Good morning! Enjoying the nice sound of our fireplace.... and the heat that it is giving off! We had our AC/Heat unit checked last week to find that the circuit board was blown. :-( SO.... we are waiting for them to come out and replace it. Thankfully we were gone this weekend, and thankfully our upstairs heat works. When I woke up this morning, the downstairs was at a nice 58 degrees! Whooooo! Gives us a great opportunity to be THANKFUL for heat! :) SO... the boy and I will be bundled up today.
Well... let's get started on the Word for today.
Why did she do this? There was a decree in the land for Queen Esther's people to be killed, the WHOLE Jewish people to be killed. This would be a genocide. A whole nationality of people to be murdered. An extermination on all the Jews. And for "such a time as this", thankfully Esther was the Queen and was able to put herself before the King to be heard. A risk, yes. But as we see, she obtained favor in the sight of the king, and was able to come before him.
If you notice in Esther 5:1, it starts off with "on the third day of the fast." Esther spent time fasting, getting before the Lord to obtain Wisdom. Wisdom leads to favor, and Esther obtained favor!
Listen to Wisdom + Watch for Wisdom + Wait for Wisdom = Finding Wisdom
Finding Wisdom = Obtaining Favor from the Lord
Proverbs 8 talks about obtaining favor from the Lord. He is the KING of KINGS. Sure, we can fast to obtain wisdom and ultimately favor, but PRAISE GOD we are not at risk of being killed when we go before the presence of OUR KING. The King of Kings, God Almighty! We can go before the King ANY TIME we have questions. We can seek out Wisdom and LISTEN to Wisdom ANY TIME and obtain it!
For me personally, I don't always get the details of how things are going to turn out. That is part of walking out a life of faith. I have received instructions at times and when I ask specifically how things are going to go, or what the next several steps are, sometimes the Lord just tells me, "You are on the right path. Right now you don't need to know everything and the 'how to' for everything. Right now, all you need to know is you are doing exactly what you need to be doing. KEEP doing it. KEEP being diligent in this area. When the time is right, I will let you know the next steps to take, but you do not need to know them now because it is not time to take them."
He sometimes gives me JUST ENOUGH information that I know I'm doing good, I'm on the right path, that He is pleased. I'm not really a "control" freak, so I don't feel a need to know everything and the details of how it's all going to work out, but it is a blessing to know that HE is working things out in my FAVOR. That by SEEKING WISDOM, I am obtaining FAVOR from my KING! :-) And do you know what that simple thing can do? Do you realize what FAVOR FROM THE KING can do? In the situation with Queen Esther, it can SAVE A NATION! It can save MILLIONS of people! Just from ONE PERSON seeking WISDOM and OBTAINING FAVOR from the King!
What if the King has it in your calling to be today's ONE PERSON that will save a NATION or a people. What if GOD has the calling on your life to OBTAIN WISDOM that leads to FAVOR to accomplish the VERY BIG THING for your life? I obviously don't know what 'your calling' is, but I know that when you seek our King, when you receive Wisdom from our King, you will receive FAVOR and with FAVOR, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. With FAVOR nations can be changed! With FAVOR lives can be saved! With FAVOR, 'odds' don't matter because you are SUMMONED to come before the King. And the King will ask you, "What is your request? It shall be given to you."
Seek Wisdom. Obtain Favor.
Well... let's get started on the Word for today.
Proverbs 8:24-35 - Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord.
Proverbs 31:26 - She opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom...
Esther 5:2 - And when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight, and he held out to [her] the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the tip of the scepter.Favor. What a key thing to aspire to attain. Here we look at a few things.... we see that when we FIND WISDOM it allows us to draw forth & obtain favor from the Lord. How to we "find" Wisdom? As Proverbs 8 shows, we watch for it daily, we wait for it, we seek wisdom out. We also see that our Proverbs 31 friend has "obtained" Wisdom, she has found it, therefore she must have taken time to seek out wisdom, to find it. As I was reading and meditating on obtaining favor, I was brought back to thinking about Queen Esther. What a great risk she made of her LIFE. In Esther 5, one moment she is standing in the courts of the king, completely knowing that since she was NOT summoned by him, just by merely standing there could cost her her life. The queen in that time was only in the presence of the King if HE summoned her to be, she was not with him on her own free will. This day, Queen Esther risked everything, and stood in the inner court of the king's palace waiting for him to see her.
