 Good morning, everyone. Class is recorded. Welcome to today's session on the book of Esther. So before we could start our class, we will start a class with a word of prayer. Dear God, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, we honor you, we glorify your name, Lord. Thank you for this new day, the beautiful day that you have blessed each one of us, our Father. Lord, I pray that you will bless each one of us with your grace, with your strength to lead this day. And more than anything, Lord, we ask for your favor to cover us to overshadow us in all the area of our life. Thank you, Lord, for doing it so. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. And before we can begin with our class, I'll just share the presentation with us. Okay, I hope everyone can see this. Yes. Yes, thank you. Thank you for the confirmation. So the book of Esther. So what do we know about the book of Esther? I'm sure each of us would have heard the story of Esther or some of us would have had a chance to watch the movie of Esther. But what do we know about the book of Esther or the person and individual? Anyone from the class? Sid, what do you know about Esther, Divya, Georgia, Hamilton? What do you all hear about Esther? Ma'am, may I? Yes, please. Ma'am, in the book of Esther, it is written that the small biography which I know about Esther, that she was an orphan. She was a Jew and she was the nephew of Mordechai, niece of the Mordechai. And Mordechai made her grew up as her own daughter. And later, she was married to the king of King Exodus in the place of her King Queen Vesti. And she did a great job and she had a very great history in protecting the people of the Jewish community from the bad guy Naaman. Sorry, Naaman. Okay, okay. Anyone else from a class? Yes, ma'am. I love the verse, Esther 414, in which Mordechai says to Esther, 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. Yes, this is the verse which I really love in this book. Yes, yes. Thank you. Thank you, Divya. That's one of the key verse and it is very important, speaks a lot. And we can also apply it in many of our situations like God has called us for a reason and God has called us for such a time as this. Just like the way God called Esther. Anyone else, any other women in the class who have read this book of Esther and they're inspired by the life of Esther, Anita, Georgia. Okay, let's start with our class. So the book of Esther is one and more interesting book in the Bible. As it is also the last book in the historical books of the Bible. So it's main character is named and this book is named after the main character Esther. Esther means in Persian language, it means a star which denotes the star Venus, the morning star, which shines brighter after all the other stars have depth. Thus, the deeds of Queen Esther, which was cast a ray or the light of hope into the Israel's history during this dark season. The author, when we talk look into the author, the author is unknown, but some biblical scholars say that it may be Motikai himself who would have written this book. Well, the date and time, they even in this book took place approximately between 483 BC to 473 during the first off of the reign of King Xerxes or Ahasuerus. The background, let's look into the background of the story. The story is set over 100 years after the Babylonian exile of the Israelites from their land. While some Jews did return to Jerusalem, like I remember Ezra and Nehemiah, which we discussed in the last class, many returned along with them, but they were still some of the Jews who stayed back in the exile. So the book of Esther is about the Jewish community living in the land of Suza, which was a capital city of the ancient Persian Empire. Well, at this time, the Persian Empire was one of the largest empire the world had ever seen. It covered about 127 provinces. For example, in today's, in today's name, we call it Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, or Jordan, Lebanon and Israel and also parts of the modern day Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Arabia, and also we see the name of India been mentioned. So this king, you know, was in control of these large provinces of 127. Also at this time, Ezra had returned to Jerusalem after it had been conquered by the Babylonian and the temple has been rebuilt maybe 30 years before. So the important character in this book we get to study is, let's look into the characters of this book so that keeping them in our mind, we can understand the story much easily. So we get to see the one main character as the king, King Azasurus. While some historians compare King Azasurus to Cambys, son of Cyrus, or as a son of Darius the Mead, the tradition identifies him as a pretender to the throne. Now why? He gained the power through deceit and bribery, no matter, we're not very sure about this information. This is what some of the scholars and the traditions say that. But no matter how this king achieved his kingship, but he ruled over a vast kingdom. Yet the Migila, that is one of the Hebrew scripture itself shows us what sort of ruler he was. He was a ruler out of control. It is apparent that he was easily swayed by the opinion of others around him. In the first chapter when we read, we see that when the ministers around him demands for Vasthi to appear with a beauty, he granted their opinion. And later when she refused to come in front of him and again when the ministers around him said you need to banish her from the kingdom, again he gave heed. He just listened to the people around him. Later part we see Haman who was a prime minister, the second in command in his kingdom, plotted against Mordekai. And