Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 12 21 2023 The Miracle of Purim

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12 21 2023 The Miracle of Purim · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
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  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
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  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
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  keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
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  all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
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  to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
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  author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
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  morning. It is Thursday, December twenty one, twenty twenty three. Hello,
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  my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this
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  is your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and
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  today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series, God's
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  Mission, My Mission under the caption the Miracle of Purim. I hope I
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  pronounced that right. I am not a linguist. The Miracle at Purim.
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  We'll talk about that in just a moment, but first I'd like to just
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  say welcome to you and give a great big thank you and shout out to
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  all of you. I see you at different places. I may be in
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  the airport, I may be in the supermarket. I may even be at
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  the beach. At different churches around the country and in different parts of the
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  world, I see you in person, and you always come and greet me
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  and give me encouraging words. And I'm thankful because I remember one day saying
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  to a very very prominent and holy preacher and evangelist, I want to be
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  like you one day in this regard. And God is giving me my wish
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  and my desire to reach the entire world as He gives strength with the Gospel.
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  And you are helping me. So when you click that share button,
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  when you pray for people, when you give encouragement based on whatever you heard
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  or you saw while we were together, you are helping in the mission of
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  spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world for a witness, and
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  we know that Jesus Christ will come as a result. I'm looking forward to
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  the day. Let's go ahead and pray and then get underway. Father,
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  thank you for giving us this day. Thank you for those listening on the
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  two hundred plus radio stations, the thirty plus platforms online, and then also
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  on one or two television stations. Father, I'm asking you now for us
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  to connect with you here though, and it just and it just be a
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  true and solid connection to where you transform our lives and then we spread your
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  truth into the world. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen and Amen again
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  the miracle of piim. Okay, Now, the lesson writer points out something
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  that I never even noticed. And I'm ashamed I'm supposed to notice this and
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  I'm going to have to go look at it now because i want to be
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  sure. I'm like a barean. I want to see whether these things be
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  so or no. Okay, But the lesson writer says, commentators for millennia
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  have noticed that God's name does not appear in the Book of Esther. That's
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  very interesting. This is the only Bible book where this phenomenon occurs. However,
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  the people of God were able to recognize his actions in the great deliverance
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  made for them, and this book was selected by God's people to be included
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  in the canon of the Bible, that is, the sixty six books that
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  we now call the Bible. Are you able to discover the presence of God
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  beneath the surface of daily life? God's actions can take the appearance of normal.
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  This is why I'm reading this. Natural events and if we don't give
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  keen attention to them, we will not recognize God's presence. This is a
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  power full observation. Now, Ellen White talks about what she calls practicing the
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  visible presence of God. This is the awareness that when you are wherever you
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  are, like I'm in my studio right now, you are in your car,
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  You're on the roads, You're in the gym, you are in your
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  kitchen right now. You may be in the restroom bathing for all I know.
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  Pardon me, I'm not looking at you. What I'm saying is like
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  people wherever we are need to recognize God is here, if God forbid,
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  we are in places that we ought not to be. I used to be
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  in places that I ought not to be, with a lot of stroll blights
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  and and frenetic music and some really lude sort of dark things going on in
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  these places. But I needed to recognize that whereas God does not love to
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  be in these places, and if we don't welcome him into our life,
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  he may vacate at some point, but his patience is long. We have
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  to recognize that God is present and we should live as such, with the
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  respect and honor that he is due. And so I'm thankful that the lesson
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  writer pointed this out. We need to practice the visible presence of God.
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  I'll just pause right there, and so I'm going to read from the Book
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  of Esther, chapter nine and see how many verses I can get through.
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  I think, boy, I should probably not try this. This is too
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  many verses. But let me try, beginning at verse one. In the
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  twelfth month, that is the month Adar, on this thirteenth day, the
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  edict of the King and his law were to be executed. It was on
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  this day that the enemies of God's people had supposed that they would gain power
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  over them. But contrary to their expectations, the people of God gained power
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  over their enemies. How did they get that? How? The people of
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  God assembled themselves in their cities throughout all of the provinces of the king as
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  a hazara, a hazu ara us. I always mixed that up, a
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  hazu us to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one
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  was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all peoples.
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  All the officials of the provinces the Satraps, the governors and those who
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  performed the king's business were assisting the people of God, for the dread of
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  Mordecai I had fallen on them. Mordecai I was a high rank in the
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  King's palace, and the word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces.
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  His influence continued to be greater and greater. The people of God struck all
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  their enemies with the sword, And then, of course it talks about that
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  in Susa verse six, the citadel of the people of God, they destroyed
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  five hundred men, and it goes down through this list. But they did
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  not confiscate their property. That was verse in verse ten, verse eleven.
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  On the same day, the number of those who were destroyed in Susa the
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  citadel was brought to the king's attention. Then the king said to Queen Esther,
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  in Susa, the citadel of God's people were killed and destroyed, five
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  hundred men and the sons of Haymen. What then have they done to the
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  rest of the King's provinces. What is your request? It shall be given
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  to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done?
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  And of course the Bible continues with a lesson, and so you're like,
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  oh, so much death, Like, what are you talking about? Now?
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  This was self defense. This was self defense. If you read through
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  the book of Esther, you will realize that there was a plot to destroy
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  and exterminate God's people. We have seen this before. And what God did
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  in positioning Esther and having the guidance, in the guidance from the elder,
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  her relative, her cousin Mordecai, was to devise a plan where God's people
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  wouldn't have to lay down for it, where God's people could lawfully and in
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  a way that did please God, defend themselves. I wish I had the
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  time. God is very clear in the scriptures about the difference between self defense
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  and retribution, repriseal vengeance. God said, vengeance is his set the Lord.
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  He will replay, he will repay. But there are times that unfortunately,
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  we have to defend ourselves. We don't have time to talk about the
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  details. But that's what it was. God was positioning them for the name
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  and honor and glory of God, to defend themselves and to keep the legacy
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  and the name of God through his people alive. And so what I want
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  you to do is reckon ignize God's hand in everyday life. Number two.
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  Trust in God's unconventional deliverance. See, he didn't do a miracle this time
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  in the way that we've seen miracles, but he did. He did give
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  them what they needed in order to win the battle against their enemies. Also
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  the impact of personal testimony, like share your faith journey so it can influence
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  others. Number four. Celebrate God's deliverance. Number five, have courage to
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  share your faith and then of course write it down like write it down journal.
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  When God has done great things for you, write it down so you
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  can always go back and say, God is great, done great things for
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  me. Thanks for joining us listening to friends. Always remember we cannot live
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  by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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  This has been your daily portion with el David Harris. Make it a
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  great day. Yeah,