Esther Chapter 2

These are the notes from the second study from the Book of Esther. Esther chapter 2

2:1 ; *It’s been three years since the war party. King Ahasuerus failed to conquer Greece, and returns to Shushan in humiliation. Adding to his shame, he remembers the stupid law. Vashti still belongs to the King but wherever she’s being kept, her quarters would be more of a prison than a home. She can’t be thrown out for she’s the former Queen, and she can’t be tossed into the harem for the same reason. Xerxes problem, he doesn’t have a Queen beside him while he attempts to reorganize his kingdom and its defeated army. His kingdom is a shambles.

The most amazing thing? God sees all and knows all. There is nothing in the hearts of all mankind that God doesn’t know about. God even sees what is coming. Almighty God is without equal!

The king has concubines galore, but the throne needs a woman of beauty with a sound reputation, whom the court approves joined to the king with a proper setting. An already owned sex-slave cannot fill that position. Just like in chapter 1—two wrongs don’t make a right.

In ch 1, it was the wise men who instructed the king to write the law dethroning Vashti. Ch 2:2, it’s not even the wise men but his servants suggest gathering virgins for the king to choose a queen from.

So the order goes out to herd young women to the palace, like cattle. Conscripted by order, yanked from their homes and parents arms, many never to be seen by family again. They were essentially kidnapped for the king’s pleasure.

Can you imagine the crying? The terror? The sorrow that they will never be loved wives, or mothers? No homes, nor husbands or children to take care of? Only one can be Queen, the rest will be sex-slaves for the rest of their lives.

2:2-4. It’s not his wise men but his servants that advise him now. And this thing pleased the king. The thing being kidnapping beautiful girls. What do you think? (In a moral society, this would, should be, be sickening.)

2:5,6,7. God inserts Himself in between Xerxes idea & his implementing it. By inserting Mordecai into the palace, God has changed the outcome already.

2:5-6. God shows up! God is so amazing. Although never mentioned, Holy God appears regularly in the movement of different events and different lives. Something horrible is about to happen but Almighty God inserts His presence into the story.

It’s like Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. God knew they would need powerful encouragement, as the persecution became very heavy in that city. God sent them a wonderful love letter through Paul’s hand. Thessalonians 2:7-12. You need God—God shows up!

Mordecai lives in the Capital city, and more importantly, he has retained his heritage. This is more proof of God appearance in this book---the choice of Mordecai as a devout Jew, strong in his faith and the pride of his heritage.

What can Christians express pride in? (Psalm 34:2, 44:8, 2 Corinthians 9:2, Galatians 6:14)

God told the Jews to always remember their families names and heritage. It seems Mordecai was born while his family was captives, as it was his great great grandfather who was carried away from Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar captured the city. (2 Kings 24:14) Kish must have been a mighty man in Jerusalem, because the best were taken during the first captivity. Kish was taken the same time as Daniel, but he wasn’t placed with Daniel with the eunuchs, as he certainly had children.(1st captivity Jeremiah 29:5-7) (Forbidden Marriage Due 7:1-3, Joshua 23:11-12, Ezra 9:1,2)

It seems Kish and his decedents kept their Jewish linage clean from inter marriage.

For some reason Mortdecai did not return to Jerusalem when Ezra and Nehemiah returned to rebuild. He and his family still reside in the capital Persian city of Shushan.

Esther has the same clean Jewish Lineage as Mordecai. And she is hauled off to the palace with the rest of the young girls. Her prospects of a Jewish family line ends. 

There is another young girl we know in the Bible whose family heritage was kept pure for an awesome reason. Who is that young girl? Mary. (Matthew 1:1-17)2

2:9 Esther’s character was different than any of the other girls in the harem. And her difference was noticed by the major guard of the woman, Hegai. He knew there was something different about her and he treated her with a greater respect than he did all the other women there.