so with his own story he goes and approaches the king. And without even reasoning the facts, he gives him the signatory to demolish the Jews. Without even king's knowledge, he gets a signatory to approve this kind of plot against Jews. So even when we see the same kind of nature being continued when Esther came into his life, again he started listening to Esther. But thank God that Esther was a wise woman who could give him the right kind of advice. And later we see another character in this book as Vasthi. By marrying Vasthi, Azasiris misused his right to the throne. Vasthi was the daughter of Bal Shadza, the last Babylonian king, was defeated by Dharais and Cyrus and the great-granddaughter of King Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed the First Holy Temple and Jerusalem which we looked into the book of Chronicles and the kings. So as a descendant of this evil line, Vasthi was also not much less, but then she was also wicked in her thoughts and in her morality. The Midrash, the Hebrew scripture also teaches us that while she was only 12, a father was murdered by the king Dharais, the Medes. And she was about 18 years when King Azasiris invited her to come and show her beauty to the people around her. So she was very bold enough to say no to the king and refused and we know the story after that what happens, we will get to know it later. So according to some tradition source says that Queen Vasthi used to force the Jewish maid servants who were under the bonded slavery there during her time who was serving under her. She used to make them to scrub the palace floor on the Shabbat where for the Jews that day was holy, they are not supposed to do any kind of work on that day. But then she didn't allow them to keep up that Shabbat but then she intended to give much more work on that day. And we will look into the next character Mordecai, a descendant of King Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. Mordecai was a prophet and a member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court in Jerusalem before the exile. He was also considered as one of the greatest Torah leaders of his generation and the Jews in exile look to him for his guidance along with Queen Esther. And we will move on to the next, the main character after which the book has been named after that is Esther. Esther who lost her parents at a very young age and she was adopted by her cousin Mordecai who took care of her just like his own daughter. She possessed exceptional beauty. Yes, I'll come to that point. She possessed exceptional beauty. She was very beautiful and the actual name of Esther in Hebrew was Hadassah which means mortal branch. And before when the king called out for the young virgins for the beauty contest for him to select one person has this queen. When Esther was about to go, Mordecai gave her some instruction. He changed her name from Hadassah to Esther. And also he gave us some instructions telling her do not let yourself let anyone know that you are a Jew. He gave us this instruction and center and the next character we will look into is Haman. Haman, sorry, Haman or Amen, we can call his name as Haman as well. So Haman has been introduced in Megillah. Megillah is again the Hebrew scripture that I said. Haman was a Hagueite or is from the Amalekite tribe referring to his line age as a descendant of King Haga. Haga was the last king of Amalekites, the national arch enemy of the Jewish people. While the Amalekite nation was destroyed by King Samuel which we saw in the book of 1 Samuel. So disobeyed God's command and had mercy on King Haga, allowing him to live. And then when Prophet Samuel heard about it, he was furious and he killed Haga himself. But the damage was already been done by King Haga. He had enough of time to sow the seeds about Jews to his future generation. So Haman was from the same tribe. He carried hatred towards Jews. He wants to destroy them and elate them completely. And he was married to a woman named Zerish and she was equally wicked as Haman. She hated Jews to the core and both had the same kind of vision in their life to destroy Jews completely. Abolished them from the face of the south and they had 10 sons and one daughter. And yes, we also covered Zerish, Haman's wife. So with this, we will move on to chapter one from our Bible. Can we turn to chapter one from our Bible? So the book of Esther opens with the description of an enormous of 180 day party thrown by King Ahasuerus in his third year as king of Persian empire. He ruled over. How many provinces did he rule? 127. Yes, 127 provinces he ruled. And as the day of feasting draw to close, he summons his wife. He called out for his wife Vasti as there was a great demand from his ministers to show off a beauty among them. But Vasti refuses to come. And we see how King was very furious at Vasti's act and listening to all the ministers he banishes her from the kingdom. So as the time passed, Ahasuerus realized the consequence of his action and he misses his queen. Now the deed however is done seeing that the rulers also regretted for the action that was suggested by them. So now they come up with a new idea or a new proposal to the king saying that let's find a new queen for the king. So they come up with a suggestion, let's have a beauty contest of all the beautiful virgins from this kingdom from all over 127 provinces. So all the beautiful women are being brought to the palace and the king gets to select his new queen. So even before he could select there is a process that each and everyone had to go through and then they will meet the king. And when the king meets each and everyone then he finalizes the queen. And we see