May

 

1st. DUTY: It may feel good to be polished up and shown off, but you aren’t just trophies to God. He uses you to achieve His goals.

2nd. PATIENCE: Patience is learned. The more devoted to God you become, the more patient you are through circumstances. You learn to keep your gaze on him. He is reliable.

3rd. VITAL PRAYER: Personal sympathy and prejudice interfere with proper intercession. Selfish perspective may not accept God’s perfect will.

4th. HUMBLE ACCESS: Can you be bold in a way the High Priest of old could not? Are you humble before a Holy God? Are you there to tell God what to do, or to find out what He is doing?

5th. JUDGMENT: Deception and rebellion make it difficult to get to God. It is with difficulty that the righteous is saved.

6th. FREE or ENTANGLED: Serving a belief system isn’t the same as serving a living God. There is a difference between believing the Bible and having a relationship with the one Whom the Bible reveals.

7th. BUILDING FOR ETERNITY: Will you pay the price to follow Jesus? Did Jesus know when He called you that you will? Don’t doubt it now.

8th. UNWAVERING: God does the aiming. Persevere through the stress and strain. His release, at the right time, creates a mighty rush of purpose, during which you must fly true. And yes, you’ll go through the process again and again.

9th. REVELATION: Without revelation, the people cast off restraint. Without vision, they perish. Without an understanding of God, you fall all over yourself. Facing life with ideals is good, but it doesn’t lead to the same result as proceeding with revelation.

10th. ADD INITIATIVE: Pray for discernment - leave God’s business God’s business. Take care of the business He gives to you. Take the initiative.

11th. ADD LOVE: You won’t reach the love of God on tiptoe, no matter how tall you are. Allow His life, and therefore love, to dwell IN you, and you won’t get easily HUFFED

12th. HABITS: Your habits aren’t to be worshiped, God is to be worshiped.

13th. CONSCIENCE: Steadily facing God allows your conscience to be introduced to God’s perfection. You need to have a good, clean conscience.

14th. ADVERSITY: You can be hard pressed yet not crushed, perplexed but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. You carry a great treasure in earthen vessels.

15th. VITALITY: Do you know the hope of His calling, the exceeding greatness of His power toward those who believe? Is it being displayed to the world?

16th. PARTAKERS: His divine power has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called you. You are a partaker of the divine nature through His exceedingly great and precious promises. You can escape the corruption that is in the world.

17th. HIS ASCENSION: Jesus ascended - He was carried up to heaven, having lived a normal life, having done His Father’s will. He is the example and the way of access.

18th. KEEP IT SIMPLE: You have been created. He is the creator. Life is as simple as looking to Him and having His life formed in you. Keep It Simple Soldier.

19th. LOVE REMAINS: How can you rise out of the wreck that life dishes out? Is it by His love, which cannot be severed from you.

20th. MAKE IT REAL: You have a part in possessing your soul. Kick out the intruders.

21st. SEEKING: All these things shall be added to you - when you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness

22nd. ONE: Its impossible to be independent and be one with the Father and the Son. The world believes that Jesus was sent by the Father when they see oneness.

23rd. CAREFULNESS: Its not the devil that has the power to choke the life out of a believer, it’s the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.

24th. DESPAIR to DELIGHT: You will have to feel very small in the sight of God before He will set you on your feet. Despair is turned to delight by the touch of Jesus

25th. SURRENDERING SELF INTEREST: When the natural is transformed into the spiritual, self interest no longer insists on control.

26th. UNCEASING PRAYER: When the natural is transformed into the spiritual, joy is always, prayer is continual, and thanks is given in all circumstances - without massive mental discipline.

27th. EMPOWERED: Obey. One accord. Christ glorified. Power from on high to accomplish what Jesus said was written and necessary?

28th. WITHOUT QUESTION: The resurrection Life of Jesus answers questions you didn’t even know how to ask. His life in you accomplishes what following Him doesn’t, what talking with each other about His words won’t.

29th. ONENESS IN ACTION: Access to God is provided in none other than Jesus Christ. When the redemptive work of Christ is accomplished in your life, when you are one with Him, you go beyond access to action to accomplish the Father’s purposes.

