SU DAILY GUIDE DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE FOR TODAY
March 25, 2023 || Scripture Union Daily Guide Reading, SU Daily Guide Devotional Reading for Saturday. Read SU Daily Guide Message
TOPIC: God Answers Prayer
OPENING PRAYER: As I read through this passage dear Lord, let your word bring transformation to my life.
SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Esther 8:1-17
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
• Q 1: What does the passage teach about God the Father, or God the Son or God the Holy Spirit
• Q 4: Is there any promise for me to believe or hope for?
March 25, 2023 Scripture Union Daily Guide | MESSAGE
God’s answer to prayer may be a “Yes”, “No” or “Wait” – but God always answers prayer. Sometimes we fail to notice when God is at work or directing us because we neither believe nor faithfully pray about specific situations in our lives. When our lives are full of worry and anxiety, its evidence that we are looking more to self-reliance than to faith-filled dependence on God.
The three days fast of the Jews activated divine exchange of deliverance, personally for Mordecai and nationally for the Jews – “the King took off his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s property” (v.2) – Halleluiah! Esther is a powerful and wise intercessor. What can we learn from her persistence and approach in vs.3-6? How can we apply these lessons to our prayer lives?
Read Esther 3:7 and compare it with Esther 8:7 – (compare also 3:13 with 8:12) our prayer answering God is always on time! See God’s firm promise for believers in 1 John 5:13-14.
PRACTICE/WORD APPLICATION
Thought: God is not specifically mentioned in the Book of Esther. How does the account help you to believe that God is in control of all human history and will intervene appropriately in the gloomy situation in your country?
• Any new insight or reinforcement of what you already know?
HYMN – SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER
1. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
2. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
3. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
4. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!
CLOSING PRAYER
Turn Esther 8:15-17 into items of praise and ask God to strengthen your faith in prayer.
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
► Pray for grace to keep praying until something happens (PUSH).
► Believe God for those prayer topics you have been telling Him about.
► Trust in His ability to answer and do more than you have asked.
Offer a prayer of faith in line with Psalms 145:18 ‐ 19
ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
Deuteronomy 2, 3, Acts 17.
NATIONAL PRAYER BULLETIN – Sat, 25-Mar-2023
PRAYER FOCUS
GOD IS IN CHARGE.
NATIONAL PRAYER CONFERENCE CONTINUES
I sought the Lord, and He answered me, He delivered me from all my fears.
– Psalms 34:4
THANK GOD FOR:
► The peace of God we enjoy as His children especially the prayer teams.
► The consolation we have in His word as we remain in Him.
PRAY FOR:
► Spiritual strength as we continue to depend on our ever faithful God to see us through all the challenges of life as we pray and tarry in the conference.
► Consolation for brethren who are undergoing situations they may not have answers for and have come to the conference believing God for answers.
► Humility to wait for God to lift us up as we cast all our anxieties on Him in this years conference.
► Journey mercies as the prayer team travels back home.
PRAY AGAINST:
► All forms of worries and anxieties especially when we walk through the darkest valleys or shadows of death.
► Letting go of the peace of God which we have received as His children.
Scripture Union Daily Guide 25th March 2023. Scripture Union is an international, interdenominational, evangelical Christian organization. It was founded in 1867, and works in partnership with individuals and churches across the world. The organization’s stated aim is to use the Bible to inspire children, young people and adults to know God
