Category Archives: Recovery

Well-Groomed for God's Glory

Posted on by
Reply

In my 39th week of pregnancy, countless numbers of people have told me that I should be sitting down and allowing people to wait on me. They’ve also been surprised that I am well-groomed because if any time in your life you have license to look out of sorts it is when you’re pregnant; everyone understands that you just may not have felt like pulling yourself together, and they will excuse you. Well, I have been blessed to have a wonderful pregnancy and didn’t need to take license to have my hair and clothes looking any kind of way. But even if I did feel horrible, I would have to make a way so that I would be well-groomed because I want to strive to glorify God at all times.

Do all to the glory of God

I had someone challenge me on my previous blog entry where I stated we as Christians should do our best to look our best because we are God’s representatives. He wanted to know was I making dressing well a prescription for all Christians and then wondered where the scruffy John the Baptist fit into my premise. John the Baptist was an exception because he was called to be a Nazarite. And because God called him to an ascetic lifestyle, his obedience, including his clothes of camel’s hair and a leather belt, gave glory to God. With that said, I guess you can argue that being well-groomed is based on God’s personal calling for your life and even on cultural norms. So, if God didn’t call you to a Nazarite life and you live where good grooming means, at the bare minimum, wearing clean and neat clothes, being neat and clean is what I believe we need to do in order to give God glory.

Test your vanity

Don’t confuse giving God glory with seeking vainglory. One woman said that my previous blog post gave her “another healthy reason” to keep herself looking good. And we better make sure that we have a healthy focus. Too often we can trick ourselves into believing that we have to own a piece of clothing or wear the perfect outfit in order to give God glory. Remember the basics of neat and clean, the bare minimum that expresses you care about the look of your temple of God. We are told not to do anything to bring us glory so don’t go overboard with your look. Make sure you let your eternal light be your guide.

Shine your light

Ezra told the Israelites “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” He said this on the heels of having to encourage them not to be sad but to celebrate because they understood God’s word. We, too, should celebrate, even through our appearance, because we understand God’s word, the basic message being 1) that Jesus died for our sins; 2) we who accepted his sacrifice knew we needed a savior so we repented of our sins; and 3) because of our acceptance of his sacrifice and repentance of our sins we can live blessed lives on earth and will spend eternity in heaven because Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, our light within. This is the joy of the Lord, that gladness that comes from God that keeps and protects us. I want to express this reality to people. This joy is within me but should manifest outside of me in my behavior, my smile, my talk, my walk (the way I treat people) and the way I adorn my body. So good grooming for the Christian starts from within, from a soul that has said yes to Jesus and wants people to know about the goodness of His salvation. Our focus should always be about attracting people to us so we can attract people to Jesus. Certainly we can do this by being well-groomed.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Look Your Best

Posted on by
1

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

What do you think these scriptures have in common? Immediately your mind may think not to abuse your body, like with sex, drugs and alcohol. And this is true, but what about when you add this scripture: “. . . .[S]he is clothed in fine linen and purple” (Proverbs 31:22), describing the clothes that the Proverbs 31 woman wore? Without a doubt, I believe these show us that we should honor God with how our bodies look physically. We need to be well-groomed.

In the Bible, linen and purple were symbols of status. Though people of all classes wore linen, most times when linen was mentioned was in reference to wealthy people. And purple was an expensive dye so this was a color for the wealthy.* What we also see is that the priests of God wore linen and purple, symbols for God’s highest servants. Anyone who has been reading my blog knows that I am not advocating for believers of Jesus Christ to seek wealth or even to fake wealth until we can make wealth. But what I am saying is that we, as priests of God, should do all within our power and means to look put together because we house the almighty God in our bodies. We are hosting Him and He should have a house that is well-groomed; we don’t skimp on cleaning our physical homes when honored guests come. How much more then should we take care of our bodies, the temple of the Holy Ghost, to provide a fine vessel for our Lord?

Sometimes people just don’t care. They say they aren’t trying to impress anybody. Your hair, makeup and wardrobe aren’t to impress anyone but they are to represent the only one who has given you life, and through your representation of Him, you just may draw others to want life in Him. Do your best to look your best. You may just be helping to save a life in the process.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

*Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (1998), Ryken et. al., eds.

Ingredients for Prayer

Posted on by
2
Eric Lambert headshot 07 tie[1]

Ingredients for Prayer: Maximizing Your Time with God
By Eric Lambert
BOOK REVIEW

I had been in church for years and had missed some of the basics, like salvation. Praise God He placed men and women of God in my life who could lead me to the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ. The Rev. Eric A. Lambert is such a man and his aim in his latest book, Ingredients for Prayer: Maximizing Your Time with God, is designed to lead Christians to true worship of God through a proper relationship of prayer.

“We are often challenged by the worldly view of prayer, and we fall into the trap that makes us think that we are able to use prayer to bully the Lord into doing what we want. Yet I believe prayer is a time for intimacy and connection with God,” Rev. Lambert says. “Prayer by definition is worshipful oratory. By hyper-definition, prayer is an act of intercourse with your soul and God’s spirit. It is you connecting with God until your desires have been replaced by His heart.”