30th. BUTS: Following Jesus does not allow ‘Yes buts’. Faith moves you beyond the place where common sense prevents progress.

31st. FIRST: God, who needs nothing, has chosen to need you. Trust Him and put His will and His Son first.

 

April

 

1st. HELPFUL not HEARTLESS: Jesus is at the right hand of God, always interceding for the saints. When you have compassion, access to the Father, and the mind of Christ, you will be interceding as well.

2nd. SIGHT: Saul was blinded to the old way of seeing, and given a new way of seeing. Has your sight been changed to allow you to see all of life through the creative and redemptive purposes of Christ?

3rd. BLIND: The eyes of religion were shut to God’s way and therefore Jerusalem missed His peace. Are the things that make for peace hidden from your eyes?

4th. GROWING FAITH: Real faith isn’t good feelings and blessings. Real faith is living in a fallen world with the assurance of things not seen.

5th. AGONY: His agony led to your access to God. When embracing God’s will includes agony, will you opt for enticing alternatives, or will you triumph by countering every temptation with God’s word, God’s directives, and God’s will?

6th. VICTORY: He was crucified for ALL humanity. Do you have the victory of dying to sin and living to righteousness?

7th. SHUSH: Have you made up your mind on doctrine before receiving God’s light? Don’t take ownership of truth to the point that you prevent God from expanding your understanding.

8th. DESTINY: Jesus was not derailed from fulfilling what He was sent to do. The Holy Spirit won’t be either. If you’re sad or dismayed because things aren’t working out as you expected, you must allow the reality of God to penetrate your preferences. The truth will set you free.

9th. SEEING: Seeing is a flesh sense. Receiving is an internal yielding at the spirit level. Are you living beyond sight?

10th. DECIDING ABOUT SIN: You can’t curb, suppress, or counteract sin. You must be crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with.

11th. CO-RESURRECTED: A well-adjusted person is one who is resurrected with Jesus. Trying to be like Jesus is futile, because your concepts of Him are faulty. The Holy Spirit is reliable.

12th ETERNAL LIFE: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is His life NOW.

13th. BURDENS: Cast your burden on the Lord and He shall sustain you. Be rid of illegitimate burdens.

14th. YOKED: Being yoked to Jesus brings rest to your soul. He knows where to go, what to carry, and how to carry it.

15th. HIGH PLACES: Are you meticulous about keeping your spiritual house clean? Are there things in your life that you think don’t matter much, but God has a different view?

16th. BELIEVE: To bring the commonplace life up to the standard revealed in the “high hour”, you must pay careful attention while in the light and then rely on what you know to be true.

17th. PLUNGE: Peter plunged when He saw Jesus. You can’t afford to do anything less. You can’t be too calculating.

18th. BE READY: You must allow the Lord to get your attention. You must turn aside and respond, in both the big and little things.

19th. BE LOYAL: Passing the big test insures nothing. You must remain alert and loyal. You must receive wisdom from God, always.

20th. BE ACTIVE: God knows your capabilities. Your spiritual capacity is not dependent on your natural ability, it is dependent on God in Christ Jesus.

21st. BE SIMPLE: God wants to manifest Himself in you. You err by looking for Him to manifest Himself to you. Choose life, not lifestyle.

22nd. UNVEILED: Do you live with an unveiled face? Do you see clearly? Does the world see God in and through you?

23rd. WORSHIP and WORK: Your work should spring directly from your worship and it should please Him.

24th. SUCCESS SNARES: Religious success might be the biggest snare of all. You dare not pervert God’s intentions.

25th. EMPLOYABLE: Are you usable? Does God find you ready and willing?

26th. SUPREME CLIMB: You must be careful that your convictions don’t replace the Living God.

27th. WHAT do YOU WANT: Are you seeking the “dream job” or are you seeking to work faithfully for the “dream boss”?

28th. WHAT YOU GET: True life with God is a surprise and a delight. Accept it. Embrace it.

29th. UNCERTAINTY: The difference between childlike faith and deadly dogma is the difference between living comfortably with uncertainty and insisting on certainty.