2:8,9. Esther exposed the darkness of the king’s harem by her difference. Her personal holiness in a dark place made her godly character standout among the crowd, thus creating a different atmosphere around her. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

2:10, Esther is an ambassador of her people and of God. Daniel’s account was a historical fact in the Jew’s history of their captivity. There could not have been many that didn’t know how Daniel stood up for his Jewish heritage. But unlike Daniel, Esther kept her Hebrew blood a secret but she retained her learned character.

We may never have an opportunity to speak of our Christian heritage, but our character needs to be the higher standard. It doesn’t matter where we are, who we’re with, we have the mind of Christ, we have the power of God, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. There needs to be something extraordinary about our holy conduct that even the ungodly will have to take notice.

What is holiness? What are some holy actions? Things Christians do or don’t do publically that sets them apart from the world?

Esther was different from the other women, and her difference gave her an edge in becoming Queen. Hegai was on the look-out for Queen qualities, it was part of his job. And by her more beautiful, composed, lady-like behavior, she expose the hidden things of darkness. She shined brighter in a room full of lesser characters.

Esther was beautiful but she went through the beauty treatments to make her gorgeous. Her beauty treatments went on for a year.

God says women are to shine with an inner beauty, which will shine through any mars of our outward frailties. We’re familiar with the woman of 1 Peter 3, and the Proverbs 31, woman)

We’re the Bride of Christ. We need an extraordinary interest in making ourselves beautiful in Christ.

We have a simpler beauty treatment with less stress. We’re already the Bride of the King. You want to be made beautiful? To have the inner beauty of the heart?

The Bible is your beauty treatment. Get into God’s word to be cleansed from the world. John 17: 17, Ephesians 5:22-27, Titus 3:5, Proverbs 31:17,18 & 30,

We have the Shulamite as our example also, of the love of God shining our beauty that no one else can comprehend. Loving God will draw out the beauty that only He can see in a woman.

You want to have a successful beauty treatment? Get into the word of God. Pray, read, fellowship, worship. Determine to make the effort to love the Lord with all your heart, your strength, your mind. You will be beautiful and others will see it. They may not understand it, but they will certainly see it.

2:21-23. When the trouble came, Mordecai and Esther were able to do the right thing, the right way, to have the right decision made to stop the wrong. This was just a foretaste of their work to come. And now God has Mordecai moved into the palace business district. He’s one of the movers’ and shakers in the palace politics. He’s gaining a reputation as a man of integrity. His peers trust his wisdom. They may hate him but they know he’s an honest man.

Christians need knowledge of the world. God says be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves. God says the serpent is crafty. Know the ins and outs of ruthlessness business, yet conduct business with different deliverance & purpose.

Esther and Mordecai from different positions, exposed the hidden darkness.(Ephesians 5:8-13.)

Lesson Points:

1. God knows the innermost secret hearts of all people.

2. Boast of your salvation in Christ

3. As the Bride of Christ, take an extraordinary interest in making yourself beautiful for Christ Jesus.

4. The Bible is your beauty treatment. Let God’s word cleanse you from the world.

*Historical information from Bible Knowledge Commentary & Commentary, study notes of J. Vernon McGee

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A Personal Opinion of the Fall of Mankind in Genesis 3

A personal opinion of what happened in the Garden of Eden. This is not to be taken as fact but is just an idea of mine.

After he figured out that God loved these weak little creatures Jesus made, Satan wanted to be worshiped. However, because of his newly expressed pride, Satan was kicked out of heaven for trying to elevate his position to a god.

Therefore, angry at God for not accepting his self-appointed promotion, Satan decided to see wha...t damage he could do to God's perfect little creatures. He took a walk around the Garden of Eden watching and studying the man and his wife. Finally figuring out a way to hurt them, Satan approached Eve with his evil plans.


Satan succeeded in killing the relationship between God and man by getting Eve to question God's love for her simply by making her wonder why God would tell her not to do something.

Satan killed us all, bringing the wages of sin in the form of death to all people. Spiritual death and eternal separation in hellfire from our original relationship to God and physical death in our bodies that returns to the earth God formed us from.

Thank God for His gracious salvation Jesus provided through the cross!!

