2010 in Ten Words or Less

I was reading a blog on January 1st that another minister’s wife had written. It was only ten words long but it spoke to me. It wasn’t a poem or a sentence. It was a list. A list of ten words encapsulated this woman’s experiences in 2010. It gave me pause. If I were to sum up my year in ten words or less, what words would I choose? Would we have any words in common? Would they be more positive than negative or vice versa? What memories and experiences stick out and determine the words I choose? Could I even do it—limit myself to ten words?

In the end, I still haven’t made my list. However, I have spent time praying about the things that I have seen and done in 2010 and the things that I would like to do or to do differently in 2011. It has helped me to focus my attention in a few measureable and achievable New Year’s Resolutions. Who knew that 10 simple words could have such depth?

How would you summarize your 2010 experience in 10 words or less?

Daughters of the King Pt 3: Identification

Sorry that it took so long to get this one out to you wonderful ladies. I have had a lot going on this week. I have also been having some issues with my back that have only made things more complicated.

So why wait any longer? Let’s get down to business! But first a quick review. In part one, we learned that in general most women are critical and negative about themselves. In part two, we learned that we are willing to accept princesses for who they should be and are not critical about them—generally speaking. Next we are going to look at who God is and who we are in relation to Him.

Daughters of the King Pt 3: Identification

Who is God?

When I say, “Who is God?” I am not asking the obvious—god is God. In this situation, I am specifically asking for some of the names of God. I want to know His identity based on the names He is given in scripture.

Names of God:
First of all, there are many, many names of God. I want to take the time to focus on just a few of these names. If you would like a more complete list of the names of God, please feel free to visit the following websites:

http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestudyresources/qt/namesofgodjesus.htm

http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm

http://bible.org/article/names-god

• Almighty - Revelation 1:8
• Everlasting Father - Isaiah 9:6
• God - John 1:1
• Glory of God - Isaiah 60:1
• Jehovah - Psalm 83:18
• King of Israel - Matthew 27:42
• King of Kings - 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16
• Lord of Lords - 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16
• Master - Matthew 23:8
• Messiah - John 1:41
• Prince of Peace - Isaiah 9:6
• Savior - 2 Samuel 22:47; Luke 1:47
• Word – John 1:1

Let’s boil it down. According to scripture God is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Master, and Savior. God is the original version of royalty. Not only that--He is the perfect royalty! All the good things we talked about last time that apply to Princesses could be applied to God. He is beautiful. He is good. He is kind. He is just. I think you get the picture. Next I want to look at who we are in relation to God.

Who am I?
I don’t know how many times I have heard myself ask the question, “Who am I?” I wear so many different hats and have so many different responsibilities that I find it easy to lose myself. I want you to realize that I am still learning that I am who God has made me to be. God is still working on me and perfecting me to be the perfect version of me, but I am already His. He created me. That means only He really truly knows who I am. So I guess I should be asking, “Who does God say I am?” Let’s check it out.

Who Does God Say I Am:

I am a child of God.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12

“because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."” Romans 8:14-15

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” Galatians 3:26

I am bought with a price/sought after.
“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

I am chosen.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” Ephesians 1:3-8

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” John 15:16

If you would like to find out more about who you are in Christ check out this link: http://encouragingbiblequotes.com/verses2a.html

In Summary

I believe these scriptures make it very clear that we are God’s children. We are children of the King! That makes us true royalty. We are Princesses! I love the stories of Gigi by Sheila Walsh. If you have never read them you should!

Gigi is a tenacious little girl, around eight years old. She knows she is a princess and she lives like it—even to the point of treating her best friend as a commoner. However, Gigi doesn’t quite understand why she is a princess. In her first book, “Gigi, God’s Princess” Sheila Walsh shows how Gigi first comes to understand that she is a Princess because she is a daughter of God who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Join Gigi as she learns what it really means to be God’s Princess.

For more information or to purchase “Gigi, God’s Princess” click here.

Tune in next time to learn more about your true identity as a Daughter of the King!

Daughters of the King Pt 2: Comparison

Let’s take a minute and review what we talked about last time. The first thing we did was to evaluate how we view ourselves. In general, the majority of females see themselves as more negative than positive. Now let’s look at the next part of our Daughters of the King lesson.

Daughters of the King Pt 2: Comparison

How do you view princesses?

Remember, each of the girls was given a sticky note pad with markers. Again they were asked to write one word or phrase, describing what they thought about when thinking about princesses, per sticky note. Since our world isn’t overly full of real royalty, I encouraged the girls to include their ideas of literary princesses and Disney/movie princesses. When everyone was finished the sticky notes were collected and sorted.

So what did I find…

Positive.

Considering that most young women dream about growing up to be princesses I assumed there would be many positive attributes listed. My assumption proved to be correct.

Friendly                            Beautiful
Pretty Singers                   Pursued
Pure                                 Regal
Sought After                     Fought for
Kind                                Happy
Gentle                              Elegant
Thin                                 Perfect
Looked up to                   Adored
Fair                                  Loyal

Many of the girls had the same or similar to the things listed above so I have simplified.

Negative.
I wasn’t sure what kinds of things were going to be listed here. I was sure that there would be far less than there were in the positive column.

Spoiled                            Demanding
Stubborn                         Selfish
Ditsy                               Doesn’t Listen
Self-centered                   Proud

In truth, I think these girls thought about more negatives than I would have been able to think of on my own.

In Summary
It seems that most of us still want to live the charmed lives of princesses. We see in them all the things that we lack in ourselves. We also see greater amounts of positives than negatives. Let’s compare this to what we learned last time about how we see ourselves.

Time to Compare
As women, most of us see more negatives in ourselves than we do positives. However, we see more positives in princesses than we do negatives. We so desperately want to see ourselves as princesses. After all princesses have no problems and are seemingly perfect in every way! Why wouldn’t we want to be princesses? Here’s the surprise….we are princesses!

Tune in next time to learn more about your true identity as a Daughter of the King!