Between chapters 4 and 5 of this traditional book of Esther, there is a break in time. It is a space of suspense when we do not know what has happened. At the end of chapter 4, we left Esther just as she had sent word to Mordecai that she was going to go into the king’s presence unwelcome, which could mean her instant death. Then there’s a grand pause, and we pick up the tale again in chapter 5, a few days later, when Esther is getting ready to walk into the presence of the king, without knowing what the future holds. She literally breaks the law of the land by willingly interrupting the king.

This space represents a silent yet potent interlude in which Esther draws on the source of her strength.

How straightforward for us to believe that she was born with a Mummy Teresa conscience and a Joan of Arc bravery. Yet just as nobody is born biased, so nobody is born bold. Permit me a second to stop here and ask you two awfully personal questions. Are you modeling authentic character? That leaves the message permanently etched in their minds. You see, Esther didn’t come onto this earth with a delicate conscience and a bold heart.

She learned it from her cousin, Mordecai, who became her coach and adoptive dad. And she rose to the challenge and asserted, “I’ll do precisely as you have taught me to do.”. Proverbs 22:6 asserts, “Train a kid in the way he should go, and when he’s old he won’t turn from it” ( NIV ).

I suspect it is important that we note that the tradition of the Lord departed from Saul before a malicious spirit came. Christians read those words about “an malicious spirit from God” and they fear that would happen today. I have heard evangelists use that as a tool to scare Christians. “You continue to stroll in the flesh,” they assert, “and God will lift His Spirit from you, and you will not have God’s presence inside you as you once had.”

Then they will quote this verse or the one in Judges 16 where Samson is in Delilah’s lap, and it is saying, “He didn’t know the LORD had departed from him.” Or the one in Psalm 51:11 that claims, “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” that could be a fearful thought that God could lift His Spirit from us and we’d be lost, having once been saved. So let’s go on record at this time with a good dose of religion.

Before the Lord God Almighty came at Pentecost ( Acts *, the tradition of God never permanently rested on any follower except David and John the Baptizer. it wasn’t rare for the meaning of God to come for a short lived period of reinforcing or discernment or whatever was the requirement of the moment and then to leave, only to return again for another surge of the requirement of the instant, then to leave once more. He comes and baptizes us into the body of Christ. We remain sealed by the Spirit from that time on. We are never cajoled to be baptized by the Spirit.

We are baptized into the body of Christ, placed there by the Spirit, sealed till the day of redemption ( Ephesians 4:30 ). Similarly , our bodies are the church of the Lord God Almighty in which the Spirit of Our Lord God dwells.

God knew Moses felt forsaken in that moment. Maybe before Moses felt his first pang of isolation, God was moving to meet his need. Aaron was Moses’ Big Brother, his senior by 3 years. And the Lord sought this bro out and announced to him, “Aaron, go to Moses’ side now. He is on a long, wilderness road, making for Egypt. There I was, out with the sheep one day, just like 1,000 other days before. And as I got closer—Aaron, hear this, man—God was talking from that bush.

If Aaron doubted a single word of the account, Scripture never touches on it. Actually, he was prepared to believe each word Moses told him. Had not God called him out of Egypt to meet his younger brother in the desert? So Aaron listened, nodded his head, and announced, “That’s great, Moses. Have you got a closeness with your bro or a kindred spirit in your sister? Have you got a buddy with whom you can face the facts of your life? You’ll have masses of friendships in your life, but you may doubtless never have more than two friends on that deeper, non secular, soul-to-soul level.

You can tell such a pal anything that God is doing in your life, and you will find a warm reception and deep confirmation. If you do not have such a comradeship, tell God about your craving. He is the same God who moved Aaron’s heart down in Egypt while Moses was going alone on the desert road. And remember, the most effective way to find such a buddy is to be such a chum.

Yes, old Jacob had learned some hard lessons about what happened when he didn’t talk with Our Lord God and walk with The Lord God. Fortunately, by this time, Jacob had matured into a seasoned and smart old man.

