November 3, 2016

Break the Genocidal Anointing!

Today — Thursday, 3 November, through Saturday, November 5th, God has called His American remnant to observe a three-day Esther fast and prayer for our nation, in order to break the genocidal Haman anointing that is currently over it. Even if you’re late — if you are able — do it anyway!

Background

The book of Esther isn’t long; it’s just barely over 7 pages in my slim pocket KJV, which has 1016 pages for the whole Bible. If your time is at a minimum, read and pray over at least part of the book to prepare, following the guidelines below. If you can spare the time, however, you will benefit by reading the entire book of Esther! There is a lot of information in this post, so use the headlines to find the sections you care to read. The things I consider most important are typeset in red-violet.

Video Description

If you’d rather have an abbreviated lesson by video, then watch this short clip of Pastor Frank Amedia on yesterday’s Jim Bakker Show. (11:02 minutes)

The Main Players in the Story:

• Ahasuerus is the English spelling of the Persian king’s name; it is Xerxes when translated to Greek.
• Vashti was his first queen, dethroned for disobeying the king’s command.
• Memucan is perhaps better known to us as Haman, the prejudiced man possessed by a spirit of genocide against the Hebrew people.
• Mordecai is the elder cousin who raised the orphaned Esther. He had a Breaker anointing.
• Esther‘s given name was Hadassah, but Mordecai asked her to go by the Persian name Esther instead, in order to hide her Hebrew heritage.
• Shushan, aka Susa, is now known as Shush in the Khuzestan Province of Iran; it was the winter capital city of Ahasuerus’ Persian kingdom, east of Babylon. Daniel’s tomb is here. The kingdom spanned 127 provinces spread from India on the east to Libya in Africa and part of Greece in Europe on the west. It’s borders nearly matched the kingdom of Alexander the Great.

Guidelines from the Book of Esther

Esther 1:1-12 — King Ahasuerus/Xerxes threw a lavish party that lasted 6 months just to show off. While drunk, he ordered Queen Vashti to appear before his guests so he could show her off too. She refused and he was furious. Between the lines: the king was governed by a spirit of lust and carnal living. Parallel: Obama has lived lavishly for nearly 8 years.

Esther 1:13-2:4 — Memucan/Haman advised the king to search the kingdom for the most beautiful virgins and choose among them to select his next queen, and he decided to do so. Between the lines: Haman was power-hungry and sought to seduce the king through lustful advice, thus placing himself in a position of favor with an eye to more power.

Esther 2:5-20 — The beautiful women were rounded up, given beauty treatments and training for 12 months, and brought to the king individually for his evaluation. He chose Hadassah/Esther and crowned her as queen. She kept Mordecai’s command and did not reveal her heritage. Between the lines: Mordecai acted prophetically in keeping Esther’s Hebrew roots secret.

Esther 2:21-2:23 — Mordecai thwarted an assassination plot against the king’s life. Between the lines: The Breaker anointing — power to expose and break down evil plots — on Mordecai is evident. Parallel: The Breaker anointing, which means God has sent the angel named Breaker to assist, is on Donald Trump.

Esther 3 — Haman rose in power greatly, but still Mordecai refused to bow to him. Infuriated, Haman complained to the king and was given permission to do whatever he wanted. Haman’s solution to the problem was to issue an order for the extermination of all Hebrews in the kingdom. Between the lines: Mordecai remained righteous, only bowing to God. Haman’s spirit of anger yielded to the spirit of genocide, and this remained on him.

Esther 4 — Mordecai found out about Haman’s plot against the Jews, and quickly spread the word around the capital. The people wailed, fasted, and prayed in response. Mordecai also told Esther to see the king and beg for his mercy to her people. She agreed, in spite of fearing for her life. Between the lines: Mordecai began to put the Breaker anointing to work again. Parallel: Ninevah repented, fasted, and prayed. God relented and did not destroy the city. (Book of Jonah.)

Esther 4:14,16 (NKJV) — ^{14 [Mordecai speaking]} For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” …. ^{16 [Esther speaking]} “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” Between the lines: Even though she would be executed for coming to the king without being called — unless he extended the scepter to her — Esther took courage in the face of fear and approached him. Parallel: You were created for such a time as this. Who knows whether that is in part for this assignment?

Esther 5 — Rather than making her petition, Esther invited the king and Haman to a banquet that night, on the third day of her fast. Haman left the banquet in high spirits, but in response to seeing the non-bowing Mordecai on his way home, he followed his wife’s suggestion and ordered a gallows built to hang him. Between the lines: Esther served them without eating or drinking, though she was at her hungriest that evening. She remained in stealth mode, biding her time. Parallel: Ask God to hide you from the enemy; pray Psalm 91:1,4.

