My favorite Disney movie growing up was Cinderella.
My living room became my Broadway stage as I acted out each scene as if I was the main character, Cinderella, myself.
If you are not familiar with the story, I will summarize the classic movie that has touched many young girls’ hearts for decades:
The story follows the fortunes of young Cinderella whose father remarries after the death of her mother. Tragically, her father dies also, and she is left under the tyrannical rule of her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine. Her jealous stepsisters and cruel stepmother abuse her compassionate, kind, and selfless heart through their merciless household demands.
One day, a decree is sent to all the eligible maidens of the kingdom to attend a Royal Ball at the palace. At the ball, one maiden would be chosen by the prince to be his wife. But Lady Tremaine locks Cinderella in a cellar the night of the ball to prevent her from attending.
When Cinderella had lost all hope, the fairy godmother comes to her rescue with a magic spell that got her to the palace by an extravagant horse and carriage, while wearing a winsome ball gown and magical glass slippers. The prince chooses Cinderella the moment she arrives and they fall in love as they dance the evening away. But, once the clock struck midnight, the magical spell was broken and Cinderella ran from the prince, accidently leaving behind a glass slipper.
Cinderella returns to her life of slavery, reminiscing of the breathtaking night with the prince. The following day, the glass slipper is brought to every home within the kingdom with efforts to identify the mysterious woman that ran away from the palace. The story ends with the glass slipper fitting Cinderella’s foot perfectly, and the prince wooing her as his wife. Cinderella is promoted from the prison to the palace and lives with the prince, happily ever after.
Before the decree, Cinderella was bound as a slave to the tyrannical rule of her lying, manipulating and controlling stepmother. She was captive to a family that only brought her fear, shame, and the direct opposite of freedom and the abundant life she longed for.
The story of Cinderella reminds me of myself.
The evil stepmother reminds me of the devil, whose sole purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy from Gods precious creations (John 10:10). The fairy godmother reminds me of my Heavenly Father, God. The prince reminds me of Jesus, my Prince of Peace.
I know what it’s like to be breathing but not truly living.
I was like Cinderella, created for royalty, designed for a fulfilling destiny, but orphaned, imprisoned and enslaved to the enemy.
Psalm 139:15, 16 says that God creates us, “You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something. You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book.”
Gods design is for us to be His very own sons and daughters. But, just like Cinderella, we’ve experienced a tragedy within our family tree. Adam and Eve, our ancestors, were influenced by the devil’s lies and chose to sin against their Father, God, thus, dying spiritually and passing along the ‘sin nature’ into the DNA of humanity. History records it in Genesis 3.
God is perfect, holy and just. His nature is love, truth and life. Therefore, there is no falsehood, death or sin in Him. Adam and Eve became children of the devil the day they sinned and now each and everyone of us born into this earth are children of the devil.
John 8:44 tells us, "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
But, in our sinful, hopeless, spiritually dead state, God’s unconditional love, life and truth overpowered the works of the enemy. Just like the fairy godmother was able to overpower Lady Tremaine. But, with God, there are no limitations, there is no time limit on His power like there was on the fairy godmothers spell.
Why? Because God’s all powerful and real, unlike magic and the fairy godmother.
God made it possible for us to be back into His family as His sons and daughters again. He refers to it as being born-again into His family. John 3:3, “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
How?
This is where Prince Charming, Jesus, comes into the story. God sends forth a decree declaring that His Heir, Jesus, is going to come off the throne and into the common places of the kingdom we call ‘earth’. This King, Jesus, would be tempted by the evil one, but would not sin; and He'd overcome the devil through the power of God. This Son would trade places with the cellar girl or woman, and the imprisoned boy or man, so they could have the chance to be promoted to the palace and apart of the royal bloodline!
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”
Jesus went to the depths of hell and paid in full the penalty of all of man-kinds sins. And now this Prince is going to the home of everyone’s heart, knocking, and seeing if the ‘shoe will fit’ so they can be reconciled to their Creator, Heavenly Father, and become an heir of God by entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
John 1:12, “But those who embraced him and took hold of his name were given authority to become the children of God!”
Does the glass slipper fit you? Not sure if you want to put it on yet and enter into this relationship with God through Jesus?
Well, let me tell you some of the benefits of being a child of God and I’ll say you’ll be ready to be crowned royalty by the end of this blog!
Benefits of being a child of God:
1. Protection
Psalm 91:4-7, “His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you. You can run under his covering of majesty and hide. His arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping you from harm. You will never worry about an attack of demonic forces at night nor have to fear a spirit of darkness coming against you. Don’t fear a thing! Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble you, nor will the powers of evil launched against you. Even in a time of disaster, with thousands and thousands being killed, you will remain unscathed and unharmed.”
You better believe that Princess Cinderella had the BEST security, guards, and army protecting her 24/7, 365!
How much more are you protected as a child of God when He’s your security, guard, and army? He has NO limitations!
