Esther 2 - Gods favour

Hello my lovely ladies!

I know the readings eash day are short but there is so much in this book and coz its so short i needed to really break it down.

1. God has a perfect plan for us (Jeremiah 29v11)
God had big plans for esther, she was to be queen and save all her people, big plan yeah? but esther was but a simple girl and even more a jew in a persian counrty. She wouldnt have thought for one moment when she was taken form her family that there was any way she would become queen!
We need to think big! Gods plan for us is bigger than we can imagine, He has it right there for the taking, all we have to do is stay inline with Him and be obedient

2. Gods blessing comes when we are obedient!
Esther obeyed her uncle (who she lived with) by not telling them she was a Jew, but also the picture that is painted of esther is that she was a very obedient child and did what her uncle told her, she could have gone home to Jerusalem whenever she wanted but choose to stay with her uncle.
When esther went into the palace she found favour with one of the Unics that were in charge of taking care of all the ladies, she was given many extra priviledges by him. When Esther went before the King she immediatly had favour in his sight and he picked her, above everyone else even though he may not have seen all the other girls. It was because Esther obeyed and stayed faithd\ful not only to her uncle but to her God (she would have prayed a lot) that she had favour. God places people above us teachers parents leader etc, and they are all there by His appointment. (cant remember the verse) We need to obey what our leader say, we may not always like what they have to say but they are put there by God so we need to obey. classic example is with our parents, (..obey your parents because for this is right. honour  your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promice, that it may go well with you and that you will enjoy a long and happy life) sometimes we dont agree witjh our parents and our parents may not be christian but God wants us to obey and honour them, (obedience is better than sarifice 1 samuel 55v22)

So go, Obey your authoritys, and really push into God, talk to him, do some further study..Being close to God is so awesome. You will see blessing when you begin to Obey..

Much Love!!!
xoxoxoxox

Esther! ..God is in control

Hello everybody
5 more days till Jaana is back! yay
Hope you are all behaving yourself..

About the Book of Esther

The events that the first chapter of the book of Esther describes happened about 483 BC (Before Christ). Over 100 years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon) had attacked Jerusalem. He overcame the Jews and he took many Jews to Babylon. Almost 70 years after that, the king of Persia defeated the armies of Babylon in battle. Then the people in Persia allowed the Jews to return to their own country, but not many Jews did return. When the story of Esther happened, most Jews were still living in the country called Persia.

We do not know who wrote the book. It may have been Mordecai or Ezra. Whoever wrote it knew the customs of Persia well. We know this from other history.

The Bible does not mention the book of Esther anywhere else. Some people think that it is only a story. They think that it is not true. But the writer wants us to know that the story is true. At the start of the book, he says when it happened. At the end of the book, he says that the official records included the story about Esther. (See Esther 10:2 and also Esther 2:23.)

The book of Esther does not mention the name of God. This is strange for a book that is in the Bible. Sometimes God seems to be silent. We might even think that he does not care about us. The writer of the book of Esther probably wanted his readers to realise that God is always in control. Although we cannot see God, he is always doing things in the world. Nobody can stop his plans.

·     Usually the kings of Persia only married wives from the 7 most important families in Persia. But God wanted Esther, who was a *Jew, to be queen. The servants of the king suggested that officials should search all the *kingdom for suitable young girls. The king would then choose his favourite girl and he would make her queen (Esther 2:2-4). God made Esther beautiful (Esther 2:7). And the king chose her to be queen.

·     Mordecai was Esther’s relative. He saved the king’s life. But the king forgot to reward him. That was unusual. But God knew that the best time for Mordecai to get his reward was much later (Esther 2:21-23).

·     Haman was the enemy of the *Jews. He wanted to select a lucky date when he could kill the *Jews. So he used the *Purim stones, which were a game of chance. God made sure that the *Purim stones chose a date nearly a year later. God had a special plan to save the *Jews from Haman’s plot (Esther 3:7).

·     Mordecai believed that God had made Esther queen. So Mordecai believed that God could use her to save the *Jews. But even if Esther did not speak on their behalf, God would still save the *Jews. Mordecai believed this also (Esther 4:12-14).

·     Esther went to see the king, although he had not invited her. In Persia, this was a dangerous thing to do. She knew that she was risking her life. But she also knew that God was in control. God helped Esther to please the king. The king promised to give her almost anything that she wanted (Esther 5:1-3).

·     We do not know why the king could not sleep that night. We do not know why he chose to read the books of official records. But we know that this was part of God’s plan. The records described how Mordecai saved the king’s life. So the king wanted advice about how to reward Mordecai. He decided to ask the first important official that he could find. It was Haman. Haman got up early and, at exactly the right time, he came to see the king. But Haman wanted the king to hang Mordecai (Esther 6:1-5).

·     Haman told his wife and his friends about Mordecai. He told them that Mordecai was a *Jew. They seemed to believe that God would protect his *Jewish people (Esther 6:12-14).

·     God changed the situation. Mordecai got the king’s reward that Haman had wanted for himself. And Haman got the punishment that Haman wanted Mordecai to get (Esther 7:5-10). Then the king allowed Mordecai to write a new law that would protect the *Jews from Haman’s evil plan.

·     The day that Haman had chosen for his plan came. The enemies of the *Jews had hoped to kill all the *Jews. But Mordecai’s law allowed the *Jews to defend themselves on that day. Haman’s plot had failed. God’s plan had succeeded (Esther 9:1-4).

·     The book of Esther records the origin of the holiday called *Purim. During this holiday, the *Jews remember how God saved them from their enemies (Esther 9:20-22).

ESTHER 1

This beginning of esther paints a very cruel and acurate picture of the persian empire at this time, that if you do not do what the king wants and according to the law, you will get thrown out, or even die.

But it also shows Persias great wealth, I mean holding two partys for the whole of the city not just for a day but sa whole week! farr!

But in all this, God had a plan, and used this incident with vashti being banished to save a whole nation, all by one girl.

Dont ever underestimate what God can do through you, to change things in your world..All you have to do is trust Him and fully be devoted to Him. In this day and age its pretty hard with so many ideas and wierd things going on, but does it really matter what other people think about us, when we know the truth?

I am definatly not saying it is easy, but God always comes through for us.

Be encouraged, trust God in everything, big or small things (money, transport, etc), and He will never let you down

:) have an awesome day!

xox