Estherella...

 

I was watching the movie Cinderella, and I suddenly realized that this 'fairytale' was actually lifted directly from the Bible! Compare and contrast the stories of Ella and Esther:

1. Once upon a time in a great kingdom, the King needed a queen.

2. A call went out that all the young virgins in the Kingdom should appear before the king, and from amongst them he would choose a bride.

3. Amongst the candidates were two orphans: Bible – Esther, Cinderella - Ella.

4. They both had individuals who were empowered to give them a boost in their preparation which gave them an edge over the other competitors - Bible: The Harem Eunuch, Cinderella: The fairy godmother.

5. Both young ladies obtained favor before their king and Became his queen against all odds.

And they both lived happily ever after - The end.

I guess inspiration does come from The Word... What do you think?

Own it, then Fix it!

◄ 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ►
... But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit...

Turn to Me and you will see,
Turn to Me and you'll be free,
Turn to Me and you'll see my glory,
Turn to Me and you'll be transformed...

◄ Ezekiel 36:26 ►
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

 Not by power, nor by might, but by my Spirit says The Lord!

The Choicest

Defensiveness is an unwitting vehicle - The expression of subliminal complicity; The tacit if somewhat unintentional, admission of culpability... If you find yourself being on the defensive, you may want to ask yourself a few difficult questions. And, If committed to truth in the inward parts, be willing to answer your conscience truthfully no matter how painfully revealing the process may be...

The Choicest

When things go awry,
Needs must to try.
When there is a breach,
Must be to reach,
Digging deep within,
Without intent to excuse,
Seeking one’s self to recuse,
For no judge competent are we
In ruling of ourselves to stand.

For to be restored,
Needs must allow
The heart to be cradled,
Prodded and examined,
Peradventure there be
A crack to be filled,
A gap to be scaled.
Layers stripped away,
Laid raw and ready.
A wound to be salved;
A hurt to be healed.


Oh, that surely we would--
For then we would have gained
That which sundry seek but few attain:
A resting place.
Contain or display,
Neither the one more important.
The master’s choicest unveiled,
The beauty of a vessel molded
And most excellently reformed.


The Voice of One Woman, Xulon Press, 2012.

What is in a name?

DESTINY, PURPOSE, PROSPERITY... Elements and a state to which we all want to attain, but few of us have satisfied ourselves that we have gotten to... This state though we all struggle daily to get 'there', cannot truly be apprehended, (I'm discovering) until we come to the end of 'ourselves'. Until we are 'made to lean' - like Jacob did, after struggling with God. Until we come to a place where we give up and surrender, crying out to God that we will not let Him go until he blesses us.

Much like Jacob (whose hip had been put out by the angel) we must realize that we cannot 'prevail' in our own 'natural' strength. AT THIS POINT, Jacob was changed physically. He was brought to a place where he either had to lean on the new name that God had given him and what God now called him, or spend the rest of his days limping through life trying to 'make it' using his old supplanting tricks... He had gotten to the bottom of his 'trick hat'.

THIS end point to self, is the place we must come to so that God can change us and call us by a new name... Forever setting the seal on His promises concerning us. AT THIS POINT, something must be taken away by God. The 'taking away' is not meant to disable us, but to serve as 'breakpoint' so that we always have a reminder that WE CANNOT GO BACK... Jacob limped for the rest of his life but until this day HIS LEGACY is unbroken.... The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This phenomenon of name changing is not peculiar to Jacob alone, and even in our world today; people give and are given names that give meaning to circumstances surrounding their births or hope for their future.

If we take a look at some of the name changes in the scriptures, we will note that when they occurred, flawed men and women, who held on to God after they had 'come to the end of themselves', rose up to the status of the destinies they were called unto... Their lives forever changed.

To name a few (pardon the pun):

ABRAM (Exalted father - a self-aggrandizing title) TO ABRAHAM (Father of many nations -The 'h' - 'I am' i.e. "Yhwh" element was added)

SARAI (Woman of power - self-sufficiency) TO SARAH (Princess - from 'I' to 'ah' which depicts breath of God - the 'Ruach' or the "Yhwh" element added - God sufficiency). Interestingly this name occurred after Sarai had given her maid Hagar to Abraham to bear a child with disastrous consequences - Her own attempt at 'playing God.'

JACOB (supplanter, cheat) TO ISRAEL (Prince)

SIMON (to hear, to be heard; reputation depicting a boaster, impulsive) TO PETER (Rock, Solid, dependable)

SAUL (One that was prayed for - mortal savior) TO PAUL (the little one - through whom God did great things). Little wonder that Paul wrote that God has chosen the foolish things of this world, to confound the wisdom of the wise.

LO AMMI or LO RUHAMAH (Not my loved one) TO AMMI or RUHAMAH (You are my people).

Sometimes the world will try to change the name that God has given us, or even rename us - usually in a demeaning way, but also sometimes in a self-inflating way. We must not allow ourselves be sucked into these 'ego building' or 'soul bashing' labels, no matter how benign they sound as these are underhanded attempts to deceive us into conforming to a 'self-promoting' or 'self-pitying' agenda designed to abort our destinies.

We must refuse to be called by any other name than that which HE has called us...

We must be like DANIEL (God is my Judge) who refused to be called BELTESHAZZAR ("Bel's prince"), by the Babylonian eunuchs, Bel being one their heathen Gods...

And like JOSEPH (May Jehovah add or increase) who bore his name to the death even though Pharaoh changed his name to ZAPHNATH-PAANEAH (Revealer of secrets or Savior of the land).

The thought may come to mind... "So how will I get to know this name that He has called me by?" Let me assure you He WILL speak to your heart if you quieten yourself and LISTEN to the voice 'within'. Even if there is a dearth of God's Word in the land as it was in the time of Samuel, He WILL continue to call you, no matter how many times it takes until you can say "Speak Lord for thy servant heareth".

He WILL speak, and you will hear...

As a post script - I have seen my friends on social media place 'add-ons' to or change their names. These 'add-ons' reflecting present status, hopes or aspirations. Every time I see 'add-ons' or name changes, I rejoice knowing that the changes came from a place of revelation, and I agree with them for its fulfillment as they call those things into 'being.'

Shalom.

WHEN HOPE IS BROKEN, THE SOUL IS DISQUIETED by Mettabel Okulaja

I woke up one morning in a foul mood. One of my brothers and my mom, who unfortunately had called me during this time, got the brunt of my displeasure. I didn't quite understand why I was so, but After I had done a little bit of soul-searching, I realized the reason I was feeling the way I was feeling - My hope was broken!



WHEN HOPE IS BROKEN, THE SOUL IS DISQUIETED


Yes! My hope regarding a particular thing that I had set my hopes on wounded and broken, causing a rip in my soul with the hemorrhage that ensued, causing quite a bit of disquiet within me.



At the risk of sounding gory, when a freshly inflicted wound bleeds, it soaks into anything that comes into contact with it, and until the hemorrhage is stayed the seepage continues.



So what stays the hemorrhage? It is the application of firm pressure from without, it is healing of the wound; IT IS THE RESTORATION OF HOPE! And where can that hope be regained? It can only be restored in the presence of the Lord.



David faced a similar situation. God had given him a promise. But rather than seeing the realization of what God had said to him in the secret place, come to pass, he was instead faced with exile, ridicule, and delay of the fulfillment of his dreams.