Season of Easter, Season of Esther 2-22-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and King of my heart, I bow before You, worship and adore You, watching and waiting for You call to come into the fullness of Your presence this day. ... "Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, 'Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.' Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him" (Esther 4:16). Fasting is a "weapon of our warfare" (2 Corinthians 10:4). It is a physical act of a spiritual attitude -- the attitude of humility and desperate dependence on You. "I humbled my soul with fasting" (Psalm 69:10). And it is a means to prepare our hearts to "go to the King" on behalf of our people. As we humble ourselves in Your sight, You lift us up (James 4:10). You called Esther to fast and pray because Haman sought to destroy her people (Esther 3:5-6). The spirit of Haman persists today, seeking to destroy the Jewish people of Esther and Mordecai. By grace, through faith, I am now grafted in to the tree of Esther's people (Romans 11:17). "Just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.' For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed" (Galatians 3:6-9). As I receive the blessings of Abraham through faith in the Messiah and God of Abraham, so I also sense the call to fast and pray on behalf of the people of Abraham, who are now my people as well, having been grafted in to the tree of faith. For two days, it seems You have been impressing the date of March 20th on my heart. I don't know yet if this may be a date of a great move of Your power or a date planned by the spirit of Haman as a date of planned destruction, or something else all together. But I choose to receive this as a call for me to fast and pray until that day in the way You lead. I pray for the humility of my soul and I pray for the safety of my people -- my people and Your people. As in the days of Esther, let the day planned for destruction become the day of thanksgiving and praise, "a day of feasting and gladness" (Esther 9:18). With Ash Wednesday yesterday, we began the season of Easter. Lord, let this season of Easter be like the season of Esther. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, our new dvd's and cd's are available now for distribution from the recent conference I led in Lexington: "From Brokenness to Breakthrough -- healing from grief, sorrow, trauma, and pain in a broken world." Please let us know if you would like to order one for yourself, a friend, or a study group. ($20, plus shipping; discounts available when necessary so that these are available to everyone). To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com