{"id":6633,"date":"2019-12-09T20:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T03:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6633"},"modified":"2019-12-09T23:27:51","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T06:27:51","slug":"esther2_1-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/esther2_1-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Why God Elevates You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Esther 2:1-23\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Esther 2:1-23.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Esther\u00a02:22\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-23:\u00a0\u00a0Approximately four years have passed since the events of chapter 1.\u00a0\u00a0King Xerxes has returned home to Persia after unsuccessfully trying to invade Greece.\u00a0\u00a0His attention now turns to finding a new queen to replace Vashti.\u00a0\u00a0The prettiest girls from all over Xerxes\u2019 kingdom are summoned to be part of an elaborate search contest.\u00a0\u00a0In the end a Jewish orphan called Esther (Jewish name Hadassah) prevails as the winner and is crowned the new queen, although Esther keeps her Jewish identity a secret.<\/p>\n

Later on, Mordecai, Esther\u2019s older cousin who raised her and who was like a father to Esther, is sitting at the king\u2019s gate when he overhears a plot by two of King Xerxes\u2019 officers \u2013 Bigthana and Teresh \u2013 to assassinate the king.\u00a0\u00a0Mordecai reports this to Queen Esther, who in turn reports this to King Xerxes.\u00a0\u00a0Bigthana and Teresh are proven to have conspired against the king and are impaled on poles.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God elevated Esther to the position of queen because He had it in mind to use her to bless others.\u00a0\u00a0Here we see that God used Esther and Mordecai to save the king, and later He will use them to save their own people, the Jews.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0when God gives you power and influence, He does it because He has other people in mind to bless through you<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0God does not elevate a person for that person\u2019s sake alone.\u00a0\u00a0Rather God elevates a person and gives that person influence because God wants to use that person to make a positive difference in other people\u2019s lives.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So<\/strong>\u00a0whenever you receive power, promotion, wealth or influence, just remember: it\u2019s because God has it in mind to bless others through you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, I realize today that any influence You give me and any way that You exalt me is not just for my own happiness or comfort.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because You have it in mind to bless others through me.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for reminding me today that this life is not about me. It\u2019s about You and living for a purpose that is much bigger than myself.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Esther 2:1-23.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Esther\u00a02:22\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n22\u00a0\u00a0But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-23:\u00a0\u00a0Approximately four years have passed since the events of chapter 1.\u00a0\u00a0King Xerxes has returned home to Persia after unsuccessfully trying to invade Greece.\u00a0\u00a0His attention now turns to finding a new queen to replace Vashti.\u00a0\u00a0The prettiest girls from all over Xerxes\u2019 kingdom are summoned to be part of an elaborate search contest.\u00a0\u00a0In the end a Jewish orphan called Esther (Jewish name Hadassah) prevails as the winner and is crowned the new queen, although Esther keeps her Jewish identity a secret.<\/p>\n

Later on, Mordecai, Esther\u2019s older cousin who raised her and who was like a father to Esther, is sitting at the king\u2019s gate when he overhears a plot by two of King Xerxes\u2019 officers \u2013 Bigthana and Teresh \u2013 to assassinate the king.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6633"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6701,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6633\/revisions\/6701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}