Urban Christianz Ministries

What Does it Mean to Be 'Strong?' Part II

Since then, I have discovered that strength has nothing to do with the values our society and, in particular, my family hold dear. We see strong individuals as those who are 'in charge'. Those who do it 'their' way. Those who do whatever it takes to get to the top. Those who don't mind being manipulative, deceptive or dishonest as a means to an end. Those who can speak the loudest. Those who can win the most arguments. Those who are the most persuasive or glib of tongue. Those who have the most money. Those who drive the nicest cars. Those who have a legion of people to follow their orders and cater to their needs. Those who are surrounded by an 'entourage.' Those whose faces appear before us on the news or on the radio. Those who control the U.S. Congress or have attained the office of the presidency of the United States. Oftentimes, we respect what a person has, not the person himself. And, if a person has enough, we are more than happy to turn their negative or unpleasant character into positives. I can give a lot of examples here, but I won't. Just think of someone who you might otherwise not respect who holds a higher office or whom you perceive to have more 'power' than you. Can you think of any negative quality you have deemed positive simply because it is associated with this person? Like coldness or abruptness? Like self-centeredness or self-absorption? Like vanity or insensitivity? Like greed or over-developed ambition? If this person possesses these qualities and has so much, you figure, those must be the qualities to have.

The bible does not define strength the way we do. Paul was happy with his weaknesses because he realized that through those weaknesses, God's strength was made perfect. The bible says to be strong yes, but in the Lord. Not of our own strengths and ego.

Who is really strong? Is it the man who is the loudest and can bully others because he is bigger than most other men? Is it the woman who has made millions and uses that wealth to intimidate or impress other people?

What Does it Mean to be 'Strong?' Part I

I have always had a really big problem with weakness. Not because I've never been 'weak.' Not because I don't understand that the bible views our weakness as a positive. And not because I take society's view the strong should rule over the weak. I have just always felt that weakness was somehow wrong.

I know why I think this way. As a child, I was taught to be strong. Being strong in my household meant not showing weakness. Crying, being a tattle tale, overt displays of emotion and indecision were frowned upon. Any action that did not meet the criteria of being 'strong' was immediately met with scorn, derision and rejection. It taught me that the weak were to be despised. It taught me that the only value to be found in the world was to be 'superior' to another person. As an adult, I understand that I was taught wrongly about this subject. As an adult, I understand that weakness was rejected in me because my mother rejected the weakness in her. And that my grandmother rejected the weakness in my mother because her own mother had rejected the weakness in her. And so on and so on. Family cycles, family curses.

Understanding this as an adult and remedying my behavior, however, has proven to be a difficult challenge.

Stay Focused

By Candie A. Price

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. Hebrews 12:1-2a NLT

It is so easy for us to lose focus. There are so many things that are vying for our attention that we often don’t finish tasks that we begin. However, finishing projects is much more important than beginning them. When we first begin an endeavor, we are often very excited and ambitious, but as time wanes we lose our focus by concentrating on the wrong things, concerting our efforts in the wrong direction, or centering our energies in the wrong way. The writer exhorts the Hebrews by laying out a plan for them to finish the course of faith they had undertaken. The previous chapters allowed us to examine the lives of saints of old who had persevered for the cause of Christ, letting us know that we can also finish what we’ve started by laying down weight and sin that hinder us and impede our progress. God has laid out a race that we can win if we keep our eyes on Jesus—in essence, stay focused!

You Gotta Be....Positive!

Remember Des'ree? She had a great song out in 1994, entitled 'You Gotta Be'. It was one of the most uplifting, encouraging and energizing songs I'd ever heard. Don't' believe me? Well, here is the chorus: "You Gotta Be Bad, You Gotta Be Bold, You Gotta Be Wiser. You Gotta Be Hard, You Gotta Be Tough, You Gotta Be Stronger. You Gotta Be Cool, You Gotta Be Calm, You Gotta Stay Together. All I Know, All I Know, Love Will Save the Day." Now, repeat that to yourself 10 times (or better yet, buy the CD) and tell me how you feel. Bet you start feeling better. Bet you want to start dancing around the room (especially if you're listening to the CD!).

