Choices: Part 2

Re-Cap:  In the declaration of Choices: Door No. 1 or Door No. 2 we discussed the weight of a Nation that was placed on the shoulders of a young beautiful Jewish woman that had been crowned Queen of Persia in place of her predecessor, Vashti.  While she may have felt ill prepared for this assignment, God knew that he could trust her with doing the right thing which is why he chose her.  Fasting must have been a common practice for her which is why she called for one, but customarily there only lasted one day.  Given the severity of the challenge, she called for a three-day consecration (no food, beverages, entertainment, etc.) and their spare time was used for prayer and meditation.  This unusually long fast points to the seriousness of the situation.  God answered her prayer and gave her a strategic plan to address the annihilation of her nation.  

Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, subtly alludes to his belief that God, in His sovereignty, has providentially ordered the events of Esther’s life to put her in a position where she can act to deliver all the Jews.   The trauma of being separated from her family now starts to make sense.  This is why it is so important for us (me and you) to trust God even when things don’t seem to make sense.

The Customized Strategic Plan Given to Esther:

1.     Approaching the King:  She prepared herself spiritually (fasting and prayer); mentally (“If I must die, I must die” Esther 4:16 (NLT)); emotionally (she was afraid but she didn’t let it terrorize her).  She told her chefs to prepare the most elegant banquet ever coordinated in the palace complete with fine linen, music, wine, décor, etc.   She dressed in her very best attire and royal robes, got her hair done, nails done and used the King favorite scented oils.  Without being there I know her appearance must have been breathtaking because as soon as the King saw her he raised the golden scepter and said, “Lil’ Momma, what can big Daddy do for you, name it and it’s yours, even if it’s half of my kingdom?”  Her seemingly innocent request for the King and Haman to her house for a banquet completely threw him off, I’m sure.  He ordered Haman to accompany him and off they went.

2.     The Ask:  The King was beside himself with curiosity.  While enjoying the wine and each other’s company he finally asked Esther again what she wanted and offered up to half his Kingdom – again. Her response was to invite the King and Haman back for dinner the next night and she promised to answer his question.  (Esther 5:7-8 (NLT). 

a.      When Haman left the Queen’s residence he saw Mordecai who refused to bow to Haman as Haman exited the palace and he was hot as fish grease.  As soon as he got home he bragged to his wife, family and friends about the exclusive dinner with the King and Queen and his position in the Kingdom.  But he sulked over Mordecai’s rebellion.  The wife suggested that he build impaling polls for Mordecai in preparation for the annihilation of the Jews and he consents.

b.     Ironically that very night the King discovered that he failed to reward Mordecai for saving his life by reporting an attempt to assassinate him (the King).  The next morning he asked Haman’s advice for honoring someone who pleased the king.  Assuming the King was planning to reward him he came up with an elaborate idea.  The King loved the idea and told him to do everything he just said for Mordecai.  Can you say BLANK STARE?  Can you say LOSER; how about crawl under a rock and disappear under a blanket of humiliation.

c.      Haman was ORDERED to parade Mordecai throughout the city while, he walked and Mordecai rode on the King’s horse, shouting praises about him for saving the King’s life.  CAN YOU IMAGINE THA SCENE? I’m crackin’ up doing a belly laugh, where’s the tissha, this is hilarious.  Can you say vengeance is mine or He’ll make your enemies your footstool?  Man, God is hilarious.   When Haman concluded he scurried off to his house with his tail tucked and told his wife and friends about his humiliation just before it was time to head to the Queen’s for their dinner party.

3.     The Answer:  After engaging in small talk the King asked Esther what she wanted.  Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.” Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?”  Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.” Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen.  Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden

a.      He had to be reflecting on how Haman had manipulated him and what he could do to nullify it the stupid law he enacted to annihilate the Jews, including his Queen.  While deciding on the appropriate punishment for Haman, one of the King’s servants informed him that Haman erected gallows to kill Mordecai.  He became angrier.

b.     Meanwhile, Haman stayed back to beg for mercy from the Queen, got a little too close to her just as the King walked in to witness Haman near his WOMAN and that was it.  The King ordered Haman killed on the impaling polls that Haman built for Mordecai.

He gave all of Haman’s property to Esther, who put Mordecai in charge of it and the King promoted Mordecai to Haman’s old position.

 

Choices (Conclusion):

Vashti refused the invitation of the King.  A move that could have gotten her killed but I’m thinking she might have been a little jalapeno pepper and was used to having her way with the King except this time she emasculated him in front of his royal subjects and he had to stand up straight.  Her choice changed her life forever.

