I have been thinking about children. Many times they can be overlooked, disregarded and dismissed but I believe that inside of each one is a key, a key of freedom. Though they are young, in God's eyes they are the future and destiny of the nation to which they belong. They are future mothers, fathers, pastors, doctors, teachers and world changers. The heart of the Father in heaven beats with undying love for the least in a land, they are His treasures. But how many times have these treasures been treated like clay pots? How many times have we shut out the voices of the children, thinking they are annoying or unimportant? Jesus said, it is to them that the Kingdom of heaven belongs. When we silence their voices, push them away, we are quenching the very breath of God. I can not even begin to describe the depths of love Poppa God has for children. His heart burns with justice and compassion for the one who knows the fear of death, of abandonment, of rejection and of physical harm. Throughout heaven a voice cries out. Can you hear that cry? He is in their song, in their questions, in their exploration of life, in their tears, in their smile, in their dance. Freedom. A child speaks of freedom.

If you will stop and watch a child, if you will get close enough to let them influence you, you will start to feel something being unlocked inside. That is when the Sprit of God has come. How many of you know that children can and do see angels, that with their gentle touch and simple prayer of faith, healing can come? So many of us have not known real love and often this makes us afraid and uncomfortable to get close to children because something feels amiss inside. When we havn't felt delighted in, it is hard to delight in another. When we are afraid of failure we will be uncomfortable with the freedom to fail a child realizes. If all we have known is someone making choices for us or we have made choices out of fear, we will cultivate an atmosphere of control that sufficates the spirit of freedom inside a child. Even in church we try to contain our children, keep them from disrupting our services, no wonder we can not figure out where the freedom has gone.

Jesus said that a child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. How bad do we want it? It is a risk...to live like a child...to trust, to dance and not care what anyone thinks. But if we will stop and ask God to make us like children, we will discover that the same key of freedom they carry is inside us as well.