Esther . . . Part 2

Before we head off to the Pinnacles for my traditional birthday "nose to nose" pictures with my girls (and walking hand in hand with my awesome bride in the splendor of God's awesome Creation!) I wanted to send another Esther thought your way. Again, I'm not saying that God intended this symbolism when He authored Esther, but more that He is showing me something using Esther. (By the way, these two pictures are last years "nose to nose" pictures. Someday, maybe, I'll post years before that.)

Es 2:17-18 says: the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

Notice here that the entire province was blessed by the favor Esther had in the King's eyes. For nothing they did, simply because the King was delighted in Esther, the region experienced blessing and relief and gifts. I believe that our "regions" (neighborhoods, workplaces, classrooms, homes, circle of friends) should be experiencing localized blessing simply because of our place of favor with the King as His children and friends and the bride of His Son.

Think about the workplace, for example. We are the ones with access to the King's wisdom, His blessing, and His creativity (just look at nature—He defines creativity!). When unique solutions are needed, when problems arise that are new, when great wisdom is required, who better to display that than the ones who have access to the wisdom and mind of the Creator of the universe? Our bosses should see in us excellence and creativity and wisdom outside of this world's (that doesn't mean they will receive it).

When areas are struck down, and hopelessness abounds, and unforgiveness and judgment loom large, who better to alter that atmosphere than the ones who bring with them the living Holy Spirit of the living God?

Whatever our environment or region of influence, simply walking with the King and having access to His heart, and having He who created intricate flowers and DNA and ecosystems dwelling in us, should make us supremely different. And that, like radiant heat, has the potential to lift up and bless all those around it.

God loves the whole world, but He has given His heart to His children. He has given us a place of friendship with Him and favor with Him and access to Him. When the Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, makes His face to shine upon us and grants us His favor and delight, that should flow not just upon us but all around us—it is too big to contain. This doesn't mean that others will receive it or recognize it, but it should be there none the less.

The world has enough judgment and anger and selfishness. Let them see the unselfish love of the Father in us as we share the blessings of our favor with Him with them, and then they will see modeled the heart of the Father who gave His Son for them when they didn't deserve it, and they will see glimpses of a heavenly realm that will lure them as Heaven touches them and reveals itself to them through us.

Note: I owe great credit to Bill Johnson for opening my eyes to this line of thought through his teachings and books.

Esther . . . Part 1

As I was reading in Bill Johnson’s book Dreaming with God he was talking about how the disciples went from a servant to friend relationship with Jesus in which Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). As Jesus’ friends He shared with them the things of heaven, the things His Father shared with Him.

It reminds me of when Jesus told Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). I believe God stands ready to share His voice and thoughts, and reveal secrets of His heart from heaven, to those who will be His friends. He has, I believe, created us for intimate relationship with Him which involves a sharing of hearts. For a variety of reasons we don’t always hear (or recognize) His voice as easily as other times, but I believe the invitation is there for us to pursue.

While talking about that change in relationship with Jesus that the disciples experienced (from servant-based to friendship-based) Bill mentioned casually that of the people of old the one who might really understand that would have been Esther who went from captive to queen. As God so often does for me, a comment made almost in passing can change the entire direction of my study or thought. I found myself looking up the book of Esther and from there starting to read it, and I was caught up in excitement as my heart was quickened to so many things in that book that I had never seen before.

I plan on sharing some of these things in some upcoming blog posts. I shared a few at church yesterday and I want to state something here that I stated there, which is this: In what I will be sharing that He showed me I am not saying that God meant these things to be symbolized as He authored Esther (that He intended the symbolism or wrote it to symbolize them). I believe the book of Esther to be a true, historical account that stands as it is written without there needing to be symbolism in it (though, maybe He DID intend it, I just don’t know). What I am saying is that He is USING the story of Esther to illustrate some things for me. As I told the church, I don’t believe God created seeds and soil simply to illustrate evangelism, but I believe He USES seeds and soil to illustrate evangelism. Likewise, I don’t know that He authored the book of Esther to illustrate the things I will share, but rather that He is using the book of Esther to show the things to me that I will share.

The first of the things that I felt God showed me was the invitation to us all to move from captives to a place of intimacy with the King. Esther was an orphan, and a captive, living in a land not her own (the least likely, in other words). Then, one day, she finds herself the Queen of Persia, and in a place of intimacy and relationship and favor with the King—still living in a land not her own, but now positioned to hear the King's voice and to influence the land from her place of favor with the King. We all are captives to sin and slaves to Satan until we accept the blood of Jesus as our sacrifice for our salvation. When we do we become the Bride of Christ, the children of God, colaborers with God, citizens of heaven living on earth (not our own land) with a tremendous potential to have tremendous influence over our regions because of our place of favor with God and our new identity as His children and dwelling places of His Spirit.

So, I encourage you to pick up your Bible and read through Esther. It’s not too long. Tell me what God shows you. I’ll be telling you what He has showed (and is showing) me.

Your friend in the journey. Love ya all. Erick.