Completely rhetorical question---How long would you imagine it took Satan to figure out from which tree Adam and Eve weren’t to eat?

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When It Counts--Fiction

     It had to be seconds but it seemed hours since my wheels disengaged from the track, slammed home to dig in and flip me into an airborne spin. A small hunk of debris causing a blown tire and my career as a Driver floated away with the wind streaming by at a hundred and sixty miles per hour. The Owners weren’t going to want to keep my contract; I couldn’t even win a 250 that didn’t count anyway.

     I shouldn’t have been in this race to begin with. I had taken this detour from the regular schedule to enter a short track race. It wasn’t in the points race and for all purposes I had no business to risk it. After begging LaDrews Racing for this opportunity, I’d blown it again. Maybe I hadn't fully convinced them of the great advertising opportunity, but they let me enter anyway. After-all, I'd begun on tracks like this. This was Kindergarten stuff for a Driver who's scored two-time second place at Daytona.

As the car went around for another spin, I saw any possible win at next year's Daytona fly away with the left front wheel. What good was the dream of Daytona when I'd wrecked LaDrews Dodge car two days before qualifying for Talladega. They were probably already exchanging my name on the roster for my teammate’s name.

     Kelsey was a good driver, yet he wasn’t a risk taker, never scratching the paint. The LaDrews brothers hired me for my nerve but I’d been a disappointment, even to myself.

     The car came down on its roof with a bone-jarring bang and immediately lifted for another round of flips. Metal and fiberglass flew in every direction. When would this crazy ride quit? I wasn’t enjoying it. Race car driving was about precision, deliberation, courage and most of all control.

     Right now, I had no control.

   We have no control.  That’s what that preacher said in church last Sunday; that little church my wife, Viv, insisted we attend. He’d said something about God being in control of everything.

     “God, if you’re in control, why don’t you stop this kaleidoscoping automobile?” I was screaming but the roaring of tearing metal screamed louder so I couldn't even hear myself.

     The stop seemed as frightening as the flying. My thrashed body felt stunned, even surrounded by the safety gear. Trapped in the demolished car, I watched the rescue vehicles arrive. I was still saying something but my head was still spinning to rapidly to register my own thoughts. Like the tire that was still rolling down the track to the infield my mind was running away with a jumble of thoughts. Maybe my life was flashing before my eyes, but it didn't look very familiar at the moment.

     “Gary, you all right?”

     I heard that and looked out at the anxious face of the attendant. I calmly replied, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

     While someone blew fire-retardant all over what was left of what had been a championship racecar, the rescue crew peeled the mangled metal apart and helped me out. The attendants took my arms as I stumbled.

     I grinned. “Went around too many times, dizzy.” My legs gave out and they caught me before I face-planted the asphalt.

     “Ambulance, Gary,” one said. “Get you checked out.” I was in no condition to complain as they lifted me and laid me on a gurney, strapping me down to restrict movement. "Just a short trip, relax." The attendant smiled. "The doctor'll fix you up"

     Whatever he might have said next was lost when the world suddenly became a humongous soft black pillow that swallowed me whole.

    Vivian, my wife, was in the room when I woke up, an open bible in her lap, her IPad in her hand, with the earbuds tucked in her dainty little ears. Seeing my open eyes, she smiled and pulled the earphones from her ears, brushing her long dark soft hair back.

     “Hey, Viv, been waiting long?”

     She stood by the bedside, taking my hand gently so not to disturb the tubes sticking out of my arms. That's when I noticed I was strapped down. “What’s all this?” I asked, staring around at the life monitors.

     “How do you feel?”

     Feeling foolish, lightheaded and wanting to giggle at the silliness of it all, I wondered what sort of drugs I was on, because giggling hadn't been in my repertoire for years. I grinned at her. “I'm hungry.” That was my standard line for her usual question of 'How are you?' but it didn't seem to have the same effect this time.

the conversation paused as a nurse came in and did a thorough check of everything, making sure I was in fact conscious. her only words apart from the usual commands of follow the light she shown in my eyes, 'squeeze my fingers as heard as you can', 'Are you in pain', and 'Don't hesitate to call the nurses station for anything you need', she left with the obvious statement, "The Doctor will be in shortly."

