The Humility of a Childlike Heart

Excerpt taken from The Secret of the Anointing: Accessing the Power of God to Walk in Miracles by Kathryn Krick

 

Chapter 4

The Humility of a Childlike Heart

 

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James 4:10

One of the biggest qualities a trustworthy heart must have to carry the anointing is humility—having a childlike heart. Shortly after the disciples returned from casting out demons for the first time, notice what Jesus said to His Father:

At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!” Matthew 11:25-26 NLT

Jesus says that God hides “these things.” What are the things? In The Passion Translation, Jesus says “you have hidden the great revelation of this authority.” This means the secrets and mysteries in the Kingdom of how to access the anointing, and the revelation of how to properly execute our God-given authority. This is what makes demons leave—when one carries the anointing and authority of Christ, and when one properly executes that authority. Jesus literally says that these things are hidden “from those who are proud” (verse 25 TPT). They are only revealed to those who are childlike!

What does it mean to be childlike? To be childlike is to be humble. A young child rarely thinks he or she knows it all. Pride doesn’t exist in a child. Children are aware that they don’t know everything. They are always asking questions to learn things because they simply are aware that adults know much more than they do and they have a lot to learn. A child is teachable. When an adult teaches or corrects a child, the child doesn’t get offended or say, “No, I know better than you.” A child receives new things easily, with an open heart.

If you teach children something new, they don’t question it. They don’t have skepticism in them. The Pharisees were full of pride and skepticism. They believed they knew best and knew it all when it came to the things of God. Jesus came teaching something new, and they rejected His teachings before even listening to them, because in their minds they were the supreme godly people and no one could teach them anything new. They thought they knew exactly how to be the best godly people. They thought they knew exactly how “church” should be done.

When you are prideful, you are locking your spiritual eyes shut so you can’t see the truth. Jesus says, “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matthew 13:13). When you close your spiritual eyes, then “these things” from Matthew 11:25—the deeper mysteries of the Kingdom—are hidden from you.

The humble and childlike don’t see themselves as spiritually superior. They only see that it is God’s grace they have been given, the grace to see spiritually. The humble are open to receive from God in whichever way He wants.

God Speaks Through Anointed Vessels

God speaks to people in many different ways throughout the Bible. He speaks mainly through people, but also through dreams, visions, a burning bush, an audible voice and even a donkey! To be humble is to give permission for God to speak to you in any way He wants, not in your preferred way, but however He wants. These days, most people want to hear God without a human vessel involved. They want to feel as though they have heard God personally, even though when He speaks through a vessel it is just as personal, and it is the same as God speaking directly to you. Most people want to hear God’s voice in a dream, a vision and on their own, without a vessel being involved.

How do you know if someone giving a word is a true anointed vessel or not? When God has revealed to you who His anointed vessels are, you will know them by their fruits, just as you will know false prophets by their fruits:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Matthew 7:15-20

You will see the good fruits of a true anointed vessel. I must also mention that we are called to be childlike, not immature and childish. Be both wise and childlike. Don’t take just anybody’s words as God’s words. Don’t take anybody’s word for it who says he or she is from God, or take another person’s “God says this to you” as God’s words, before you test the person’s fruits, as the Bible says to do.

Test someone’s fruits with a pure heart, not looking for wrong with a critical spirit, but honestly and earnestly looking at the fruits of the person’s life without bias. When you come with that heart, God will show you the truth and it will be very clear. To view things with a childlike and pure heart is the only way to hear God’s voice telling you “This is Me” or “This is not Me.” If you come with skepticism, it will be like the “accuser of the brethren” speaking to you, and you will have blinded yourself from hearing God’s voice (see Revelation 12:10 NKJV).

God is still speaking through human vessels. One of the biggest ways He speaks today is through the vessels of prophets and prophetic voices. When He speaks through a true anointed vessel, it is really Him speaking. Many times, people don’t value the words spoken by a true vessel of God, because they have a different preference for how they want to hear Him speak.

If God chooses to speak something to you through an anointed vessel, whether a word of direction, revelation or correction, you should humbly receive that word. You should not come with skepticism and the attitude, I’ve never heard of that before, so I don’t know … You should take the word from a true vessel as a true word of God.

Many people will say “That doesn’t sit right with my spirit” when they hear a new revelation from God through a true vessel, when in reality it’s their pride speaking. The Bible says that the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness, and therefore cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2:14).

If you are prideful, you are carnal. When you hear the “things” Jesus talked about (the secrets and keys of walking in the anointing), you will call them foolish. You will say they go against the Word of God, just as the Pharisees said to Jesus. He healed a man on the Sabbath, but the Pharisees had a religious revelation of the Word where they believed it was a sin to do anything—including a miraculous work of God—on the Sabbath. By religious I mean that before Jesus came, the people were under the curse of the Law. The only way to be right with God was by observing the Law and following all the rituals perfectly. Jesus came to destroy the curse of the Law, and now by His grace we are saved. Now the Holy Spirit speaks God’s words to us that bring true life, “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).

The Pharisees thought Jesus was going against the Word of God, when in reality He was coming with the true revelation of the Word. He was coming with the new revelation, and true revelation. The Pharisees accused Jesus of not observing the Sabbath, but He came with the true revelation of the Sabbath. To keep the Sabbath means to stay in God’s rest continually. It means that in everything you do, you will be resting in God as you do it, relying on Him for everything.

The whole Bible can either be read through a “religious” lens, or by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. When you are prideful and carnal, you will have a religious revelation of the Bible, and when you hear someone speaking actual revelation from the Holy Spirit, you will call it going against God’s Word. God used the apostle Paul to teach most of the “spiritual things” to the early believers. Think about how much of the New Testament Paul wrote. The early Church received these revelations from God through a person, a true anointed vessel.

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