As I grow in my understanding of God’s kingdom, my heart rejoices to realize that the principles on which it operates is completely opposite to the way the world operates. God has chosen to reveal His kingdom and its mysteries to those that are humble and childlike.

Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud – Psalms 138:6 

In Matthew 11: 25 ,  Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Jesus again and again reiterated  that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to little children.  

In Jesus’ days,the Pharisees and Suducees, who were the teachers of the Law continually condemned Jesus and the work He was doing, and blasphemed Him.They were so proud and wise in their own eyes. Even though they heard Jesus’ teachings and saw numerous signs and wonders He was doing right before their eyes, they never repented nor accepted Jesus as the Son of God. Their religious and haughty spirit couldn’t fathom the love of God for sinners when Jesus sat and ate with them (Mathew 9:11-12). 

 In Matthew 11: 20-26, Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;  yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 

Why God asks us to be childlike?

They have simple yet profound faith  – Little children  believe and trust their parents blindly and in a profound manner.  God wants us to have faith like little children. We see in the scripture that only those who came to Jesus with childlike faith were healed, delivered, and saw the glory of God. In John 9:6 we read about the blind man whom Jesus healed by spitting on the mud and applying it on his eyes. Jesus asks him to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash it. This man simply believed and obeyed not asking any questions and received his miracle.  

A woman with an issue of blood for 12 years desperately slips through the crowd to touch Jesus’ garment blindly believing  that she will be healed if only she gets to touch the hem of His garment. Jesus felt the power flowing through Him as soon as she touched Him with the childlike faith and immediately healed her.

 In another instance, Jesus fed the five thousand men with their families with just two fish and five  loaves of bread that a little boy brought to Him. Jesus honored the pure and kind  heart of a little boy  who sacrificially brought whatever he had to Jesus, believing He can feed thousands with it.

 My daughter in Christ  was diagnosed with 2nd -3rd stage rectum cancer a little more than a year ago. She refused to accept the diagnosis and  chose to receive her healing from Jesus who had already healed her by His stripes(Isaiah 53:5) . I, along with many others joined with her faith  and constantly declared her healing and redemption for almost a year even in the midst of all the challenges and  painful treatment process she had to walk through. God honored her childlike faith and completely healed and delivered her from cancer . Oh! What a wonderful God we serve.

Children have a pure heart : This is another important virtue in children that  qualifies them  to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus said in the sermon of mount; Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. God’s presence and power will flow through  a pure heart. Children have a pure heart. They  hold no anger, grudge, jealousy or favoritism against anybody. Even though they make a fuss, quarrel and are not happy when you discipline them, all of these emotions remain only for a  moment. Their innocent heart  continues to remain pure, loving and undiluted. God is seeking such heart whom He can anoint to show His  glory and power to the world. 

Psalms 8:2 says, Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

Our God does not use the mouth of learned, religious, and great people of the earth to silence His foes but the mouth of children and infants, the humble and meek. 

Children know their identity– Children are absolutely confident about their identity as a child of their parents. They trust their parents and always feel secure around them. This reminds me of my childhood days, how I felt so secure and all the fear left me  whenever my dad was around me and I could hold his hands . In the scripture                                                                                                                                                                                             
We see how King David was able to slay the giant Goliath even when he was a little shepherd boy because he knew in his heart whom He belonged to and who His God was. When we understand our identity as God’s children, we’ll always be more than conquerors. 

Children are innocent and  humble–  King David humbly praised and worshiped God with all his heart even when he became a king. He never allowed His position to stop him from praising God freely.  When the ark of God was brought to Jerusalem,  He sang and  danced before the ark with all his might not realizing that his clothes were falling off. When he was mocked by his wife for dancing until  his clothes fell off, David replied to her saying , “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!”(2 samuel 6:21-22).That’s the reason why our Lord and savior Jesus was also not ashamed to call himself the Son of David while He was here on earth. 

In Matthew 13, we see Jesus teaching the crowd about God’s kingdom. He was using parables every time He was teaching them. However, He explained the meaning of those parables only to His disciples because they were the only ones who believed in Him and followed Him with a childlike faith.

In Ephesians 1:17-21 Paul prays, “ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms”..

Therefore let us humble our heart and follow Him like little children so that He can reveal to us the mysteries of His kingdom and the riches of our glorious inheritance in Him whereby we can be the vessels of His glory and bring His kingdom to  the world in such a time as this. 

Thank you so much dear friends for taking time to read this post. I would love to hear in the comments how it  blessed you . Also please feel free to share if the Lord has given you any other insights on childlikeness in His kingdom. It will be a blessing to many.