Esther 1:1-3:15 , 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 , Psalms 35:17-28 , Proverbs 21:19-20
Today is the 18th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we close down another week. And even as we close down another week, we’ll be opening a brand new book today.
Introduction to the book of Esther:
The book of Esther is a short little book, but it’s a high drama story that’s full of intrigue. Esther tells of a young Hebrew girl named Hadassah who was orphaned while in exile in Persia. And then she was taken in and raised as a daughter by her cousin Mordecai who was of the tribe of Benjamin. But they were in exile and exiled Hebrews often took on localized names. So, Hadassah was given the name Esther, which translates to mean star or morning star in Jewish tradition. From the scriptures we know that Esther was stunningly beautiful and she possessed a quiet character. And when King Ahasuerus, who is associated with Xerxes, sought to find a replacement for the banished Queen Vashti, Esther was chosen, although she kept the fact that she was Jewish a secret. And this proved very providential. Around the same time, a man named Haman rose to prominence before the king. And Haman was a descendant of King Agag of Amalec. So, the Hebrews and the Amalekites had been enemies dating all the way back to their origins, which would be Jacob and Esau. King Agag was executed by the prophet Samuel after King Saul defeated the Amalekites in battle. So, Haman’s hated of the Jews was personal. And it was reignited when Mordecai would not bow down before him in honor as the king’s highest official. And so Haman devised a plan to annihilate every Jew in the Persian empire. So, that’s quite a backdrop for quite a dramatic story. On one side of the king was this beautiful Jewish queen Esther. On the other side was this high official Haman who intended to wipe all Jews from the earth. So, the book of Esther is the basis for the festival Purim for the Jewish people, which was established by Mordecai in the book of Esther. The story takes place during the same period of history that we’ve been reading about when we’ve read through Nehemiah and the previous books that describe the exile. We’ll find many parallels in the book of Esther that we can apply to our lives. And God will always show up. The circumstance doesn’t always dictate the outcome of things. And everyone has an important role to play because God brings people into the picture for specific times and specific missions to get major things done in his kingdom. This can be large as Queen Esther saving God’s people from destruction or God sending you to rescue your next door neighbor. We’re all here for such a time as this. And so, with that being said, let’s dive into the book of Esther 1:1-3:15. And we’re reading from the Good News Translation this week.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week in Your word. And we thank You for all that You have spoken to us, all that You have shifted within us, all the seeds that have been planted in our lives that will yield a harvest. And we thank You for bringing us this far. All the way to the beautiful and redemptive story of Esther. We ask that Your Holy Spirit plant this in our lives and we thank You God. We love You and we worship You. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Good morning Daily Audio Bible. My name is Joy. This is my first time calling in and I’m so blessed by this ministry. I have been enjoying it on my walks and jogs every morning and I assure you that I have been praying and growing. This morning I’m calling in because I was encouraged to when I heard two other brothers from the prayer line call in who are in ministry as we are. And I felt led to go ahead and call in my first time to ask for prayer for my husband and I. We recently planted a church, our second, in Texas. And it’s been a four year journey and we decided to let go of this position because another phone call came in for a church in Missouri. And, so, we have been moving that direction, to take over a church in Missouri. However, we got a call the night before at 9 PM from that church, the night before we were to be celebrated the next Sunday morning to say goodbye to our church in Texas that that board has decided not to continue with us because we are foster parents who are having to go to court and be in trials to win our baby boy who we have had for 20 months in our home and we also have his sister and she is adopted. This trial has been going on since the end of January. It is now August. No one has ever seen a trial go this long and every time we go to court there seems to be a reschedule and with no end in sight. And so we lost this church and…this is the church in Missouri as well. All was…
