Daughter of the King

I was sitting with the Lord this morning, and He began speaking to my heart about workers vs. daughters. Workers earn a wage. They are typically salary or hourly and usually on the payroll. They have a need to do, to accomplish, and prove their worth to their employers. They often feel guilty when they aren’t performing well.

On the other hand, daughters enjoy status by birthright. A daughter is who she is, because of her Father. He provides, encourages, and delights in her, because he loves her, not for any other reason. He has no choice but to love her, because she is his child. A daughter operates from the position of being fully known and fully loved. There is rest in this position. There is nothing you can do to fall short, and nothing you can do to rise above. A daughter receives an inheritance. When you are positioned as a daughter, the result is peace.

Unfortunately, many of us, including myself were not given this representation of a father by their earthy fathers. I began asking, God the Father to reveal himself to me, since I have found it difficult to relate the God as Father. I was honest “Help me to know you” I asked.

Immediately, Jesus came and sat beside me. “Watch me” he said. “I will teach you how to be a daughter. I am a Son” he said. “Hold my hand, and be my Father’s daughter alongside me.” These words were spoke with such LOVE and kindness. I don’t have to try and relate by myself to the Father. I can do it in and through Jesus. He knows how to be the perfect son and he will teach me how to take my place as a daughter.

Jesus presents me to the Father as Holy, Blameless and righteous. (Colossians 1:22)

The Holy Spirit spoke the word “Pontificate” to my spirit which means High Priest. Jesus is our High Priest. (Hebrews 10: 12) We can confidently and boldly come before the throne of God and receive grace and mercy through our position in Christ and His sacrifice. (Hebrews 4:16).

I can relax and REST in my position as -Daughter-, Accepted, fully known and embraced.

Declare with me:

I am positioned in Christ.

I am a daughter of the Most High God

I am fully known and loved.

I can’t possibly earn anything more

Please help me Father to operate as your daughter from a place of love, because I am fully loved.

Do the right thing he always say! He was our grandpa, father, war hero, and larger than life. We wore him like a medal of honor, and belonging to him gave us our identity. I am so proud and grateful to be his granddaughter.

I think about what he would say to us now after meeting Jesus if we could have one more conversation about life what would it be?

I absolutely know that he would tell us there is nothing more important than following the Lord. He’d want us to love God and one another, exercising forgiveness, kindness, and compassion without exception.

My Grandpa loves Jesus. He told me many times. I don’t remember him being overly religious, but he had a relationship with Jesus Christ which is all that matters.
In John 14:6 Jesus says, I am the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

God made a way for my grandpa to enter the kingdom of heaven over 2000 years ago. He sent his son to live the perfect life that we couldn’t, to become sin, and die on the cross. Jesus paid the ransom for my grandpa’s life. he overcame death, made a fool of the devil and said his Holy Spirit to live inside all believers.

He didn’t want heaven without any of us so he made a Way! In fact, he loves you so very much, if you were the only person alive, he would have still gone to the cross just for you.

This free gift of eternal life, forgiveness of past present and future sins has already been accomplished for all humanity. It’s already done, waiting to be received. But since God gave us a free will, we have to choose to receive this gift by grace through faith.

While belonging to Grandpa gave me much of my identity, I know he would tell me that finding our identity in Christ is the most important journey we could take.

Your heavenly father adores you, he isn’t mad at you for your mistakes. He is absolutely delighted in you. He calls you his daughters and sons. You are chosen, set apart, adopted by the most high God. His thoughts about you outnumber the grains of sand. You have a beautiful inheritance. This and so much more is who you are in Christ.

The greatest gift my grandpa gave me was the peace of knowing where he will spend eternity.

If you haven’t received Christ into your heart, I’d love to pray with you today.

Peace and love be with you all.

Shame. It’s powerful. It feeds off the lies you’ve told yourself. The lies of the enemy you were tricked into believing. Shame will make you feel unworthy, unlovable, empty, and well…ashamed. Shame reaffirms itself with every mistake, bad decision and even horrible things that have been done TO you. Your head hung low, feeling fatally flawed, you begin living down to those standards set by the thief who comes only to kill steal and destroy. (John 10:10).

That’s where I was most of my childhood and adult life. Believing so many lies, opening the door for the devil himself to come in and have his way. As a young child, feeling unwanted by her father, unaware of the seeds of unworthiness planted deep within. Growing up, being taunted by other children, bullied mentally, added another notch on the belt of shame and humiliation. SEE, something was definitely wrong with you, it told me. Another lie.

As I grew into a teenager, I believed the same lies in addition to the lie that I’d never get married or have a family. No one would ever love me. I was that despicable.

And then, the unthinkable happened. My own father made inappropriate sexual advances to me and tried to lure me into his bed in a drunken stupor. I have never felt so dirty in my life. I showered and scrubbed, but the shame wouldn’t wash off. I was disgusting. His actions left a mark that I would carry in silence until I was almost 40.

Shame, guilt, disgust…it will leave you running after any relief, any temporary reprieve possible. You’ll search for happiness and fulfillment in all the wrong places. Men, alcohol, bad decision after bad decision that leave you feeling worse and worse, reaffirming every lie until it’s just WHO YOU ARE.

BUT….Jesus.

He finds a way into your heart. He knows you; he created you. For it was you who created my inward parts: you knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13). He came to save us all…to set the captives free. When Jesus comes in, everything starts to change. You realize how valuable you really are. Value comes from the price someone is willing to pay for it. The price Jesus paid for me is so unbelievably great. He starts speaking to your identity as his child. Our earthly parents are limited by their own experiences and lies they themselves believe; however, our Heavenly Father is love. He is never disappointed. I am his daughter. I am the daughter of a KING!!! I am so worthy! When you let Jesus into your heart, and fully surrender to him, he fills the holes with his love, his mercy and his unending grace. He will wash away the shame and replace it with his righteousness.

My healing all began with forgiveness. The Lord called me to forgive my father when I turned 40. It was undeniable. With the Lord’s help, I extended grace to my father and offered my forgiveness. It wasn’t easy. But the Lord gave me the grace to forgive. This act was the catalyst to enormous healing. Today I can honestly say that thru the grace and mercy of Jesus, I no longer suffer from this traumatic memory. Somehow, he has healed me. I no longer feel shame; I don’t cry, and I have no angst or pain. Years of counseling couldn’t fix what Jesus did for me in his infinite love.

Did this happen overnight? No. It’s a process, but he is faithful to complete it. I am a work in progress. He is still loving me to completion as we speak.

What will I do now? I will keep putting my trust in Jesus. I’ve seen him heal my past hurts, and I know I will see him continue to heal other parts of my life. I’m not perfect. He’s the perfect one, but I will keep pressing on, into Jesus. He has surely saved me.