Surrendering to God Your Free Will

 “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.”

‭‭Esther‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: “Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I’ll go to the king, even though it’s forbidden. If I die, I die.”  In the time of crisis, Esther chose to trust God, surrendering her own will to God, even her own life as she laid it on the line to the breaking of the law of the land, because of her position as queen of Persia.  This was a foreshadow of how Jesus Who was the Son of God, surrendered His will to God the Father, in the garden of Gethsemane as He prayed.  He went away again, and prayed again the same prayer as before-pleading with God but surrendering to the Father’s will.  That’s why we look only at Jesus, the Originator and Perfector of the faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God.  Let’s surrender our will to God for His will to be done in our lives.  Amen!

Receiving God’s Vision with Obedience

 “And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭10‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The voice spoke again. “Nothing is unclean if God declares it to be clean.” The vision was repeated three times. Then suddenly the linen sheet was snatched back up into heaven.  From this vision Peter understood that God has declared every human being to be of special worth and dignity.  The entire world needs the Gospel.  The four corners of the sheet are the four corners of our earth.  The clean animals represent the Jews, God’s people, and the unclean animals to Peter, were the gentile nations.  So Peter got the heavenly message that God was about to send him off with the men at the door of that house, even though they had been labelled “unclean” by the Jews.  Three times the vision was given to Peter to understand the will of God, just as three times he denied Christ and three times Jesus restored Peter’s love for Christ!  All of us disciples of Christ must be ready to receive visions from God that convey His will on earth and which jolt us out of our limited outlook!  The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth to understand cryptic messages from God through visions.  Amen!

Antisemitism brings a Curse

 “And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.”

‭‭Esther‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭KJV‬

Haman then spoke with King Xerxes: “There is an odd set of people scattered through the provinces of your kingdom who don’t fit in. Their customs and ways are different from those of everybody else. Worse, they disregard the king’s laws. They’re an affront; the king shouldn’t put up with them. If it please the king, let orders be given that they be destroyed.  Haman sowed hate and division as he plotted the extermination of the Jews.  Antisemitism has been around since ages but God knows to keep His covenant to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  Israel has survived as a nation to this day!  No nation, no people group, no king, no government, can stand against the might, power and will of our Almighty God Who keeps His covenant of blessing and Who is just and perfect in all His ways.  Amen!

Limitless Grace for the Humble

 “And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭9‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The Lord Jesus said to Ananias, “Go at once to the street called Abundance and look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. You will find him at Judah’s house. While he was praying, he saw in a supernatural vision a man named Ananias coming to lay hands upon him to restore his sight.”  The conversion of Saul the legalistic to Paul the grace preacher is a significant lesson for us - we can be amazingly wrong while thinking we’re doing right.  The Holy Spirit awakens our hearts to feast on Christ, our righteousness.  Religion has a deadening effect on our hearts.  Like Saul, we have to fall off our “high horse” and bite the dust before our blinded eyes can see.   May we feast on the limitless grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit leads us to, as His sons and daughters.  Amen!

Reach Out to Orphans & Widows for Christ’s Sake

 “And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.”

‭‭Esther‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Mordecai raised his cousin Hadassah, later Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her.  God had told Moses when they prepared to live in the Promised Land that  He desired orphans and widows to receive justice. He showed love to the foreigners living among them and gave them food and clothing.  This promise God has kept with all who trust Him, down the generations.  Esther was no exception and God arranged that her relative Mordecai would adopt and raise her with the knowledge of the God of Israel.  In the new covenant, we are urged, “True spirituality that is pure in the eyes of our Father God is to make a difference in the lives of the orphans, and widows in their troubles, and to refuse to be corrupted by the world’s values.”  The favour of God upon Esther to become the queen of Persia, is nothing short of reverence and awe of our Heavenly Father.  Let’s reach out to make a difference for orphans and widows in our scope of influence.  Amen!

Faith is not Complicated

 “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭8‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Philip replied, “If you believe with all your heart, I’ll baptize you.” The man answered, “I believe that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God.” The Ethiopian stopped his chariot, and they went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, Philip was suddenly snatched up by the Spirit of the Lord and instantly carried away to the city of Ashdod, where he reappeared, preaching the gospel in that city. The man never saw Philip again. He returned to Ethiopia full of great joy.  This Ethiopian, a man of position, was drawn to read Scripture, believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and was baptised, which filled him with great joy.  So simple and yet we complicate and denominationalise it!  Let’s keep it simple!  Amen!

Every Tribe, Tongue & Nation to Bow to the King of kings

 “Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)”

‭‭Esther‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭KJV‬‬

This is the story of something that happened in the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled from India to Ethiopia—127 provinces in all way back from 486 to 465 BC.  India was so named because of the river Indus, quite far away geographically from the Jews.  Through the Jews came the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ and throughout history, the sovereign God impacted nations to know the Christ.  For this is how God loved the world: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.  So the Kingdom of God has come and the Gospel is being preached so that all believe and none perish and it continues to advance and the forceful take hold of it. We wait for the moment which the apostle John wrote in Revelation about Jesus, the Lamb of God, "Worthy are You..for You were slain, and by Your Blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”  We prepare for the moment when every tongue, every tribe, every nation will bow down and worship the King of kings and LORD of lords.  Amen!

God’s Timing is Perfect

 “Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭7‬:‭28‬-‭29‬ ‭KJV‬

Stephen before the high priest recounted the history of the Jews.  “Are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Shaken by this, Moses fled Egypt and lived as an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.  Moses missed God’s timing.  To know God’s will doesn’t mean you know God’s timing.  God made Moses a ruler and a judge, but it took forty years to prepare him.  Moses wanted the position forty years before he was ready.  No one can make himself ruler and judge - only God has authority to set leaders in place.  We cannot raise ourselves up with ministry responsibilities until God releases us.  God says, “By Me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.”  Today, through the finished work of the Cross of Christ, the mighty Holy Spirit has been given to all disciples to proclaim the resurrected Christ.  Let’s be led by the Holy Spirit to do that!  Amen!

Consecration of Priests to Represent God

 “Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭13‬:‭29‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Nehemiah prayed to God after he found the corruption and desecration of the Levitical priests in Jerusalem.  “Remember them, O my God, how they defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priests and Levites.”  It was a serious offence before God Who is holy that His priests should represent Him wrongly.  In the new covenant, Paul said, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”  So did Peter corroborate Paul, “and consider..our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you…which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”  These days bishops and church leaders preach contrary to Scripture and the whole world watches it.  May they stop dishonouring God Almighty, repent and turn to Him for forgiveness while there is time.  Hell is a reality that the true Church doesn’t want for anyone.  Let’s preach the Gospel for it is the power of God to salvation.  Amen!

True Leadership

 “And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The proposal of choosing seven men to serve so that the apostles gave attention to prayer and preaching the Gospel was beautiful.  Everyone in the church loved this idea. So they chose seven men. One of them was Stephen, who was known as a man full of faith and overflowing with the Holy Spirit. Along with him they chose Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas from Antioch, who had converted to Judaism.  Stephen was not a gentile but a Greek speaking Hebrew believer in Christ.  Stephen in English is Tzephaniah in Hebrew which means, “Yah has treasured”.  When he addressed his hearers when the Supreme Council confronted him, he said, “My fellow Jews and fathers”.  Although he was a powerful minister of the Word, Stephen was humble to accept the task that of serving.  True freedom in Christ is not to indulge the flesh, but rather, to serve one another humbly in love - that’s Christ-like leadership.  May we learn true leadership by being humbly willing to serve one another in love.  Amen!