by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Esther 1-2
Esther is the first of a few books which will be written during the Jewish captivity in Babylon. Even though these people are in a foreign land, having been judged by God, there are those who remain faithful to Him and they see tremendous miracles.
Ronald Reagan once made a remark which I thought was splendid.During an election season he was encouraged by some to speak more blatantly about some of his views. He refused. He said, “I have no intentions of jumping off a cliff, waving a banner, just because it feels good on the way down.” Now that’s what I call wisdom. His job was to get elected; not to rant and rave. He could openly lead his charge after he was president.
Esther seems to subscribe to the same wisdom. I have heard women describe this passage of Esther as someone who was willing to stand up for her rights (Vashti), versus someone who wouldn’t (Esther).
I see it in a different manner. I see someone who is foolish (Vashti), versus someone who is wise (Esther). Or someone who is prideful, versus someone who is humble.
Either way, I side with Esther. She’s the one who is going to get the job done.
Mordecai is a man of great wisdom, and he raised her as a daughter. She grew up knowing that it was good to accept his advice. She heeds his instruction concerning her preparation for royalty. and she heeds his advice when he wants her to remain silent about her heritage.
As we continue in this book, I hope you will put yourself in Esther’s place. As she humbly accepts the inevitable and works within the system – trusting God, she is in for some tremendous surprises.
I love to see God at work on someone’s behalf. When we are faithful to Him, He tops us every time.
Acts 5:1-20
Our God is a God of miracles. As we continue in our study of the early church. we see the people constantly witnessing God’s hand.
First Ananias and Sapphira fall dead after lying to the Holy Spirit. People are selling their land and bringing the money to the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira sell their land and pretend to be bringing all of the proceeds, but they are keeping some for themselves.(V.1-10). It isn’t that God requires them to give it all, it’s that he wants no hypocrisy. They are doing it for show and pretending to be more generous than they are. A big mistake!
God’s Spirit is Holy, and when He is present in our midst, darkness can’t stay.
Second, we see many signs, wonders, and miracles happening by the hands of the Christians. People are even bringing their sick on cots to the streets, so that when the disciples walk by they may be healed. Even Peter’s shadow heals the sick. (V. 15) What an anointing!
Third, we see the high priest and his crew trying to stop the activity, so they put some of the apostles in jail. But an angel comes and opens the gates so that they escape from the prison, and go to the temple to preach again.
These early Christians know what it’s all about. They throw themselves into their walk with God, and they hold back nothing from Him. These are exciting times in the kingdom. After all of the years of God’s dealings with the Jews, it’s becoming clearer what God has been up to all along. He has meticulously been bringing forth His plan for man to have His Spirit in them.
That’s still His plan. Over the years, people have tried to water down the faith. They have even tried to say that miracles no longer exist, but these nay-sayers are wrong.
I have witnessed many miracles, and expect to see more. Some you have to look for, but some are very obvious. I have seen sudden healings and restorative miracles. I have also seen people set free from drugs and alcohol. Any of these are miracles.
As we seek a greater closeness to God, we will see more and more of His handiwork. There’s nothing greater than being in His presence, hearing His voice, and watching Him do His work.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Nehemiah 7-9
What a history these Jews have. After the walls are rebuilt and genealogies are taken, the people are gathered for Ezra to read the law.
These people have been in captivity in Babylon all of their lives, so they have never had any personal experience in the Promised Land. Yet it shows how the traditions have been passed on from generation to generation.
These have heard from their parents and grandparents about the wonderful land they left behind. They have heard the age-old stories about how God had called their ancestor Abraham, and how He had led them all of those years – through Egyptian bondage to the wilderness and to the Promised Land. They recognize themselves as God’s covenant people -who have always had His mercy and favor, but who have not been faithful to Him.
By pulling out the law for all to hear – and by enumerating in detail all of the years of God’s dealings with them, these people are committing their lives back to their one true God.
In the middle of these events, they have a tremendous day of celebration. In fact, the edict goes out that no one is to be grieved or sorrowful that day. It is a Holy day to the Lord, and everyone must eat, drink celebrate with joy.
Today there are those who are being called by the Lord to wake up and restore the age-old dealings the Lord has had with us. We do it the same way they did. We take out the Word of God, dust it off, and read, read, read.
