by Kelli Sanders | Nov 21, 2016 | Bible Studies, Faith and Family, Godly Character, Help for Moms, Spiritual Growth
If you’ve been looking for the best beauty secrets out there, look no further. The kind of beauty I’ll teach you about is timeless, captivating, all natural, and it won’t cost you a dime!
What defines beauty? Is it Webster’s Dictionary? Is it defined by the results of a Google search? Or how about looking to the beauty “Bibles” out there – Cosmo, Elle, In Style and the like. We’ve all read the tips on how to lengthen lashes, make lips bigger, lose belly fat, have flawless skin, perfect eyebrows, and wider eyes. We plump, we primp, we highlight and low light. We suck it in and push it up, and when it gets to be too much we just buy some Spanx!
Beauty is a word that carries many connotations, and brings to the surface many emotions, both good and bad; but what does God look at and say, “Now THAT is beautiful!” According to 1 Peter 3:3-4, it is not all of the outward adorning that turns God’s head, but the, “…hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in [His] sight.”
So if God had a beauty magazine, what would His trade secrets consist of? Here are a few “Beauty Secrets” from the true “Beauty Bible.”
1. Highlight the Heart
Listen, when I wake up in the morning I do not look in the mirror and say, “Now THAT’S beautiful!” My husband is very thankful that I “adorn” the outward appearance, and make myself attractive to him. I do spend time grooming myself, but God’s beauty secret is to spend more of my time cultivating the beauty of my heart. In fact, I’m sure there are days my husband would have preferred I spent more time with God getting filled up with love and peace, than time I spent in front of the mirror trying on my pre-baby clothes that still didn’t look as good as they did pre–baby; thus resulting in a funky mood as the mind became preoccupied with how to lose 10 more pounds!
When we cultivate inner beauty, all the issues of life that flow from the heart are also made beautiful. Worry, stress, low self-esteem, discontent, and shallow character do not make a person beautiful. People who neglect the heart may be outwardly beautiful, but they become spiritually ugly. Then there are those who might seem plain in appearance by the world’s standard, but whose hearts pour out such radiance, grace, and peace that their loveliness becomes magnetic and very attractive.
2. Avoid Fashion Trends
Don’t you cringe when you look back at old photos of yourself from the 70s? 80s? 90s? Some of those fashion trends we thought were so “in” at the time turned out to be more of a momentary lack of good fashion sense! Ahh, but there are a few classics that stand the test of time, like a good pair of jeans, and a “little black dress.” Did you know that God has told us what is “in style” for the inner man? It is the incorruptible, unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. This wardrobe will always look stunning on you, and it will never go out of style.
So, if you want to wear gentleness like a good pair of jeans, and clothe your heart in quietness, you need to know how to put these clothes on!
Item 1: Gentleness
The word used in 1 Peter 3:3-4 for gentle is (PRAUS), meaning meek, mild, a soothing quality of character. The image is of a horse that can be trainable and teachable. Now, before you go feminist on me, the word is not an indication of weakness, but of strength and power under perfect control. It implies ruling your own spirit well, operating in humble wisdom, and walking in divine love.
What does the heart clothed in gentleness look like? It doesn’t have to exert its rights, have its own way, get the last word, share gossip, retaliate, give in to every emotion, or refuse correction. It does stay open to God, looks for His direction, waits before speaking, submits its emotions to wisdom, chooses to forgive, and chooses to love.
I’m reminded of a scene in the movie Gladiator when Maximus came face to face with the Roman Emperor. He had the strength, capability and opportunity to carry out vengeance upon this man, but he knew it was not time. He brought his strength and power under perfect control. He ruled over his own spirit.
That was a movie, but I know of a REAL MAN, that was meek and gentle, and make no mistake about it, He was not weak! No man took His life, He laid it down. Though He had authority to call down legions of angels, He kept that power under perfect control until He finished the job He came to do. Jesus is gentleness personified.
When you clothe your heart in this kind of gentleness it is BEAUTIFUL. It is PRECIOUS in God’s sight.
Item 2: Quietness
The word used in 1 Peter 3:3-4 for quiet is (HESUCHIOS), and it does not imply that you need to stop talking and keep your opinions to yourself! It actually means peaceful, undisturbed; tranquility arising from within.
