HEROES OF FAITH: ESTHER

I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish! Esther 4:16

by Mark Finley

     Have you ever grieved over your background? Have you wished your early childhood was different? Have you felt you were born with three strikes against you? Esther certainly could have. She was orphaned at an early age and brought up by the Babylonians after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
     Esther never knew her real parents. She was a Jew in a foreing land, brought up in a hostile environment as part of the despised minority. When Vashti, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, embarassed him, Esther was one of the manyyoung women brought into the harem and put in the custody of the king's eunuch. A corrupt palace lifestyle in the ancient world was hardly conductive to Esther's faith.
     Mordecai kept his eye on her, even in the king's palace. He urged her to keep her ethnic background hidden. For a year Esther was trained in the life of the harem. When she finally made her appearance before the king, he "loved Esther more than all the the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins" (Esther 2:17). Enamored with her beauty, poise, and character, Ashuerus immediately apponted her as his new queen.
     What was God's strategy in all of this? Why was Esther exalted to such a key position? Haman, one of the king's princes, hatched a plan to destroy Mordecai and the Jews. Every Jew was to be slaughtered.
     Mordecai overheard rumors of the plot. He appealed to Esther to speak out. "If you remain completely silent at this time," he said, "relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14).
     Esther met the challenge, and God responded. Thanks to her courageous attittude, God's people were delivered.
     In the divine drama of detiny, God has placed you in the world for a time such as this. We did not choose to live in the beginning of the twenty-first century. This is God's doing. Like Esther, we have been called to the kingdom for a time such as this.
     God calls us to faithfulness. No matter what are our backgrounds, He wants us to be loyal to Him. Esther made a powerful difference in her world. We can make a difference in ours today.
     Take on today with courage. You are God's man, God's woman, God's youth, destined to live at this time, this day, to make a difference for Him.

HEROES OF FAITH: ABRAHAM

As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. Gen. 17.4.

Devotional by Mark Finley

     The single hallmark of Abraham's experience is his steadfast faith in the will of God.
     This is certainly not to imply that Abraham never questioned. His life was marked with failure. The Old Testament revels his human lack of trust. Sometimes he was impatient. Sometimes he was deceitful, but his faith was constantly growing. Throughout his life experience he developed an unwaivering trust in God.
     God summoned Abraham to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldees. God selected this patriarch as a special recipient of His blessings. Abraham was given his first great test of faith when he was 75 years old. God promised that he would become the father of a great nation, but only if he passed the test of faith by heading for the unknown land of Canaan, 400 miles south. God promised, "I will bless those who bless you... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 12:3).
     Abraham believed God and stepped out in faith. His faith must have been unusually strong, because when God called, he packed his family belongings and left. Yet Abraham's faith was not complete. When a famine swept through Canaan, he did not wait for the Lord to provide for him; he fled to fertile Egypt in search of food. There he resorted to lying, claiming that Sarah, his wife, was his sister. He did not object when she was taken to Pharaoh's household. Only God's intervention prevented Sarah from becoming one of the Egyptian ruler's wives.
     Abraham's faith was tested again as he waited longer and longer for a child. Again he failed the test by conceiving a child with Sarah's maid, Hagar. With great guilt he repented, and Sarah at last bore Isaac.
     Abraham's final test of faith came at the climax of his life story. God commanded him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. He woke his son. He cut the wood. He climbed Mount Moriah and erected the altar. He even lifted the knife. As the old man prepared to slay his faithful, obedient son, God cried out, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God" (Gen. 22:12). God Himself provided a ram for sacrifice. Faith conquered.
     God led Abraham to the same test again and again. Each test challenged his faith, and at each test his faith deepened. God is daily leading us to the "test of faith." Each day He appeals to us to trust Him more. When we fail the test of faith like Abraham once did, He prepares another one. He will never give up on us. He strengthens us for each test until that day we pass the final test and can go home with Him.

SOMEONE KNOWS YOUR NAME

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3.