Within the pages of our Bible there is a history and a promise to all who will walk with Him. Not every one is interested in such a walk, but some people are.
I want to be counted with those who are wiling to do just that. Now our Bible contains much more than theirs did in Nehemiah. Now ours contains the New Testament – with the completed work of Jesus on the cross, the Holy Spirit now living within us, and a fresh new vision from God – for all men everywhere who desire to be His.
As we read, we always see more of the mystery being revealed. We see more of what our covenant entails – and more of our mission from our Father.
We get energized and encouraged to run the race with vigor and determination, always keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Acts 3
A lame man, who has been set down at the gate of the temple every day so that he could beg alms, must have seen Jesus many times. Our savior went by that way as He taught in the temple and healed many others. For some reason, Jesus never healed this man. Obviously, the man never asked to be healed, but I think there was another reason. I think that Jesus was saving this notable miracle for His disciples.
So what happens here? He doesn’t ask to be healed, he wants Peter and John to give him alms.
But Peter gazes at him and says, “I do not possess gold and silver, but what I do have, I’ll give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise and walk.”(V. 6)
The man, who has been lame from birth, gets up and begins to walk, leap, and praise God for his healing.
Then, of course, the transformed Peter can’t help himself. He stands up again and preaches to the gathered crowd – once again proving the scriptures about God’s mighty deliverance through Jesus.
Peter and John are acting just like Jesus Himself. These transformed men are sights to behold! This Holy Spirit they have just received must really be something!
He is!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Nehemiah 4-6
Rebuilding is not an easy task! In Ezra, we saw that the locals officials used many tactics to stop the rebuilding of the temple. Many of these same tactics are used against Nehemiah. He is taunted and ridiculed by the leaders as he is trying to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Then, just as with Ezra, he is threatened.
Yet Nehemiah refuses to stop. Good for him!
Ezra and Nehemiah are excellent books for us to ponder as Christians. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, the first thing we do is rebuild our temple – the place of God’s Spirit. That’s actually what happens when we get born again. Our spirit man comes alive. As the temple in Jerusalem is the place of God’s presence, so is our spirit within us. We reconnect with God.
Then we start rebuilding the walls which have been torn down. The broken walls represent all of the areas of our lives which have been trampled by the devil while God was not being honored.
Every person has broken places before they come to the Lord. It’s a good idea to do some soul-searching and see what the Lord would try to show you.
Have you had addictions? Drugs? Alcohol? Pornography? Have you been abused? Have you had hurts which have damaged your confidence?
All of these are examples of broken down walls in your life. The enemy of your soul has been allowed free rein. But no more!
It’s time to rebuild, and restore. Our God is a God of restoration.
When our church purchased an old theater building, we began the lengthy, back-breaking job of refurbishing it. It was in total disrepair, but we saw beauty there, and knew that it could be restored.
One day, as I was scraping some popcorn grease off of the wall (not my favorite part), the Lord spoke to me. He said, “this is a picture of what I want to do in the lives of my people. I want to take lives which are broken down and seem beyond repair and turn them into lives of great beauty.” I love that!
So back to Nehemiah, when there are threats in the low places of the wall as they are rebuilding, a trumpet is blown, and the troops rally to those places. Special attention is applied where it’s needed.
My husband teaches about this often. The low places in your wall are those areas where you have greater weakness as you grow in the Lord. Those are the places where you need additional attention.
So what do you do? “Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.” (Ephesians 6:12). The devil is the one who wants to stop your progress.
Your weapon against the devil is the “sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.”(Ephesians 6:18) So you take the scriptures which strengthen you in those low places. For instance, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”( Philippians 4:13) Or “If God is for me, who can be against me?” (Romans 8:31) Or any other appropriate scriptures.
As you speak and meditate on those scriptures, you will find greater strength coming to you – the strength you need to overcome and rebuild.
That’s the way you and I rebuild our walls. The longer we stay at it, and the more diligent we are to do it, the higher and stronger our walls get.
Our Father has a terrific design in us – and a special purpose. As we allow His Word – and His purpose – to work in us, we will see His beautiful plans unfold.
