How Do You Know Jesus Is Real?

1 Cor 2:1-5 (NLT, Paul) - "When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom .... Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God."

A Probing Question - My 7 year old daughter stopped dancing long enough to ask me how I knew that Jesus was real. My initial knee-jerk reaction was to give her the familiar Sunday School line, "Because the Bible tells me so." But Muslims give their children a similar line, "Because the Koran tells me so." And so do Hindus and Buddhists and .... Most religions have a Holy Book, and their children are brainwashed to accept it without question. I refuse to "brainwash" my children like that! So I simply told her the truth:

"I know He's real because He speaks to my heart. Sometimes in words.... Sometimes in visions.... Sometimes in dreams."

At the time this was a controversial statement in my home because my spouse was a cessationist; she didn't believe that God still communicates to people in these ways. But what I said seemed to satisfy my daughter. She happily resumed her dancing.

A Vivid Dream! - That night I had an extremely vivid dream about my daughter with unmistakeable spiritual imagery! When I came home from work the next day, my daughter met me at the door. My first words to her were, "Alyssa, I had an special dream about you last night! I want to tell you about it."

"I had a dream too!" she exclaimed. In her excitement she insisted, "Let me tell you my dream first!"

Her eyes grew big (and so did mine!) when we discovered that we both had the same dream! The next day I heard her talking to her younger brother as she worked in the kitchen. She was speaking in her confident "big sister knows all" voice. "Jesus is real. You'll find out when you grow older."

Like Paul, I didn't rely on clever and persuasive words to answer my daughter's question. That left the door open for a demonstration of the Spirit's Power. This personal experience left no doubt in my daughter's mind and was far far better than anything I could have said or done. From that day on she had a remarkably strong faith in God that was unusual for one so young.