30th. AGAPE: The love chapter in 1 Corinthians, makes the problem of mankind obvious. God is love. Flesh is something else.

 

March

1st. PAIN PROBING: The truth hurts, but it accomplishes the purposes of God.

2nd. DEEP HURT: Allow hurt in the center of who you are and you’ll find the life of God working in you.

3rd. TENDING: You don’t have to learn to love, you have to allow God, who is love, to reside in you. You will then tend to sheep with the supernatural love of God.

4th. HOLDING THE CALL DEAR: What you hold dear affects your kingdom fruitfulness. Practical work competes against abandonment to God. Common sense can lead to avoiding what God requires.

5th. FINISH: To finish the race, through all of life’s trials, is to enter into the joy of the Lord. In His presence is fullness of joy.

6th. NEXT STEP: If we are His, we are His ministers ALWAYS. We must draw on him for our next step. There are no situations we will enter where we are not His representatives. Represent Him well.

7th. CONQUER: In all things we are more than conquerors. The heavy surf is not something we fight. Its something on which we ride. God’s love can not be shaken.

8th. SURRENDER: You don’t reform your old life, you live His life. Redemption was obtained at the cross, and when you are truly crucified with Christ, the life you live is Christ in you.

9th. FOLLOW: You can’t set up camp on yesterday’s events. You must walk with Jesus, even when excitement turns to deep challenge. Don’t turn away.

10th. MESSAGE: Do you try to carry a message, or are you the message? You’re ready to convince, rebuke, exhort, and teach when you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Be the message.

11th. VISION: You are Called to fulfill your part in the Heavenly Vision. You must be careful to not allow Practical Work to interfere.

12th. SURRENDER: Just as natural love doesn’t love as God loves, so natural devotion doesn’t compare to abandonment. If you aren’t surrendered to God, you turn away from following Him.

13th. SURRENDER TO: There is no part of self that doesn’t need deliverance? You must allow God to salvage you, to bring salvation to you completely. Saved TO His purposes.

14th. YIELDING: A slave can’t tell his master that he insists on being free! Sin is a cruel master, and you will not get free by trying harder. Christ purchased your freedom. What part of your life has yet to experience His redemption?

15th. DISMAY: Are you fearful of following Jesus? Is there some distance between you and Him? He’s on His way to fulfill the father’s purposes. Are you?

16th. JUDGMENT: Hypocrisy gives the church a bad name - saying you’re His when you are not. Being unaware of the darkness that has enslaved you leads to walking in unconscious unreality. Judgment awaits.

17th. PLEASE HIM: Is it your aim, in everything and in every way, to please the Father?

18th. HOLINESS: If God has His way with you, other people begin to see God in your life.

19th. FAITH: Walking by Christian faith requires knowing Christ, living as Christ lived, and following Christ.

20th. INTIMACY: Your intimacy with God is directly related to your delight in Him. Can He confide in you?

21st. IDENTIFIED: Identification with Christ’s crucifixion is not the same as imitation or effort to follow.

22nd. ABIDING BURN: A part of us comes alive in the presence of Jesus - spirit life.

23rd. CARNAL: Spirit led - good. Flesh led - bad. Walk in the Spirit and produce good fruit.

24th. PURPOSE: You can’t be for other’s what only Jesus can be. Beware of increasing. He must increase.

25th. RELATIONSHIP: Your mission is to point people to relationship with Christ, not to yourself. Vitality for obedience is a result of relationship with Him.

26th. PURITY: Confess, draw near, humble yourselves. Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. The pure in heart shall see God.

27th. ELEVATION: The devil promotes with self-righteousness, self-promotion, and High Places. The invitation of God leads to focus on Him and His purposes.

28th. LOYALTY to JESUS: You dishonor Jesus when you are loyal to your own ideas and notions. You honor Him when you are loyal to Him at all times. You must serve God, not your ideas of God.

29th. READY? SURPRISED?: Are you ready for His visits? Are your eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of your faith? Is a major surprise awaiting you?

30th. HARDNESS OR INTERCESSION: Do you have more than an emotional interest in prayer? Does worship change the flavor of your intercession? Intimacy leads to understanding and appropriate participation.

