Well, my computer literally fell apart and now I have a new one. It's actually a "gaming" computer because that was the only one that I could afford and that was on sale. I have no idea what makes it a "gaming" computer but I like it. The only problem is that I can't get my word program to work, so I can't write anything. That means that I have to write straight onto my blog or I can't write at all! So this should be interesting. I just have so much in my heart and mind to write about that I sometimes suffer from paralysis. I just don't know where to start, or how to say everything, so I am just going to start writing "stream of consciousness style" and then try to edit it down to something that makes sense. So, here I go...
Where oh where do I begin? There is just so much! I really want to write about the Esther teaching that the Lord gave me because it's just so crucial for the season that we are in as the body of Christ. I don't have the verses in front of me at the moment so I am just going to write from memory and paraphrase verses to communicate the main point. I began studying Esther deeply in 2020 I think, and each time I read it there is more that I see that applies to these last days that we are living in right now. The important thing about recognizing the season isn't identifying a particular day or year that the Lord will return, rather, it is understanding all that is at stake, and what is coming, and how to be spiritually ready. If we don't know the season, we will be like the man that goes to work on a rainy day without an umbrella while his neighbor who checked the weather report is ready for the lunchtime downpour simply because he was paying attention. Have you ever been completely unaware of a major weather event? I have always been somewhat of a weatherman. In fact, my mother often said I missed my calling as a meteorologist because I always know what is going on with the weather. (True confession: sometimes I leave my weather radio on because I like the sound of the weather man's voice as he reads the report.) I know that's weird but I love it. Anyways, we recently had a hurricane here in Florida and I was completely checked out. People were talking about the storm that was coming and everyone was shutting down but I was just going on as normal until the afternoon before the storm hit. Needless to say, I was totally unprepared for what was coming and had a frightening experience the night before as I realized I had nowhere to go and a serious storm was barreling towards us. So, I panicked. I hate to say that many people are like me in that storm. They are just going on with their lives while a huge storm is forming and coming towards us. It's not business as usual. This time is different than any other time in the history of the church, and we have to discern the season so that we can be prepared with our spiritual weather gear!
Esther is a story that can help us to prepare. We can say many things about this book, but in this post I will just mention the salient things that the Lord is showing me that have already been a wonderful help to me in a time of trouble. Esther was made aware of a plot to kill her people, the Jews, and she sought God in prayer before going to her husband, the King, to ask him to save her people from annhilation. So imagine that you are Esther, and you fast and pray three days before going into the King who you know could kill you for approaching him unbidden, and the Lord tells you to go ask the King if he would come to a dinner party with the man who is plotting to kill all of your family, friends, and your people!? Like, come again??? In the Hebrew culture, only those who are deserving of honor are invited to dinner with a King. That means that God was instructing Esther to honor the Jew's arch enemy who was threatening their annilation. Imagine the faith that it took to carry our this plan. The Lord instructed Esther to do something that was not humanly a reasonable thing to do, and it was incredibly risky. Oh yea, this has God's fingerprints all over it.
I see a forshadow of Jesus in this story. Jesus said, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is the devil." Hmmm. Jesus only did what the Father instructed him to do, and the Lord instructed Jesus to invite Satan into his inner circle. Just as Esther invited Haman to a dinner, Jesus too invited Judas to a dinner-and he even fed him as Esther fed Haman. And all of it was God's will.
It's hard to eat dinner with your enemy. Dinner is usually shared with family and friends when we are relaxed and can let down our hair and be ourselves. In fact, it's hard to even digest food if you aren't relaxed, and yet, this is exactly where the Lord wants us to sit down with the enemy and have a feast.
"He prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemy. My cup overflows." When God invites the enemy to have dinner with us, it is because He wants to do something for us and in us. He wants to release more His glory into our lives. He wants to draw us closer to Himself, He wants to pour out more of His Spirit and bring more of His kingdom into our lives! But it's scary. It's nervewraking. It's downright hard to be in the presence of the enemy, let alone have dinner with him. I don't like it at all, but it's not up to me. God knows what He is doing.
But notice when the King offers up to half of the kingdom to Esther.
"So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. And the King said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is they petition? and is shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed." Esther 5:5
It was during the banquet of wine that the king offered Esther "even to the half of the kingdom." This evokes Jesus telling his disciples that it's God's good pleasure to give us the Holy Spirit who administers the kingdom of God.