2. Wealth
Philippians 4:19, “I am convinced that my God will fully satisfy every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches of glory revealed to me through the Anointed One, Jesus Christ!”
Cinderella went from poverty to prosperity! Nobility has access to the treasury. Money, jewels, riches, and gold were hers! For the rest of her days, she would eat the finest food, wear custom made designer clothes, and own an entire kingdom! She would never have to worry about a bill not being paid, getting into debt, or being homeless. She had everything she would ever dream of and then some.
How much more with a child of God whose the OWNER of everything?!
Psalm 50:10 says, “Every animal of field and forest belongs to me, the Creator. I know every movement of the birds in the sky, and every animal of the field is in my thoughts. The entire world and everything it contain is mine.”
He loves you and will not withhold anything from His children that is best for them.
Romans 8:32, “For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.”
3. Wisdom
1 John 2:20, “But the Holy One has anointed you and you all know the truth.”
If Cinderella did not know how read, speak or write before, she now has the BEST scholars, philosophers, and teachers at her disposal. She has the opportunity to become a woman FULL of wisdom.
How much more truth can you know, understand, and live in when your Father is ALL knowing and willing to share His wisdom with you through the Holy Spirit?
John 16:13, “But when the truth-giving Spirit comes, he will unveil the reality of every truth within you. He won’t speak his own message, but only what he hears from the Father, and he will reveal prophetically to you what is to come.”
4. Authority
Ephesians 2:6, “He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ!”
Princess Cinderella now has the power to make influential decisions that demand obedience. Like a police man that is in the middle of the road directing traffic. Anyone else standing in the middle of the road with their hand up to stop traffic would NOT receive submission, rather, opposition and rebellion. But, because of the authority of the police officer, civilians obey.
How much more authority do you have as the son/daughter of the All-powerful God who has appointed you to sit upon the highest throne of authority that exists and make decisions?!
5. Love
1 John 3:1, “Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children.”
Cinderella hadn’t experienced genuine love since the death of her father. Her evil stepmother and jealous stepsisters hated her and did not offer her an ounce of love. The prince choose her out of all the other maidens in the kingdom and expressed true love that caused them to live ‘happily ever after.’ The love that her prince gave her must have been comforting, encouraging, and securing. And that is human love, which has limitations. How much more meaningful is the agape, God-kind of love, which is not given based off of ‘happy’ conditions.
God even loves us when we aren’t loveable. When we don’t deserve it. And His love for us will NEVER change. Now, if you ask me, that’s more securing than any other form of love.
Romans 8:38, “So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love.”
6. Peace
John 14:27, “I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!”
Can you imagine walking on eggshells every moment of your life? Having unrealistic demands upon you 24/7, 365? Being manipulated, lied to and treated as if you were worthless? Degraded? Demoralized? Abused? You would have no peace. Cinderella had no peace. But the moment she responded to the love of her prince and became his, she was released from all of that and gained a priceless virtue.
Jesus is The Prince of Peace as Isaiah 9:6 says, “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Since Jesus never changes, He will never become the Prince of Anxiety. He will never run out of peace. Nothing and no one can compare to that!
7. Joy
Nehemiah 8:10, “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
Cinderella had no joy. True joy is not based upon circumstances. Jesus is the source of true joy. And Cinderella’s Prince charming parallels Jesus as being our source of permanent joy.
Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep the peace, a perfect peace, for all who trust in You, for those who dedicate their hearts and minds to You.”
8. Value
Deuteronomy 7:6, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”
Before Cinderella’s promotion to the palace, she was viewed as worthless, valueless and hopeless. But Prince charming saw her as beautiful, valuable and worthy of the nobility throne. God isn’t going to just put anyone upon His throne. He only associates with royalty.
And He has chosen you. Therefore, you are valuable to Him. So valuable that He sold everything He had, including His own Son, to have you, His own special treasure.
Matthew 13:45, “Or the kingdom of heaven is like a jeweler on the lookout for the finest pearls. When he found a pearl more beautiful and valuable than any jewel he had ever seen, the jeweler sold all he had and bought that pearl, his pearl of great price.”
Why would you ever want to stay in the cellar when you could be in the castle?
Receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior to become born again, apart of the family of God, and inherit all the blessings that comes from being royalty and nobility!
To do so, say this prayer out loud:
“Heavenly Father, I believe in my heart Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe Jesus died for my sins. God, I’m sorry for all my sins and I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead and I say with my mouth Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Now I am saved, I have chosen life and I am Heaven bound. In the name of Jesus, Amen.”
If you have said this prayer out loud and meant it in your heart, I want to hear from you! Subscribe to receive prayer, content and future blogs on Beauty For Ashes HOME page. In the comments write me about your decision to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior today.
This is the beginning of your relationship with Jesus Christ and I want to help you in your journey!
Also, to remind you of your royal DNA as a child of God, Beauty for Ashes has rose gold, silver and gold crown necklaces for you!
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