King Xerxes made a hasty decision to dethrone Vashti, while he was drunk and regretted it, but it was too late to retract it.  His choice ultimate led to God’s plan.

Hadassah (Esther) had to decide whether she would trust God or not.  Her choice to trust God saved not only her life, but the life of an entire nation.  She was rewarded for her obedience

Mordecai made a choice to believe God out the gate.  There was no other option as far as he was concerned.  Though he was well aware of Haman’s hatred towards him, God made his enemy (Haman) bless him and gave him an Ephesians 3:20 blessing.

So when you are faced with situations that you don’t understand; when it feels like your trapped in the darkness of the challenge your facing with no way out; when it feels like God has forgotten you; TRUST HIM to make the right Choice.  He will blow your mind (your way of thinking) every cotton picking time.

In His Excellent Service

Tania

Choices: Door No. 1; Door No. 2

Decisions decisions decisions.  Do I chose door no. 1 or door no. 2?  From childhood we begin making choices.   Some of us had to make choices that were not age appropriate forcing us to grow up (mentally) a lot sooner than we were ready to.  Others were handicapped by overprotective parents causing a delayed reaction in their ability to make adult decisions and then there’s everyone else who fits somewhere in between.  Oh, wait, there is another group, they believe they can stay neutral by not making any choices, just letting life happen, little do they know that no decision is still a decision.  It’s a decision to do no-thing – duh.

 

Today we’ll look into the life of a young lady that was forced into making a choice that was not age appropriate by any stretch of the imagination; and that choice changed history.  Here’s my paraphrased version of the story:  Xerxes, the King of Persia, and most powerful man in the world at the time through a huge party that lasted 180 days.  On day seven of the party he was “high in spirits” from the wine, ordered his wife, Queen Vashti, known for exquisite beauty, to the party and to show her off.  She wasn’t having it and refused.  He got so mad he couldn’t think straight, plus he was drunk as a skunk, so he asked his advisers for advice.  They said to put her out, which he did, but the next day he realized his mistake, however, it was too late.  To appease the King a kingdom wide search was made for a replacement right away. 

A young Jewish girl, Hadassah, along with hundreds of other virgin girls were taken (kidnapped) from their homes and brought to the King’s harem and undergo a rigorous process of preparation which lasted 12 months.  She was orphaned at an early age due to the death of her parents and raised by her uncle, Mordecai, a godly man who worked in the King’s palace.  Uncle Mordecai told her to hide her Jewish nationality and she did without question.  Of the “hundreds” of virgins brought before the King he chose Hadassah whose name became Esther whose beauty exceeded even Vashti’s.      

Haman, an enemy of the Jews and the King’s right hand man, was full of pride and hate.  He especially despised Mordecai because he would not bow to him when he (Haman) entered or exited a room.  When he discovered Haman was Jewish he made a decision that he wanted all Jews to be exterminated and he manipulated the King into accepting this ridiculous plan.

Victory Thought:  So far we have a bunch of wealthy high ranking officials making some really stupid decisions.  Xerxes seems like the biggest idiot of them all. 

Mordecai hears Haman’s plot to exterminate ALL Jews that has become law.  He gets word to Esther (Hadassah) who says, “hold on Unc, I love you and everything, but I can’t do nothing.  If I go to the King uninvited I could be killed.”  Mordecai tells her two things that shake her up: 1) If she doesn’t help to save her people (an entire nation) God will raise someone else, and 2) Don’t get it twisted Missy, you will die like the rest of us Jews, Queen or not.  Now Esther is faced with the decision of her lifetime:

• Door No. 1:  Approach the King without an invitation (aka breaking Persian law) and take the chance of being killed on the spot if he does not hold out his gold scepter; 
• Door No. 2:  Do nothing and hope she will escape the sword; 
• Door No. 3:  Take a stand and fight for her people even though she has no idea what to do other than to follow her instincts

This is a young woman inexperienced with the shrewdness of politics in which Haman operated.  She had the weight of an entire nation on her shoulders; this was drama on steroids to the umpteenth power.  Because Mordecai was a praying man, there is no doubt in my mind that in a tough position like this, she called on the God of her ancestors like she had been taught as a young girl.  She got word to her uncle to call all the people together for a solemn fast on her behalf for three days and nights with no food or beverages.  Esther didn’t just call the fast, she and her servants fasted as well.  During that time of fasting I know in my heart that she had to pray for favor with the King; a strategic plan to outsmart Haman and expose him for who he really was, a master manipulator with an agenda of his own and to save her people.