What does a heart clothed in quietness look like? It is a heart filled with faith and trust; a heart that has been quieted by God’s love and filled with His peace – not a heart that is striving and restless. It’s not striving for beauty (consumed by clothes, jewelry, makeup, diets, hairstyles). It’s not striving to be accepted (through perfectionism and people pleasing). It’s not striving to be enough (pretty enough, smart enough, spiritual enough). All of that striving clothes the heart in irritation, frustration and depression. The heart filled with faith and trust is not trying to be beautiful because it already is. It is not trying to be accepted because it already is. It’s not trying to be enough because it already is!
When you have a quiet spirit, in the depths of your soul you are at rest, and from deep within comes a calm and peace that invites those around you to be at rest, and that, my friends, is very attractive!
Have you ever wanted to be that woman that walks into a room and turns heads? Cultivate the inner beauty of the heart and clothe it with a gentle and quiet spirit. This is what will turn God’s eyes toward you, captivating His attention, and leaving Him breathless.
by Kelli Sanders | Oct 27, 2015 | Encouragement
YOU are uniquely designed for a God-given purpose & destiny. There is no doubt about it. There is no other person exactly like you in this universe. So why do we compare ourselves, belittle our gifts, talents and abilities, and come to the conclusion that what we have to offer would be insignificant or trivial at best?
I have been pondering many things in these last weeks as God continues to draw my family deeper into His plan and purpose for our lives, and for His kingdom. The Holy Spirit has helped me to see that I have allowed small thinking, insecurities, and even pride to keep me from fully developing the potential that He has placed within me. Perhaps you have had thoughts brought to your mind that go something like this:
“Why would you do that? There are thousands of (fill in the blank) out there already – how is yours, or how are you any different?”
“Why would you share (fill in the blank)? Your voice will just be lost in a sea of rhetoric – it really won’t make any difference one way or another.”
“How is this little thing you are doing going to make any impact on anything? Nobody’s going to listen to you anyway, and nobody really cares.”
“That’s a dumb idea. Do you really think that would produce anything beneficial in a million years? You’ll look like a fool.”
My friends, there is an enemy, Satan, that seeks to steal, kill and destroy your life. If he can’t get you to quit, he will seek to render you powerless by convincing you of the LIE that you are insignificant, that what you have to offer the body of Christ is of no value – or of very little value, and that your voice, your gifts, your talents, your dreams are better off remaining small, limited and underdeveloped; after all, it is the safer path to take. No risk, no looking like a fool.
HEY! Do you know that we don’t have the luxury of thinking like this!? Consider the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. When the master came to the servant who buried and hid what he had entrusted to him (because of fear); he did not say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” On the contrary, the words “wicked and lazy servant” were pronounced from the master!
GOD has placed something inside of us that the world needs, that the body of Christ needs! He expects us to take what He has placed within us, yield to His great grace, and allow Him to work in us and through us to effect change in our sphere of influence! He expects a multiplication of what He has entrusted to us!
Are you a musician? A writer? Are you gifted in business or sports? Are you graced in communication or administration? Has God called you to preach or pastor? Are you a visionary or a pioneer? Do you work well with your hands – building, and fixing and maintaining? Or maybe acting, dancing, painting, or creating are your thing. DO NOT hide your gift. DO NOT belittle the grace that has been placed within you. DO NOT yield to fear over what others may think; how about what GOD thinks!?
Come on people! Let’s break free from the lies that bind us, and believe the truth that makes us free! There is so much inside of you! There is so much good, so much beauty, so much talent, so much ability – so much POTENTIAL!
BELIEVE that the good work that God has begun in you, HE will be faithful to complete. Let’s be a people that reject small thinking and safe, comfortable Christianity! Let’s be a people that hear from God and take risks – that fully trust in His enabling power to carry us through every assignment He gives us! I am just so zealous inside, in this season of my life, to encourage & exhort, to draw out and cause others to believe that they are valued and that they really do MATTER!
There is a great work to be done in these last days. God needs all hands on deck. Forget what others think. Forget about your reputation. Forget about being a people pleaser. Forget about comparison. BE YOU! Beautiful, uniquely designed, uniquely graced, uniquely gifted, amazing, fearfully and wonderfully made YOU! Be the best version of yourself you can be right now, and like pure gold, you will continue to be more and more refined with each season that you walk through.
