Saturday, June 23, 2018

JUNE 23, 2018

“Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.” 
― Napoleon Hill


ESTHER 7-10

 24For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. 25But when the plot came to the king’s attention,a he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles.(9:24-25)

1King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3Mordecai 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.(10:1-3)

ACTS 6

8Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

JOURNAL 

Mordecai, Esther and Stephen have become Outposts of the Kingdom. Their lives have become conduits of the power, love and Joy of God. What can I learn from them? It is really simple...seek God and obey him only. It becomes difficult because there are ways and habits of responding to the world that do not seek God. 

Most often actions and reactions are within the realm of self-protection. This is a normal response...our instinct is to protect ourselves at all cost. Yet to truly follow God I must no longer seek to protect myself, which happens in subtle ways such as distraction, procrastination, avoidance. These actions at their core are ways to avoid adversity, work, struggle and criticism. In this day and time I don't have to contend with governmental oppressive forces, but rather I have to contend with forces within my own heart and mind that would tempt me to seek the easier path. 

Countering that temptation is my challenge. It requires that I discipline myself to seek God first and foremost at the beginning of every day. It requires that I take the path of confronting adversity, loving instead of hating, giving instead of getting, action instead of sloth...ultimately it requires that  I constantly seek to obey God, seek his ways and the wisdom of his word. Seek to love him, build his kingdom and love others.



1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:1-2

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