Bible Verse of the Week

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."
Psalm 16:5-8

Beauty by Sarah Anne B.

Beauty By Sarah Anne B.

My first article is going to focus more on how God views beauty. I can get into what trends are hot and what's not later, but this is really most important. I want you guys to learn 3 things about beauty from me today:
         1. Beauty may seem important now, but it's not everything.
         2. The Lord is the most beautiful thing of all.
         3. We won't always have beauty.


Number one says beauty may seem important now, but it's not everything. In Esther 1:11, the Bible says, "to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at." The king wanted to show off his wife because she was beautiful, which I'm sure seemed great at the time. But do you remember what happened after this? Vashti was thrown out of the castle because of her disobedience to the king. Beauty didn't get her but so far. But when the king saw Esther, he was amazed by her beauty. This was a different kind of beauty, though. This kind of beauty was more of an internal-caused-by-God beauty that you can't get anywhere else. He saw God's light shine through her whether he realized it or not. At my school, the junior class has to take speech, and we got to pick a Bible story and teach it to an elementary class. I picked the story of Esther because I get completely immersed in her portrayal of real beauty. I really emphasized the essence of real beauty, even though they were only in fourth grade, because both the guys and girls really need to know what real beauty consisted of (which guys can have too). External beauty won't last so long before it wilts away. It gets us just as far as it got Queen Vashti, right up to the king's court, but we can fall just as fast as we rose if external beauty is all we count on to get there.

Number two is that the Lord is the most beautiful thing of all. "One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." (Psalm 27:4) Our Lord and Savior is the most beautiful thing we could ever hope or dream to see. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get to heaven and gaze upon His beauty day in and day out. Think of the most beautiful girl you know. It could be your mom, an aunt, or your best friend. Now I know it's hard to think of God as beautiful, because usually we think of God as a man, but being spiritual, He isn't male or female. God is even more beautiful than the girl you just thought of. As crazy as it seems, guys can be beautiful too. You would usually say that they are handsome, but that's just focusing on the outer appearance. I have some beautiful guy friends. Of course, I wouldn't just walk up to one and say, "Hey Cody, you're beautiful.", because, you know, that would make for a really awkward situation. But they can be just as beautiful as we are. If you were to put all the beautiful people (no pun intended) that you know together, God is wayyyyy more beautiful than them, so much that we can't even fathom His beauty. That is an awesome God!

Number three says we won't always have beauty. "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." (Proverbs 31:30) Beauty is fleeting. It's here like a whisper or a wave and gone within a few moments. But look what that verse says at the end there. A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. That's what makes you beautiful. If you fear the Lord, your thoughts of beauty will be cast aside. I know it kinda sounds like I'm trying to deter you from reading my articles, but I really have one of the least important venues on this site. The most important thing is that you fear the Lord and beauty will come with it. I have recently become in love with the idea of falling in love. That's a very dangerous place to be, girls. I just can't wait for the day that God shows me the man who I'm going to marry and what not. I somehow developed this feeling that I can't serve God until I get married someday. But that's not true! If you fear the Lord, those things will fall into place. There are no worries about who you're going to marry and when. Teen dating relationships aren't even really necessary until you are ready to get married (hint hint, if you know what I mean). I understand that it's probably completely normal for a 16 year old to put a lot of thought into marriage, but I still need God to keep me on my feet instead of shoving my head in the clouds every day thinking about marriage. So girls, please live in fear of the Lord, and everything else will fall into place.

I want to leave you with a thought before I go. I'm sure many of you have heard Jonny Diaz's "More Beautiful You". Let me give you the chorus:

There could never be a more beautiful you.
Don't buy the lies, disguises, and hoops they make you jump through.
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do.
So there could never be a more beautiful you.

Thank you guys for reading my post. I hope each and every one of you will learn to fear the Lord.

Devotions

Devotions by Megumi H.

One can always reserve time each day for private devotions and prayer. It is important because through each quiet time we will grow in our relationship with God. Daily devotions benefit us on an every day basis, teaching us truths that deal with issues we face all the time. We can also learn about who God is, by deeply studying his word. Prayer is our way to communicate with God. For us to have a close relationship, we need to talk to him daily. Through prayer we can tell God how much we love him, things we are thankful for, ask him for forgiveness for our sins, ask him to let our leaders make wise decisions, pray on behalf of others, and lastly pray for our own needs. We should make quiet time a daily priority in our lives because it is important for our relationship with God. 



Breaking Barriers

Breaking Barriers by April W.

Breaking Barriers

Today I feel like breaking barriers in this world. Think about it. In your life how many barriers can you think of that are getting in the way? And what are they getting in the way of? If I think about it I can easily figure out what one of my many barriers is. Eating. If I'm feeling kinda down, I eat. If I'm feeling really happy, I eat. If I am feeling any sort of strong emotion, whether positive or negative, I eat. And eat. Until something feels different. Right now my mom is attending freedom sessions at my church and she has told me about it. Every person has some sort of barrier.

Freedom sessions are basically a way for people to learn about what way satan is holding them in his grip. And how to get rid of him. For the next little while I am going to be posting different songs, bible stories or verses, and information to help you (and me) get satan off your back, but this will only work if you put full trust in God and not in what I have to say. I'm just here to encourage you. This is one journey you'll have to take, with only you and God.

I have already had a major bump in my journey. This past Saturday, I decided to not trust God. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get Satan off my back for a few years. I gave up on God completely. But my mom helped and reminded me that Jesus loves me, no matter what I look like and that, even though I didn't think so at the time, he could help me in powerful ways. And he did. I had just started this blog and someone read my first post and sent me an idea for a song. It was "I refuse" by Josh Wilson. The chorus was what got me. It was God working in me and also how I knew I could put my trust in God completely.

Ask April advice column!

Hello everyone! We will be having an advice column on this blog, so please if you have any questions you want to send her and have her answer on the blog CLICK HERE and put 'Ask April' in the subject line! Thanks (: & our first few articles will be arriving at the end of this month!

Look for new posts coming soon!

Hey everyone! Our first few posts should start to arrive by the end of this month! Spread the word about Daughters of the King blog (:

Welcome to Daughters of the King (:

Hey guys! Im just getting started with this blog, so if you would like to become a writer or photographer please email me at daughtersofthekingblog@yahoo.com ! (: Thanks!