I, for one, am tired of allowing the enemy to keep me from doing what God has called me to do. I choose to allow the grace of God to permeate and invade my life, to fill me and enable me to do and be all that God has destined for me. Let the chips fall where they may; and listen, it’s about other people! Get over yourself and get into God. This has never been about you. It has never been about me. It’s about people – especially those that don’t know Him.
So shine your light dear one. Be bold. Be brave. Take risks. At the end of your days it won’t be the things you stepped out in faith to do that cause regret, it will be the things you never even tried to do – the potential you never developed, the lives you were too afraid to impact. Choose to live a life worthy of your salvation.
I love you. I believe in you. I pray this has blessed you and planted a good seed in your heart that bears fruit in time to come.
by Kelli Sanders | Jul 22, 2014 | Encouragement, Faith and Family, Spiritual Growth
So I have been in hibernation the last few weeks because I ran smack dab into the middle of God’s love, and I haven’t wanted to do anything but soak up what He was so eagerly waiting to pour out on me! I am telling you my friends, when you get a revelation of how much God loves you, you will never be the same!
I have been walking with the Lord for about 15 years now, and I have known in times past the love that God has for me. I have seen His mercy and grace in my life, and I have received so many beautiful truths that have made me more and more free. Yet Paul prayed in Ephesians that we would know the width, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge! God’s love for us is so fierce, so passionate, so unfailing, and so unwilling to quit on us that it is almost incomprehensible!
The Apostle John said that there is no fear in love, but that perfect love actually casts out fear. When you, as a child of God, begin to KNOW the love that God has for you, you will become one of the most confident, secure and stable people in the world. You will also be empowered to do the one thing Christ commanded us to do: love others as He has loved us. What God has freely given you, you can freely give to others, and it is by THIS LOVE that all men will know that we are His disciples.
What does our broken, hurt, pain-filled world need so desperately from us as Christians? They need to see Christ in us. The Christ that ate with tax collectors and sinners. The Christ that loved a broken woman who was caught in the “very act” of adultery. The Christ that knew about the messy, dirty, ungodly lives people were trapped in, and invaded their world with a love that compelled them to be near Him, to listen to what He had to say.
Let me ask you this: Have you ever seen what was broken in someone else’s life and tried to fix it by teaching them what was wrong, and how it could be made right? Have you delivered this wisdom to people uninvited? Have you ever judged the lives of others, and held them to the standards you hold yourself to – even though you KNOW GOD and they don’t? Friends, God has given me a revelation that the one thing that people are longing for more than anything is HIS LOVE. How will they know His love except through His people? When we try to “fix people” with our good intentions we often end up driving them further away from God, and further away from the one thing that can really change them.
As I have been sitting in God’s presence and simply remembering that He is my Father and I am His child – I have cried many tears thinking of how easily we can be removed from the simplicity that is in Christ. Without my performance, without my self-effort, without all of the things I have done in service to Him – God chose to love me, accept me, call me His child, heal me, bless me, and deliver me from everything that was harming me. When my babies get up in the morning and I see their sleepy faces, and hug them, and hold them, God whispers, “That’s how much I love you. That’s how I look at you. That’s how much I love to be near you.” It is almost too much to handle as He unfolds His heart – I just have to lift my hands and say, “God, you love me. You love me. You love me. Thank you for this love.”
And do you know what is happening? I see people who are lost, and instead of passing judgment, I think, “They need to know this love! Do they know how much God loves them, or are they drowning in condemnation, shame and guilt – thinking that His love is only for ‘good people’ that go to church and make all of the right choices?” If people could know the love that God has for them, and BELIEVE it – they would be forever changed!
How about you? Do you believe in the love God has for you? Do you fall into the trap of performance to try to earn what was freely given to you at the cross? Do you beat yourself up with condemnation when you feel you fall short of what a Christian is supposed to be like? Short on faith. Short on study & prayer. Short on church attendance. Faith & prayer & church attendance are good and right, but they don’t earn you any points with God. They don’t make Him love you more or love you less.
When you stop trying to qualify for God’s love, you will free others from having to qualify for your love. When you realize you did not, and can not do anything to earn God’s love, you won’t expect others to earn yours. When you receive it as a free gift, you can give it as a free gift. You can then truly love others as Christ has loved you.
