Tag Archives: Zachary Bauer
Esther 7 Daily Bible Reading with Paul Nison
Esther 7 Daily Bible Reading with Paul Nison
Esther 7 New Living Translation (NLT)
The King Executes Haman
7 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet. 2 On this second occasion, while they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”
3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. 4 For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”
5 “Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?”
6 Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.” Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen. 7 Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden.
Haman, however, stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that the king intended to kill him. 8 In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king was returning from the palace garden.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.
9 Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet[a] tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.”
“Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered. 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.
Footnotes:
- 7:9 Hebrew 50 cubits [23 meters].
Does Yahweh appoint evil leaders to lead nations?
I am reading this from this link of a ministry called Never Thirsty
https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/does-god-appoint-evil-leaders-to-lead-nations/
Fear or Faith
Fear or Faith You all have a choice, get caught up in all the nonsense in the world today or take Joy knowing our Creator has blessed us with the greatest life. Your Choice!
Esther 6 Daily Bible Reading with Paul Nison
Esther 6 New Living Translation (NLT)
The King Honors Mordecai
6 That night the king had trouble sleeping, so he ordered an attendant to bring the book of the history of his reign so it could be read to him. 2 In those records he discovered an account of how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the door to the king’s private quarters. They had plotted to assassinate King Xerxes.
3 “What reward or recognition did we ever give Mordecai for this?” the king asked.
His attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4 “Who is that in the outer court?” the king inquired. As it happened, Haman had just arrived in the outer court of the palace to ask the king to impale Mordecai on the pole he had prepared.
5 So the attendants replied to the king, “Haman is out in the court.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered. 6 So Haman came in, and the king said, “What should I do to honor a man who truly pleases me?”
Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” 7 So he replied, “If the king wishes to honor someone, 8 he should bring out one of the king’s own royal robes, as well as a horse that the king himself has ridden—one with a royal emblem on its head. 9 Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. And let him see that the man whom the king wishes to honor is dressed in the king’s robes and led through the city square on the king’s horse. Have the official shout as they go, ‘This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!’”
10 “Excellent!” the king said to Haman. “Quick! Take the robes and my horse, and do just as you have said for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the gate of the palace. Leave out nothing you have suggested!”
11 So Haman took the robes and put them on Mordecai, placed him on the king’s own horse, and led him through the city square, shouting, “This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!” 12 Afterward Mordecai returned to the palace gate, but Haman hurried home dejected and completely humiliated.
13 When Haman told his wife, Zeresh, and all his friends what had happened, his wise advisers and his wife said, “Since Mordecai—this man who has humiliated you—is of Jewish birth, you will never succeed in your plans against him. It will be fatal to continue opposing him.”
14 While they were still talking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and quickly took Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.
Sin is more contagious than covid-19
Sin is more contagious than covid-19
Esther 3 Daily Bible Reading with Paul Nison
Esther 3 New Living Translation (NLT)
Haman’s Plot against the Jews
3 Some time later King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in the empire. 2 All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect.
3 Then the palace officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 They spoke to him day after day, but still he refused to comply with the order. So they spoke to Haman about this to see if he would tolerate Mordecai’s conduct, since Mordecai had told them he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage. 6 He had learned of Mordecai’s nationality, so he decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire of Xerxes.
7 So in the month of April,[a] during the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ reign, lots were cast in Haman’s presence (the lots were called purim) to determine the best day and month to take action. And the day selected was March 7, nearly a year later.[b]
8 Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. 9 If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks[c] of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.”
10 The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said, “The money and the people are both yours to do with as you see fit.”
12 So on April 17[d] the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated. It was sent to the king’s highest officers, the governors of the respective provinces, and the nobles of each province in their own scripts and languages. The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews—young and old, including women and children—must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year.[e] The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them.
14 A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that they would be ready to do their duty on the appointed day. 15 At the king’s command, the decree went out by swift messengers, and it was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa fell into confusion.
