Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
morning. It is Thursday, December twenty one, twenty twenty three. Hello,
my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this
is your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and
today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series, God's
Mission, My Mission under the caption the Miracle of Purim. I hope I
pronounced that right. I am not a linguist. The Miracle at Purim.
We'll talk about that in just a moment, but first I'd like to just
say welcome to you and give a great big thank you and shout out to
all of you. I see you at different places. I may be in
the airport, I may be in the supermarket. I may even be at
the beach. At different churches around the country and in different parts of the
world, I see you in person, and you always come and greet me
and give me encouraging words. And I'm thankful because I remember one day saying
to a very very prominent and holy preacher and evangelist, I want to be
like you one day in this regard. And God is giving me my wish
and my desire to reach the entire world as He gives strength with the Gospel.
And you are helping me. So when you click that share button,
when you pray for people, when you give encouragement based on whatever you heard
or you saw while we were together, you are helping in the mission of
spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world for a witness, and
we know that Jesus Christ will come as a result. I'm looking forward to
the day. Let's go ahead and pray and then get underway. Father,
thank you for giving us this day. Thank you for those listening on the
two hundred plus radio stations, the thirty plus platforms online, and then also
on one or two television stations. Father, I'm asking you now for us
to connect with you here though, and it just and it just be a
true and solid connection to where you transform our lives and then we spread your
truth into the world. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen and Amen again
the miracle of piim. Okay, Now, the lesson writer points out something
that I never even noticed. And I'm ashamed I'm supposed to notice this and
I'm going to have to go look at it now because i want to be
sure. I'm like a barean. I want to see whether these things be
so or no. Okay, But the lesson writer says, commentators for millennia
have noticed that God's name does not appear in the Book of Esther. That's
very interesting. This is the only Bible book where this phenomenon occurs. However,
the people of God were able to recognize his actions in the great deliverance
made for them, and this book was selected by God's people to be included
in the canon of the Bible, that is, the sixty six books that
we now call the Bible. Are you able to discover the presence of God
beneath the surface of daily life? God's actions can take the appearance of normal.
This is why I'm reading this. Natural events and if we don't give
keen attention to them, we will not recognize God's presence. This is a
power full observation. Now, Ellen White talks about what she calls practicing the
visible presence of God. This is the awareness that when you are wherever you
are, like I'm in my studio right now, you are in your car,
You're on the roads, You're in the gym, you are in your
kitchen right now. You may be in the restroom bathing for all I know.
Pardon me, I'm not looking at you. What I'm saying is like
people wherever we are need to recognize God is here, if God forbid,
we are in places that we ought not to be. I used to be
in places that I ought not to be, with a lot of stroll blights
and and frenetic music and some really lude sort of dark things going on in
these places. But I needed to recognize that whereas God does not love to
be in these places, and if we don't welcome him into our life,
he may vacate at some point, but his patience is long. We have
to recognize that God is present and we should live as such, with the
respect and honor that he is due. And so I'm thankful that the lesson
writer pointed this out. We need to practice the visible presence of God.
I'll just pause right there, and so I'm going to read from the Book
of Esther, chapter nine and see how many verses I can get through.
I think, boy, I should probably not try this. This is too
many verses. But let me try, beginning at verse one. In the
twelfth month, that is the month Adar, on this thirteenth day, the
edict of the King and his law were to be executed. It was on
this day that the enemies of God's people had supposed that they would gain power
over them. But contrary to their expectations, the people of God gained power
over their enemies. How did they get that? How? The people of
God assembled themselves in their cities throughout all of the provinces of the king as
a hazara, a hazu ara us. I always mixed that up, a
hazu us to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one
was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all peoples.
All the officials of the provinces the Satraps, the governors and those who
performed the king's business were assisting the people of God, for the dread of
Mordecai I had fallen on them. Mordecai I was a high rank in the
King's palace, and the word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces.
His influence continued to be greater and greater. The people of God struck all
their enemies with the sword, And then, of course it talks about that
in Susa verse six, the citadel of the people of God, they destroyed
five hundred men, and it goes down through this list. But they did
not confiscate their property. That was verse in verse ten, verse eleven.
On the same day, the number of those who were destroyed in Susa the
citadel was brought to the king's attention. Then the king said to Queen Esther,
in Susa, the citadel of God's people were killed and destroyed, five
hundred men and the sons of Haymen. What then have they done to the
rest of the King's provinces. What is your request? It shall be given
to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done?
And of course the Bible continues with a lesson, and so you're like,
oh, so much death, Like, what are you talking about? Now?
This was self defense. This was self defense. If you read through
the book of Esther, you will realize that there was a plot to destroy
and exterminate God's people. We have seen this before. And what God did
in positioning Esther and having the guidance, in the guidance from the elder,
her relative, her cousin Mordecai, was to devise a plan where God's people
wouldn't have to lay down for it, where God's people could lawfully and in
a way that did please God, defend themselves. I wish I had the
time. God is very clear in the scriptures about the difference between self defense
and retribution, repriseal vengeance. God said, vengeance is his set the Lord.
He will replay, he will repay. But there are times that unfortunately,
we have to defend ourselves. We don't have time to talk about the
details. But that's what it was. God was positioning them for the name
and honor and glory of God, to defend themselves and to keep the legacy
and the name of God through his people alive. And so what I want
you to do is reckon ignize God's hand in everyday life. Number two.
Trust in God's unconventional deliverance. See, he didn't do a miracle this time
in the way that we've seen miracles, but he did. He did give
them what they needed in order to win the battle against their enemies. Also
the impact of personal testimony, like share your faith journey so it can influence
others. Number four. Celebrate God's deliverance. Number five, have courage to
share your faith and then of course write it down like write it down journal.
When God has done great things for you, write it down so you
can always go back and say, God is great, done great things for
me. Thanks for joining us listening to friends. Always remember we cannot live
by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
This has been your daily portion with el David Harris. Make it a
great day. Yeah,