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for Autumn 2004

Princess in Disguise
Editorial: Laura Faidley
Autumn 2004



In the heart of every girl lies a hidden longing to be a princess. Yet, we all have questions about what a princess ttruly is.  And the kingdom of this world promises sure methods for becoming royalty or better yet…a beauty queen. Do you hear the voices? They are the bewitching cries of the world, promising pleasure, adventure, beauty, power, fulfillment, acceptance, and love. You can have all of these, so they say, if you will only worship at their altar.

But there is another Voice, a rich, melodious voice, far grander than any in this world. You hear it only faintly—with all the confused chatter, you hadn’t noticed it until now. Or perhaps, in midst of your busyness, you did not take time to be still and really listen. That magnificent Voice is calling you, urging you, to come. "Come away from the chaos, the noise, the many voices clamoring for your attention. Follow Me, and I will teach you how to be a true princess!"

Whom should you believe? You stand at a crossroad—a decision must be made. You cannot serve two masters. You will have to leave everything behind to follow Him…will it be worth it in the end? Are you ready to give up your life—your all? This Voice promises everlasting love…intimate friendship...abundant life. It tells of a grand adventure, the life of a princess, and an Awesome Beauty to behold. Ah, yes! That is what you seek! You want to be a princess, but you don’t know hhow. You’ve wasted your energy searching for answers in the wrong places. The world can never fulfill these desires in your heart because you were made for something more, something grander. You were not created to serve the prince of darkness, but the King to whom this Voice belongs. He’s the King of Life—abundant life. Yes…that is what you long for!

You see, the prince of the world deceived you into thinking that you belong to him. With his cunning voice and smooth reasoning, he makes the vain pleasures and false philosophies of this world sound appealing. However, Another has been seeking you, wooing you. Your Creator. Your God. Your King. Your Daddy. Jesus Christ! He is calling you back to Himself, because you are His treasure. The God of the universe created you for Himself—for His glory and pleasure. You are His daughter—His princess.
But the devil is trying to distract you, blind you to this awesome truth. "A princess?" he says. "That’s so stupid. Why would God care about you? Look at all the bad things you’ve done. Even if God did love you once, He’s long since forgotten you now. You belong to me." The deceiver’s lies are crafty, and sometimes believable to the depressed and lonely heart.

But the truth is, you have rebelled and strayed from your Daddy, as your forefathers before you. You have been living to please others. You’d even ignored His Voice until He called you just now. Come away from the world. Come to Jesus. Listen to His life-giving words: "You are Mine, and you are loved—with an everlasting love. And that is something the prince of this world does not have to offer. I love you—not because of what you’ve done, but because of who you are. I have forgiven your sin and blotted it out. I purchased you with My blood. And only in Me will you find out who you really are. Only in Me will you be truly satisfied. Will you come? Will you follow Me? The world and its desires will pass away, but My words will never pass away."

Princess, are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Don’t you long to behold Real Beauty? Then, reject the lies of the world and go with Him! In losing everything, you will gain everything. King Jesus will show you how to live as His true princess. He promises,"You will sseek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity."1 Read His Word, His Love Letter, from cover to cover. It is the guidebook for every true princess. In it, you will discover who He is, what He says, and what He has done. You cannot serve your King until you really know Him. As you come to know King Jesus for who He really is, you will fall in love with Him for life.

Make Jesus the top priority of your life. Speak to your Daddy often, carrying on a continual conversation with Him. Go to your Father with all your questions and fears, all your worries and doubts. Pour out your joys and delights, yours heartaches and sorrows to Him. Share each moment with Jesus and you will find in Him your All in All.

You must realize that you are no longer your own to do as you please. As the King’s princess, you are called to obey His commands with joy. Learn to follow your Father even in the little things He asks of you. And as you do so, He will reveal the next step of the journey. Humble yourself, admitting that you don’t have it all together…that you don’t know how to be a princess, but you are willing, eager to learn.

Let Jesus teach you about true beauty. As you come to know Him, you will see Him in the Beauty of His Holiness. And you will fall down on your face in awe, worshiping Him. He is the Maker of beauty and the most beautiful of all. The world’s counterfeit beauty loses its glamour when we see the true Beauty of our King. This enduring beauty is first and foremost found in the inner radiance of a Christlike heart. It’s all about showing you love Him through sacrifice…offering your body to do HHis will. Surrender…yielding your rights and giving Him charge over everything. Servanthood…sharing His love and hope with the hurting world. Put on the character of Jesus Christ, then, and be filled with His likeness.2 Display His beauty, that others may see your radiance and know that you are a princess of the Eternal King. And they will yearn to become one as well.3

Perhaps you still have questions about the specifics of a princess’s life. The King’s Love Letter will give you the answers:

How does a princess think? "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."4

How does a princess speak? "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."5

How does a princess act? "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."6

This process of becoming His princess will not happen overnight. Many times the path will be rough and hard, and you will feel like giving up and turning your back upon the King. But Jesus’ grace is sufficient and His Spirit will guide you. And when you think you have it all down, He’ll take your hand and show you another area of your life that His power can transform.

