Do you help or hamper your church’s pastoral staff to accomplish their ministry?
23 Jun 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Esther 7
Esther 8
Esther 9
Esther 10
Acts 6
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4).
Do you help or hamper your church’s pastoral staff to accomplish their ministry?
God gives at least one spiritual gift to every believer. Peter writes, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability given by God to the believer at the moment of salvation for the edification of the body of Christ. Luke chronicles that when the church is growing, certain needs arise (Acts 6:1). He discloses that the apostles employ seven faithful Spirit-filled men to care for the widows so they can maintain their priorities (Acts 6:2-4). The end result is “the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7).
Employment Point: Apply your spiritual gift to serve others in the church.
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Reflections
Each of us ought to know what our spiritual gifts are. Otherwise it would be good to find out so we can learn and use it to bring glory to the Lord.
If you are interested, this is the link to find out what your spiritual gifts are:
“and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.””Esther 7:2 NIV
- King Xerxes has repeated his question to Esther at least three times for he knew there was definitely something and a reason behind the queen’s request since she risked her life to step into the inner courts. Yet, she delayed her response to the king and only revealed it at the perfect timing.
- Friends, let’s too learn from Esther and know when is the perfect time to ask for things. Learning to pause and wait and not rush.
“Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.”Esther 7:3 NIV
- We also see god-found wisdom in Esther when she speaks. Not like a sulking child but a wise woman, who carefully ask not for anything like his kingdom but that for her’s and her people’s life be spared. In the king’s eyes, he probably saw Esther as being victimised and he is for sure not ready to lose her. It would be much easier for him as king to protect her because he has that power to do so.
- Similarly, do we trust and believe in our Abba Father who too, has the ability and power to protect us?
“Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?” As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.”Esther 7:8 NIV
- Surely the Lord is not with him. The king stepped into the garden furious but he has yet to pronounce his verdict on Haman. But this accident which the king saw before his own eyes, happening at this timing, is a death sentence for sure. No amount of grace or mercy that the king have for Haman may be helpful now.
- “They covered Haman’s face”-his head was covered in preparation for execution.
“Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.” The king said, “Impale him on it!” So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.”Esther 7:9-10 NIV
- Do not intent on evil things for it will surely come back to haunt you. Haman does not only have pride. He wants to kill not just Mordecai but also wipe out people of the same race! If the Lord is with him, nobody could have stopped the tragedy from happening. Thank God that evil people got what they deserved.
- The king must have felt being a clown since Haman tricked the king to give him power and permission to execute the Jews. Only the death of Haman may be able to appease his anger.
““If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.”
Esther 8:5 NIV
- Esther already knows she has the upper-hand since the king realised what Haman had done. Yet, she knows her place and does not demand, asking with reverence and respect to the king.
- For us, the application is also to know our place. Yes we may all be children of God but that does not give us the authority to be disrespectful to our Abba Father. Speak to Him in reverend fear and respect. Stay humble and do not go overboard.
“The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.””
Esther 9:12 NIV
- perhaps the king also realised the death of those 500 men was not enough to redeem the evil Haman and his family has done. He go on to ask Esther again what she truly wanted. He didn’t even need to know what request it is but he is willing to grant it.
- Isn’t our Abba Father the same? He knew what He can grant, if He wants it and is not afraid of what we may ask of Him. In fact He already knows before we ask.
“Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.”Esther 10:3 NIV
- May we all too, be like Mordecai and work for the good of the Lord’s people and speak up for the welfare of our fellow brothers and sisters
“Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.””Acts 6:3-4 NIV
- Indeed His kingdom work is never about working in silos. The Lord often place us in communities or in groups where we have to learn how to communicate, pray, encourage or even exercise grace towards one another. It is all about building one another up, pulling the weaker ones along, etc. so that nobody gets left behind.
- I personally felt this is the time to learn how to work with others. We will arrive in heaven full of our brothers and sisters. It is definitely impossible to isolate ourselves and be alone. That is not what heaven looks like.
“Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.””
Acts 6:11 NIV
- Reminder to me to discern what was spoken to me. Never go against God and His teachings. We should do only what is right, even if it was to go against all norms. That is what we are all called to do. We cannot stop people from hating us for people hated Jesus as well. Since we are His disciples, we should expect to be treated similarly.
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“Acquainted With Grief”
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
June 23
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
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Reflections
In the past, sacrificial lambs were required for the redemption of sins and we know that was never enough. Year after year, the blood of lambs were shed because sin was not stopped. Human are humans and we will sin. There are no perfect humans and because of the sin of one man, men were forever cursed, born as sinners.
But the Lord has mercy. He sent His one and only son to come to earth as man, to fulfil the one purpose He is supposed to do. To go on the road of calvary. Offering us the ultimate act of love and obedience, where He took on the sins of humanity to reconcile people with God. Jesus made Himself the ultimate sacrifice-the perfect lamb of God, where no other sacrifices were needed thereafter.
Indeed if God truly lives in us, we will no longer sin because we can only serve one god. One heart will only want Him and no one else. There will not be space even for another.
Let’s pray:
Father we just want to thank You, for sacrificing Your one and only son, the blood that cleanses us of all our sins, making us new, granting us free grace, giving us direct access to You. All these cannot be done by mere plain works and we are grateful for Your love for us. Help us to reject the sins in our lives and live a new risen life in Christ. In Jesus’s name we ask and pray. Amen 🙏🏻
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