Is God Really With Me?

What happens when you are faced with a life threatening illness? Or your spouse loses his job? Is God there? What about when you lose a child or sibling to cancer? Is God there? Have you experienced the death of a parent? How could God be there?

There is much to learn about God when we can't see Him or feel His presence. Have you lost God recently? He has not lost you.

As you study through the extraordinary Book of Esther, you will be surprised that the Name of God is not in it. Ask yourself as you read it... is God there? You will be amazed at the answer.

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" —which means, "God with us." ~ Matthew 1:23

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Mirrors are very powerful. When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see or do you hate what you see? When you look in the mirror, do you feel loved, secure, blessed, accepted? Or do you feel insecure, fat, unloved, and ugly?

What mirror did Esther use? In chapter 2 it tells us that there was a search for the most beautiful women. The king wanted a babe to replace Vashti and he had his pick of the virgins. So we know that Esther had to be a beauty since she was hand picked.... but the strange thing about the story is that chapter 2, verse 12 says that this beautiful woman received 12 MONTHS of beauty treatments before she went before the king. So she was beautiful... but not beautiful enough!

Is there a message in this for us today? How much is enough? How much botox, filler, plastic surgery, dieting,etc. is enough? As you read though the Book of Esther ask yourself what real beauty looks like. See if you can find the answer in this amazing story.

The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. ~ Psalm 45:11

I'm So Angry!

Have you been furious with anyone lately? Have you lost your temper with your kids, spouse or a friend?

Well friends... as you read through the Book of Esther you will find a lot of anger. The king is angry. His servants are angry. His right hand man Haman is angry.

How do they deal with their anger? How do you deal with your anger?

Look for the words anger, wrath, and any synonyms of these words. Mark them with your colored pencils. One color for all the words and synomyns that refer to anger.

Then get your spiral notebook. At the top of a page list the Key Words - Anger, Angry and Wrath. Then make a list of the verses that contain these words. Observation is the first step in an Inductive Bible Study. We'll talk in class about what God is showing you.

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
~ Proverbs 29:11

Key Words

A key can open a treasure box or unlock the door to Nordstrom's the day after Christmas. Open either and you'll find treasures galore.

A key can also be very important in Bible Study. Key Words can and will open up the meaning of the text. Key words are simply repeated words. If God puts a word in the text over and over again, you can count on the fact that He has something special for us to laern about it.

As you read through the Book of Esther you will find many repeated words. Mark them in a distinct way. Get a pack of colored pencils and /or some fine point colored pens.

Some key words are obvious... like the main characters the story is about.King Ahasuerus, Queen Vashti, Esther, Mordecai and Haman are all key words in the Book of Esther.