Understand the Current Battle

 

There has been a lot of reference to the historical account of God’s intervention to spare His people from the evil plot of destruction by Haman, recorded in the book of Esther. The common theme has been that the days we’re living are very much like the days the Jews existence was at risk at the time of Esther. As Christians and Jews are by faith in Christ one new people, Christians are now being attacked by the same anti-Semitic spirit that has existed since creation itself. What can we do to escape the efforts of the Hamans of our day? The first unwritten rule of war is to know your enemy.

Ephesians 6:12-13 makes clear, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The entity behind all evil is satan known as Lucifer in heaven. He influenced his spiritual minions and he has always influenced humans to do his bidding. Therefore, there are humans who by way of their choices actually are our enemies. Jesus was clear we should pray for our enemies and in that he did not mean satan and his fallen angels. Jesus meant humans who are influenced by satan. We need to pray from a heart of wanting them to realize the error of their ways. Wanting them to repent and turn to God–to be saved through faith in Jesus and become transformed as a child of God, no longer a child of satan.

However, as in the life of Pharaoh who enslaved the Hebrews recorded in Exodus, there comes a point in time where God knows a human will not repent. From that point on that person is subject to God’s judgment. In light of current events, and the many people who discern the days we’re living are very similar to the days of Esther, we may be very close to seeing God bring judgment upon people who have been promoting evil, in the near future. Continue to pray for people to repent. However, should we see God’s judgment, we must know in His supreme wisdom, His intervention is for the good of His people.

If knowing our enemy is important, then so too is knowing our allies important. God says whoever is not against Him is for Him (Mk 12:30). In the time of Esther we learn the Jews, God’s chosen people, had adopted many of the practices of the Persian culture, which adversely impacted their proper devotion to God. When Mordechai, a leader for the Jewish community, learned of Haman’s evil plot to destroy the Jews, he got word to his cousin, Esther, who had become queen for King Xerxes I, without her Jewish identity being known. Mordechai recognized the providence of God for positioning Esther in the palace where she might be able to persuade the King to help the Jews. Even though Esther knew to approach the King without being summoned could cost her life, she too recognized God’s providential care.

Queen Esther called a three-day fast of all Jews to heighten the ability of God’s people to clearly hear from God to know how to respond in this highly crucial reality. A time of fasting before the Lord does not manipulate Him to do our will. Insterad, it humbles us to repent from our evil ways, be rightly restored to God, and then hear from Him and obey. I believe this is the time we are in today around the world, and most certainly in America.

We must also pray for our allies–our Mordechai’s and Esthers who have been placed in key positions of authority to carry out God’s will. In addition to God’s people who are able to help, God will use those who are not His people to accomplish His will, such as we see with King Xerxes I. We must ask the Lord to help us discern who is against Him, and who is for Him that we may pray for all those He has positioned to accomplish His will. We must trust God’s appointed people to work in our behalf.

As we see the radical changes from one presidential administration to another where it appears many of the good things accomplished are being undone, let’s learn another lesson from the book of Esther. Haman had the authority of King Xerxes upon which he pronounced destruction of the Jews. The Jewish community in Persia knew of this and obviously feared for their lives. While King Xerxes could not withdraw the original decree, he did pronounce another decree which allowed the Jews to defend themselves to save their own lives. The parallel I see for us today is that we must defend what we know to be right and true through every avenue available to us. God, the King of Kings, has given us the command to represent Him to all people, to speak the truth in love and to work for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It’s interesting to note, the story of Esther took place in about 357 BC, after God made His covenant with Abraham, and before Jesus was born. Had Haman’s plan succeeded the enemy of God would have prevented the coming of the promised Messiah. This points out the importance of our understanding how God watches over His word to perform it (Jer 1:12) and how He performs His word in and through His people.  The Jews of Esther’s day and all Believers today have a part to play in the fulfillment of God’s plans on earth.

Just as God planned to send Jesus as the promised Redeemer, God has additional plans for His people in these times. We are on the verge of a great revival and harvest of souls, referred to as thre Great White Harvest or Billion Soul Harvest. We are commissioned by Jesus to be workers of the Harvest, to be willing vessels through whom God works to make disciples out of the nations (Matt 20:18-20). We have an important role to play on earth during this part of God’s timeline. What we will come into as God’s people continue to humble themselves and call on Him, is a Revolutionary Revival such as the world has never seen. We must get ourselves ready to do our part in God’s plan.

With a heart for these days, my Faith to Live By book series and podcasts have been created. I want to help people everywhere discover and live in life-giving truth. I want to help equip the Body of Believers to be effective in sharing their faith and discipling others in the way of the Christian faith. I recommend you consider getting any or all of my books then sharing them with others. To encourge you use the Promo Code FTLB to get 20% off purchases made through my webstore. These books are all endorsed by many well known Chrsitian leaders and have received multiple awards.

As a student of God’s Word and with a heart desiring to discern the times, I believe we are about to see a move of God on behalf of America, and as a result the world, that is very similar to the turn of events we read about in Esther. The very gallows Haman had built to annialite the Jews–God’s peoplel–were used to hang Haman. I believe we should expect to see the evil people have been perpetrating against God’s people today be turned against the perpetrators as God answers our prayers, reveals His providential care, and prevents the enemy from continuing his evil plans. Many will be shocked and it will take days for them to recover. But as things continue to be revealed, we will unanimously agree it was God’s intervention on behalf of His people that spared us, and all glory will be His.

Not perhaps, but most definately you were born for such a time as this and I hope my entire body of work to be of great help to you in fulfilling your God-intended destiny.

My greatest joy is to serve God by serving you. Let me stay connected with you thorugh social media, as a subscriber to my ENewsetter and by email. I love to speak and teach in person and I am working on other projects now that will be available online. If you have any questions or topics you want covered–if I can help you further simply contact me.