Hi. My name is Shika from Los Angeles and I just started listening. __ start from January and I just hit February and I’ve fallen in love with the community and all I can think of is how I really wish I had a community like this. But I’m calling because I really need prayer. I’ve been married for four years. I’ve known him for nine years. He’s traditional, like, he’s Indian family. And I __ from Jamaica. And his parents have just made my life hell. And I thought it was just his past, like, they call me the N word, they call me __. And I’ve put up with this cause I thought…well…they don’t know better. My __ family, they don’t know Jesus but he’s been the problem too. He just came down and __ hateful person. And then when I was pregnant he was really verbally and emotionally abusive. He would like scream at me. And right when I had my son he __ didn’t want anything to do with him. And he was just terrible. He just….he was just so caught up on status and show. That there was spite for him. And, I’d said, you know, we needed a good environment __, and we need to be separated. __ that I have to fight him tooth and nail. __. I spoke to a lawyer and he said that he would get custody. __. And if he was as manipulative as I say then I won’t fare well. So, I don’t know what to do. I tried everything. I’ve tried counseling. Maybe my message is too long. I’ve tried counseling multiple times. __ I’ve tried everything I could with him. But he still is always blaming me and putting me down and I don’t know how to get out of this and I don’t know how to get strong enough to __ life time because he’s only twenty two months and __ custody…and…
Hi DAB family. This is Shelby. Forgive me for reading this but I don’t want to ramble. I’ve been listening for six years and finally got the courage to call today. I pray along with you all and look forward to hearing your familiar voices most every day. I’m asking you all to pray with me in finding the house that the Lord would have me have because I am a single changing aging woman and desperately need to downsize to something I can manage. I can’t afford to move unless I sell my house and I feel trapped in it. I’ve been down in the dumps over my living situation for years and I’m stepping out of faith, asking the Lord to provide the house of his choosing. I already feel the Lord’s hand in this because I found a home that I think will work and a couple is coming to look at my house on Saturday. I haven’t even listed it in the house and found wasn’t listed. Please pray that if it’s the Lord’s will, and that’s the important part, the couple will buy it and I will be able to get the other house. Timing is critical. I need prayer for wisdom, discernment, and courage to handle the negotiation and all of the for sale by owner transactions. I confess, I’m afraid. I also need strength to finish cleaning and decluttering before they see the house on Saturday, August 18th. Thank you family, Brian, and Jill for your prayers and all that you do. Listening to the Bible through the DAB all these years has changed my life and by relationship with the Lord. I recommend it to everyone I talk to. I hope to come back soon with a praise report. God bless you all. Bye-bye.
Hi family this is Prophetic Intercessor from North Carolina calling just to say shed prayer for those who feel that their dreams have been deferred for so long. And I have been so heavy the last two days. And my brother and my mother prayed for me just a few hours ago and I felt such a weight lift and I wanted to pass that forward because I know what it is to feel heavy and I know what it is to have a dream that’s deferred that makes your heartsick. But the other part of the verse in proverbs says that when the dream is fulfilled it is like a tree of light. So, I’m just calling to pray for those who find themselves with sickened hearts because there’s s some dreams and desires you’ve laid before God that you haven’t seen manifested yet. And I want to speak light over your life and I want to encourage you to stay on the course because God is not a man that He should rise but every word that He spoke He is well able to bring it to pass and I pray that God send a fresh wind into your life today to breathe upon every dry dream, to breathe upon every dry bone, that a new wind will come to every valley that you’re walking in until flesh comes back upon your bones and until you are reinvigorated. I pray in the name of Jesus that He would invigorate your heart today with peace, with joy, with hope, and with strength. That you will not stagger at the promise, but that you would hold fast, and that God would release eagles wings so that you do not faint, hallelujah, and that you do not fall moments before you cross over the finish line because the enemy’s tactic is to wear us out before we lay hold of the promise. But I rebuke every satanic plot that gets you to give up moments before the promise is realized in your life. And I join forces with you as a prophetic intercessor and I stand in the gap with you that your heart will no longer be sick because your dream is coming to be fulfilled. Be blessed. And I…