    Alone again, I made a smart crack about sponge baths just to tease Vivian. I was getting annoyed that Vivian seemed to be in a downer mood.

     "What's with you? I know you are afraid of my racing, but I'm fine. I'm alive. You should be happy now I won't be able to drive at Talladega." I lay back on the pillow. "Probably be sitting out the rest of the season if LaDrew really gets steamed over the mess I made."

     Vivian laid her hand on the blanket over my leg. “Do you know you were screaming into your mike?”

     I blushed easily. “Yeah, I know.”

     “Do you remember what you were saying?”

     “Why?” I asked. “Does it matter?”

     "Harmen LaDrew was in and gave me a copy of your mike recording." With a light touch, she placed one of the IPad's earbuds in my ear, and I found myself listening to the playback of my voice recording during the wreck. My eyes met hers, amazed at what I was hearing. I didn't remember any of it.

     Her eyes were loving, concerned. “Did you really ask Jesus to save you?”

     “I must have, it’s right there.” Flippantly, I added, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

     “Gary, how do you feel?”

     “I’m fine. What’s with you?”

      “Can you feel my hand?”

     I looked down at the sheet laying along my entire length. For a moment I was worried but then relieved to see I had two feet poking the sheet at the end of my legs. I watched Vivian's hand squeeze my right knee. She has long nails and she was squeezing hard, those nails pressing into my flesh through the sheet. Suddenly I was scared. My eyes lifted to hers, “What’s wrong?”

    “Your back is broken.” Her big brown eyes spilled tears. “Gary, did you mean it? Did you cry out to Jesus?”

    I lowered my head to the pillow and  stared at the ceiling. I whispered, “Lord Jesus, I mean it now.”

The End

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5 Actions That Will Beautify Any Christian Woman

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward

--arranging the hair, wearing gold or putting on

fine apparel--rather let it be the hidden person

of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a

gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious

in the sight of God"

1 Peter 3:3 & 4

This verse has a bad reputation but it's actually a call for Christian women to rejoice in their womanhood.

Christian women should take a stand and say, "Yes, because I love God, I am different. I refuse to let society fads and fashions stereotype me and my styles."

Here are 5 verses that can influence the way women can show off the beauty in Christianity. 

“Judge not, that you be not judged” Matthew 7: 1

     A woman's judgement, either for or against someone or something, many times will be for the safety of herself, her spouse, her children, her extended family or her friends.
     Judgement condemning someone which may forever keep them from God is never the role of a Christian. Condemnation is God’s job but, if this form of judging is your habitual sin, He will absolutely forgive all who ask for forgiveness.
     This verse also warns us when judging to make sure the impact of our choice does not condemn us. If making a decision for or against anyone, use discernment to judge fairly, and strive to deliberately harm no one.
     God gave women a special personality trait of high emotional influence and because of this, when judging someone; you must carefully examine your reasons. Any necessary judgments women make are to improve the good things and destroy the bad things to create safer and cleaner lives.

“But I say to you that for every idle word men, (women), may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment” Matthew 12: 36.
     Communication is essential to life. The correct language can open doors and incorrect language can close doors. With a carefully sustained clean conduct, women can control a major part of the language spoken in their homes, work place and in public. Commonality of speech for women doesn’t have to assume coarseness or gutter-talk.
     Women can show off their beauty and attractiveness by their everyday speaking. Clean speech and behavior can especially enhance a woman’s character, style, beauty, and desirability.

“And just as you want men, (women), to do to you, you also do to them likewise” Luke 6: 31
     Rudeness mars beauty. Sometimes called the ‘golden rule’, it is a real fact, if you want people to be polite and nice, show yourself to be polite and nice. Women can be strong leaders in this area of personal and public life. A mother can teach her children how kind words and actions can help them achieve much. On the job, favorable actions and manners will get better reviews. If you want to have any influence, use the ‘golden rule’ and see what can happen around you.

