Okay, so I’m going to make a commitment here… for the next 8 weeks or so, as I study the book of Esther on Wednesday nights and do my homework during the week, at some point I’m going to journal my thoughts about the impact of my current Bible study answering the simple question, “What’s God been teaching me lately?” But I will need your help.
As I endeavor to become more of a blog writer, I would like some of you blog readers to become “blog responders” by adding your own thoughts, ideas and questions by using the comment function. You don’t have to be in one of the Esther studies or even in a LifeGroup here at Community to participate, just join in. “What’s God been teaching YOU lately?”
So, here’s goes Week 1:
The first chapter of Esther begins with descriptions of a grand palace and all the splendor of an ancient 7-day-long Persian party. The phrase that jumped out in my homework this week was on Day 3, “Today the camera shifts from fabrics to faces and where you have people- you have problems (18).”
I am not a people person; people are definitely WORK for me; they wear me out. I really do enjoy my own company 
Consequently, I have often wondered why God has placed me in such a people-person role here at Community. I certainly would not have picked me.
Both as Worship Leader and Women’s Walk Leader, my primary goal is to help people step in to a connection with Jesus, build up their relationship with God the Father, and live out what the Holy Spirit is doing in their lives. Whether it’s through music, Bible study, service projects or just good ol’ fun at Girl’s Night Out, the people are always there.
Through my reflections this week, God led me back to a verse that was very encouraging and sustaining to me as we moved into our present worship center 5 years ago. The night that we wrote on the concrete floor in that building asking God for his saving grace for our loved ones, I, very selfishly and very earnestly, wrote the following prayer from Ephesians chapter 1 on the stage floor right where I stand week in and week out:
I ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make me intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that I can see exactly what it is he is calling me to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength! All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence (TM).
I am just SO excited about what God is doing right here, right now and like Esther, I want to make sure that I’m available to be used by God, confident that it is God working in me, giving me the power and the desire to do what pleases him (Phil 2:13).
“What’s God been teaching YOU lately?”
5 comments so far
I am excited be the first blog reader to be a blog responder to the questioned posed by the blog writer.
God has been teaching me so much lately, but the thing in the Esther study that impacted me this week was how the ladies trying to be queen were treated. I hadn't contemplated how the ladies must have felt. Like a piece of property probably. And really not even as good a piece of property. People take care of their property...they don't just discard it when they get tired of it.
God reminds me that many women are treated as discards everyday. They are used by people in their lives and then discarded because they are not good enough for whatever reason. I pray that Community would be a place where ladies can come to be healed by the Love of Jesus, and I am thankful to be a part of that.
I've been thinking alot about destiny lately. In any relationship there is the dynamic of shared experience.
"The God-ordained emphasis on human responsibility is a divine-human synergism" is the way Beth puts it. God is not going to fulfill my destiny without me. So does that mean if I just shake it off my destiny goes unfulfilled? If so that sounds like a burden to me. But, here is what God promises:
Psalm 138:8 "The LORD will fulfill his purpose, for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever-do not abandon the work of your hands."
Philippians 1:6 "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
We are, after all, the work of his hands and we are being molded, shaped and pressed for our good and his glory. God commits himself to his purpose and to us and the result is destiny.
"Living Out" has been my lesson lately.
For twenty years, I told God I had "it" figured out -
I didn't need Him or His church.
Now for the past twenty-two months, (since I was baptized and became an active member at CCC) God has been teaching me a new lesson almost every month.
Stepping In -was no challenge I jumped in with both feet -into ministry, into spending time reading the Bible, into a small group...
Building Up -has taken some time; Bible studies with Beth Moore, more LifeGroup meetings, using God's examples and rules with my son, and husband, and daughter...I don't think I'm done yet in what I need to learn and know.
But I know I need to stand unashamed in front of every person I meet, even have some scripture to quote -not there yet -
I have learned I am "a work in progress."
Thank You Lord for the Mercy!
Getting a better grasp of how a loving, gracious Father works in my life has been what He has been teaching me today!! This has been happening particularly through our new Beth Moore Bible Study.
I just love the way Beth Moore allows the Lord to speak such profound truths through her!!
The statement that has resinated in my heart and mind since our last week's study is the fact that "you cannot amputate your history from your destiny". In other words, all the events, situations, and circumstances in my life - the good, the bad, and the ugly - all come together to shape the destiny and the destination that God has planned for me. That reality actually has given me much comfort as I have pondered how God uses EVERYTHING in my life for His good (see Genesis 50:19,20). Our Amazing, Awesome, Almighty God can take the mistakes, the bad choices, the unintended consequences of my selfish desires, etc. and turn them for good just as He did when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. Hallelujah!! What a Great God we serve.
I can't wait to see what other gems we will find as we continue to study God's Word with fresh eyes and open hearts.
With Purim coming up on March 10, perhaps it would be a good idea for you to partner with a local synagogue to discuss the book of Esther, since Esther is so central to that holiday. You could discuss, for example, how God is not mentioned even one time in this book.