The Whole Matter
The Whole Matter
(#365 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear the Almighty and keep His commandments, for this is man’s whole duty. For the Mighty One will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
You were created in the image of Yahweh and to keep His commands. Your carnal attempt at “free will” will always end in a death of His choice, just as in the Garden of Eden. Your whole duty is to obey Yahweh, a death of self that should be the only choice, just as offered in the Garden of Gethsemane! This will transform you into His image, to a perfect man [perfection], to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Messiah (Ephesians 4:13). And do not think it pride that you are called to such a lofty place; you are joint heirs with the Messiah (Romans 8:17). And He thought it perfectly acceptable, and even more so, was commanded to be like His Father. Don’t be fooled loved one; there will be a death either way. The only question is whether you will bow willingly or be forced.
Let this mind be in you which was also in the Messiah Yahshua, who, being in the form of the Mighty One, did not consider it robbery to be equal with the Mighty One, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the stake. Therefore the Mighty One also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Yahshua [Yahweh saves] every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yahshua the Messiah is Master, to the glory of the Almighty Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
With this confession on your lips, let’s revisit the first Garden and ask ourselves, “Were they given choices or commands?” Yahshua’s example in the second Garden, as well as these bold words, can help you with the answer. “If you love Me, keep My commands.” (John 14:15) You must settle this answer inside of you, once for all times, and then you must live by it! Let this mind be in you which was also in the Messiah Yahshua. The Kingdom within (Luke 17:21) is the mind of the Messiah in you (1 Corinthians 2:16). It is the conclusion of the whole matter.
If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, read this aloud; “I was never intended to think for myself, but rather only to have His mind in me.” This will transform every aspect of your life. And make no mistake, life, the entirety of it, the whole duty of it, is lived first in the mind! And if you are willing to surrender your will, it can be lived with His mind, the Messiah in you, the hope of glory. (Colossian 1:27) Your soul, your conscience, lives forever and for those who obey rather than insist they have a choice, “forever” is pure bliss. The others, those forced to bow, whose conscience is seared (1 Timothy 4:2), will involuntarily acknowledge Yahweh’s glory, but will live forever absent His presence. Hell indeed!
Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, had it all. He had every luxury the world could offer, all the riches of the physical realm. And how did these strong attachments impact this most valuable gift of the Father? It turned his wisdom into vanity. His final reckoning, his repentance; his conclusion of the whole matter; fear the Almighty and keep His commandments. All else is “vanity!” “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) The result of “choosing” to go against what Yahweh commands: Vanity!
And so, again, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, read this aloud; “If I give up the idea that I have a right to my own thoughts, my obedience will allow me to become all I was intended to be; I will attain the Holy mind.” This is exactly what His Covenant (unilateral mind contract with fallen men) guarantees loved one. When all vanity is washed away, the Kingdom of Yahweh will manifest in the Holy of Holies of your mind. He will have total dominion over all of your thoughts. The result: a conscience without sin (Hebrews 9:14)! This, loved one, is the conclusion of the whole matter!
To All Our Loved Friends Who Traveled With Us,
Thank you for taking this devotional journey to the Kingdom within.
Michael & Jeffrey
P. S. “It” is “not” finished; go back to #001 Merciful One and travel deeper!
Seeing Red
Seeing Red
(#363 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty [careless, idle] word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)
You will be held accountable before the throne of Yahweh Almighty for every word you speak. When your language fails to align with the Holy Mind, when your words are not that of a Kingdom citizen, you must change or answer the charge before the Courts of Heaven. Each of us will give an account of ourselves to the Almighty. (Romans 14:12) All things will be tested by fire; whatever is not of Him will be burned away (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
Time spent in any culture reveals its language. Prison too has its own vernacular. Phrases like, “Slow your roll” and “Don’t get it twisted,” are commonly used among the men. Both phrases are intended to express the idea of slowing down and thinking things through, before possibly speaking. In the Body of the Messiah, the congregation (the gathering of thoughts intended to be Holy), the totality of all that we think and speak is supposed to express the mind of Yahweh alone. However, so much of what we think and say fails to meet this standard, a lack of power being the proof of this sad affair. Yes, we call it an affair, as it is an affair with the world, an affair with the kingdoms that will perish.
And yet, many professed believers will minimize their affair with the world by simply proclaiming, “I’m covered by the blood.” Let us consider what that means using Hebrew vernacular. “Blood” (dam in Hebrew) refers to life or that which when shed causes death. What is even more piercing is that one of the Hebrew root words for blood is “adam”. With just a little effort and a little time spent seeking for Yahweh’s wisdom, you will be amazed at the depth of what it means that Yahshua shed His blood.