     Peter Marshall, born in Scotland, was one of America's well known ministers. He allowed God's voice to guide him throughout his life. One night in his childhood he decided to take a shortcut across the moors on his way home. The area was noted for limestone quarries. He was familiar with the terrain and felt he could safely navigate his way.
     Though the night was starless and inky-black, he set out through the rock and heather. Occasionally a moor fowl fluttered up noisily. Otherwise, he was very much alone in the night.
     Suddenly he heard a voice call out with great urgency: "Peter!"
     Halting, he called back into the dark, "Yes, who is it? What do you want?"
     There was no response, just a bit of wind over the deserted moorland. He concluded he'd been mistaken and walked on a few more steps. "Peter!" he heard again, this time with an even greater urgency."Peter!"
     He stopped in his tracks, squinted into the blackness of the night. Who was there? He leaned forward, stumbled, and fell to his knees. Reaching out a hand to the ground before him, Peter felt nothing but thin air. A quarry! Sure enough, as he carefully felt around in a semicircle, he discovered that he was on the brink of a limestone pit. One more step and he would have plummeted to his death. One more step - if he hadn't heeded God's voice, his life would have ended. Out there on the desolate moor Someone knew him, and Someone cared.
     God knows our name. We are not some cosmic blur in the universe. God fashioned us. God made us. God created us. We are His. He cares. He loves. He knows us personally. We matter to Him. At times we may feel alone, but He is always there, calling our name, calling us into the security of His arms. Calling us home.
     Ellen White writes, "Jesus knows us individually, and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows us all by name. He knows the very house in which we live, the name of each occupant. He has at times given directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to such a house, to find one of His sheep" (The Desire of Ages, p.479).
     Jesus loves us that much. What troubles us troubles Him. What bothers us bothers Him. What hurts us hurts Him. We are His children. His interests are linked with ours. Nothing that in any way concerns us escapes His notice. Let your heart rejoice in His personal, intimate, loving concern today.

NO EXCUSES

Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:6

     A company found itself in the middle of tense negotiations with union leaders. Company officials insisted that workers were abusing sick-leave privileges. The union denied it.
     One morning at the bargaining table the company's negotiator held up the sports page of the local newspaper. He pointed to a picture showing an employee winning a golf tournament in town. "This man," the negotiator declared, "called in sick yesterday. But here he is in the paper beside a caption describing his excellent golf score."
     After a moment of silence a union man spoke up. "Wow," he said, "think of the score he could have had if he hadn't been sick!"
     Nice try! We can deny - we can try to cover up deceptions or our misbehavior. But it usually doesn't take us very far. Our sins have a way of finding us out. The wise man is abundantly clear: "He who covers his sins will not prosper" (Prov. 28:13).
     Hollow excuses really don't provide many substantial answers. Flimsy reasoning is sometimes used to cover the grossest sins.
     John Wayne Gacy, Jr., was convicted of murdering scores of children in his Chicago home. He claimed innocence despite the discovery of 27 bodies in a crawl space under the house. How did he respond as he faced death by lethal injection? Gacy said, "In my heart, as God is my witness, I haven't killed anyone."
     "It wasn't really me." "I couldn't help myself." Such excuses have become all too common recently.
     Scripture calls for something far different than lame excuses.
     In a culture that often denies the reality of right and wrong, God calls for boldfaced, on-your-knees, heartfelt repentance. Repentance is a deep sorrow for sin. It is hurting because I have hurt the heart of God. It is weeping over my sins because God weeps over them. It is grieving over my sin because God grieves over it. It is feeling the pain of my sin because God has felt its pain.
     Excuses produce only more guilt. Repentance leads to forgiveness. Forgiveness gives way to healing, and healing brings wholeness.

FORGIVE AS YOU ARE FORGIVEN

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Eph.4:32.