“But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” Matthew 6: 3.
     Visibly heightened emotions are created part of women. Love, joy, anger, sympathy, empathy, and mother's love and protection; women show these traits with more vulnerability than men. If managed well, they can be a part of our hidden beauty that makes us attractive. Women can utilize their God given emotional specialties as wonderful givers, doers, motivators, counselors, and encouragers.
     Have you ever done something for someone who wasn’t expecting it, and you did it just for the joy of giving? While God made men to be subtly appreciative, God made woman with the capacity of giving and receiving with more emotion.
     Is there anyone you can help without thinking of any return for your effort?

“…Esau…took wives, Judith…and Basemath…and they were a grief to Isaac and Rebekah” Genesis 26: 33, 34.
     Family relationships can be a struggle at any time. A woman can trouble her own house or she can make it comfortable. Everyone will admire a woman, whether married or unmarried, who can maintain a good home. Habitual good and bad behavior is something learned or unlearned.
     In former decades, before the push for what is touted as equality, before she left home, most girls were taught the ways of femininity for her own benefit. While a woman can be computer programmers, drive trucks, be CEO of large companies, and run for President of the United States with no condemnation against her womanhood, she should present maturity and good behavior while preforming her public duties and personal actions.
     God gave Christians the closeness of church family. Let the Christian woman seek good friends with sound advice on how to manage her home, business, and her life. A fun circle of close woman-friends can encourage each other in good works.

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Are there any special Bible verses you make an effort to obey to enhance your Christian beauty?

(There are no guarantees that these suggestions will change anyone's situation if implemented. While these descriptions are in general and do not apply to all situations, they can be effectively true in the Christian woman who strives to please God.)

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Guest Post--The Decision: by Linda Handzel

This is guest blog from a friend of mine. Linda is a beautiful Christian with a powerful message. Her love of God motivates her to help others and her speaking engagements encourage many women with her enthusiastic hope and faith in God.

http://lindahandzel.com/blog/

The Decision: by Linda Handzel

    When I changed over to Christian High School for my senior year she was already a student there, starting her sophomore year. I always thought she was beautifully composed, nothing like me! She had a gorgeous alto singing voice and every note was smoothly controlled as she sang praises to God. We spent a lot of time together, but my brother Stan spent more time with Lori than I did. After they graduated from high school together he went away to college for a year. During that time I was able to steal more time with her. When Stan came home at Christmas he asked Lori to marry him and the next summer I was a bridesmaid in their wedding. The weekend after that she was the Matron of Honor in my wedding.

    My husband and I moved a few towns over when we got married, but Lori and Stan stayed in their home area. We had our first three children, and after a few years Stan and Lori gave birth to a boy, then a girl. Our lives got busier and we saw each other at various family holidays, but not as much as we would have liked.

    The summer that we both celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversaries we gathered together at a Fourth of July family picnic. That day Lori quietly pulled me aside to tell me the news that she had found a lump and the doctor had ordered a biopsy. Cancer ran in her family and she was scared. She was only 37 years old and I knew there was no way a woman that young could have breast cancer! Her sister had a lot of problems with cysts. Surely that would be the diagnosis!

    Mum’s voice was quiet and low when she called a few days later to tell me the results of Lori’s biopsy. “The news isn’t good. It’s aggressive Carcinoma.” I literally reeled and spun around with the impact of those words!

