Kingdom Calling Blog…

As I was enjoying some quiet time, God reminded me of the wedding I went to recently…

During the wedding the young daughter of a friend, who was dressed in her pretty party dress with mini tiara and sparkly necklace, was enthralled with the bride. Obviously the bride looked beautiful and special and the little girl couldn’t take her eyes off her all day. She kept naturally gravitating to her during the day and whilst the photos were being taken, which we all thought was sweet and amusing.

During the wedding reception the father of the bride got up to give his speech and when myself and my friend looked over to the top table, you guessed it, her daughter was sitting on the lap of the bride, during her dad’s speech. We were shocked to see her there and my friend wasn’t sure what to do, so not wishing to disturb the father of the bride speech left her until he’d finished (the funny thing was she looked totally at home there sat on the bride’s knee and as if she should be there).

As soon as he’d finished his speech my friend grabbed her daughter off the bride’s lap and profusely apologised. Of course the bride was incredibly gracious about it and it wasn’t a problem! We did laugh about it and thought only a child would do that as they wouldn’t be aware that it wouldn’t be the ‘done thing’.

She explained to her daughter, despite her protests, that she couldn’t sit there at this time and her daughter was confused but indignantly said ‘I just wanted to sit on the princess’s knee!’

Later, during the evening as the band started up you can guess who was first on the dance floor! She was loving the music and greatly enjoyed twirling around in her party dress completely unfazed and unaware of anybody watching her. It was a beautiful thing to witness and I admired her freedom and creativity as she moved to the music. She wasn’t held back by thoughts of; What sort of dance moves are people doing these days? What would look cool? Who is watching me? Maybe I should show off a bit?

I remember thinking, God let me be like that in worship, as if it’s just you and me together in the room and nobody else is watching. Let me dance as the music moves me without fear of what anybody thinks and with a wild abandon (in my head that’s what I always do).

Today God reminded me of the little girl sitting on the Princess’s knee and I felt Him talk to me about the way she thought. As a child she hasn’t yet learnt what is appropriate, what etiquette or protocol is, thank goodness!!! She doesn’t think or feel constrained by any of these rules and regulations of man. She thinks in a simple way like a child should, untroubled by people’s perception of her. She wanted to sit on the Princess’s knee and why wouldn’t she, she recognised that she was the main focus of the wedding and was attracted to that.

She had a sense of childlike entitlement and could see no reason for not being at the top table and having access to the bride!

Matt 18:2-4  He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

He reminded too in that moment, as a picture flashed through my mind, of a young John F Kennedy Jnr when he was photographed sitting under his father’s desk in the Oval Office of the White House.

His dad was at the time the President of the United States of America and yet this ‘title’ didn’t really mean anything to his small son who just wanted to hang out and play near his daddy.

In this moment God was speaking to me about access and that as sons and daughters we have an ‘unlimited’ access to Him.

He may well be many things including the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator of all heaven and earth and all the other titles and names that He has.

But, the first thing He is and it’s above all other names is; Dad, Daddy or Papa.

This name alone carries amazing privilege for us and we can have an unlimited access to Him. No matter that He has the whole universe to oversee and all that is in it. No matter that He holds all things together and allows us each and every day to wake up and enjoy the day…

He would drop it all to spend time hanging out with us, we can come at any time day or night. He will always be available, present, interested, searching for us, longing for us, eager to be in our presence. He’d drop it all to allow us time to hop up onto His knee. As we approach Him he looks over at us with love in His eyes and invites us to ‘get up here’ onto his lap and have a cuddle.

He doesn’t want us to worry about protocol, etiquette, rules and regulations. He just wants us to come.

Just like my daughter’s friend, even though just a small child, she had recognised who the most important person was in the room, the bride (sorry groom but it’s all about the bride to a 5 year old girl!) and had made a bee line for her at any cost. This is a beautiful picture for us of how we should be with Jesus.

Matt 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Have we recognised He is the most beautiful one in the room yet?

Are we making a bee-line for Him at all costs?

What a fantastic provocation from watching a small child just be themselves. It was a stunning picture for me and a revelation of the level of intimacy that Papa wants to enjoy with us. He is not stand offish or half-hearted towards us and wants us to be more childlike in our approach to Him. This can be challenging if your own earthly father was stand offish or cold or downright uninterested in you. But, God doesn’t want us to see Him through that lens because He is a good, good father and only has our best interests at heart. He wants to wipe away our tears when we feel sad, cheer us up when we feel fed up, even make us laugh to try and get a smile out of us.

I want to be more like my friend’s daughter and have a deeper understanding that I’m the daughter of the King and I get to call Him dad. I want deeper revelation of my unlimited access to my dad and to live in the good of that.

I pray today that you would have a revelation of God’s love for you as a son or a daughter and that this knowledge would travel from your head to your heart. I pray you would come into an understanding of God as your heavenly father and understand that this comes with privileges that we get to enjoy just because of who He is and who we are as sons and daughters.