Domain Change

Dear all,

Our blog would be moving to a new domain called WWW.PRAISESNPRAYERS.COM

Please look forward for more updates.

With the new change, May the LORD teach us to grow more in him and glorify him.

God Bless
Devi

Lord is your SHIELD!

~* ESTHER *~

Book Of Esther in the Bible is an interesting book to us in many ways to me. It is a fairy tale of Bible.

Every girl can relate to Esther.
—  Who doesn’t want be pampered with fine cosmetics in a palace?
—  Who doesn’t want to win the favor in everybody’s eyes?
—  Who doesn’t want to be called the Charming lady of the land?
—  Who doesn’t want to be the Queen of the great king? Every little girl secret dream is all of these.

 Yet,… unlike the many fairy tales this tale does not end in a wedding set up, with much in love duo looking deep into their eyes under showers of flowers ,  with sparkles flying in the background.

THE STORY just begins there. It is just a pre-cursor for her HUGE and MIGHTY purpose in order.

Oh! How I love the GOD ALMIGHTY for his creativity…Hmm, He is a good story teller with wonderful twists.

Let us see, who is Esther?

                        






                        Her wonderful traits…

Didn’t she have questionable characters (just like any one of us)?
 

—  She hid her background to her husband. 

—  There was no strong reference in the Book that she was GOD fearing, prayed 3 times a day etc.

Ok.  Why is she celebrated? Why claimed one of the bravest women of Bible?

—  Ready to give up her Position

—  Can be Exiled – Remember Queen Vashti

—  No strong binding relationship with the King to make pleas.

—  Ready to give up her life

—  Severe Rules and Law for Women/Wife in the land

—  Law is that Un-summoned person at King’s court to be put to death

    Esther 4:15

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

Right! She is indeed brave for doing that for her people.

Great Learnings from Esther

—  What doesn’t Matter to receive his blessings

—  Your Background

—  Your Strengths & Sins

—  Your Position

—  What Does matter

—  Faith

—  Praying

—  Fasting

—  Interceding for others

And most importantly we know, GOD is in the background and always at work.

 

ESTHER	US
She is an Orphan & brought up by Mordecai	We are brought up by Earthly parents. In distress we are orphaned as well.
She hid her identity	We hid the REAL us
Though born of a commoner.  Thru King’s favor  she inherited Queen ship	We are daughters/sons of King of Kings thru his grace we are saved
Fasted and Prayed for her people	By Praying for others in need (Job 42:10)
She stood up for her people for them to be saved	We stand up for our family and friends to be saved

Now, Are we Esther? We are in many ways except for the one. We do not know if we are brave enough or can be Challenged like her.

Guess what, I have a GOOD NEWS for you. Being an Old Testament Esther can be hard for you. Now things are different. We have a new, refreshed covenant with GOD – Jesus Christ. J

Ayy! We have more advantages than Esther . Yes, Jesus had made it easy. The same Esther blessings can be sought thru the new deal. Isnt that amazing! Let us see how amazing it is.
 

ESTHER	US
She did not have JESUS	We have our Savior, the Rose of Sharon JESUS
She has to fast 3 days and night	Jesus died on the Cross and rose after 3 days. He fasted in the grave for us.
She interceded for her People	Jesus rose and sits at the right hand side of the GOD constantly interceding for us
Esther had doubts Esth 4:16 If I Perish, I perish	With Jesus we are all saved 2 Peter 3:9 – Not willing that any should perish.
Decree to slay Jews were cancelled	With Jesus Deathful Sins of  us are all cancelled
After Intercession there was Celebration.	With Jesus there is ALWAYS Celebration

Yes, we are ESTHER in all aspects. With our mighty Saviour Jesus Christ, we can stand in the gap for our family and friend ASK the Mighty King – OUR GOD thru Immaneul to cancel the decree of death to Eternal life!

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Come on Esthers! Let us open our mouth and rejoice his GREAT NAME!

Note: Last but NOT least, remember what Mordecai says:
Esther4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.

Being an Esther or NOT, is still your Choice.

You will flourish with Lord!

Standing on the promises of God

Many of us would have waited in the Lord’s presence and received a promise for this New Year 2013 – we may have received promises just for us, for our families, for our church and so on. Now what do we do with these precious promises. How are we going to inherit the promise of God?

1.   .Confession: Let us read Daniel 9, to see what Daniel did with the promise God gave through Prophet Jeremiah.

1In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:

“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

           

Daniel knew that the promise of return to Jerusalem will be fulfilled after 70 years. Then why did he pray in fasting? Why can’t he fold his hands and wait to see whether the promise is fulfilled or not. We learn a valuable lesson from Daniel. Any unconfessed sin can hinder God’s promise from being fulfilled in our life. Daniel did not want that. So he took up the entire sin of the forefathers on him and pleaded and stood in the gap. Let us also repent of our sins and of our forefathers.

2.    Conditional: Most of God’s promises are conditional. If you do this, I will do this. We cannot read just one verse without its context and claim it. We must read the verse in its context and see what the Lord expects of us. For example, Isa 58:8 has a great promise on healing - your healing will quickly appear. But we have to read the chapter from the beginning to see what we must first do on our part.

3.    Claiming: We have to recite the promises everyday – many times in a day – so the verse enters our marrow – it fills every being of us. If you have a promise of healing claim it. A promise about financial break through claim it – when we keep reciting it or writing it many times, it drives out every fear – every doubt. The WORD became flesh – so powerful is the word of God. Kingdom of heaven is taken by force. Matt 11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. When Esau came with 40 men to meet Jacob, Jacob reminded God the promise He made to him – basically he not remind God – he was actually claiming the promise. (Gen 32:6, 9). So it is our duty – to claim every promise of God.

4.    Acting in faith: For example when God gives you a promise “you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow;” Deut 15:6, we have to claim it and we have to make life style changes to cut down our spending – we can’t live the same way and expect a financial break through from God. We have to move with the Spirit; we have to yield to the Spirit so he can work in us. We should not confuse this with taking matters into our own hand. For example Rebecca clearly got word from the Lord that Esau will serve Jacob. But she took matters into her own hands and made Jacob dress up as Esau and get his blessing and the consequence was too much – she never got to see her favorite son again.

5.    Hope: Also some promises are for future – It took 25 years before Abraham’s promise can be fulfilled (Gen 12:4 and Gen 21:5). It took 17 years before Joseph’s promise can be fulfilled (Gen 37:2 and Gen 41:46). Why does God promise in advance – so we can be full of hope in that waiting period. James 5:7 says how the farmer waits for the autumn and spring rains – so let us also patiently wait for God’s word to be fulfilled. He does all things beautiful in its time.

Let all the promises God has given to us be fulfilled for His glory. Hallelujah!

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,

By the living Word of God I shall prevail,

Standing on the promises of God.

Standing, standing,

Standing on the promises of God my Savior;

Standing, standing,

I'm standing on the promises of God.

If You Agree & ASK...

2013 Be ready for blessings!

Lord is our ROCK!

Take it Easy when you are in the LORD!