The book of Esther is an amazing book of the plot, plans and deliverance of God’s chosen people based on the choice that one young lady made – to trust God for.  We’re not talking about some bills that need to be paid, the need for employment, healing from an ingrown toenail, etc. this was an insurmountable problem for an inexperienced young woman who was willing to die for her people, but God ...    The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.  Proverbs 21:12 (KJV)

I know that you may feel like the choices you have to make to survive, to stay focused and in the will of God may seem overwhelming, but when you consider Esther and the choices she had to make who would you say had more at stake, you or her?  Granted, some of the experiences we have made have been life threatening, but at best it was specific to your life alone, not the lives of other people.  Like I mean all African-Americans would die if you didn’t step up your game, or all Hispanic people, or all Pacific Islanders.  Everybody, extinct, gone, poof in one day.

If God can equip Esther don’t you think he can equip you with whatever you need?  The moral to this lesson is:

• Esther considered the cost – everything costs something.   Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? ³² And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. ³³ So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.  Luke 14:31-33 (NLT) 
• She positioned herself to hear from God (fasting and praying)  Esther 3:15-16 
• She did it afraid – Philippians 4:13

I’m out of time, we will pick it up tomorrow.

In His Humble Excellence

Tania

The Process of Baggage, Onions and Shoes

When my mom was a little girl in Texas it was a normal practice to push kids into the creek to teach them how to swim.  It was believed that the shock experience would ignite the natural ability to swim.  While many many people in her generation validated that theory, she was one of those that proved it incorrect and was traumatized by large bodies of water.

Some of us were pushed in the pool yesterday on the Victory Call[1] and you may feel like you’re drowning, because the baggage or layers that you have been carrying around for YEARS and/or DECADES “seem to” have kept you afloat but they didn’t.  You functioned as a broken, dysfunctional and uncomfortable person, sometimes wounding others because you “were” wounded. 

Your “new normal” seems a little uncomfortable (like a new pair of shoes), it’s a distraction, don’t get

lured back to the state of bondage (baggage).  You are not drowning, you are not suffocating, you were liberated and it simply feels different because:

·       You don’t have the baggage;

·       You peeled back some layers;

·       Your heart is being circumcised causing nakedness, vulnerability, a level of discomfort that is a normal part of the process;

As uncomfortable as it may “feel”, it is absolutely necessary in order for you to be: 1) a living testimony as you share with others through your words or with your lifestyle and 2) it is essential for the Journey so that you can move to a new “glory”;

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.  2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)

That is one of the reasons you have been in the same place, because you were trying to take that stuff with you on your journey and you cannot – take several seats please ma’am, please sir.

You felt liberated in the moment when we were on the Victory Call or in the Victory Room but the release for some is a perceived challenge because you have nurtured grief, shame, blame, confusion, hurt, anger, etc. for so long the new normal space is uncomfortable.

In closing, to say the circumcision process is painful is an understatement, I am sure.  Though it is an option today it is widely accepted and promoted in the western culture but in the Old Testament it was pertinent for the men of the Jewish nation.  It was an outward sign that they were God’s chosen people in covenant with him.  Today, our circumcised hearts represent the same thing but from a spiritual standpoint – we are a chosen generation, royal priesthood called by God, if and only if we serve him with our WHOLE heart, mind soul and body.  John 4:23-24 says: But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.  You absolutely cannot fake with God, it is impossible!  Truth comes from the heart, thus the heart must be circumcised of the old stuff that weighs us down, prevents us from growing and living in our purpose.  What stuff are you holding onto? Aren’t you tired?  Let it go, it may feel a little odd for a minute, but you will get used to your new normal.  

   

Circumcise:  to remove the prepuce of (a male); to remove the clitoris, prepuce, or labia of (a female); to purify spiritually. 

Deuteronomy 10:16 (ESV):  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

·       NLT; Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.

Deuteronomy 30:6 (KJV):  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

·       NLT: The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

Jeremiah 4:4 (KJV):  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

·       NLT:  The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

Be committed to your commitment no matter how it feels, what it looks like or what people say.

In His Humble Excellence

Tania

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[1] The Victory Call is a nondenominational prayer call that takes place every day, seven days a week at 6:00 am PDT