Here is the realignment of that thought using Kingdom vernacular; the shedding of the blood was what the Messiah did. That’s what perfected Him! He shed His “adam”; He shed Adam (Stop and read 1 Corinthians 15:45-49!). The shedding of blood was the death of His ego and self-will in order for His will to become One will with the Father. So you see, you are not covered “by the blood”, you are covered because through Him, the blood (the first man Adam) was removed from you also! You were cleansed “from” blood, not “by” blood! You had to be because, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of the Mighty One, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50)
Slow your roll. Don’t get it twisted. Seek and you shall find!
“In fact, the Law requires that nearly everything be cleansed [purified] with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission [forgiveness of sin].” (Hebrews 9:22)
A Matter’s End
A Matter’s End
(#362 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8)
Is it because “it was finally over” that Solomon writes such things. What was he expressing within the exhale of such words as they vibrated over his vocal cords? Would you consider the character of Yahweh in every process loved one? Would you credit the pleasure and the pain, the victories and the defeats, all as the working of His hands?
The process should never culminate with a concession; “I just need to get through this.” A healthier introspection would yield a different inference, “Yahweh has orchestrated this to remove some idol in my life, to decimate a stronghold in my ego.” Pain in the thought world always equals the death of improper attachments to something in the physical realm. And so the conclusion of the matter is the removing of deadly adhesions to unholy things; it is the intent of the supernatural process. And because the intent is supernatural, its conclusion will have supernatural results: “The end of a matter is surely better than its beginning! And patience is always better than pride.”
Yahweh is very patient in removing the pride within you that actually keeps you from Him. Imagine a great love that never fails, His only way of loving, and then imagine how that love longs to envelope your entire being. But by being true love, it has no option but to wait (1 Corinthians 13:4)! This unsearchable perfect love, which longs to envelope you, waits patiently while all that rejects it is removed from within you. All fear must be cast out in order to dwell in perfect love (1 John 4:18). All pride gives way to meekness; and all boasting becomes wrapped in humility (1 Corinthians 13:4). Listen closely to the conclusion of the matter. Because you have been given revelation of this pattern, understanding and wisdom about this process, you can then participate in the supernatural; you can praise Him and give thanks even during the process (Psalm 100:4).
“Be pleased when things go well, but when things seem bad, consider this: Yahweh has made the one as well as the other, so man shall never know what lies ahead of him.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14) And even though you do not know what lies ahead, you do not need to wait for the end of a matter to praise Him; the end is ALWAYS better than the beginning!
Personal Note: As always, I never read the devotions until I open them to edit. But what has transpired in my life over the last few weeks is this EXACT process. I have actually thought this very thing, “I just need to get through this.” I have counted the days until that day that I would not be “REQUIRED” to sit at my computer for hours to write and edit. “I just need a few days off,” I would reason. My arm, hand and wrist have been in agony. I’ve had to change my position and change from mouse to the internal track pad and then to an external pad and back again. It has gotten to the point that on any given day I have to go back and forth between the three just to get through the day, just to manage the searing pain in my wrist. “Just a few more weeks, just a few more days,” I would concede.
But then Yahweh spoke to me. He showed me that this was my “self”, the remnants of my ego (pride) that was scratching and clawing to hang on to the last vestige of hope that it would NOT HAVE TO DIE. I felt as if I could not think straight anymore. After hundreds of days in a row, my mind was blank, numb and in pain. I was confused, angry, depressed and unmotivated. After hundreds of days in which I was 100% confident in His supernatural direction for each devotion, every word edited, and all the scriptures I was inspired to add, I was all of a sudden blank! Nonetheless, each morning when I would wake to read today’s devotion, what came from what seemed to be a blank, numb and unmotivated mind yesterday, was completely heavenly and inspired. What He was showing me was, “None of you, Jeff. All of Me! It has always been Me.” And then on the 361st day of the year, just four days till the end, as I sat to edit this devotion, number 362, I opened to read “A Matter’s End”! All I could say was, “O, Yahweh You are faithful and true. You must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) And the end of a matter is surely better than its beginning.