Des'ree's song is a great example of the power of positive affirmation. What is positive affirmation? It is a conscious effort to feed your psyche positive, uplifting, or inspiring messages, which will lead to having a positive, uplifting or inspiring life. Sounds good doesn't, it? It's simple to practice and the benefits are lasting. After all, there are few things stronger or more important than the human psyche. Your psyche determines how much you enjoy your life, how good you feel, how pleasant you are to other people, your goal-setting abilities, your attitude, and pretty much everything about your temperament, your moods and your behavior. Your psyche is who you are. And wouldn't you like that 'who' to be a better person?

God Told Me To Marry You

By Deb

Does the above statement sound familiar to you? Have you ever said that to someone? It seems to me that quite a number of Christians, especially women, are telling the opposite sex that God told them that he or she is supposed to be their husband or wife.

Well, I just want to put my "two cents" in on this subject and talk to the women. Girlfriend, God didn't tell you that the fine single brother in the tight suit, sitting on your left in the fifth row of the church is your future husband. I know, you have been watching and noticing him during Sunday services, prayer services, bible study, and you even noticed he was on the youth mentoring program. You're thinking to yourself, he would make a great father. After church, he always greets you with that perfect set of white teeth and that masculine hug and a "whiff" of his good smelling cologne and he always asks in that deep baritone voice "how you doing sister"? Right now, you are thinking, "Oh, I know he must want me."

Are You On the 'Down Low?'

Too many Christians are pretending to be something they're not - non-Christians! They act like the world, they dress like the world and they never talk about God. Are you one of these people? Read on to identify those Christians living on the 'down low' and learn strategies to help you improve your public walk with Jesus!

Talking about God is not the easiest thing in the world. You know how it is - you're sitting there listening to your co-workers discuss world politics, current events and the unhappiness that seems so prevalent across the United States. And in your head pops a thought 'They need Jesus.' But, do you say it? Probably not.

Why don't we talk about God?

Hello Everybody!

Hello Everybody!  This is an exciting day for Urban Christianz Ministries.  We have been up and running for about a year and a half now and have recently decided to transition our website to this new blog.  For those of you who don't know us, we are a Christian Ministry that feature articles, resources and advice for every day Christians experiencing contemporary problems.  In other words - we like to focus on real live problems that are common to us all.  Visit us to learn how to become closer to God (or get to know Him), accelerate your spiritual growth, have better relationships, discuss dating, marriage, or the ups and downs of being a teenager. We also dabble in politics, health and wellness and pretty much anything that can be discussed from a Christian perspective. 

We are very excited about this move to the Typepad blogging platform.  We feel this will make it much easier for you, the reader, to find articles by category, date or topic.  We also feel excited about being able to more intimately connect with our readers through your comments and emails.

Besides our home website, we also have three other blogs we'd like you to visit when you get a chance.  One Black Christian Woman's Perspective is a blog that reflects the personal spiritual insights of Urban Christianz's founder, Sonya C. Triggs.  She often blogs about relationships, spiritual growth and every day Christian Issues.  The Christian Singlez Blog deals directly with issues that single Christians face - the hows and whys of dating, what you should expect in a relationship and advice for those pursuing marriage.  And finally, Christian Therapy offers a Biblical perspective about common issues that we all face.

We're going to spend some time updating this blog with previous articles from the Urban Christianz Ministries archive and then we'll move forward with new articles, new information and new resources!

We invite you to visit us regularly, subscribe to get updates via email or RSS and, most importantly, let us know what you think!  Please comment or email Ms. Triggs (sonya@urbanchristianz.com) with your questions, concerns and especially your feedback about what has been written.  We look forward to hearing from you and getting to know you soon!