"Without, I bear the marks of sin,
But Love’s adorning is within…
My blemishes He will not see
But loves the beauty that shall be."7

Rest in His love and mercy. You are special and unique to the King of the Universe! As you seek to know and love Him, He will give you a vision, a mission, and a life purpose.8 The Lord will cherish you, pursue you, and rescue you when you get muddled up.9 You are His…forever. Live to please the Lord in everything you do!10

And don’t let the voices of this world tempt you to turn aside from the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Remember, "You are a child of the Living God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You have the right to call the God of creation ‘Daddy.’ You have royal blood pumping through your veins. You are a princess in every sense of the word. As a child of the King, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Hold your head up high. Think like a princess. Speak like a princess. Act like a princess. Your Daddy is the King."11

Notes: 1Jer. 29:13-14a 2Col. 3:10-16. 3Phil 2:14-16. 4Phil 4:8. 5Col. 4:6, 6Phil. 1:27. 7Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. 8Jer. 29:11. 9Is. 46:3-4. 10Col 3:17. 11The Divine Dance by Shannon Kubiak. All references niv.




Captivating Lover
Guest Editorial: Carol Anne Faidley
Autumn 2004

God made you for His pleasure—to know and love Him. This is the most awesome truth I have ever learned. Since you were born, Jesus Christ, the Relentless Pursuer, has been pursuing you, trying to convince you of this fact. The Sacred Romance, pure and holy, begins at birth, when our Great Creator sets eternity in our hearts and gives a ddesire to know Him. "There is a God—find out about God!" a quiet voice whispers to every young heart. Who is Jesus? Your Maker? Your Father? Your Savior? Your Master? Your King? Yes, He is all of these, and much more! Jesus is the Captivating Lover. Every good and perfect gift is from our Father above, to show us His Heart and bring us closer to Him. The Living God draws all men with loving-kindness. Surely, goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives. Jesus woos our hearts with the beauty of His holiness, His creation, godly music, living stories, and the love of family and friends. Most of all, He speaks through His Living Word, where He reveals His character, His heart, and His promises. The Sacred Romance draws us, setting our hearts on things above.

Why does Jesus care? Why does He seek us? These are questions we long to understand. First of all, Jehovah is a relational God, a three-in-one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—perfect harmony, perfect unity, perfect ecstasy, perfect ffamily. In the beginning, such great abundance of love and joy existed within the Holy Trinity that they wanted to share it. Someone wisely said, "We were born out of the laughter of the Trinity." And Jehovah desires a personal relationship with You. Your heart is His treasure. He made you for His pleasure. He loves you beyond measure. As incredible as it seems, it is true!
God longs for you to love and seek Him with all your heart. Isn’t He asking a little much? No, not all, because that is how He loves and seeks you! Jehovah is a jealous God, and He wants all your heart, all your affection, all your worship. The Lord knows that He alone is worthy of worship and that we’ll never be truly happy or holy until we worship Him alone. However, He does not fforce us. He gives us a choice because He wants lovers, not robots. The truth is we are worshiping all the time. The big question is: who or what do we worship? We may say that we worship God alone, but the trail never lies. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. Whatever or whoever we value or treasure most of all is what we worship. What is your last thought bbefore you go to bed and the first one when you awake? Who or what do you talk about, think about, dream about? How do you invest your time, money, and talents? What do you value most of all? Whenever we value anything or anyone above JJesus and His Word, that becomes an idol for us. Worshiping idols breaks the first of the Ten Commandments, and breaks God’s heart, too. He longs to be friends with us, but He cannot dwell with the impure or prideful. Until we see our sin as an offense against a holy, righteous, and loving God, we will never diligently pursue holiness. You are as close to God as you choose to be.

To disobey God’s commands brings His discipline, but He disciplines us lovingly, for our good. Jehovah is slow to anger, rich in mercy, and abounding in love. Gradually, the Lord breaks and remakes our hearts to be like His, so that He can dwell with us. The goodness of GGod leads a man to repentance. If pride bars the way, the Lord uses pain and problems to get our attention. As Hosea describes, our King humbles us, speaks tenderly, and teaches us to acknowledge Him in all our ways. He takes the names of the idols off our lips and teaches us how to worship Him alone. He restores our vineyards and plants us in the land for Himself. He gives us a new name, a new passion for Christ, and a new friendship with Him.1 The Lord has done this for me and longs to do so for you.

Although I served Christ since my youth, it wasn’t until God took me through a ten-year wilderness experience called environmental illness (severe allergies and chemical sensitivities) that I came to know Christ intimately and crown Him as King of my life. God is our Loving Father and He will do whatever it takes to make our hearts tender toward Him. He wants to be our Lord and King. BBut there’s so much more. Jesus wants to be our Brother, our Bridegroom, our Best Friend. Pride, fear, and confusion bar the way to intimacy with God. Humility, surrender, and obedience are the keys that unlock the door. Spiritual pride comes when learn God’s ttruth, but don’t apply it to our lives. Idolatry exists whenever people, things or ministry are exalted above Christ and His Word. Many Christians put their mind on the throne of their heart instead of Christ. Unknowingly, I have been guilty of all these sins at times in my Christian life. As I sought His face, Jesus showed me the error of my ways and the beauty of His Splendid Way. I will speak of His goodness as long as I live.

The Lord Almighty is the Rescuer who never grows weary…the Father who keeps on forgiving…the Savior who still comes to save…the Lover who loves us just the way we are. Jesus is the King of kings and the Captivating lover. He loves everyone as if they’re the only one. Seek Him with all your heart ,and He will answer your big questions and meet your every need. He will give you life purpose and show you how to
worship Him. Best of all, He will teach you how to love Him and rest in His love, and then how to love others and share His Love Story with the world. "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."2

Notes: 1Hos. 2:14-23. 2When I Survey by Isaac Watts.