It can take a lot of work to feel beautiful according to the standards of the world. Sometimes it even feels impossible. And too often, longing for that “right” look leads to comparison issues, insecurities, and even a self-destructive lifestyle.

How To Pray For Beauty

Moses modeled a prayer about beauty that stops striving in its tracks, and works far better than the world’s method:

“Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps. 90:17).

Since God is the perfection of beauty (Ps. 50:2), that means having His beauty upon you is superior to any beautification techniques the world offers you. Now, if you’re wondering what that could look like practically, Scripture describes in many places what godly, eternal beauty looks like.

Examples Of God-Enhanced Beauty

• Having long-suffering for a frustrating person and believing the best in others (1 Cor. 13:4,6)
• Being deeply kind and not at all rude (1 Cor. 13:4, 5)
• Speaking blessing throughout your day as a heavenly language to others (Eph. 4:29,31; 5:19; Phil. 2:14)
• Not being controlling over the way someone else lives their life, even someone in your close circle (Gal. 6:4,5)
• Facing your “inner ugliness” so the Holy Spirit can supernaturally render your soul pristine (1 Pet. 3:4,5; Ps. 139:23)
• Holding an upright posture to beam out His Light (Eph. 5:8; Phil. 2:15)
• Pursuing wisdom above pop culture knowledge, and therefore becoming someone who is more precious than rubies (Prov. 3:15)
• Participating in the sufferings of Christ which leads to revealing and joining the glories of Christ (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:10)
• Surrendering your own desires over and over again in order to consider what is best for others (Eph. 5:21; Phil. 2:3,4; 3:10)
• Looking at Christ with passion while being made free by His Spirit (Song of Solomon 2:2,4; 2 Cor. 3:7-18)
• Cherishing the uniqueness of your body that He specially made in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-16)
• Doing His works in obedience that produces flourishing and joy supreme (Ps. 90:17, Gal. 5:22, Eph. 1:19, 20; 2:10; 3:20)

Next Steps

• Make a commitment. You have a good reason to pursue beauty – it brings God glory for you to reflect His beauty in you. Search for beauty secrets in Scripture, and before you know it, even Pinterest won’t be able to keep up.
• Promote the beauty of others. Compliment the beauty of the Lord you see resting upon them. Here’s a sample comment one friend recently made to another: “I see how in-tuned you are with the Holy Spirit and how He is teaching you exactly what your sweet and beautiful heart needs.”  That’s the kind of encouragement of deep, Spirit-infused beauty a woman can relish long after worldly beauty fades. If women would go to Scripture for beauty treatments and compliment one another on them, the world would have many more healthy and beautiful women. You only have to open the Bible and start reading, praying, and changing.