Main Text: Esther 8:1-17; 9:1-32; 10
Watchword: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14.
The major lesson of the book of Esther is that God can and will provide protection for those who trust in Him.
Haman and his sons were descendant of the ancient Amalekites (Esther 3:1).
God commanded Saul, the son of Kish, king of Israel to completely destroy the Amalekites but he failed (1 Samuel 15:18-21; Deuteronomy 25:17-19).
Mordecai a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin and a son of Kish (Esther 2:5-6) completed God’s judgement against the Amalekites. (Esther 9:7-9).
The wisdom of God is seen in this book in arranging the smallest events so as to produce great results, He arranged his servants and restrained the enemies.
God gives his children victory through protection, provision and promotion (Ephesians 3:20-21).
God has a divine plan for our lives and we are given divine moments to alter circumstances with our choices, there is no such thing as fate or luck in a believer’s life.
Even though God’s name is not mentioned directly in this book, God’s presence is seen throughout. The time to follow God’s plan is now by living for something greater than yourself. (Esther 4:14)
- There is no safer path than the will of God.
- There is no safer plan than the word of God.
- There is no safer place than the arms of God.
Don’t settle for anything less than total victory because any enemy that confront you today is the one that God is ready to destroy i.e Pharaoh, Goliath to mention a few. (Esther 9:11-17).
God Cares for His People Even When He Does Not Seem to Be Present
The feast of Purim is an annual celebration of the salvation of the Jews from the destruction that was described in the book of Esther. It demonstrates God’s care for his people even when He does not seem to be present.
Amalekites are Esau’s descendants (Genesis 36:12) and are the first nation that attacked Israel when they were in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. They chose a peculiarly coward and brutal way of attack by coming from behind and killing the elderly and weaker Israelites that were straggling behind. (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). This angered the Lord and as a result God singled them out for divine judgement. (Exodus 17:14-16)
Saul disobeyed God by not killing all the inhabitants of Amalek and keeping some of the booty for himself which led to him being rejected as king. (1 Samuel 15:7-9)
The story of Esther points it out repeatedly that the Jews took none of the plunder after they were allowed to kill Haman and his descendants (Esther 9:10;15 &16) despite the king’s law permitting them (Esther 8:11). By not committing Saul’s sin they finally had total victory. They were not motivated by greed and self-advancement but were solely focused on obedience to the word of God and defending their heritage.
Many times, we place our assessment of temporal values over obedience and trusting God’s value system by desperately filling the potholes of our rebellion with reasonable lies to keep our way smoother. When we have to make up excuses for our behaviour, blaming others or the situation, we are on the road of disobedience and it shows that we trust our instincts than the spirit of God.
Partial obedience is disobedience which is rebellion and it always robs a man of God’s eternal glory. Total obedience brings total victory. (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
The last session of the Book of Esther was designed to teach us the need to remember and keep record of God’s great deliverance. It signifies that there is the enjoyment of the fruits of the Spirit as believers when we conquer and gain victory over the evidences and manifestation of the flesh.
You cannot have the fruit without the process, we need to come to the actual experience of these wonderful truth of Christ in us becoming our resources. It is not how much you can do for Christ but letting Christ show the world what HE can do through us. It is now Christ life being manifested in us in terms of our daily activities of a Spirit filled life. (Philippians 4:13; Matthew 19:26)
The nation of Amalek is long gone but they live on as the internal and eternal enemies that we all battle with on daily basis that pictures the flesh, the world and the devil. They will attack and try to destroy us spiritually as we are coming out of our own spiritual Egypt and walking through the wilderness of life to our Promise Land of spiritual inheritance. (1 John 2:15-17)
The spirit of Amalek will always position itself against you, your dream, children, destiny and it has no preferred gender (male or female) or colour (white or black), it is a wicked spirit that aims at completely destroying you.
The strategy is still the same, a major demonic principality that creates passivity to wear out and wear down the people of God until they lose their posture of prayer and faith in God.
Subsequently making wrong decisions and choices regarding their destiny and inheritance and possibly being even demonically influenced to a place of disobeying the word or instruction God has spoken to them about their future.
You can overcome your Amalekites by relying absolutely on God just like David that pursue, overcome and recover all. (Psalms 121:1-2)
To also win your battles in life you need to recognise the Moses in your life and learn to lift up his hands. Don’t face this challenge all alone share your burden. (Exodus 17:11-12)
Joy, Laughter & Hope
The feast of Purim is a celebration filled with joy, laughter and hope. The celebration is being carried out with a day of rest in holiday mood, showing generosity with deep concern for others and sending gifts to the poor. God is faithful to all His children, this must reflect in our personal devotion to Him which must infiltrate every aspect of our lives.
Laughter and weeping are the two most intense forms of human emotion and both also must be consecrated to the Lord. (John 13:34-35). The result of resounding victory here focus more on overwhelming joy and rest.
A celebration of God’s goodness and His rich mercies in our lives cannot be accomplished without the fullness of joy. Joy signifies the fullness of the spirit and it more than happiness because it lives in you as a believer through tough trials, it is a fruit of the spirit.
Fullness of joy is when your delight rises to the height of overflowing gladness in songs or other forms of exuberance that outweighs all other competing emotions that overflows in love to others. (Psalms 16:11; Philippians 4:4)
God wants to teach us the wonder of rest which is relief from worrying, fretting, lifting of burdens, freedom, breaking the walls of pretense and defense by means of depending on Him and not ourselves so that we can cease from our labour. As believers we can only experience true rest in victory when we cease to depend on our own activities and rely on the work of the holy spirit that dwells in us. (Matthew 11:28-30).
Confession: Every enemy that has made evil plans for me will fall victim of their own plans in Jesus name.
I will walk in victory by obeying you absolutely and teaching others to also walk in your way.
Every spirit of Amalek troubling my life be consumed to nothingness by the fire of the God. I refuse to be stagnated, l refuse to be stopped, in Jesus name.
I will walk in victory and fulfilment as the Lord demonstrates His awesome power in my life in Jesus name.
Prayer: Oh Lord, let the book of remembrance be opened for my sake, let promotion, lifting and reward come my way from today. Amen.
Oh Lord, help me grow in your grace and teach me to trust you more and more every day. Amen.
Oh Lord, wipe out everything that contend with my existence on the face of the earth by any means possible in Jesus name. Amen.
Oh Lord, give me resounding victory over everything claiming to be god in my life. Amen.
Additional Reading: 1 Samuel 15:1-34; Psalms 121:1-8; Exodus 17:8-16; 1 Samuel 30:1-20; Psalms 126:1-6
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Read Victory is of the Lord here