     Jacquie sat on one side of the room, the board members on the other.  The chasm between them seemed almost impossible to span.
     Jacquie had grown up in her hometown church, but the ties were severed when she left her first husband and married another man.  Now, 20 years later, she desired rebaptism.  She sobbed out her repentance and asked for forgiveness.
     Silence followed.  The board knew her situation well, the pain it had brought the congregation.  Could they bridge the chasm?
     I knew I had to speak.  I spoke kindly but directly.  "She has suffered enough.  Let's not give her any more pain.  Paul's counsel is for us to be kind to one another, 'tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you' (Eph. 4:32, KJV).  If God, in all of His perfection, accepts and forgives us, we can forgive Jacquie."
     With quivering lips, her voice cracking, she responded.  "I know I have done wrong," she said,  "for years I have felt guilty.  At time the guilt has almost driven me crazy.  Please accept me."
     I noticed a tear in the first elder's eye.  Then I realized that most of the church board were crying.  Soon a chorus of voices responded in unison, "Of course--of course we will accept you."  Warmth, love, and acceptance filled the room.  Board members reassured Jacquie of their love.  Some hugged her.  Others squeezed her hand in the warmth of Christian fellowship.
     I stood back, recognizing again that our church was never more the church than at the moment.  Here was the love of God in action.  Here was Calvary demonstrated in the family of God.
     As He hung dying on the cross Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34).  Forgiveness is an attitude of mercy toward those who have wronged us.  It releases other from our condemnation because Christ has released us from His condemnation.  It treats others as they do not deserve, because Christ treats us as we do not deserve.  The essence of Christianity is forgiving as Christ forgives, accepting as Christ accepted, and loving as Christ loved.

BLESSED ASSURANCE

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Heb. 10:22

One of the great Christian hymns is the well-known “Blessed Assurance.”  The melody was written by Mrs. Joseph Knapp.  Her husband was the president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. One day Knapp invited the prolific hymn writer Fanny Crosby to her home.  Knapp wanted her to listen to a new melody she had composed.

Knapp sat down at the piano and began playing the melody.  As she played she asked Crosby what thought were coming into her mind—what the melody suggested to her.  Crosby responded, “Mrs. Knapp, your husband deals in life insurance.  My heavenly Father deals in assurance.  This melody suggest to me: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.”

The word “assurance” means an inner confidence.  Assurance is a sense of security.  It also speaks of a sense of belonging and acceptance.  In Christ we are accepted as children of God.  In Christ we have the absolute confidence that our guilt is gone and our sins are forgiven.  In Christ we have complete assurance that the gift of eternal life is ours.

The book of Hebrews reveal that as children of God we can have “the full assurance of hope until the end” (Heb. 6:11) and the “full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22).  It is certainly not God’s will for His children to be filled with uncertainty.  The plan of salvation offers much more than nervous anxiety regarding our salvation.  God longs for us to be filled with assurance.

Satan hates it when a child of God accepts Christ by faith and receives the blessed assurance of forgiveness, pardon, and freedom from guilt.  Ellen White wrote, “Satan is ready to steal away the blessed assurances of God.  He desires to take every glimmer of hope and every ray of light from the soul; but you must not permit him to do this.  Do not give ear to the tempter, but say, ‘Jesus has died that I might live.  He loves me, and wills not that I should perish.  I have a compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered, I will arise, and go to my Father’” (Steps to Christ, p. 53).

In the parable of the prodigal son the father accepted his boy back home.  With his father’s signet ring placed on his finger, the wayward son received the absolute assurance of his father’s love.  Like the prodigal son, we too find love, acceptance, and forgiveness in the Father’s heart.  What confidence, what security, what hope, what blessed assurance.

LONELY NO LONGER

Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life. Isa. 43:4

Clara Anderson was a maid in San Francisco. She was a very gentle woman and very conscientious. One day, after having worked for the same employer for 15 years, she disappeared. She seemed to have just dropped out of sight. Then miraculously, after days of searching, the city’s Social Services Department found her.

Clara was in the process of starving herself to death in a mountain hideout outside of San Francisco. She said, “I want to die; leave me alone.” When a reporter interviewed her, Clara said, “Look, nobody cares about me. I am just a maid, just one of thousands in a society doing menial tasks. My life is of no value. I have no close relatives, no family, no friends. I ’m so lonely that I don’t want to live. There’s no one I consider close to me, nobody I can talk to, nobody I can open my heart to. So just let me die, because nobody really cares.”