31st. HEEDING DISCERNMENT: What do you do with what you see? Have you replaced ridicule and criticism with discerning intercession and intervention?

 

February

1st. The Good News of the gospel is that redemption is available for all. Resist the urge to selfishly receive salvation and sanctification but abandoning the great commission given by Jesus.

2nd. It’s easier for us to be justified by Christ than to be a disciple of Christ.

3rd. To be about kingdom business is to be the off scouring of all things. We dare not insist on certain conditions before being ‘separated to the gospel’.

4th. What grips you? Does the Love of Christ have such a grip on you that you can not escape? Are you gripped by something else?

5th. An offering is used up. Is it reasonable (Rom.12:1) to present yourself as a living sacrifice, to be poured out and used up for God’s redemptive and creative purposes?

6th. Have you prepared the altar so God can provide the fire? Are you a living sacrifice, ready and willing to be offered?

7th. You sometimes have the facts right, but your eyes are restrained from seeing the bigger picture. Is dejection a sign that the facts are handled incorrectly?

8th. Being “set apart” for God is easy, but it costs us everything. He who calls us is faithful, who also will do it.

9th. Spiritual exhaustion implies too little input or too much output. Decreasing the output is not the answer.

10th. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Imagine the purposes of God being worked out in you life.

11th. If you are bored and sullen it is because you are trapped in a fallen, see/touch world. A redeemed, God inspired imagination opens up a world of opportunity, expectation, and excitement.

12th. People avoid listening to God ‘lest we die’, but having someone else do the listening doesn’t accomplish God’s good intentions for your life.

13th. When circumstances press in, say Speak Lord. Listening and hearing also requires obedience to what has been heard.

14th. We don’t like the darkness, physical or spiritual, because we can’t see clearly. If we’re quiet, we just may hear things we’ve missed before.

15th. No one lives to himself. If you don’t let God have His way, it affects everyone else.

16th. INITIATIVE: Awake. Arise from the dead. Christ will give you light. You don’t need the inspiration of men, you need the inspiration that comes from the Lord.

17th. DEPRESSION will keep you from doing the common ordinary things. You must arise, and in the ordinary things God will refresh you.

18th. DESPAIR may come from sleeping through the opportunities Jesus has for you. You can’t fix your failures, but you can arise at the sound of His voice and move on with Him.

19th. DRUDGERY: You don’t have to be radiant to roll out of bed in the morning. The shine follows the discipline of arising.

20th. DAYDREAMING: There are dreamers who never do, and doers who never dream. You need to be a dreamer who does.

21st. AGAPE: Life should not be evaluated from the standpoint of “return on investment”. Surrender to God is of more value than personal holiness.

22nd. TENACITY: You’ll never be tenacious if you don’t know Him. You’ll never know Him unless you can be still. The assurance that God will be exalted allows you to persevere.

23rd. SERVE: You are to spend yourself for others, whether you receive praise or contempt. Understanding what Christ has done empowers you to serve in the same way that He served.

24th. SURRENDER: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. To lose your fleshly desires is to become alive in the kingdom.

25th. BE SPENT: Serve as Christ served - without a hook. Unconditional service, like unconditional love, doesn’t have conditions.

26th. MISGIVINGS: Like the Samaritan woman at the well, you don’t know what you really need, and you don’t have a clue how Jesus can provide it.

27th. LIMITING: Jesus comes to the well, the place where you transact our everyday business - the place where you carry on the drudgery of life - the common place ...and he offers you something you truly need.

28th. ABIDE: You leave Jesus alone when you don’t follow where he is walking, when you follow from a distance, or when you fail to embrace him completely.

29th DISTURBED: When Jesus asks “what do you want me to do for you?”, how will you answer him? Do you believe He can do the impossible?

 

January

1st. To keep from being ashamed, we need to keep to the point - the point at which Jesus asks us to YIELD - no excuses.

2nd. We must be willing to go out from where we are, the place where we live (physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually). When he calls us we must respond - no excuses.

3rd. It may involve clouds and darkness, and if we can’t go now, it may be because we haven’t yet made it to the life of power (our abilities can’t get us to where His Spirit wants to take us).

