Random Devotional Thoughts

The Story of Queen Esther, Part Eight.

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                                                              Promotion of Good.

  Esther 5: 20 — 6: 3
     We see God  moving in every chapter of this story…
 Chapter one shows the old queen removed (the old nature in a believer’s life); chapter two tells of Esther being given the place of honour (the new nature in a believer); chapter three brings the villain into the picture (Satan as a roaring lion)…..his hatred of Mordecai (the Holy Spirit protecting and guiding) which brings about his own demise ultimately. Chapter four shows Esther begin to bring about the solution, and chapter five sees Haman’s pride and impatience to get rid of Mordecai immediately.
    He was so excited as he rushed home to tell his wife and friends of the great honour of being the only other person invited to the queen’s  banquet.  The words tumbled out of his mouth and then his face fell as he remembered Mordecai. His wife said she didn’t  know why he put up with him, why not build gallows and then get permission from the king to hang Mordecai and get rid of him for ever? No sooner said than done! So that evening  they were built.

That night the king could not sleep. He tossed and turned and in the end he called for one of his scribes to bring his diary and read of his great deeds. After a few minutes, the story changed and he heard how there was a plot against his life, and how Mordecai had reported the danger.  “What was done for this man to thank him for this?” he wanted to know. “Nothing, Your Majesty”, was the reply.  “I must see to that in the morning” he thought, and rolled over to fall asleep immediately.

We can see how God was preparing the ground for Mordecai’s and Esther’s promotion although no-one realised it at the time.  We too, never know what God has for us around the corner. It pays for us to be preparing ourselves for whatever might lie ahead in the future. Take every opportunity that comes your way and make the most of it (Romans 12:1-2). This was not organised or pushed for by Mordecai; he was totally unaware  of any future change in his circumstances.

We are not to seek or push for promotion, but be ready to take whatever God sends our way. We might have some talents that seem irrelevant and unimportant now, but we are to keep our skills up. When God’s time is right, He will open the way for you to use them for His glory.

Mordecai is waiting in the wings,  Until God’s time promotion brings,    Keep up your  talents,  hone your  skills, For you to use when God  so                                                             wills.

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Random Devotional Thoughts

Story of Queen Esther, Part Seven

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Esther’s Request  

Esther 5: 1-9

    The queen prepared herself in the best way she could before approaching the king. This is a lesson to us….. we cannot approach God wearing the rags of pride or resentment against others or with an unforgiving spirit (Psalm 66:18)…..

Esther  knew that if the king  wasn’t pleased to see her, it could cost her her life. But when she appeared before him, she looked so beautiful that he held out his sceptre of acceptance to her. In the same way,  believers who have prepared themselves to approach God, can expect to have favour with Him. We cannot expect God to hear our requests  until we have confessed our sins first (1 John 1:9).

It is a continual cycle as God wants us to make our requests, and not to worry about what is going on around us. Then when we come to Him wearing the robe of righteousness which is given to every one who believes and is cleansed from their sins, we are beautiful in His sight. Unlike Esther, we need have no fear when we approach God in prayer and praise.

Esther didn’t pluck up courage to make her big request straight away, but asked the king if he and Haman would attend a banquet she was putting on that night.

Haman was so excited and puffed up with pride, when he received his invitation. But how true the saying that pride comes before a fall! As he rushed past the palace gates to go home after the banquet, there was Mordecai standing straight and tall as he watched him go by. How he hated that man! He determined that he was going to rid of him once and for all. Little did he know what lay ahead!

Esther did a feast prepare, Which Haman too was asked to share,            But Mordecai being at the  gate, Brought forth all of Haman’s hate!

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Random Devotional Thoughts

The Story of Queen Esther (Part Six)

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                             Esther’s Preparation.

Esther 4: 1-17

     Mordecai had heard the news of the Jews’ danger. He was very upset and grieved, and wore rags of mourning as he marched past the palace. Esther tried to give him decent clothes to put on but he refused, so she made a point of finding out what was wrong….

