, “I didn’t think you’d take care of it.”

            Grandpa gently replied, “I can’t fix your toy until you trust me enough to let me have it.”

            “You’re right, Grandpa.  Take the toy.  If I keep it, it will only stay broken.  I can’t help the problem at all.  You take it and I trust you to fix it.”

            Grandpa did take the toy and sure enough, it was fixed within that very week.

            In the same way, you need to let God handle your problems.  Trust Him and believe that He is working everything out for you.  Know it and be sure in your heart.  God isn’t going to help you with your problems if you won’t let Him.  Give your problems to Him, knowing that He will do it.  Don’t give up!