4th. When it is a question of the providential will of God - wait for God to move.

5th. Sometimes we want desperately to follow Jesus NOW, but we are trying to follow in our own strength.

6th. Jesus lived with worship, waiting, and work always together, fully integrated.

7th. Our intimacy with God is often severely hampered by our own plans and desires, our time misappropriations, our elevation of the promises to the position that only the promise maker should have.

8th. Living Sacrifices prove the will of God?

9th. The work of the Holy Spirit, that work that He was sent to do, is done in places we could never reach without Him.

10th. Our eyes are opened, and we are sent to open others’ eyes.

11th. Our obedience will cost other people.

12th. Aloneness with God puts us in a teachable position.

13th, Aloneness with God allows for clarification.

14th. When we spend time with our God, we become aware of His call, and just what we can volunteer for.

15th. If self rules, Jesus is not Lord.

16th. The call of God comes to those whose hearts are lining up with His. We can’t hear God over the roar of our selfishness.

17th. The call of God is to relationship, and service is the overflow of devotion to Him.

18th. There is a difference between “satisfying God” and “doing something for Him”. We can be devoted to self, service, or the Lordship of Christ.

19th. God’s silence is often the best discipline, destroying the self sufficiency that would otherwise keep a person in the common rather than the Holy.

20th. Obedience is not freshness, but it puts us in position for the freshness that comes from the Holy Spirit.

21st. Are we spontaneously kind to God (Whatsoever you do to the least of these) or are we only looking for His kindness to us?

22nd. Have we narrowed our intentions to focus on His kingdom and righteousness?

23rd. Abiding in the presence of God transforms us. Others will benefit from the change.

24th. Is the direction of your live changing from your end, your aim, your purpose, to His? Are you devoted, not to a cause, but to Christ Himself?

25th. Make room for God to do as He pleases, and expect the unexpected.

26th. Are you set apart for the simple life with God, seeking first His kingdom and righteousness?

27th. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust for things beats against our lives like a mighty tide, pulling us toward a despairing abyss. The truth of God stands as an unyielding protective barrier. The Holy Spirit guides us to safety.

28th. Avoid the snare of obstinate self will, of protecting your rights and ambitions, or you’ll persecute Jesus.

29th. Don’t be surprised when His truth exposes your ignorance.

30th. We need to be obedient to the revelation given to us by God.

31st, We need to allow redemption to affect EVERY part of our life. Hold on to nothing of self - redeem it for true value.

 Neh1

Nehemiah gets news from Judah.

Neh1:3 “.. The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”.

Neh1:4 “... I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven...”

Neh1:6,7 “...hear the prayer of Your servant ...confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You ...We have acted very corruptly against You ...”

Reflects on the way forward.

Neh1:8,9 “..the word which You commanded ...If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them ...I will gather them ...”

Neh1:11 He asks God for success when he approached the King

Neh2

King Artaxerxes notices Nehemiah’s sadness.

Neh2:2 “...So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad ...This is nothing but sadness of heart...”

Neh2:3 “... I said to the king, ...Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?...”

The King responds favorably.

Neh2:4,5 “...Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, "If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it..."

Neh2:7,8 “...If it please the king, let letters be given me ...that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber ...”

Nehemiah gets to Jerusalem.

Neh2:13 Inspects the walls by night.

Neh2:17 Recruits some help to rebuild the walls

Neh2:19 Gathers some opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah.

Neh3

What started as one man’s prayer of confession, becomes a huge team effort.

Neh.4

Sanballat and Tobiah campaign against the work.

Neh4:2-4 “... What are these feeble Jews doing? ...Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble ...Even what they are building - if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!...”

Nehemiah turns to the Lord and continues the work.

Neh4:4 “... Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity...”

Neh4:6 “...So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work...”

Building a godly existence in the face of unified resistance.

Neh4:8 The opposition increases, now falling into conspiracy status.

Neh4:9 “...But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night...”

Neh4:14 “... When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses..."

Neh4:16 Half worked, half stood guard.

Rebuilding what has been damaged by the world takes both courage and dedication.