"He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemy, my cup overflows" the beloved Psalm says. And here we see the table being set, not by Esther, but the divine hands of a Heavenly Father who is waiting to work through one child who will trust him completely in the thick of the battle. That is when we are most prone to go our own way, to turn to the gods of this world for "real" help. But the eyes of the Lord go to and fro through the earth searching for one whose heart is perfect towards him. Well, there is another who goes to and fro through the earth, and he is looking for someone to devour, and it is the devourer who the Lord invites to our dinner party to see what we will do. Will we trust Him? Will we look to Him as a maiden looks to the hand of her mistress? Will we say with David, "God alone is my help. In Him alone will I trust." When the armies compass us about on every side, will we say, "even then I will be confident, for God is my help, my fortress, my deliverer. In the time of trouble He will set me on high. Or will we flee to other people, places, and things for help? Things that make sense and that the world would agree with and even applaud. Will we think and behave in ways that make sense to us-but are not what He is saying to do?
Satan spoke through Peter when he rebuked Jesus for saying that he would have to die. God's plan didn't make any sense to him because he was thinking like a human. Jesus has been in prayer and had heard the Lord's plan-and it didn't make any sense to Peter. There will be many things in this hour that won't make sense to us. If we "think them through" and apply our logic and reason, we won't follow through with what God is saying; the price will be too high because it will look like our goose will be cooked by obeying the Lord.
I don't know if Esther told anyone about her plan to invite Haman to dinner, but if she had, I am certain that they would have talked her out of it, and they would have made total sense! Peter tried to talk Jesus out of obeying the Lord, but niether one of them listened to the voice of reason and both heeded the Holy Spirit. Oh, this is the wisdom for this hour of darkness. Will you heed My voice my children? Will your trust what I am telling you to do even though it looks like it could harm you in some way?
Our lives are at stake when God invites our enemy to dinner with us. But if we will obey him...guess what's (who) is for dinner? Yes! Our enemy. Those forces that have sought to master and destroy us are decimated under the feet of Jesus when we trust the Lord. You see, the enemy wants us to hear his taunts, see his awful face and react in fear and huma reasoning. Satan is banking on eating US for dinner, but the Lord is ready to assist us and give us His power if we will but trust Him so we can beat the enemy to dust and recieve the overflow of living in the King's Kingdom and eating the King's food. And what is His food? It's Jesus. It's the life of the Lord Jesus in us and then through us.
So, I want to conclude by speaking from my heart here about what the Lord has been showing me about this season. It's a test. It's a season of separation. He is separating the light from the darkness in our hearts. He is examining the warp and woof of our deepest heart issues to purge us for His coming. He is making our garments white for His return. He is forging saints in the firey trials of this end-time shaking that will whiten the garments of his bride, call in the end-time harvest, and cause the wicked to become more wicked.
There isn't much time. The Lord is doing a work in the earth because time is running out. His Father heart wants all of us to be saved, so the shakings are coming to teach, prepare, discipline, warn and separate the wheat from the chaff in our lives. The things that are happening in Israel are also happening in the church. God is using the enemies of Israel to bring them to repentance just as he uses our enemy to cause us to return from our love of the world-from idolatry. In Zechariah, the Lord laments how his people used his blessings and adornments to commit adultery with the world. He speaks of finding them abandoned and dying on the side of the road. He took them home like a baby and cleaned them up and gave her beautiful garments and lavished her with beautiful things only to have her turn and use all of His gifts to lure other lovers and to commit adultery. Because of her sin, and to teach her to love Him and to follow Him, the prophet says that he will allow her to suffer famine, war, and other hardships. While it seems harsh, the purpose is to save and to heal her.
He says if Daniel, Noah, or Job were there, only those three would be saved. I have contemplated why these three. As I thought about it, it struck me that these three men were all noteworthy for enduring hard things. Daniel, Noah, and Job all paid the price when their faith was tested. Daniel refused to stop worshipping God when laws were passed against his religion in order to get him into trouble. Instead, he just kept right on praying three times a day with his windows wide open towards Jerusalem even though it would cost him everything. But God sent his angel and delivered Daniel because "he trusts God" to deliver him. Noah endured persecution while he builds his ark and of course we all know that Job suffered greatly. The season that we are in will cause many to turn away because they will not be able to endure hardship for the faith and their love of God. But these men loved God. They loved God more than their own lives and with His grace and power, they continued to say "Yes. Yes, Lord, though I perish, I will not bow down."
It's time to discern the season and to watch and pray, to be close to the Lord, calling on Him and being filled with His Spirit. As we endure trial after trial, we will be filled more and more with the wine of His power and love, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
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