Rev. Lambert doesn’t try to get fancy by using any new deep philosophies and such. He sticks to the basics, and his approach makes the reading smooth and his message easy to grasp. By using “The Lord’s Prayer” as a framework, he examines pieces of this prayer model to show ways to connect with God, like understanding the mind and will of God and becoming dependent upon and receiving the peace of God.

Rev. Lambert writes that having a God-centered and not self-centered focus on prayer helps you to know that “[p]rayer is not about you. It is about the will of the Lord being done through you. To make supplication means that you should bring your request to the Lord; however, you must be sure that your request does not go against the will of the Lord.”

webcover[1]

In a time where people are looking for a quick fix to their many woes, Rev. Lambert offers a foundation for lasting stability where you are constantly connected to the greatest healer of all, Jesus Christ. Ingredients for Prayer is a must for anyone–new or seasoned Christian–who lacks intimacy with God.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rev. Eric A. Lambert Jr. responded to God’s call to Jesus Christ in 1971. From that time he was active in Christian ministry, serving in a variety of capacities at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Smith Sr. In 1987, after God’s leading, Rev. Lambert established Bethel Deliverance International Church in 1987 with seven committed believers, just north of his hometown of Philadelphia. In addition to pastoring, Rev. Lambert is fulfilling his apostolic calling, having planted a number of churches and developed pastoral relationships with both new and seasoned pastors. He remains committed to spreading the love of God to those who do not know Him while stabilizing and fortifying believers. This is evident not only in his church but in the messages of his books. For more information, visit www.betheldeliverance.org.

For more information about Ingredients for Prayer: Maximizing Your Time with God, visit http://ericlambertministries.com.

Follow the Ingredients for Prayer blog tour at http://bitly.com/IngredientsforPrayer.

Changing Your Mind

Posted on by
Reply

I hope you know by now that a major aim of my blog is to stimulate minds in order to change hearts (thus a new mind) of black Christian women who historically have relied on making things happen themselves. The allure of being a strong black woman on your own accord is great. We like compliments; it can be nice being the center of attention; and quite frankly it’s a way many of us have always known so it’s hard to think, and, therefore, do anything other than the strong black woman way.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

But as you know, the only way that we will turn away from the world’s definition of a strong black woman is by renewing our minds. And the only way to renew our minds is to put on the mind of Jesus Christ. And the only way to put on the mind of Christ is to get to know Christ. And the only way to get to know Christ is through fellowship with Him. And the way you fellowship with Him is by reading His word and prayer. A big problem is that some of us don’t take the time to read the Bible or pray. Another problem may be that we don’t know how to engage His word or to pray.

If you are one of those people who just don’t know where to begin, you know I won’t leave you hanging. Please, visit my blog tomorrow where I will share with you ingredients for prayer that no doubt will guide you in your quest to go deeper with God. Learning how to pray properly will definitely cause you to read God’s word because in order to have an effective prayer life you must know the God that you are praying to.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Trust Your Leaders

Posted on by
Reply

My heart has been heavy, and I am in utter disbelief, when considering that three Christian women I know got married this year without the blessing of their church. This wasn’t because the church discovered that their mates were sinful and forbade the women from marrying them. It was because the church wasn’t even afforded an opportunity to give wise counsel. These women courted and then took their vows without involving their church’s leaders. They didn’t receive marital counseling at their church, didn’t have the ceremony at their church and didn’t even invite the church leaders to their ceremonies. What’s wrong with this?

Well, I know each of these women could be typically classified as strong black women, believing that they are smart enough and know themselves well enough to make their own decisions, but this thinking is dangerous because it contradicts Scripture, particularly the “One Another” verses I discussed last week and those that tell us to submit to the spiritual authorities in our lives (Proverbs 11:14; 1 Peter 2:13, 18; and Hebrews 13:7, 17). And even if I didn’t know these scriptures, it’s hard for me to fathom choosing a church for my spiritual development and allowing those leaders to teach me from the pulpit, but not trusting them to help guide one of the biggest spiritual decisions of my life. But even with these women being typical strong black women and operating in a way foreign to me, I understand their move. They probably have had to make decisions on their own for so long and have encountered so many untrustworthy people, they simply did what they knew best—to be self-reliant.

They’ve encountered what the Bible calls talebearers, those who spread their business after they put their trust in these people. As a result, strife developed between them and the culprits, and the women suffered deep wounds. This has made them leery of people in general, but leaders in particular because of leaders’ job of guiding decisions and having to reveal “your business” to get you help if what you reveal will be harmful to you, minors or other vulnerable populations. And perhaps the leaders didn’t handle their business right. These women don’t want to be accountable to someone who they feel may harm them.

So often the strong black woman has made decisions without spiritual guidance because of untrustworthy leaders. This is a great dilemma but one that God has worked out for us: “It is better to trust God than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust God than to put confidence in princes” (Proverbs 118:8-9). Though He gives us people, especially leaders, to guide us, we must ultimately trust Him with the process He has given us. Though we must go to humans, as God’s representatives, we trust that God will speak to them and through them. And as the ultimate revealer of secrets, we must trust that God will reveal to us and our leaders what we need to live lives that give glory to Jesus Christ. This way of looking at trust is not easy, but it is better to trust God (His way) than to put confidence in man (our strong black selves).

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith