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Most of us eat every day,
some of us too much, because yesterday's

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food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do

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some of us expect yesterday's portion of
heavenly manna, the word of God to

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keep us through today's challenges. On
this program, we are going to change

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all of that. Let's experience God's
words today and receive the power we need

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to live healthy, vibrant lives.
Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Good morning, Good morning, Good

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morning. It is Thursday, December
twenty one, twenty twenty three. Hello,

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my name is El David Harris.
I am your host, and this

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is your Daily Portion where we give
you God's Word every single day, and

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today is no exception. We are
continuing in our Lesson study series, God's

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Mission, My Mission under the caption
the Miracle of Purim. I hope I

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pronounced that right. I am not
a linguist. The Miracle at Purim.

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We'll talk about that in just a
moment, but first I'd like to just

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say welcome to you and give a
great big thank you and shout out to

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all of you. I see you
at different places. I may be in

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the airport, I may be in
the supermarket. I may even be at

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the beach. At different churches around
the country and in different parts of the

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world, I see you in person, and you always come and greet me

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and give me encouraging words. And
I'm thankful because I remember one day saying

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to a very very prominent and holy
preacher and evangelist, I want to be

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like you one day in this regard. And God is giving me my wish

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and my desire to reach the entire
world as He gives strength with the Gospel.

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And you are helping me. So
when you click that share button,

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when you pray for people, when
you give encouragement based on whatever you heard

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or you saw while we were together, you are helping in the mission of

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spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ into
all the world for a witness, and

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we know that Jesus Christ will come
as a result. I'm looking forward to

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the day. Let's go ahead and
pray and then get underway. Father,

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thank you for giving us this day. Thank you for those listening on the

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two hundred plus radio stations, the
thirty plus platforms online, and then also

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on one or two television stations.
Father, I'm asking you now for us

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to connect with you here though,
and it just and it just be a

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true and solid connection to where you
transform our lives and then we spread your

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truth into the world. In Jesus'
name, I pray Amen and Amen again

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the miracle of piim. Okay,
Now, the lesson writer points out something

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that I never even noticed. And
I'm ashamed I'm supposed to notice this and

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I'm going to have to go look
at it now because i want to be

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sure. I'm like a barean.
I want to see whether these things be

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so or no. Okay, But
the lesson writer says, commentators for millennia

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have noticed that God's name does not
appear in the Book of Esther. That's

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very interesting. This is the only
Bible book where this phenomenon occurs. However,

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the people of God were able to
recognize his actions in the great deliverance

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made for them, and this book
was selected by God's people to be included

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in the canon of the Bible,
that is, the sixty six books that

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we now call the Bible. Are
you able to discover the presence of God

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beneath the surface of daily life?
God's actions can take the appearance of normal.

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This is why I'm reading this.
Natural events and if we don't give

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keen attention to them, we will
not recognize God's presence. This is a

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power full observation. Now, Ellen
White talks about what she calls practicing the

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visible presence of God. This is
the awareness that when you are wherever you

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are, like I'm in my studio
right now, you are in your car,

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You're on the roads, You're in
the gym, you are in your

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kitchen right now. You may be
in the restroom bathing for all I know.

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Pardon me, I'm not looking at
you. What I'm saying is like

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people wherever we are need to recognize
God is here, if God forbid,

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we are in places that we ought
not to be. I used to be

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in places that I ought not to
be, with a lot of stroll blights

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and and frenetic music and some really
lude sort of dark things going on in

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these places. But I needed to
recognize that whereas God does not love to

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be in these places, and if
we don't welcome him into our life,

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he may vacate at some point,
but his patience is long. We have

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to recognize that God is present and
we should live as such, with the

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respect and honor that he is due. And so I'm thankful that the lesson

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writer pointed this out. We need
to practice the visible presence of God.

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I'll just pause right there, and
so I'm going to read from the Book

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of Esther, chapter nine and see
how many verses I can get through.

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I think, boy, I should
probably not try this. This is too

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many verses. But let me try, beginning at verse one. In the

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twelfth month, that is the month
Adar, on this thirteenth day, the

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edict of the King and his law
were to be executed. It was on

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this day that the enemies of God's
people had supposed that they would gain power

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over them. But contrary to their
expectations, the people of God gained power

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over their enemies. How did they
get that? How? The people of

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God assembled themselves in their cities throughout
all of the provinces of the king as

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a hazara, a hazu ara us. I always mixed that up, a

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hazu us to strike out against those
who were seeking their harm. No one

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was able to stand before them,
for dread of them fell on all peoples.

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All the officials of the provinces the
Satraps, the governors and those who

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performed the king's business were assisting the
people of God, for the dread of

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Mordecai I had fallen on them.
Mordecai I was a high rank in the

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King's palace, and the word about
him was spreading throughout all the provinces.

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His influence continued to be greater and
greater. The people of God struck all

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their enemies with the sword, And
then, of course it talks about that

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in Susa verse six, the citadel
of the people of God, they destroyed

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five hundred men, and it goes
down through this list. But they did

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not confiscate their property. That was
verse in verse ten, verse eleven.

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On the same day, the number
of those who were destroyed in Susa the

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citadel was brought to the king's attention. Then the king said to Queen Esther,

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in Susa, the citadel of God's
people were killed and destroyed, five

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hundred men and the sons of Haymen. What then have they done to the

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rest of the King's provinces. What
is your request? It shall be given

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to you. What other petition do
you have? It shall be done?

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And of course the Bible continues with
a lesson, and so you're like,

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oh, so much death, Like, what are you talking about? Now?

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This was self defense. This was
self defense. If you read through

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the book of Esther, you will
realize that there was a plot to destroy

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and exterminate God's people. We have
seen this before. And what God did

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in positioning Esther and having the guidance, in the guidance from the elder,

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her relative, her cousin Mordecai,
was to devise a plan where God's people

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wouldn't have to lay down for it, where God's people could lawfully and in

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a way that did please God,
defend themselves. I wish I had the

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time. God is very clear in
the scriptures about the difference between self defense

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and retribution, repriseal vengeance. God
said, vengeance is his set the Lord.

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He will replay, he will repay. But there are times that unfortunately,

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we have to defend ourselves. We
don't have time to talk about the

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details. But that's what it was. God was positioning them for the name

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and honor and glory of God,
to defend themselves and to keep the legacy

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and the name of God through his
people alive. And so what I want

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you to do is reckon ignize God's
hand in everyday life. Number two.

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Trust in God's unconventional deliverance. See, he didn't do a miracle this time

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in the way that we've seen miracles, but he did. He did give

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them what they needed in order to
win the battle against their enemies. Also

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the impact of personal testimony, like
share your faith journey so it can influence

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others. Number four. Celebrate God's
deliverance. Number five, have courage to

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share your faith and then of course
write it down like write it down journal.

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When God has done great things for
you, write it down so you

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can always go back and say,
God is great, done great things for

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me. Thanks for joining us listening
to friends. Always remember we cannot live

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by bread alone, but by every
word that comes from the mouth of God.

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This has been your daily portion with
el David Harris. Make it a

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great day. Yeah,