    My whole world came to a crashing halt. I couldn’t think of anything else– my brother’s beloved sweetheart had cancer! For several weeks my mind rocked and whirled with countless reactions. How could this possibly happen? I knew what I would say to someone who came to me with this diagnosis in their family: “God works all things out for His good. He’ll give you the strength to go through this. He’s still a healing God and you can believe Him to heal her. If He doesn’t heal her here, He’ll give you the strength to make it through. God will take care of their two children.” Endlessly those words ran ‘round and ‘round in my head. But I found myself questioning every phrase. Did I really believe this stuff? The verses that came to my mind from memory had never been tested like this before, and my faith was shaken to the core! I questioned the very foundation of all that I had embraced and lived for since childhood. What if God wasn’t really all I said He was? Did He really care? Was He able to heal? If he didn’t heal Lori, would He carry us through this horrifying journey? Just the thought of my broken-hearted brother and their two young children was more than I could fathom. Stan was a pastor! How could God even think of allowing Lori to have cancer?
Lori’s treatment plan was laid out: Radical mastectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Dozens of foreign-sounding medical terms were thrown around while all of us reeled with the reality of the unfathomable. And I questioned: “WHERE IS GOD?”

    Mom and Dad struggled while watching their son’s heartbreaking trial. My whole family was cut to the core. I kept thinking of all the reasons this shouldn’t be happening to us: Mom and Dad had brought us up in a Christian home. We had all been saved as children. Each of us had chosen Christian mates, and now we were bringing our own children up in Godly homes. Each of us was deeply involved in our own church. In spite of doing all the ‘right’ things, it felt like everything was going wrong!

    Maybe God didn’t care! He sure wasn’t acting like He cared! Maybe I couldn’t trust Him at all! Maybe I could find someone else to trust. Maybe I had been wrong all these years, and God wasn’t what I thought He was. Maybe I should just give up on this whole thing called ‘Christianity’. It sure wasn’t working out for the ‘good’ that I wanted!

    For three weeks I wallowed through questions. I was so mired in anxious confusion that my children commented I was sighing all the time. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and I was helpless to get it off! Nothing happened when I prayed, all the words seemed hallow. What was I going to do?

    Finally I started to recount the many ways God had clearly answered prayer throughout my life. Who else would answer like that? I had always known deep in my heart that God was with me, through every turn in my life. Who else was offering that kind of companionship? I had seen Him perform many impossible miracles in answer to prayer. Who else was capable of doing that?

    I was hanging laundry outside one day when one question suddenly stood out more than all the others: If I abandoned my belief in God, who could possibly take His place? All other thoughts came to a standstill as I wrestled with that one ultimate question: WHO ELSE IS THERE TO TRUST? Right there, on that sunny summer day I concluded that there was NO ONE! I felt a huge weight lift off my heart! Relief flooded my being when I firmly decided that I needed God, and only God! He was the only One who promised He would never leave me or forsake me. In all my life I had never felt abandoned by Him. He was the only One who said He wouldn’t give us more than we could bear.

    As I looked back over my short life I couldn’t think of one time that God had ever let me down. At different times in their short lives my children had been catastrophically ill, yet I felt God’s presence with me while I waited for Him to heal each sickness. I had prayed so many times for wisdom as a mother, and He had led me in ways I had never dreamed of! No matter how I searched, there was not even one moment in my life when I could say God had let me down! I decided I could believe the words of Isaiah that said: “His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. For as the Heavens are high above the earth, so are His thoughts higher than our thoughts!”

    YES, I was going to trust God! I was going to cling to His unchanging hand! I would believe that He would hold my family as we traveled this scary journey! I believed! I did believe and I held tight to those beliefs as I went forward with my family.

    T hat journey wasn’t easy because it was fraught with highs and lows. Lori finished the treatments and felt better for a few months. But sixteen months after the first biopsy, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. They tried other treatments. Stan took her to Mexico for alternative medicine. And we prayed. Oh how we prayed! I’m sure that many thousands of prayers were said, asking God to heal Lori. And He did heal her! At dawn on a quiet June morning the phone rang with the news that Lori had gone to Heaven. I remember so well that it was a wonderfully clear day, a perfect day to fly to Heaven! Lori was only sick with cancer for 23 months and then she was perfect.

    I thank God for the weeks I spent questioning the foundation of my faith. When I decided God was the only answer for me I had no idea I was deciding on a platform that would hold me without faltering for many tears to come. The next sixteen years after Lori died were filled with one heartbreak after another for our family. Too many times I’ve stared at a young body in a casket. In my mind it seems that only old people should be in caskets. Yet I know God is in control! We’ll understand it all when we meet Him (and our loved ones) in Glory! Until then, I still believe His Way Is Perfect!