“The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, it grows brighter until the noon day sun.” (Proverbs 4:18)
Acts 2:22-47
Speaking of boldness, Peter has it for sure! And not only that. He also has understanding of scripture.
As Peter stands up to speak, he sees the meaning of scripture throughout the Old Testament. Suddenly truths unfold which he had never seen before.
Remember Peter of a thousand questions? The Peter who tried to talk Jesus out of going to the cross, and who ran when He did? Well here he is, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who is now living inside of him. What a transformation!
Now he stands and explains scripture which he had not understood before, and the fruit is evident. Three thousand souls are added that day.
Boldness, understanding, and unity. That’s the third element in this transformation: unity. These early Christians are in one mind and one accord. They share with each other, they are eating together, visiting, discussing with each other all that is transpiring. They are truly one.
Over the centuries since those days, the devil has managed to divide the church into a thousand parts. There are many denominations and doctrines which are aimed to separate. But our Father is calling us to be one again.
We actually might not agree on one doctrine. But we can agree that Jesus is the Savior having gone to the cross for us, having been raised from the dead so that we can be born again, and having sent back His Holy Spirit to live within us. Other doctrines are nuances compared to these central issues. He wants us to honor each other, to share with each other, to pray for each other – and with each other.
In the 17th chapter of John, Jesus prays that we will be one. Our Father is calling today for us to return to this attitude of heart. He wants us to join hands for the common cause of awakening in our land and in our world.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Ezra 3-5
The supernatural return of a remnant of Jews from Babylon continues as they collect money, gather materials, and commence the rebuilding of the temple. The foundation is finished and great rejoicing ensues. Loud shouts of joy and weeping of some elderly create an electrifying sound in the atmosphere.
The sound comes as an alarm to the ears of the enemies in the land. They don’t want the temple rebuilt.
Ezra chapter four is a picture of the way our enemy, the devil, will try to stop us today as we do the Lord’s work. If we study it carefully, we will recognize some of his tactics and we will be able to stand against them. There are basically five tactics that they (and he) use to stop the work.
First, they don’t want it built, so they say ,”Let us help you.”(4:2) Now, think about it. They first want to sabotage the building from within. That’s where the enemy starts when he wants to stop your work for the Lord. Since your battlefield is in the mind, he will give you ideas which will compromise your work and eradicate its effectiveness. He wants to stop your pure adherence to what God is telling you to do.(These thoughts will often come to the members of a church as it is reaching out for then lost. He causes great criticism of the leadership).
Second, he will bring discouragement. Your thoughts will begin to doubt your ability to do what God has called you to do. (4:4)
Third, he will frighten you. He will make you think that your zeal for the Lord will cause you to lose your friends. In your giving, he will try to tell you that God won’t provide if you give too much.
Fourth, he will “frustrate your counsel.”(4:5) Again he will try to bring confusing direction to you so that you will not be sure what to do.
Fifth, when none of the above works, he will try to bring decrees against you to stop your work. Think of all the lawsuits which have been filed against schools and city governments, trying to get people to stop praying or sharing the gospel. There are many out there, some of whom don’t even realize that they are being used by the devil to stop God’s work. They don’t like Christian practices and they try to stop them by court injunctions, etc.
Now these tactics apply whether you are trying to lead a Godly home, or a Godly church. The devil doesn’t come to you with a red suit and a pitchfork. He is tricky and he tries to come in a way that you will accept.
When you think of the thoughts and emotions which come to you when you are about to pray with someone or share the gospel with someone, you will begin to see how the devil works. (By the way, it’s really not “the devil,” since there is only one of him. The voice you hear is from one of his demons).
Now to be clear, this “voice” I’m talking about is not really a voice you hear with your ears, unless he has sent someone to speak to you. The voice you hear the most is a thought in your mind. He whispers to your mind, so that if you aren’t aware, you will think those are your own thoughts.
We’ve spent a lot of time today talking about the devil’s tactics. It’s important to know these tactics so that we can resist his attempts. When we see how he works, we can recognize where some negative thoughts are coming from, and not listen to them.
So discouragement, confusion, fear, and outright attacks against God’s work are some of the ways he tries to stop us.