Why did she do this? There was a decree in the land for Queen Esther's people to be killed, the WHOLE Jewish people to be killed. This would be a genocide. A whole nationality of people to be murdered. An extermination on all the Jews. And for "such a time as this", thankfully Esther was the Queen and was able to put herself before the King to be heard. A risk, yes. But as we see, she obtained favor in the sight of the king, and was able to come before him.
If you notice in Esther 5:1, it starts off with "on the third day of the fast." Esther spent time fasting, getting before the Lord to obtain Wisdom. Wisdom leads to favor, and Esther obtained favor!
Listen to Wisdom + Watch for Wisdom + Wait for Wisdom = Finding Wisdom
Finding Wisdom = Obtaining Favor from the Lord
Proverbs 8 talks about obtaining favor from the Lord. He is the KING of KINGS. Sure, we can fast to obtain wisdom and ultimately favor, but PRAISE GOD we are not at risk of being killed when we go before the presence of OUR KING. The King of Kings, God Almighty! We can go before the King ANY TIME we have questions. We can seek out Wisdom and LISTEN to Wisdom ANY TIME and obtain it!
For me personally, I don't always get the details of how things are going to turn out. That is part of walking out a life of faith. I have received instructions at times and when I ask specifically how things are going to go, or what the next several steps are, sometimes the Lord just tells me, "You are on the right path. Right now you don't need to know everything and the 'how to' for everything. Right now, all you need to know is you are doing exactly what you need to be doing. KEEP doing it. KEEP being diligent in this area. When the time is right, I will let you know the next steps to take, but you do not need to know them now because it is not time to take them."
He sometimes gives me JUST ENOUGH information that I know I'm doing good, I'm on the right path, that He is pleased. I'm not really a "control" freak, so I don't feel a need to know everything and the details of how it's all going to work out, but it is a blessing to know that HE is working things out in my FAVOR. That by SEEKING WISDOM, I am obtaining FAVOR from my KING! :-) And do you know what that simple thing can do? Do you realize what FAVOR FROM THE KING can do? In the situation with Queen Esther, it can SAVE A NATION! It can save MILLIONS of people! Just from ONE PERSON seeking WISDOM and OBTAINING FAVOR from the King!
What if the King has it in your calling to be today's ONE PERSON that will save a NATION or a people. What if GOD has the calling on your life to OBTAIN WISDOM that leads to FAVOR to accomplish the VERY BIG THING for your life? I obviously don't know what 'your calling' is, but I know that when you seek our King, when you receive Wisdom from our King, you will receive FAVOR and with FAVOR, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. With FAVOR nations can be changed! With FAVOR lives can be saved! With FAVOR, 'odds' don't matter because you are SUMMONED to come before the King. And the King will ask you, "What is your request? It shall be given to you."
Seek Wisdom. Obtain Favor.
2 comments:
I absolutely love the story of Esther. I have been doing Beth Moore's Study of Esther and it's amazing. It was fun reading your devotional today because we have really been digging into this the past 8 weeks and I have really learned alot. I told you before, Amy, that I can totally see you becoming a 'Beth Moore' teacher of the word.
Oh, the wisdom and boldness to obey God and just trust in Him for the awesome things He wants to do in our lives. I want that more than anything. We all need to be willing and ready to seek God and hunger for it! Thanks for the good stuff today, Amy!
I love how you and God know just what I need to hear. Love you beautiful lady! Thank you so much for sharing your gift of words with us daily!
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