There is good news for all the Clara Andersons of life. Somebody loves you more than you will ever realize. When God created you, He threw away the pattern. There is no one else like you in the universe. When the genes and chromosomes came together to form the unique biological structure of your personality, God made a one-of-a-kind of you. You are special to Him. If He loses you, there is no way to replace you. God looks at you and says that you are precious. You are honorable. You are loved.

“He cares for each one as if there were not another on the face of the earth” (The Desire of Ages, p. 480), and “He watches over His children with a love that is measureless and everlasting” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 482).

On those days when you feel alone, remember that the Creator of the universe loves you with an immense love. In those moments of your life when you feel like all hope is gone, remember that the Creator of the universe is your best friend. He is committed to your eternal happiness. He is interested in every aspect of your life. He longs to fill your life with a sense of purpose.

His plans for your life are bigger, greater, and higher than you can possibly imagine. Choose today to come out of your dark dungeon of despair onto the bright, warm sunshine of His love. Simply put, He cares. Let Him fill your heart, and rejoice.

ENEMIES NO MORE

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5:8

    Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant theologian, languished for months in one f Hitler's prisons. During his imprisonment he spent days thinking about the questions of life and death. He reevaluated his life, meditating on God's enormous love for him. Quietly he prayed, "Lord, I cannot resist your love any longer. I accept your forgiveness. I believe I am your child." Niemoller had struggled with the thought of his own inadequacy and guilt. He felt unworthy, sinful, and distant from God. But in a wretched prison camp he was spiritually transformed.
     At last released from prison, Niemoller made this penetrating observation: "It took me a long time to learn that God is not the enemy of His enemies." The apostle Paul outlines this truth marvelously: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 5:8-10).
    When we were His enemies, He was our friend. When we turned our backs on Him, He turned His face toward us. When we ran from Him, He ran to us. The glory of His grace is that He accepts the unacceptable, forgives the unforgivable, and loves the unlovable. Since we are forgiven, we can be forgiving. Since we are loved, we can be loving.
     This thought is capture magnificently is Steps to Christ, page 15: "Such love is without a parallel. Children of the heavenly King! Precious promise! Theme for the most profound meditation! The matchless love of God for a world that did not love Him! The thought has a subduing power upon the soul and brings the mind into captivity to the will of God." This is the gospel and the good news of grace.
     God's unconditional, changeless love is the central theme of the Bible. When we open His Word, we come face to face with His love.

THE SCRIPTURES REVEAL JESUS

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. John 5:39

     Every book has a central theme. The central theme of the Bible is Jesus Christ. It is a story of the perfect world He created, sin's rebellion, the consequences of disobedience, and the efforts of a loving God desperate to save His lost children. The Bible is the story of Jesus plunging into the arena of human affairs to save a people who could not save themselves. In a world of self-centeredness, Jesus revealed the selfless love of God. In a world that did not love Him, Jesus loved unconditionally. "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8).
     I have seen this incredible love story touch the lives of millions around the world in our It Is Written evangelistic meetings. During our meetings in Madras, India, one of the local Bible instructors asked to be assigned to the worst area in town - a barrio known for its gangs, thieves, drugs, and drunkenness. One day while she was visiting people in that area, Jesus came face to face with the local gang leader. The gang leader confronted her and said, "Old woman, get out of here with your Jesus."
     "Young man," she replied, "tell me why you don't love Him as I do." The gang leader began to curse and yell. She patiently listened. When he calmed down, she told him about the Jesus who changed her life. The Jesus who filled her heart with love and joy and peace. The though, hardened gang leader began to weep. Old woman, please come with me to all the gang members in this barrio to tell them about the love of Jesus too."
     The Christ of Scripture transformed this doubter's heart. There is a love that flows from the pages of Scripture that changes our lives also. There is nothing we can do to change God's love for us. All of our sins will not keep Him from loving us.
     The Bible speaks to us of a love so amazing, so incredible, so unparalleled, so matchless, so awesome that, if we let it, that love will change our lives.
                                                                                                  By Pastor Mark Finley