The lesson for us in this is that if we deliberately do wrong and sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit and we are told to not do this (Ephesians 4:30). We cannot cover sin up, we have to get to the bottom of the matter and put it right with confession and repentance if the fault has been ours.

Mordecai told her that she had to go to the king and tell him what Haman’s wicked plan was. If she didn’t,  her own life was in danger along with the rest of her people. Esther knew what the ramifications were…. if she went to the king before he wanted to see her, she could lose her life even sooner!

It wasn’t enough for Esther to find out what was wrong…. she had to DO something about it, and it was Mordecai who told her what to do. In the same way, the Holy Spirit prompts us to do what is right to fix problems (Psalm 51:3-12).

Esther went into a three day fast and prayer session with her maidens before going to the king, and we too must spend much time in prayer before attempting to fix any problem.

Esther’s cousin was very sad,                                                                                     She wondered why the news was bad,                                                                 But when she heard she then did care,                                                               And took it to the Lord in prayer.

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Morning Musings

The Story of Queen Esther (Part Five)

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    Enter Haman 

Esther 3: 1-15

    We now  see  the villain of the story come into view. Haman was a very ambitious and proud man who couldn’t stand the sight of  Mordecai outside the king’s palace….

When all the other men would bow and scrape to him, Mordecai remained upright. This made Haman boil inside and when he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, that made him even angrier. Who did he think he was? So he plotted to destroy all the Jews.

The king thought so much of Haman that he agreed to do whatever he suggested. Haman made his plans and presented them to the king. The date for the slaughter of all Jews was set and  notification sent out.

Haman certainly is a type of Satan who goes around among believers doing all sorts of mischief and looking for those he can devour and trip up. Peter says that Satan  is like a roaring lion and we are told to resist him firmly (1 Peter 5:8-9). The only way we can do this is to be firmly based in the teachings of Scripture. This is called the sword of God and it’s no use holding it without using it! (Ephesians 6:11-17)

So we see Haman rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of getting rid of the man he hated so much as he was  going to the king with his request!

Haman came in  filled  up with pride, But Mordecai he couldn’t abide;

To bow and scrape he’d just  refuse, So Haman planned to kill  the Jews.

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Daily Devotionals

The Story of Queen Esther, Part Four

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Esther, the Queen 

Esther 2:11-23

    We see  that Mordecai walked every day past where Esther was living,  to see how she was getting on. It is wonderful too, to think that God’s Holy Spirit is living inside each believer as we go about our daily tasks…..

   He is just as concerned about our feelings and thoughts as Mordecai ever was about Esther (Romans 8:9). When we neglect our times with the Lord, He is grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and when we rebel against what we know the Scriptures teach, His voice can be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). But He is always with us.

Esther’s training lasted for twelve months and then it was her turn to go to the king to present herself before him. She made a great impression on him, and he loved her more than any of the other girls. So Esther became queen in the place of Vashti.

Even though she had such a high position, she was still obedient to Mordecai and he always kept near her. In the same way if we stay obedient to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, no matter what position we hold in life, God can use and bless us.

One day, Mordecai heard of a plot against the life of the king. He told Esther about this and she in turn told the king who promptly dealt with the men. Not only that, it was written in the king’s diary which he kept.

Esther now became the queen, And Mordecai was daily seen;

He kept in touch, was always there, And sought her daily life to share.

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Daily Devotionals, Morning Musings

The Story of Queen Esther, Part Three.

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     Enter Esther

Esther 2:1-10

     It is wonderful the way that God works in lives and the affairs of people. Here we see the stage being set for a godly woman to change the course of history….

God saw to it that Vashti was deposed and that Esther was among those chosen to be groomed for the position of queen. Not only that, but the timing was right in the political arena as well with the new prime minister not having risen to his zenith of power.