Esther 6-7 — At Haman’s expense of pride, the king belatedly honored Mordecai for saving his life. Queen Esther held a second banquet for the king and Haman, and this time when he asked again, she told the king that she and all her people were to be killed due to Haman’s order. When all was done, the king ordered that Haman’s brand-new gallows be used to hang him on, rather than Mordecai. Between the lines: Esther knew to hold her tongue until the king sincerely asked her to speak up. Parallel: God has earnestly requested this fast. It is time to petition Him.

Esther 8-10 — The king gave all that Haman had owned to Esther, and he allowed Mordecai to write a new proclamation that effectively reversed Haman’s. The Jews avenged themselves on their Persian enemies. Mordecai was raised to second in command, sought good for his people, and spoke peace to them all.

Why Fast as Well as Pray

God gave us the models of Esther and Daniel to follow — fasting as well as praying — because, simply put, fervently praying scripture while fasting is the most effective form of prayer. Multiple scriptures refer to fasting and praying:

• In Matthew 17 when Jesus’ disciples asked him privately why they were unable to cast out some particular demon, He answered,²⁰ … “Because of your unbelief; ^{[literally little faith]} for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹ However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”^{[Some texts omit this verse.]} (Matthew 17:20-21–NKJV)
• Ezra 8:21-23 — fasting and prayer for protection.
• Nehemiah 1:4 — fasting and prayer to be allowed to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall.
• Psalm 35:13 — David routinely fasted and prayed for healing when friends were sick.
• Luke 2:37 — prophetess Anna routinely fasted and prayed while serving at the Temple.
• Luke 5:33 — disciples of John the Baptist frequently fasted and prayed in supplications.
• Acts 14:23 — fasting and prayer to commit people to Christ when they believed.

“A diet changes the way you look. A fast changes the way you see.” –Lisa Bevere

How to Fast

Consult with your health-care practitioner if necessary. Most Hebrew fasts were to refuse all food, drinking only water during daylight hours; after sunset, they ate. From examining the scriptures on this, it appears to me that the exception of fasting both day and night was pretty rare and used only for extreme emergencies. Even more rare was to fast both day and night, and to fast from all drink as well as all food. Infants, the elderly, and infirm people were not expected or required to fast.

People say that the first time you fast, you should make it easy — short in duration and little in sacrifice. Ultimately, you are accountable only to God, so I personally think you should ask Him. If you have fasted before in any way less than Esther’s total fast for 72 hours, consider at least making this fast more challenging than your previous fasts. The stakes are high. And your fast can be credited to you as sharing in the suffering of Christ since you fast for God’s purposes. God has not called us as a group to exceed Esther’s fast.

Allow your hunger pangs to remind you to pray.

Models for How to Pray

Please pray:

• For God’s good and perfect will and purposes to be achieved on Earth and in America as they are in Heaven.
• For any words you pray which are contrary to His will to fall to the ground muted and void.
• For protection and God’s leading of the candidates, their families, and their support teams.
• For God’s leading as to each one of the people and things you vote for.
• For God to so soften our stiff necks and hard hearts that we fully turn to Him in repentance, forgiving everyone, able to see our need for a Savior and that Jesus is that only One, receiving His gifts of salvation and the baptism of the Spirit.
• For GOD in His time to nullify, bind, mute, and remove evil spirits of genocide, death, lies, deception, pride, murder, violence, chaos, idolatry, adultery, covetousness, envy, strife, division, ungodliness, sloth, greed, hatred, anger, fear, doubt, and all others.
• For God to pour out His Holy Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, life, light, truth, humility, order, faith, godliness, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, reverence and awe of the Lord, YHVH, when and as He deems fit over all the Earth and all flesh.

In addition, here are three excellent models for prayer. Suggestion: You could choose one of these to pray (as many times as you have the capacity for) each day:

• Daniel 9:3-19 relates Daniel’s effective repentance and prayer for his nation in exile — which he did while fasting. This is a superb model of repentance and prayer for us now.
• Nehemiah 1, also interestingly from Susa, provides another excellent repentance and prayer model for us.
• Psalm 35 gives us David’s song about one of his prayers for the Lord’s intervention.

Spread the Word

There is strength in numbers. We add, but God multiplies. The more saints who participate, the more effective our prayers will be. Besides, fasting with a supportive friend can really help you to stick with it!

PHOTO CREDITS:
Ester Denouncing Haman, 1888 painting by Ernest Normand from 19thcenturybritpaint on Blogspot
Intercessory Prayer from julia4jesus on WordPress
Esther 4:16 from allaboutgod