STRENGHT FOR OUR DAILY NEED

Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life. Ps. 119:49, 50

     God's Word gives us hope in times of discouragement. It brings comfort in times of affliction. It imparts life in times of despair.
     Pastor Pyoter Rumackik was imprisoned in a Soviet gulag for his faith. He discovered that even in our darkest times, God provides strength for our daily needs.
     His experience became almost unbearable when prison officials took his Bible away. A few days later, a fellow prisoner handed him a notebook and said, "Here, read this poem."The pastor glanced up and couldn't believe his eyes. It was a poem about Christ's suffering on Calvary. His spirit soared as he read it. He began flipping the pages and discovered more scripturally based poems and numerous passages of the Bible. They filled the entire notebook.
     The unknown stranger announced, "It's yours; you can keep it," and walked away. That notebook filled with Bible passages and scriptural truth brought Pyoter great comfort during the next few years. It helped give him many precious moments of fellowship with God.
     Later the Christian pastor discovered, to his surprise, that the prisoner who gave him the notebook was an atheist. While working alone as a shepherd late at night in the Mongolia highlands, he became fascinate with Christian radio programs. They lifted his spirit and provided inspiration during his solitary nights. He would tape programs and copy portions in notebooks to pass the time. Somehow he managed to smuggle one of his notebooks into the prison. He then felt inspired to give it to Pyoter. For the pastor, this Mongol shepherd seemed like the ravens that brought food to the prophet Elijah in the wilderness. God found a way to provide for his needs. All the power of the gulag guards could not keep God's Word from penetrating his heart. The bars of a cell could not keep God's Word out. The shackles of a prison could not chain the Word of God. God's living Word provides strength for our daily needs in all of the varied circumstances of our lives.
     As we read the precious promises of Scripture we too will declare, "For Your word has given me life."

Solid Ground - Daily Devotionals by Mark Finley

"The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." Matthew 7:25
     Brent and I are reading daily devotionals by Mark Finley called Solid Ground. I like them so much that I decided to post those daily devotionals on my blog. I hope they will be a blessing for all of you as they have been a blessing for us. I love those stories, they are absolutely encouraging and uplifting.
January 8
TRUTH WORTH EVERYTHING
Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17
          In the early 1400s a bright young lecturer at the University of Prague discovered the writings of the English Reformer John Wycliffe. As John Huss pored over the Scriptures, he became personally convinced that the church in Bohemia badly needed a reformation. Several years after taking priest's orders he was appointed rector of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. The founders of this chapel advocated the preaching of the Scriptures in the language of the people. Although Huss was of humble birth and was left fatherless at a young age, he had an insatiable desire for knowledge. He had an unusually bright mind and outstanding communication skills. He was admitted to the university as a charity case, but soon distinguished himself as one of the University of Prague's scholars.
    After completing his college course, he entered the priesthood and soon became attached to the court of the king. He was also made a professor of the university where he had received his education. He became a powerful preacher renowned throughout Europe. When he began to preach that many of the church's beliefs could not be reconcile with Scriptures, it sent shock waves throughout the church in Europe.
     Standing on the authority of Scripture alone, he boldly called for reform in the life and beliefs of fellow church members. Huss staunchly defended his position that "'the precepts of Scripture, conveyed through the understanding, are to rule the conscience; in other words, that God speaking in the Bible, and not the church speaking through the priesthood, is the one infallible guide'" (The Great Controversy, p. 102).
     Huss's preaching led to violent opposition from Roman Church. In 1415 he was burned at the stake in Prague, martyred for his faith.
     Even in death John Huss had the absolute confidence that the truth that he believed, preached, and was willing to die for would one day triumph. God is calling us in our day to be passionate about obeying His truth in our age of moral decay. There are some things that are not worth compromising. The price is just too high.