He stopped and waited, prepared to learn whether the move to Egypt would be accompanied by the presence and blessing of Almighty God. It could have been a great moment when, in the night, he was awakened by the voice of Our Lord God, calling, “Jacob, Jacob.”. Don’t be scared to go down to Egypt, for it is there that I’ll make you a great country. I’ll go down to Egypt with you, and I’ll also bring you back to this land again. And your boy Joseph will be with you when you die.”.

This is a major moment not only for Jacob and his folks, except for all of Israel. Spot the guarantee, “I will also certainly bring you up [to this land] again.”. Making a major move can be one of the most insecure times we face in life. Pulling up roots in one place and attempting to put them down in another can be not only fearful but depressing. That’s the reason why I suspect it’s sensible to stop here and understand the value of Jacob’s hearing God’s voice of approval. For the Christian this is heightened by a feeling of wonder as to whether God is in the move. And even if we feel warranted that God is in it, we will still experience times of doubt and displacement.

I am referring not only to a geographical move but also to a vocation change or a domestic move from single to married. The guarantee that God is with us during such modifications in life-style and adjustment periods is deeply crucial. As kids of The Lord God, we are to hear the voice of the Lord God and ask, Is God in this? Does this please Him?

Disintegrating families fail to retort quickly and completely to the alerts of others. They may appear biased against your youngster, but they don’t often are.

Hear your priest or your youth leader. Hear the uniformed officer with a badge who rings your door-bell. Do not be so fast to leap to your kid’s defense. Ask direct, hard questions to be certain you’ve got the full picture.

Then take some time to think on what you’ve heard. If it resonates, causing you to suspect that it may be correct, then dig deeper and go to whatever measure is important to make sure you have it resolved. Disintegrating families rationalize incorrect behaviour, and thus become part of the issue. We know this because Eli got fat on the food his boys had nicked from the altar. As for Samuel, the boy who heard God’s voice, the closing words of this episode tell us the knackered, non secular indifference that had lulled Israel into complacency was going to come to a stop.

A person of action was on the scene, and Israel’s non secular drift was going to end. Even as a tiny boy, he not only heard the Lord, but he obeyed His voice. As you contemplate all this, particularly as you judge the condition of your folks, remember that hearing the truth isn’t really enough.

Only on the most rare occasions does the Lord bless somebody for simply listening to Him. That implies His blessings virtually always lie on the opposite side of obedience. According to Scripture, data alone just puffs up, but with action comes modesty ( one Corinthians 8:1 ).
They multiply and increase with the slow and silent passing of time. If you have reached the realization that your folks are in peril, decide to do something rather than nothing. In the final analysis, after achieving public achievement in ministry, God considered Eli a failure at home and judged him for it.

The dates of this event include October 11, 2009 through October 18, 2009

Pastors, Evangelists and Teachers from around the globe will be attending the 2009 Pastor’s Conference at the River church in Tampa Florida.

Dr. Rodney Howard Browne will be discussing divine techniques for America.

Evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne saw over 1,093,000 calls for Christ in 505 cities. He had 219 towns winning souls at the same time and saw over 167,000 calls for Christ in just fifty days. God has a wonderful plan for you – His most valued and dear creation. He has good plans; plans full of hope; plans for a great future.

During these meetings Rodney Howard Browne will be discussing the topic of Religion in America. Some bow to the east and some to the west, some have their own guru and they suspect the absolute best; some worship a rat; others worship the cow; others have to pay big cash to discover how. Ever learning, but never coming to the awareness of the truth. Some only look when they’re old; others look in their youth. Stumbling around in the darkness, you can really lose your way. Over the centuries, men separated, castrated and amputated; all attempting to get close to a god in the sky; waiting for their deliverance in the sweet by and by.

Camels and virgins; guarantees are made; to sit at the right hand; or so it has been declared. It comes to bind up, to kill and destroy, for regardless of what man does he can’t fill the gap. Some are Methodist, Buddhist or Islam; some are Baptist and some just live on a farm; Presbyterian, Suave and Pentecostal also. Some will come back and live 1 or 2 more lives, in order that they can find that place of karma that place in their mind.