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http://lindahandzel.com/blog/

 About Linda      

Linda Handzel grew up with two brothers in a Christian home, and began her personal relationship with Jesus Christ at a young age. Soon after she completed her college education, Linda noticed a handsome man in the young adult’s Sunday School class. This young man named Michael noticed her too, soon he asked Linda to go out with him. In only six months Michael asked Linda to marry him. Five months later they were married and began a family together. God blessed them with four children whom Linda home-schooled.

Just before their 24th wedding anniversary tragedy struck the Handzel household. Michael was killed instantly when someone hit him on his motorcycle and Linda had to deliver the news to her children: “Daddy’s gone to Heaven.” Through the dark days and long nights of grief, Linda has never been alone. God has faithfully led her through the many trials and transitions that were brought on by Michael’s death.

Linda’s public speaking ministry began soon after Michael died, and her message to women is that God loves us, and wants to help us through the hurts, heartaches and horrors of life. She shares both personal anecdotes and stories from the Bible, using them to illustrate that God has a perfect plan for each one of us.

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Women With Backbone--Lessons From the Book of Judges

"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes" Judges 17:6.

     That is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. Crime ran rampant, yet in the book of Judges two women stand out with a lesson for godly living amid a time of everyone doing what was right in their own eyes.

• Deborah--The Judicial Scholar

“Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,
was judging Israel at that time” Judges 4: 4”

     Deborah must have been a holy woman of prayer and strong in her faith to have people trust her as judge in Israel, when men were doing what was right in their own eyes.

     Deborah’s faith in God and His ability to save her and her people showed through her stand against the evil in her country. Although she couldn’t lead as a man could have, (she held no office in town but under a tree where people came to her), she took a firm stand on the side of right and spoke against the wrong. And she even rebukes the general of the army who loses out on a great blessing when he shows a weakness in engaging into battle with the enemy.

     What shame it is to a people when the women are the strong walls of faith and not the fathers, husbands and sons. How many blessings are lost to marriages, families, communities and even churches because god-fearing men are not leading.

Lesson: In faith and knowledge of God, stand strong in times of trouble.

• Manoah's Wife: The Energetic Believer

(The Angel of the LORD said to her) "Now therefore,

please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink,

and be careful not to eat anything unclean" Judges 13: 4.

     The pre-incarnate Jesus came to this God-fearing woman and gave her a conditional promise. Keep yourself holy for you are destined for great things. In her enthusiasm for obedience, she took her husband into the presence of God where he was commanded to stay aware of his wife's life choices. When this husband and wife got on the same track, from that day on, their home would be forever changed by the LORD's visit.

Lesson: Obedience to God will change you and your family in surprising ways.

     For Deborah, and Manoah's wife, their lives are witness to what godly women can do through faith in the promises of God. These women had a life of prayer. Make a difference in your home, community and your church through faith, wisdom and prayer.

Bonus....

Another woman stands out for a totally different reason--a bold woman who knew who to ask for blessings.

Achsah--the Intelligent Beauty Queen

“Then Calab said, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it,

to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife” Judges 1: 12.

     How would you like to have that as your marriage proposal? It would be safe to assume she's a pretty girl and even as the youngest, must have been quite a bride to win. A soldier named Othniel beat the competition and became the husband to this woman.

     It appears not only is she satisfied to be the bride of a mighty soldier who won a city and her hand, this strong-willed woman goes to her father with a bold request. This girl rides a horse into the army camp, dismounts and asks her father  straight out for a specific plot of land filled with springs. This gal is right on the mark, knowing the wealth in owning fresh water. And furthermore, she knew exactly who to ask--her Father!

Lesson: Go straight to the source of the power to give you what you need. God's blessings begin in His throne room and when we are strong in Him, we will see blessings we never imagined. The springs of life are ours when we ask God for them.

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