I encourage you and challenge you to spend time with God this week – just to let Him love you!
If you know someone who needs to remember how much He loves them, please share!
by Kelli Sanders | Apr 16, 2014 | Bible Studies, Faith and Family, Help for Moms, Spiritual Growth
Shame and condemnation are confidence killers, yet we allow them to rob us of the joy and peace that belong to us in Christ.
Like a thief in the night, this tag team steals away our confidence on a daily basis with insidious little seeds of wrong thinking that, if nurtured, can produce the fruits of weakened faith, half-hearted joy, and fleeting moments of peace rather than the FULL MEASURE of what Christ died for us to have.
As believers, it is very important – I might even say critical – that we learn the difference between the voice of conviction and the voice of condemnation. When the Holy Spirit convicts a born again child of God of sin, it is from a position of love, and it leads to a place of repentance and restoration. When the devil (called the accuser of the brethren) attempts to condemn a born again child of God on the basis of sin, it is from a position of hate, and it leads to a place of hiding that is covered with shame.
When a believer listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit, the door to his or her heart is wide open, and God can lovingly come in to wash that heart and conscience clean, but when the accuser is given place to speak, the heart is closed, and the door shut tight with a sign hanging outside that says, “Do Not Enter – Unworthy.”
YOUR VALUE
Confidence is very much connected to value, and when you allow yourself to think thoughts about being unworthy, unimportant, and insignificant, your confidence will begin to deflate like a balloon losing air. Has that ever happened to you? It happens to me quite often. That inner critic begins to speak to me about how what I’m doing doesn’t really matter, how I’m not measuring up to some self-imposed standard, how I’m not enough in some area or another (not enough faith, not enough smarts, not enough compassion, not enough of a woman, not enough of a mother, not enough _____ just fill in the blank).
So how do you combat those thoughts? What determines value? Value is determined by the price that someone is willing to pay for something…or someone. Jesus paid the highest price imaginable FOR YOU! He doesn’t just believe you are worth it, but His actions demonstrated that belief! You are worthy. You are significant. You are important. You are very, very valuable to God.
YOUR IDENTITY
Confidence is very much connected to identity. Knowing who you are is as vital to the human spirit as air is to the lungs. Without a firm grip on your identity, you suffocate in a sea of question marks, an exposed stump occupying the space where your confidence was supposed to be flourishing. So how do you discover who you are?
If you have placed your faith in Christ, and are born of His spirit, the word of God can help you answer that question. According to Romans 5, our identity has everything to do with our location. We are IN CHRIST. According to 1 John 4:17, all that HE is I AM. In other words, I am not righteous, or holy, or accepted, or loved, on the basis of my behavior. I am righteous, holy, accepted, loved, strong, blessed, wise, an heir to God’s riches, and the very son or daughter of GOD – because I am IN CHRIST.
Doesn’t hearing that just begin to minister life to you already!? Isn’t your confidence growing with every affirmation of who you are in Christ? The best part is, even when you make mistakes, it does not affect who you are!!!! Your identity is not found in your behavior, or in some label that was placed on you, or in your perfect performance. Who you are is defined not by what you do or don’t do, but by what Christ has already done!
YOUR PURPOSE
Confidence is very much connected to a sense of purpose. Where you find a person who doesn’t have any sense of purpose for living their life, you will also find a person with very little confidence. The good news for every person is that God creates with purpose in mind:
“For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].”
~Ephesians 2:10~
God created you. You are His masterpiece, His work of art. He planned you. He prepared your path ahead of time. He prearranged and made ready a good life full of good works – just for you! You are no mistake. You are not a result of chance. You were not created without purpose! The next time that voice in your head says that you don’t matter, that you are not important, that nobody would notice whether you live or die, GO TO THE WORD! Begin to say what God says – there is a plan for you, honey! The more you look into Who Jesus is, the more you will begin to see who you are, and why you are here.
You Were not Made for Shame and Condemnation
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” ~ Romans 8:1a
Learn to listen to the right voice, and to respond the right way. Repent when the Holy Spirit convicts you, and let the love of God lift you up, dust you off, and cheer you on. Resist when the accuser condemns you, and remain confident in who you are, what you’re worth, and why you are here. I can feel your faith, your joy and your peace rising already!
If this blessed you, pass on the love and share it with a friend!
