As you read through the following passage, expect God to speak to you and he will.

"King Xerxes promoted Haman … making him the most powerful official in the empire … When Haman [a type or representation of the devil] saw that Mordecai [Queen Esther's uncle and a Jew] would not bow down to him he was filled with rage … and looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the empire … [so he obtained a decree from the king] that all Jews – young and old, including women and children – must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day … When Mordecai learned about all that had been done – and news reached all the provinces – there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept and wailed and many lay in burlap and ashes."

"Mordecai asked Hathach [tasked with Esther's care] to direct her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people … [she replied]'Anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold sceptre. And the king has not called for me for thirty days.'"

"Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: '… If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?'"

"Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 'Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me … My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.'"

"On the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace … The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther … he welcomed her and held out the gold sceptre to her … 'What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!'" (She asked for a way to be found that her people could be saved and the king granted her request.)

What stood out to you? For me it was the last paragraph. I pictured the king as being Jesus and myself as Queen Esther. Whenever Jesus sees one of his disciples approaching him, his face lights up. He smiles and welcomes us by name. He sees us clothed in his own righteousness and holds out his arms to embrace us. He says to us: "What do you want? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is beyond your wildest dreams! You already have my grace, my forgiveness, my love and my constant companionship; my peace, my joy and my rest; my authority, my strength and my armour; you have already 'passed from death to life'; you are a child of God and you have my promise that 'whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours'. So what do you want me to do for you today?" How amazing is that? For what will we ask?