I’m sitting in Whole Foods in the midst of a Sunday afternoon insanity, yet I am thriving in this tranquility. A little girl just walked past me and was dressed up head to toe as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast”. ADORABLE! I watched her walk around in “la la land” while her mom dashed to and fro across the store. She walked past me on her way out the door and waved her magic wand over a box of sweets. She paused. Waved it again. Then, as only one in make believe world can do, she “bopped” the box with the magic wand. At this moment, the girl’s mother, several feet ahead of her had reached the exit door and called for her. Her perplexed face didn’t stop her from obeying her mom, so slowly she deserted the box of gummy stars and left the store.
As I sat here giggling to myself, I remembered how fun it was to dress up like a Princess and make believe when I was little. When I was three years old I had one request for a Christmas gift, a magic wand. At this point in life, I’d seen my fair share of fairy godmothers, pixie dust and Princesses who could have their way. When presented with my beautiful well thought out and diligently sought for wand on Christmas morning, I GLOWED! I knew that everything in the world would be alright! I began immediately trying to change who knows what into whatever my little mind imagined (and it was a wild imagination!). At this point in my life, my constant talking had turned into hundreds of imaginary friends. I pretended there was a whole kingdom (yes I’ve had counseling regarding this-kidding!). Needless to say, I had all the imagination needed to believe for this magic wand to work wonders!
Imagine with me; this curly red-haired 3 year old filled with excitement quickly turn to disbelief and disappointment as the wand did nothing more than what plastic is capable of. Both of my parent’s hearts sank. They thought since I “Imagined” other things that I would also imagine things changing with this wand. As I argued that the wand must be broken, they instructed me to just pretend that it worked. ::Insert little Belle’s perplexed look here:: Why would I want a broken magic wand? I still have this wand today at my parent’s home (picture above) and it’s a sweet reminder of my childhood.
When I saw little Belle with her wand and remembered this story of my own life, I began thinking along the lines of child like faith and wonder. I thought of how Jesus encouraged us to believe the Father with faith like a child. Matthew 18:3 says, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus has given us His life in exchange for our sin. When we make Him Lord, we become new creations and have the opportunity to submit our lives to His Spirit.
In Ephesians 6:17 as Paul instructs us to put on the armor of God, he ends the list with, “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. Our armor includes a “Magic wand”!!!! :-) I don’t mean the “magic” of a child’s imagination to have a horse or dinosaur appear, but we can have the power of the Spirit of God move through our lives. How silly would one looked dressed in FULL armor with a shield to defend oneself, but no offensive weapon. Thankfully God did not equip us to be ill fit in battle. He sent His word, His Son and His Spirit to equip us for every good work. When we use the word of God and the power behind it employed by the Holy Spirit, we can have personal victory and bring victory to other people’s lives!
Little Belle and I might have dreamed of fairy Princess lands with tons of candy and Prince Charming and beautiful horses, but the reality is we’ve been given access to a far greater kingdom. We have been given a wand that works, a wand that transforms and a wand that sets captives free.
My encouragement to you today, is to hold fast to your faith, build yourself up in the word of God, and allow Holy Spirit to have His way in and through your life. After all, when we are sons and daughters of God, we really are Princes and Princesses.