Esther 7:3 Then Queen Esther answered, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request.
This post will look to true a biblical Queen to provide a light unto our lives. We begin with Esther, an orphan child who lived in exile from Jewish persecution and resided with her uncle Mordecai before serving as the Queen of Persia.
Young ladies, fear not, the love of the Lord is sufficient for you. Don’t be led astray to be used and disposed of like a dirty dishcloth, your beauty is a rose bed, sweet and fragrant smelling. Do not allow anyone else but the Lord to pluck and prune – for man will take and not return whereas God only takes to make room for more.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
Serving God can prove difficult for women, especially Black Queens who are already subject to the overlapping forces of intersectionality (racism, gender and pay inequality). The demonic forces at work make Black Queens susceptible to financial powerlessness and consequently our Queens find themselves entangled in the throes of sexual exploitation via stripping, prostitution or unholy sexual relations.
How can 21st century female Christians remain empowerment despite the constant bombarding of sexual immortality via music, models, and movies?
The answer to our strength is the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord is always our strength. “Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14
Queen Esther was an orphan, we can only imagine the strives she faced as an old testament orphan. There were no Department of Social Services, Child Protective Specialists to ensure Queen Esther was well-fed and attended school! In fact, there is no mentioned that Queen Esther ever received a traditional education. Let’s catapult Queen Esther into 2018 so we may better relate to her. Let’s rename her Queen Ericka, she is an orphan on the streets of the Bronx with no home to rest her head and no family to love her. Now the bible mentions that Queen Ericka was subject to exile, so let’s send her to Atlanta where she eventually unites with her uncle Michael. Queen Ericka has had a hard life, harder than any life any of us first world Christians have experienced. But Queen Ericka does not succumb to temptation, she does not compromise on her Jewish values, she does not subscribe to a Sugar Daddy, Queen Ericka knows that God is her true Father and his sweet mercy is sufficient for her.
“But be very careful…to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” Joshua 22:5
Queen Ericka who finds favor with the King maintained her grace under pressure and her consistent long-term faithfulness has enabled her to an influential platform that she uses to save the Jewish people from genocide. Esther 7:3 Then Queen Esther answered, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request.
As women, we are born with the supernatural power to create human life.
As Christian women, we are re-born with the supernatural power to transform spiritual life.
Proverbs 31:8
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.
While God calls us to submit to our husbands in obedience he does not expect us to be disrespected, devalued or taking advantage of. He calls for men to love their wives the way Christ loved the church. As women, we are instructed to submit rather than pursue or claim authority over our spouses. This juxtaposition often deters contemporary women from Christianity because the power roles feel antiquated and unequal. However, Christian women must realize the power in the selection that predates submission.
Ephesians 5:22-33
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[b] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
The first moment you met God, was introduced, invited to a service, you did not drop your knees or raise your hand in surrender to God. You waited the Lord out, observing to confirm if he love was good and true to you. The same is expected in marriage. God calls us to be evenly yoked in marriage, not to marry non-believers and preferably we should marry those whose passion and love for Christ is comparable to our own so we may be a helpmate to our spouse as they serve the Lord in their fashion.
“Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:2
If Christians are the salt of this world, Christian women are the Lawry’s Seasoning salt. Our kindness and joy powerful enough to raise strong healthy Black families and uplift our spouses in prayer and fasting during elongated seasons of persecution that can invite depression and hopelessnesses into our homes. The first to arrive were the women who cared and ministered to Jesus on the cross. Beautiful Christian Queens, we are the gatekeepers of comfort and tranquility.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
W cannot cast our cares in this world. While we may labor for gender social justice, Subsidized universal childcare, paid maternity leave and the cancellation of the tampon tax, while we may fight for gender social justice we can not labor in vain for the drawbacks of our earthly roles. Our primary role as children is, to be honest daughters, holding dear the lessons of a Holy-filled elder. As young women, our goal is to become clean wives and not playgrounds for unholy boyfriends.
Can Christian men identify you as a prospective Christian wife? Or does your appearance and your conduct represent God’s righteousness holiness?
If not, what can we do as women to begin the transformation of our hearts so we may present ourselves as the brides of Christ?
As Wives and Mothers, our primary goals are the maintenance of the spiritual health of our husband and our children. Our husbands, whom should be men of God are tasked with leading us to Heaven and not Hell. As counterparts, we responsible for being honest reflections of God’s will. Living our lives to ensure we don’t put the eve in deceive
Whilst we have infants our helpmates are forever our babes and while we are Day in and day out as they return from war and persecution we must represent the nurturing peace of Proverbs and Psalms. We must proclaim to be extensions of God’s grace on earth, standing in the forgiveness gap for spousal anger and disappointments. “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…” Nehemiah 9:17 We must in our good nature remain steadfast in the joy that is God’s peace – providing a way that is meek and mirth so our family is always reminded of God’s unfailing commitment to our love and hope.
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other…” 1Thess. 3:12