Neh5

There was great financial stress on the people.

Neh5:7 “... I consulted with myself...” (KJV,NASB, ESV)

Hebrew word is malak which is “to counsel”.

NIV translates as pondered.

He was evaluating the facts against the truth that was in him.

Neh5:10,11 “... brothers and ...servants are lending ...money and grain. ...usury. Please, give back ...their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the ...the money ...grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them...”

The problem was a focus on “financial prosperity”, with people striving for wealth at other’s expense.

Nehemiah successfully changed the dynamics of the situation.

Neh6

The enemies continue to plot.

Neh6:2 “... then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me...”

Neh6:4,5 “.... They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way ...a fifth time with an open letter...”

Nehemiah knows that Ono is a NoNo.

Neh6:8,9 “...Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.” For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands...”

Neh6:15.16 “... the wall was completed ...in 52 days ..all our enemies heard of it, and ...saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God...”

Obedience leads to the world seeing God.

Neh7

The genealogies are reworked - number is now 49,942

Neh7:5 “...Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first in which I found the following record:..”

Neh7:66,67 “... The whole assembly together was 42,360, besides their male and their female servants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 male and female singers...”

Neh8

Expecting leaders to read the Word?

Neh8:1 “... And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel....”

Neh8:3,5 “... He read from it ...from early morning until midday, in the presence of ...those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law ...when he opened it all the people stood up...”

Posturing as the Word of God is read!

Tradition has people standing for the reading of the word.

Neh8:6 “... Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground...”

Praise - up. Worship - down.

Neh8:8 “... They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading...”

Neh8:10 “...Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength..."

The Feast of Booths is celebrated.

Neh8:17,18 “... The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing. He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance...”

Neh9

Serious time given to reading and confession.

Neh9:3 “... While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God...”

History of God’s goodness.

Neh9:19 “You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness...”

Neh9:20 “...You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them ...manna ...water for their thirst...”

Neh9:22 “...You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land...”

Neh9:33 “...You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly....”

History of Man’s rebellion

Neh9:26 “...But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies...”

Neh10

A document is written and signed.

10:28,29 “...all those who had separated themselves from the people of the lands to the law of God. ..are joining with their kinsman ...to walk in God’’s law ...to keep and to observe all the commandments...”

Neh10:30 Won’t intermarry.

Neh10:31 Won’t do business on the Sabbath.

Neh10:31 Will honor the every seventh year land Sabbath.

Neh10:32-39 Will tithe and support the firstborn, firstfruits laws.

Neh11

Neh11:1 “... Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities....”

Neh12

Levites join the dedication of the wall.

Neh12:27-30 “... Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres ...The priests and the Levites purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates and the wall...”

Neh12:31 “...two great choirs...” were appointed to perform on the wall.

Neh12:43 “...on that day they ...rejoiced because God had given them great joy ...the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar...”

Neh13

Foreigners were excluded

Neh13:1-3 “...because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing…”

Necessary cleanup and restoration.

Neh13:4-9 Tobiah is thrown out of his illegal room in the House of God.

Neh13:10-14 Support for the Levites is restored.

Neh13:15-22 Work and trade were removed from the Sabbath.

Neh13:23-31 Mixed marriages strongly discouraged.

Neh13:25 “... So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves...”

ESTHER:

Placing Esther in the timeline:

BC

605 Prisoners taken captive to Babylon

586 Jerusalem destroyed.

538 1st exiles return to Jerusalem.

515 Temple completed.

486 Ahasuerus becomes king of Persia. (Xerxes 1)

479 Esther becomes queen.

465 Artaxerxes I King of Persia.

458 Ezra comes to Jerusalem.

445 Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem.

EST1

Ahasuerus reigned over 127 provinces.

EST1:3 “... he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers ...nobles and the princes ...And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and ...his great majesty for many days, 180 days...”

EST1:4 Proud of his riches.

EST1:5 Gives a banquet.

EST1:9 Queen Vashti also gives a banquet.

Merry with wine, he wants to parade his queen.

EST1:10,11 “...the king ...commanded ...the seven eunuchs who served ...to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes...”