We see that Mordecai the Jew had some sort of job in or around the palace. Mordecai in this story is a type of God’s Holy Spirit who cares for and protects God’s people. Mordecai had the guardianship of his beautiful young cousin and she came to the notice of the officials who were looking around for girls to be groomed in court protocol  to be the next queen.

Esther had such a sweet disposition and pretty face, that everyone liked her. Not only was she a pretty girl, but she was obedient to her cousin when he told her not to say that she was a Jewess.

As believers, we must be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as we read the Scriptures, so we can be a blessing to others.

Esther was right in time and place,                                                                               With her sweet  smile  and pretty face;                                                                     She charmed the prince with winsome ways,                                                 Learning graces for future days.

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Daily Devotionals

The Story of Queen Esther, Part Two

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     Vashti  Deposed.

Esther 1:13-22

     We read here that the king was greatly upset by Vashti’s refusal to come to the party, and so were all his princes. They all felt that it would create a precedent where all the women in the land would go into a revolt against their husbands!                                             

They felt that if Vashti were not made an example of, that she would become a role model for all the women of the day to follow,  in disobeying  their husbands.

How much we see this today among wives who want to do their own thing, even in many cases to making their own way in life without their husbands! The things that are written in the New Testament  (and remember that these things were not authored by sour old men as some people say, but by the Living God) truly make for a happy home. When all else fails, turn to the Maker’s Handbook!

God says many things that cut right across the popular thoughts of today. Things like “women fitting in with  their husbands plans”….(Ephesians 5:22 Living Bible), that is, not taking the lead out of his hands. How much do we wives respect and praise our husbands up? Nothing makes a man feel better than to know  he is looked up to by his family (Ephesians 5:33b). Not only that, but children will follow this example as well.

One of the things that God takes notice of and appreciates more than anything else in a woman is a quiet and gentle spirit that comes from deep inside her. This is classed as being “precious” to God. Probably because God knows it doesn’t come naturally to we women!! We have to work on it and God appreciates the effort we make in this direction!  (1 Peter 3:1-4)

Vashti paid the price for her  revolt  (for whatever reason, valid or not), and was banished from being queen. Unless we treat our husbands like a king, we won’t be treated as a queen!

God’s ways  are right and lead to life,                                                                           None more so than for a wife,                                                                                      To keep our spirit calm and meek,                                                                                  Is God’s desire for us to seek!

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Daily Devotionals

The Story of Queen Esther, Part One

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Esther 1:1-12….       We are going to be following the steps of a godly girl in a heathen country, and see how she fared in facing evil head on and in doing so , was able to deliver her people…

God’s people had left Him out of their lives and had turned to follow heathen ways. Because of this, God allowed them to be taken captive to this strange land with another language and different customs. But there among the people of the king’s court, were those who had come from the land of Israel as captives, and who had risen to positions of authority.  A man called Daniel was one of these, and we  see how God intervened in his life as he lived in this place. God does not allow His plans for His people to be thwarted and He only allows evil to go so far.

         Our story starts, not with the character of the one we are going to study, but with a vastly different type of woman!   

The scene is set  in the opulence of an Eastern king’s court.     The splendours and splurgings of King Ahasuerus are graphically described in this chapter. The beauty of his palace and the richness  and length of  his feast is beyond our imagination.  He  called together all his officials and princes and put on a tremendous banquet for them. After that was over, he then put on another feast which was supplied with wine in abundance.

At the same time, Queen Vashti put on a feast for the  women of the court. After a whole week of feasting and drinking had gone on, the king decided to call for the queen to come and show her beauty to the men of the court. There are several ways that we can look at Vashti’s reaction to this royal command…..she may have arrogantly refused the king’s command or it may have been from the modesty of not appearing before a drunken crowd of men. Whatever it was, she refused the king’s command and paid for it dearly.

Vashti the queen refused to bring,                                                                          Her homage to her lord and king;                                                                          Whate’er her reason, we do not know,                                                                  The king then said she had to go!

See what God has to say to YOU.