Heaven is what you make of it; there isn’t any place called hell; if there had been a God, he wouldn’t send you there: faith will tell. Many strategies have been attempted through history from crucifying oneself to mutilation ; folk have starved themselves and lived without talking for years ; lived in isolation in remote places ; prayed and chanted and wrote many pages ; gave their cash to the poor and their body to be burned ; but when they died, all of them died alone.

Some went on a Great Crusade; others a Holy War; their muscles ached and their body was sore; some were tortured and some died; some were sawn in 2 and others left. Many a search for the ultimate prize, or the Ark of the Covenant, and many would fail to find the fountain of supposed youth. Futility of futilities, all would lose the battle of life, would come to a close and they might die alone, with not even a buddy. As they breathed out their last breath, with great doubt of what lay ahead and what of eternity where would they’re going and what was the truth that had been attempting to find all of their youth? The truth of the affair, some might say, “Well who is right and who’s got the way?” Many never knew the truth was in one book all they were forced to do was find it and look. For it is written in God’s Holy Word, according to the scripture, He sent His Word and the Word became flesh and came to the earth, born of a virgin, to give us New Birth.

What many didn’t understand it wasn’t about faith, but about God reaching man He, only Jesus, is the only real way for man.

It isn’t what we will be able to do that makes the difference, for he’s done it all and that is not faith.

Kings could offer sacrifices for themselves, but never for the state. 2nd , it was Samuel who was to convey the Lord’s battle plans. since Saul kept his eye on the sundial and his dwindling armed forces, he gave in to panic and rushed ahead on his very own.

Gentile generals decided where, when, and whom to attack, mustered their troops, then sacrificed to their gods to gain favor. The Hebrew sacrifice was changed ; it was to be an act of submission, not bribery. 3rd , and most crucial to our study, Saul made the choice to trust himself at the emergency point. His call to sacrifice and attack was based mostly on good common-sense ( from a temporal point of view ). Just like Israel’s wish to have a human king and their prepared acknowledgment of Saul based mostly on his outward appearance, the new king was prepared to advance on the enemy with a human technique.

He saw his armed forces evaporating like water and the city of Michmash stuffed with his enemy. He saw the appointed a week had passed and that Samuel was late. So he tossed aside any pretense of decorum and custom. He, actually put on the ecclesiastic garb together with his crown and signet and attempted to make the altar his very own special instrument of power—something he had no right to do.

We need a Samuel, someone that cares more about our character than our image or comfort. Regularly that sort of loving truth calls for pointed words. “You have played the fool” isn’t simple to hear, but when it comes from the mouth of a reliable, godly mate, we must hear it and take heed.

To be “humble in heart” as Christ stated He was, is to be submissive to the core. It involves being more interested by serving the requirements of others than in having one’s own wants met.Someone that is really free handed is generous with their time and possessions, energy and cash.

That one angle does more to squelch our joy than any other. So busy protecting and shielding and manipulating, we set ourselves up for a gruesome, intense existence. In our egocentric life, the tenet of cultivating a generous, servant-hearted angle is nearly a joke to the majority.

However happily, there are some who truly need to develop such a perspective. I’ll assure you, if you carry out that need, you’ll know the way to a chuffed life.

Timidity , to put it bluntly, is an ungodly mark. God isn’t passive in the face of malicious, neither is He indecisive. The Psalms are full of powerful words that give us a clear portrait of the Lord God.

Never is He portrayed as a mild-mannered, passive Deity, hoping and waiting for things to occur. Righteousness and truth are causes to be fought for. In every generation, then, conflict is unavoidable. Do you have it? Do you want to take bold action in the face of wrong? Will you stand alone, if mandatory, and embrace a principle, although it suggests you lose votes or friends or prestige.

Are you an intellectual analyzer of inaccurate, a mere champion of achievement, a person who enjoys consultations of issues to the point of getting bogged down in unproductive semantics. I’m in possession of a good friend who spent a day at the park. While he and his better half were sitting on a bench, they saw something strange in the distance : some ducks coming toward them…on roller skates! They could do it, my pal related, but as they got closer, he could tell that they did not have their hearts in it. Some people are ducks on roller skates ; they can do what they do, but they do not have their hearts in it..