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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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My Life

God’s Home, My Heart (Part Five)

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                                          The Bathroom 

“This is the bathroom”, I said proudly as I took My Guest in. 2017-04-23 15.41.07Surely there wouldn’t  be anything wrong in here! This was the room where there was fresh running water at all times. I never spent much time in this room, as I just did the necessary things like a quick shower.

“Ah, yes,” He said, “The place where all the impurities are washed away!”

I began to squirm a little. His eyes seemed to pierce through to the very innermost parts of my being. It was almost as though He knew how little time I really spent there!  He walked in to where the shower cubicle was. I glanced down at the base of the shower, and hoped He wouldn’t notice the beginnings of the algae settling in the corners. I hadn’t had time to give it a good scrub for some time.

But alas, His glance followed mine and His piercing eyes took it all in…the grime and the scum that was accumulating through neglect.

“My blood cleanses from ALL sin”, He said meditatively, “You just have to confess it to Me. That is why I died“,  He continued, “To pay the penalty of your sins”.

“Oh Lord”, I cried, “I DO believe it! Help me to keep this room in my heart cleaner by daily confession. I promise to get into all the corners with the brush and get rid of everything that grows into sin!”

He smiled at me, and said, “My child, this is why I came to earth and died for you. My Father was in the work with Me you know, I and My Father are One”.

What comfort that gave me!

 

My Life

My Heart, God’s Home (Part 3)

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WPCThe Study…….The first room was the study (the library). This room of the mind is a very small room with very thick walls. But it is a very important room. In a sense, it is the control room of the house….what we think about is what we become!

Christ entered with me and looked around at the books in the bookcase, the magazines upon the table, the pictures on the walls. As I followed His gaze I became uncomfortable. Strangely, I hadn’t felt self-conscious about this before, but now that He was there looking at these things I was embarrassed. Some books were there that His eyes were too pure to behold. On the table were a few magazines that a Christian had no business reading. As for the pictures on the walls – the imaginations and thoughts of the mind – some of these were shameful.

Red-faced, I turned to Him and said, “Master, I know that this room needs to be cleaned up and made over. Will You help me make it what it ought to be?”

“Certainly!” He said. “I’m glad to help you. First of all, take all the things that you are reading and looking at which are not helpful, pure, good and true, and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with Scripture and meditate on it day and night. Get some biographies of godly men and women and read how I was able to work through them. As for the pictures on the walls, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but I have something that will help.”

 He gave me a full-size portrait of Himself. “Hang this centrally on the wall of your mind.”

I did, and I have discovered through the years that when my thoughts are centered upon Christ Himself,  His purity and power cause impure thoughts to back away. So He has helped me to bring my thoughts under His control. As I remember that it was His blood that cleanses me from all sin, so these unclean thoughts disappear.