{"id":15059,"date":"2013-10-07T01:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T06:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=15059"},"modified":"2013-10-06T16:29:56","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T21:29:56","slug":"esther-61-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/07\/esther-61-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther – Chapter 6:1-3"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records,\u00a0 the chronicles, and they were read before the king.\u00a0\u00a0 It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king\u2019s eunuchs who were doorkeepers,\u00a0 that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.\u00a0\u00a0 The king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?”\u00a0 Then the king\u2019s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0Esther 6:1-3<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The favor<\/em> of a man (in this case King Ahasuerus), while a blessing, is always temporary.\u00a0 As we read this record, we see that the king realized that something should have been done to show honor, or favor, to Mordecai for saving Ahasuerus\u2019 life. (Look back here to see exactly what had happened.)\u00a0 For some reason…perhaps God\u2019s timing…it did not happen at that time.<\/p>\n

We have seen \u2018favor\u2019<\/em> being given here in Esther\u2019s story before…let\u2019s look back.<\/p>\n

…Now Esther was winning favor <\/i>in the eyes of all who saw her.
\nAnd the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained grace and favor<\/i> in his sight more than all the maidens….
\nChapter 2, verse 15-17<\/p>\n

And when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor <\/i>in his sight, and he held out to [her] the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the tip of the scepter.
\nChapter 5, verse 2<\/p>\n

In the first account, Esther was favored not only by everyone she met but…far more importantly…she was favored by the king.\u00a0 And, in the second record, because of the favor that Esther received from her husband King Ahasuerus, she was allowed to approach his throne and granted her most unusual request.\u00a0 When favor is given from person to person, there is always the chance it will be withheld, or delayed…as in the instance between Ahasuerus and Mordecai.<\/p>\n

However, God\u2019s favor<\/em>—His grace<\/em> to us—is never withheld.\u00a0 We are never left waiting for His blessing.\u00a0 When we receive favor from the Lord it is always timely…perfectly on time.\u00a0\u00a0 There are many records throughout the Bible of people being favored by the Lord.\u00a0 Here are a few of my personal favorites!<\/p>\n

Noah<\/strong> <\/em>\u2014 found favor<\/em> in God\u2019s eyes; and we know what came from that!<\/p>\n

Genesis 6:6-8
\nAnd the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart.
\nSo the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground\u2014not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air\u2014for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them.
\nBut Noah found grace<\/em> (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.<\/p>\n

Moses<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 also was favored<\/em> by God and through His life the children of Israel benefitted from that favor and were led to the Promised Land.<\/p>\n

Exodus 33:17 and 18
\nThe Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor<\/em> in My sight and I have known you by name.”
\nThen Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”<\/p>\n

David<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 Psalms 5:12, 30:5 and 7, 69:13 (and others)<\/p>\n

Acts 7:45 and 46
\nSo it was until the days of David, who found favor<\/em> in the sight of God
\nand asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.<\/p>\n

Mary<\/strong> <\/em>\u2014 Can you only imagine being told these things!<\/p>\n

Luke 1:28-31
\nThe angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored<\/em>! The Lord is with you.”
\nMary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
\nBut the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor<\/em> with God.
\nYou will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus.<\/p>\n

As we read through these records and remember the fullness and importance of each account, I think that we recognize the incredible value there is in finding \u2018favor<\/em> with God.\u2019\u00a0 I have read numerous times that \u2018favor\u2019 (Old Testament word) and \u2018grace” (New Testament word) are the same thing.\u00a0 So favor<\/em> = grace<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, we HAVE<\/strong> found favor<\/em>, or grace<\/em>, with God!\u00a0 And the favor<\/em>\/grace<\/em> that we have with Him can never be withheld, delayed, or taken away!\u00a0 (For a beautiful picture of God\u2019s favor<\/em>, His grace<\/em> to us, read Romans 5<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Read through the following verses…I pray that God will enlarge your understanding so that you will see and know of His favor and grace<\/em> towards you!<\/p>\n

I always thank my God for you because of His grace <\/i>given you in Christ Jesus.
\n1 Corinthians 1:4<\/p>\n

Romans 6:14<\/a><\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 9:8<\/a><\/p>\n

Ephesians 1:2-6<\/a><\/p>\n

Ephesians 2:5-8<\/a><\/p>\n

Ephesians 4:7<\/a><\/p>\n

Philippians 1:7<\/a><\/p>\n

Hebrews 4:16<\/a><\/p>\n

Titus 3:4-7<\/a><\/p>\n

2 Peter 1:2-3<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Wk6_Hayden_Esther\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let’s Pray<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almighty Father, we thank You…we praise You…for the immensity of Your grace towards us!\u00a0 Where would we be without it?!!\u00a0 Truly, still dead in our trespasses and sins!\u00a0 Your grace, your favor, Your blessing for our lives cannot be earned; we are so thankful!\u00a0 May we hold the TRUTH regarding Your wonderful grace in our hearts…and rest in that truth.\u00a0 Thank You, Father; we love and adore You!<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records,\u00a0 the chronicles, and they were read before the king.\u00a0\u00a0 It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king\u2019s eunuchs who were doorkeepers,\u00a0 that they had sought to lay hands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":15064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[3511,235,3475,1906,2052,3512,3652,425,454,554,1849,2054,697,3978,724,1141],"class_list":["post-15059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-book-of-esther","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-darlene-schacht","tag-david","tag-esther","tag-esther-the-beauty-of-courageous-submission","tag-favor","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-grace","tag-jesus","tag-mary","tag-mordecai","tag-moses","tag-noah","tag-online-bible-study","tag-womens-online-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Wk6_Hayden_Esther.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3UT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15059"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15080,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059\/revisions\/15080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}