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’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we…well…as we collectively do what we do every week at this time, we step through the threshold into a brand-new shiny sparkly week that is just waiting to unfold. The next…the next paragraphs and pages of our story are about to be written as we move through this week and we gather here together every day, every single day to allow God’s word to speak to us and inform what that story is gonna look like. So, welcome to a brand-new week, and as it turns out welcome to a brand-new book. As we begin this week, we also begin the book of Esther. So, we concluded the book of Nehemiah yesterday, but we haven’t concluded the stories that come from exile. So, we remember Ezra, we remember Nehemiah, we know there’s a remnant coming back to Jerusalem but these people had been sent into exile as we know, and so we’re reading of the time of the exile coming to a close while people were still in exile. So, that brings us to the book of Esther. And even though this is a short book, this is a dramatic book and it comes at a good time. It’s like a breath of fresh air just moving in and moving us, ushering us into this new week.
Introduction to the book of Esther:
Esther is the story of Hebrew girl named Hadassah. She was orphaned, right, while in exile in Persia and then so she was taken in by her cousin and he treated her like his own daughter. His name was Mordechai and he was of the tribe of Benjamin. And as we’ve seen in other points in the Bible, people being taken exile sometimes had their names changed to a more localized name that people could understand which would make them on one hand, blend in better and on the other hand, make their names more pronounceable to those in authority. So, Hadassah was given the name Esther. Esther translates to mean star or morning star in Hebrew tradition. And according to the Scriptures, Esther was unspeakably beautiful in her appearance and she possessed a quiet character. And, so when King Ahasuerus who scholars believe to be Xerxes sought to find a replacement for his banished queen, her name was Vashti, he chose Esther. Esther, Hadassah, kept her ethnicity a secret, which proved incredibly important as the story unfolds. And, so, we begin. We’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Esther chapters 1 through 3.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this brand-new week that we are entering together. We thank You for the story of Esther that we are moving through. Of course, we know that Esther contains some pretty famous passages in the Scriptures, “for such a time as this.” So, Father as we move into this week we want to be available to You for such a time as this and although the drama and intrigue may be considerably different than in the book of Esther we want to be available and aware and alert to Your leading and to Your guidance in our lives so that we are available for whatever You may lead us to do for such a time as this. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. 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:
Hello Daily Audio Bible, this is Dwayne from Wisconsin, all praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today is August 12th today. So, calling in for some of the DABbers. I know there’s a number of you who have called in for your children. First of all, I want to say thank you to those who have prayed for me, all of you that have prayed for me and my shoulder. Things are hearing well. So, I thank you and praise God. No pain at all through the whole ordeal. So that’s a blessing. So, I want to thank all of you. And like I said, I know a number of you have called in for your children. I’m continuing to pray for all of you that have your children. So, we will pick that up again and start doing that here shortly. But today I’m calling in for Ken from Indiana. You called in and expressed your anxiety when calling in. Please continue to call in. I had a little anxiety when I used to call in first, but remember we’re all family, we’re all friends, and we all love you. So, we pray that the Lord will be with you and you’ll be able to call in more. Tracy, you called in letting us know that Robert Willing to Serve had passed on. My hearts and prayers go out to you and his family and friends. And truly, a blessing he was to those of us in the DAB, our community, so we want you to know that we’re praying for you. The sister who called in. a lady called in for her brother Robert whose dealing with alcohol. So, we’re praying for you and your mom. We pray that the Lord will remove that…that temptation in the name of Jesus. I want to lift this all up to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen, God bless, love you all.
[singing] I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever I will sing of the mercies of the Lord [singing stops]. This is Candace from Oregon. I have been witness to the Lord’s grace and mercy and His miraculous intervention once again. I don’t want to neglect to tell you because I had shared with all of you that my niece was in the hospital, she had drank so much alcohol that her liver was failing, she had kidney failure. And the prayer I kept praying was that God would spare her life and that she would be able to return to service to Him and be able to be a mom to her daughter. Well, she’s home. They do not…they say that she does not need a liver transplant, that she will be able to recover on her own. Praise be to God. I rebuke all foul spirits in the name of Jesus. I rebuke the spirit of alcohol from this woman’s life and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for His life, death, resurrection, and ascension on her behalf and His calling upon her life. And I thank You Jesus for everything that You’re doing and everything that You’re about to do. You are a God who hears and answers prayer. Thank You, King of the universe for everything that You’re doing for us. And thanks DAB family and for joining me…
Hi this is Veronica, I called last week about my brother Robert. I don’t think I left my name last week but I’m Veronica and I just wanted to give an update about my brother who has been gone, binging, he’s an alcoholic. He has been found. He has…the woman he has been seeing picked him up yesterday. So, he had been in a few different hotels. I mean 8 weeks straight of constant heavy binging on hard liquor. So, he is safe…in a safe place now but I am sure he is…he’s going through detox period, which is very violent for him, vomiting up blood. It’s just a very rough thing to go through, but he is in a safe place. So, I am praising God for that. And for those of you that have prayed over this situation, I have felt your prayers and I thank you. Please just help me to continue to pray for him on a daily basis. I feel so hopeless and discouraged with him and I just don’t…I don’t know what to do. I am thinking about running __ I think I need to do but anyway thank you. I also want to say that my 11-year-old has started listening to the Daily Audio Bible kids on the app which I am just praising God for. So, thank you and for everyone and I just love this community and anyway thank you. Have a blessed day.
Hi this is Nina from Vancouver. I’m just wondering if you guys can all pray for me and my fiancé, we are getting married in two weeks almost. We’re getting married during the August 31st weekend. So, when you are all playing in the water you can think about us. We’re getting married then and it’s just been a whirlwind and an interesting relationship so far, where God has just shown us that He is capable even when we are incapable. And I’m just praying and asking if you could pray for us just protection over the day and over the weeks before and just, yeah, protection from spiritual warfare. It’s just been a bit of a battle lately. And I just pray also that…that you all just have an awesome time together and that it’s just a time of relaxation, that you get to know each other and meet each other. I went to the More Gathering and it was just an awesome time to get to know the faces of people. Anyway, thank you so much and looking forward to seeing how your prayers are answered. Okay. Bye.