THE GOD WHO DELIVERS US

Esther 5:16 NLT So Haman’s wife, Zeresh, and all his friends suggested, “Set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it. When this is done, you can go on your merry way to the banquet with the king.” This pleased Haman, and he ordered the pole set up.

Have you ever been in a situation where the more you prayed the worse it seemed to get? If so, be encouraged today by Esther’s story!

Esther was in the situation where the whole Jewish race, in the land where she lived, were to be annihilated on a certain day. Mordecai had refused to bow down to Haman, the king’s man, and his hatred of Mordecai led to a decree to wipe out all the Jews. Mordecai challenged Esther to not keep quiet, to use her position as queen to appeal to the king, but she knew if she did she could be executed, so she asked her people to pray and fast for three days.

She was a brave lady and put her life on the line to ask the king for a favour. All seemed to be going well and she was to meet up again with the King and the evil perpetrator Haman the next day, but in the night Haman’s family incited him to have a gallows made on which to hang Mordecai the following morning! Overnight the situation went from bad to worse! It looked hopeless! Ever been there?

So often we only see half a picture, we only have half the story, and we can’t see the end result that God has planned. As the story unfolds we see God at work and at the eleventh hour His delivering hand intervenes to change the course of history. We’re reminded God is in control of our lives, even when things look like they couldn’t get any worse, but if we do as He says His plans are worked out.😊

So if you’ve been praying, don’t give up, even if things look like they’ve only grown worse. Know that God is working things out that we know nothing about, and He can turn situations around when all seems lost and it looks impossible. 

Jesus told us that nothing is impossible for God and if we trust Him and His timing, He will work all things together for our good. Esther faced execution for going to see the king, Mordecai faced the gallows because he wouldn’t bow to man. God delivered them both, and the whole Jewish population who faced annihilation. God doesn’t do half  a job, He rescued them all!😊

Our God is the same God who delivers us, so be encouraged today that whatever you are facing, God is still our delivering God. In Jesus name. Amen.😊

Photo: Ben White on Unsplash

STRESSED?

Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.    

I read this comment recently which made me chuckle. It said “The reason we eat ice cream, chocolate and cakes when we’re stressed, is because ‘stressed’ spelt backwards says, ‘desserts’!  That explains everything!🤣

Seriously though, when we’re stressed the answer isn’t comfort eating, tempting though it is, but there has to be a better antidote and there is!

God’s stress busters come in different shapes and one of them is His supernatural peace which we don’t go to the chemist to buy, it’s available as a free gift and we don’t even have to queue up to receive it. God has already placed it inside us as one of the fruit of the Spirit and it’s in there for us to tap in to at any time, but when we’re under pressure we tend to forget Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you…” We have it, so let’s use it and put it to work!😊

Other stress busters are God’s promises. When we worry about paying bills, we need to remind ourselves God has promised to provide all our needs by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19). When we’re stressed with fear, and panic wants to set in, we remember God is for us, that He is the Almighty who is in us, beside us, holding us up and nothing can separate us from His love. God is for us so who can successfully be against us? No one!

Our verse above reminds us to pray about everything and anything with a thankful heart, so whatever is trying to stress us out, we can take a deep breath and talk to our heavenly Dad who loves us and ask for His calm to fill us.

And let’s remember we can call on the name of Jesus our Champion, who defeated every devil in hell, who is interceding on our behalf with the Father. When we call out ‘Jesus’ He is right there with us and angels are assigned to rush to our aid. 

So next time we’re stressed out, don’t let’s go to the cake tin, but call instead on the Holy Spirit to help us overcome whatever it is trying to stress us out in that moment, and then when we’ve overcome maybe we can have a cake to celebrate our victory.🤣 Amen.

Photo by Imad 786 on Unsplash