Let’s don’t let him. If we resist him, he has to flee. (James 4:7)
John 20
Can you imagine what that was like for Jesus’ disciples to see Him appear after his resurrection? He had told them that after the third day, He would arise from the dead, but that was hard to comprehend. That didn’t make sense to the natural mind.
Yet His Word is true, and He begins appearing to them – first at the tomb, and then in the room where they are assembled.
Thomas is like many today. He has to have it proven to Him that Jesus is alive. So he puts his hands into Jesus’ side and sees the nail holes in His hands before he says, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who didn’t see me and yet believed.”(V.29)
That’s us today. We haven’t seen Him, unless in a dream or vision. Yet we have believed through His Word.
As we continue in our belief, He will prove Himself to us over and over. And the more we believe, the more we will see!
Kingdom rules are sometimes the opposite of natural rules. In the natural, we would say, “I have to see it to believe it.” In the kingdom, we have to believe it to see it.
Believe, and receive!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Ezra 1-2
So far we have been traveling along a timeline from the garden of Eden to the Assyrian captivity of Israel and the Babylonian captivity of Judah. The books have been in consecutive order. We are continuing on that line of history with Ezra – after a gap.
After seventy years, Cyrus the king of Persia has his heart stirred by the Lord to send people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of the Lord. Ezra starts after this decree.
I think that it is important here to interject some nuggets of truth which we will get to later, but apply here. As we have been reading the historical accounts, some of the history has not yet been approached, and that is the history of the prophets. The Bible is laid out in such a way that the historical accounts are first and then the prophets.
During those years of up-and-down kings, God was sending prophets to try to straighten the people out. The prophets were hearing messages from God and taking them to the people.
Isaiah lived in Judah through the reigns of several kings, one being Hezekiah. During that reign, Isaiah heard the Word of the Lord saying,
“Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut….For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by name; I have given you a title of honor, though you have not known Me.” (Isaiah 45:1, 4)
Now here’s the thing: This was written at least 150 years before Cyrus comes on the scene. He was not even born. God was revealing to Isaiah that this man named Cyrus would eventually be given the mission to help the Jews return to rebuild.
Then we have Jeremiah telling us the time frame. He tells the people that they will go into captivity, and then he says,
“The it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation” (25:12)
“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”(29:10)
So God’s hand is not leaving His people during this time. They have violated their covenant with Him, but He hasn’t. God removes His protection from them for a season, but He tells them when they will come back and who He will raise up to send them back. He tells them all of this decades before this plan comes into fruition.
Our God is such a faithful God. He tells them what will happen, when it will happen, and the name of the person He will raise up to fulfill His plan.
Now as we proceed with the revelations from God’s Word, we will come across prophecies concerning the “end times.” We don’t know how long that time frame is, because He doesn’t tell us that, but He gives us signs to look for.
God’s Word is true. What He says has happened, has happened. What He says will happen, will happen.
There will be those who think that they are too smart for God, but they are mistaken. God’s Word will come to pass whether they believe it or not. After all, he is God!
John 19:23-42
John brings out some new details in his account of the crucifixion.
The priests don’t want the inscription “The King of the Jews” on the cross of Jesus. They want it to say, “He said I am the King of the Jews.” But Pilate gets it right, telling them, “What I have written, I have written.” (V. 22) I think that Pilate secretly believed Jesus.
There are others who secretly believe. We see Joseph of Arimathea, “being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one, for fear of the Jews.”(V. 38) And Nicodemus coming by night also. Joseph takes away the body and Nicodemus provides the burial perfumes. These are two of many “secret disciples.” The Jewish leaders are horrendous in their control of their people.
Today there are many who are afraid to show their faith. In some foreign countries, lives might be a stake. However, in our country, lives are not at stake, but reputations may be.
In some circles it’s not hip to be a christian, and there may be intimidation from the arrogant people around. That’s when we have to choose.
Do we bear the reproach and courageously tell others our beliefs or do we keep our beliefs hidden?
Fear of man will get us into trouble every time. We will offend some with our faith – that’s just a fact of life. Those who are not listening to His voice, but the voice of a stranger, will not like to hear you talk of Jesus.
There are many, however, who just don’t know Him. It’s a privilege to be able to share His love with someone who doesn’t know Him personally. We would do well to be on the lookout for opportunities to share.
As Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16).