EST1:12 “... But Queen Vashti refused to come ...the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him...”

EST1:13-22 The all male gathering decides that this will set a bad precedent, leading all women to disrespect their husbands.

EST1:19 “... let it be written ...that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she...”

EST1:22 They make a decree that “...every man should be the master in his own house...” Vashti is OUT.

EST2

They start looking for a replacement for Vashti

EST2:3,4 “... Let the king ...gather every beautiful young virgin to the ...harem ...Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti...”

EST2:5,7 “...a Jew ...Mordecai ... was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther ...the young lady was beautiful of form and face, ...”

EST2:8-16 Esther “...was taken to the king’s palace...” found favor with the keeper of the Harem, and undergoes 12 months of beautification.

EST2:17-20 Esther becomes Queen [no background check had been performed, and per Mordecai’s instructions, she kept her Jewish heritage a secret].

EST2:21-23 Mordecai overhears a plot against the king, essentially saving the king, and the event is recorded [good deed to have in the books].

EST3

Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman.

EST3:2 “... All the king’s servants ...bowed down and paid homage to Haman ...But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage...”

EST3:5 “...When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage...”

Plotting against all Jews. Too common in history.

EST3:6 “... Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom...”

EST3:8-9 “... Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed ...”

EST3:10-15 “...Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month ...”

EST4

Mordecai responds with humility.

EST4:1 “...Mordecai ...tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes...”

EST4:3 “...there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping ...sackcloth and ashes...”

EST4:7,8 Mordecai informs Esther, to bring the matter before the king.

Esther in danger if she approaches the king unsummoned.

EST4:14 Mordecai’s famous words “... who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?..."

EST4:16 Esther asks for everyone to be praying, but resigns herself to “...if I perish, I perish...”

Will we do what needs doing regardless of consequences?

EST5

Esther is safely received by the king.

EST5:1-8 Invites Haman to a banquet, then schedules another.

Haman starts a project he will not finish.

EST5:9-14 Haman gloats, but is furious with Mordecai. Wife and friends talk him into building a gallows on which to hang Mordecai.

EST6

Why was the king restless in the night.

God’s intervention?

EST6:1-3 “... the chronicles ...were read before the king. It was found written what Mordecai ...What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him...”

Self focused Haman is heading for trouble.

EST6:6-9 The king consults with Haman about how to honor someone. Haman is so conceited he recommends what he thinks will be his.

EST6:10 “... Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said...”

EST6:12,13 “... Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered. Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him...”

EST6:14 And then it’s off to the bannquet.

EST7

The king will grant Esther her petition.

EST7:3,4 “...Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated...”

EST7:5,6 “... Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther ...who would presume to do thus?” Esther said, “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!...”

It’s over for Haman, as he reaps what he sowed.

EST7:8 Haman’s begging looks to the king like assault on Esther.

EST7:9,10 “...Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided...”

.

EST8

Finalizing salvation.

EST8:2 “... The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman...”

EST8:3-5 Esther again risks coming into the kings’ presence “... The king extended the golden scepter to Esther ...If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him ...let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman ...which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces...”

EST8:9 “...So the king’s scribes were called ... and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes ...to every province according to its script, and to every people ...as well as to the Jews ...”

EST8:11 “...the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, ...to destroy ...kill ...annihilate ...any people or province which might attack them ...”

EST8:16 “...For the Jews there was light ...gladness ...joy and honor...”

EST9

Mordecai becomes great in the king’s house.

EST9:1 “... on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them...”

EST9:3,4 “... the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. ...Mordecai was great ...his fame spread ...Mordecai became greater and greater...”

The feast of Purim is instituted

EST9:21,22 “... to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies ...from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday...”

Four main obligations (mitzvot)

k'riat megillah - Listening to the public reading of the Book of Esther in the evening and again in the following morning.

mishloach manot - Sending food gifts to friends.

matanot la'evyonim - Giving charity to the poor.

se`udah - Eating a festive meal.

EST10

EST10:3 “...For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation...”

Haman served self. Mordecai served God and people.

Mordecai embraced being set apart. Esther showed great courage.