how God can use an ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the story as it unveils. Yes, we also saw in the book of Genesis how God brought Joseph into the kingdom out of, you know, from the desert God raised him to become the prime minister, the second and command to Pharaoh. And here we see a slave Jewish girl, how God orchestrate things for Esther in her life. So in Shusan, a capital city, lived a beautiful Jewish girl named, what was her name? What was the Hebrew name? Adasha. Adasha. Okay, she is an orphan. She lost her parents at a very young age and she was raised by her uncle Mordecai. Okay, one was on the leader of the Jewish people in the exile. When they came to take her to the palace, Mordecai instructs Esther not to reveal her identity. That she was a Jew and this is a family detail. To reveal anything, even to the fellow girls with her or to the eunuchs who would be training out to anyone in the palace, just keep it to herself. So we see God had placed a right kind of mentor in our life to speak wisdom, to teach her in our life. Because Mordecai was a leader and he knew how people around him hated Jews. They were waiting to destroy. So Esther takes her uncle's advice and she goes to this contest. The long story short, she finds favor. We see that Esther, in chapter 2, she finds favor in kings' highs. Can one of us please turn to chapter 2 verse 17 and read? The king loved Esther more than all the women. And she found favor and kindness with him, more than all the virgins. So he said the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vasthi. Yes, thank you. There were about 1400 people who competed with Esther and they had to go 147 days of process to prepare themselves even before they could appear before the king. And here God put a favor over Esther. So whoever looked at Esther, she found favor in their sight. She found favor with the eunuch, she found favor with the fellow girls who came there. She found favor finally with the king himself. And he appointed her as the queen. And he placed the royal crown on her head and made her the queen instead of Vasthi. So what we learn from this act, a simple young girl was so insignificant in that place. She was a stranger in that land and now she's been raised to become a queen of the same land. In the same way, our past should not dictate our future. An orphaned girl, one who lost her parents, was raised to be the queen in this strange land. God changed her destiny and blessed her. Same God is faithful enough to change our destiny and blesses us in the place where we are. So while Mordecai does not reveal his relationship to the new queen, he always frequently is near the palace, the palace gates to hear the news of Esther's well-being, how she's doing. He does not leave her, but then he keeps inquiring of her, how is she doing, how is her well-being. He has a check over her. So one day he happens to, over your two men, plotting to murder the king and he quickly sends out a word to Esther to reveal the plot of the king in the name of Mordecai. The plotters were caught and executed and Mordecai's name and deed were written in the king's book of Chronicles. But yeah, we will cover that part later. So we go towards chapter 3. In chapter 3, we see king appoints Amen and Amalekite as a prime minister and issues a degree that all should bow to him. But Mordecai refuses to bow down before Amen. The Midrash, that is the Hebrew scripture, informs us that Amen or a necklace, which had a large idol on it. And for which one of the reasons, the tradition says, may be for one of the reasons for which Mordecai refused to bow before him. But Mordecai's refusal started irritating Amen. Being a Jew, you're being a slave in our place and you're not bowing down to me. So this disrespect, you know, irritated, created so much of hatred towards Mordecai and the Jews where Amen and his family started planning a plot to kill Mordecai and the Jews along with him. So now Amen goes to king Azasiris and asks for permission to destroy the Jews and he presents him 10,000 silver pieces. And also he issues the king as a matter of a loyalty and he says, if one of us can turn to chapter 3 verse 8. Chapter 3 verses 8. Then Amen said to king Azasiris, there is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey king's law. It is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. Yeah, thank you. So king, without even reasoning or inquiring, he just agrees and issues an edict to all 127 provinces saying that on the 13th of Adar, the Jews in all the provinces are to be exterminated and their property has kept as a plunder. In chapter 4, we see that upon hearing this veil edict, Mordecai wears a sackcloth and ashes and he moans and he quickly sends a word to Esther that she must go to the king and stop this horrible degree from becoming a reality. And Esther is afraid. She cannot approach the king just like that whenever she wanted. Unless and until she's been called by the king, and if anyone approaches the king, even before that he could summon or call them, they will be put to death. There's a lot of chances for them to be put to death. But Mordecai sees the bigger picture and tells Esther, you have to do. You have to take a stand. Can I request one of us to please take up chapter 4 verse 13 and 14. Chapter 4 was 13 and 14. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther, do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace anymore than all the other Jews. 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. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai. Yeah, you can continue 16 notes. Go gather all the Jews who are present in Sushant 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. Amen. Thank you so much. Mordecai is a man of faith if you see here. He was a man of faith. He clearly instructed Esther, see you're in power for such a time as this. If you do not do it, God will definitely raise somebody else because it is a matter of Jews. It is a matter of God's people. It's just not me, your uncle, but it is our whole community. Amen is, you know, plotting this to kill and wipe out the complete Jewish people from the face of this earth. So if you don't respond, God will definitely raise somebody else because God is a promise keeper. Mordecai had faith on God and he honored him and he knew that God has an eternal covenant with Abraham and David towards his people. And so Esther been encouraged by her uncle. So with God's help, with God's help, she also steps out in faith to fight the fears. We see that, you know, the verse 16, where she says, where she is asking to fast for three days. She is instructing Mordecai to inform all the Jews to fast and pray for three days where she and her maid also will do it so that she can go and stand before King. And she will find favor, friend of King, that God will give her that favor in King's sight. She knew her God. She trusted that God will strengthen her though, you know, throughout the book, we do not see the name of God in it. But we see how God orchestrated things. We see that Esther, you know, fasted for three days and then she goes, she goes with great fear in chapter five. We see that with great fear, she dresses beautifully with all her strength. She dresses, she dresses and she wears one of the beautiful robe. She adorns herself and goes to meet the King. Esther approaches King Zasurus and here she walks towards the throne and she prays within God. Take into account for the three days of fasting, which is not recorded, but yes, the whole meaning of this three days fastest to seek God's favor. So as she goes and stands front of King, the King holds out the golden scepter as a sign that he is welcoming her into the court into his presence. She touches and goes and the King asks, what is your request? I may grant it. So Esther requests that King and his Prime Minister, Haman, joins her to a private feast and this pleased the King and he said, I will be there. So King agrees and he goes with Haman to Queen's Place to dine together. At the end of the feast, again the King asks Esther, ask whatever you wanted. I will give it to you, even half of the kingdom, but Queen Esther, a woman of wisdom, she was calm even during this time she was very calm. She just told King that please join me for the second feast with Haman again and again it was approved. So after the private feast of the day one, Haman sets out, you know, as he was passing his home, he sees Motika. When the other people bow down before, okay, there are some images I've got here. We see other people, you know, when they bow down before Haman, but Motika is not this against, stirred him up. He became very furious and with this anger he goes to his home and he plots against, he plots along with his wife and with the other ministers whom he has, he plots to kill Motika. So what he does, he builds a huge gallon with the help of his 10 sons and he says, next day morning, even before I could go to the Queen's feast, I'll make sure that I will put Motika to death and then I will go. As this was there in Haman's mind, that night we see King lost his sleep. King is struggling to sleep and when he could not sleep, we are in chapter 6. When the King was unable to sleep, he was tossing and turning and he finally called his ministers to bring him the book of Chronicles and read it to him. And here we see that God's timing is so perfect, so perfect. One side Haman has decided to put Motika to death and one side God is orchestrating the King to reward Motika of the good deed that he has forgotten to reward. And as the ministers were reading and recalling the great service rendered, they also reminded that Motika who saved King's life and then he also realizes that he was never rewarded for this good deed. So King decided to call Haman in the next day morning and instruct Haman to reward a person who has done a good deed and to give him the best reward. So the King calls Haman and he discusses with Haman how the King can reward a man with the best honor and was most loyal to him. So Haman thinks that King is talking about him because most of the time he was so self-centered. So even this time that he thought maybe for the service that he is rendering to the King. So he thought King is talking about him to reward him. So he suggests that the King would rest the person in King's finest robe and have him led around the city, around the town in King's horse. And King was pleased with his suggestion. So he orders Haman to dress Motika in the finest royal robes and lead him around Shusan, the city. And Haman was regretting for this but then because it's the King's command he did it. King lost his sleep and he was reading and this is the gallon which was prepared for Motika. And here we see Motika being seated on the horse and Haman was taking him in the city of Suzer. And after that King summoned to call Haman. But before he could go, Zeris is wife. Zeris is wife who said to Haman saying that if, I am just reading the scripture one second please. I'll read it to you. So Zeris is telling Haman from chapter 6 verse 13. When Haman told his wife Zeris and all his friends everything that had happened to him is wise men and his wife Zeris said to him, If Motika before whom you have begun to fall is of Jewish descendant you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him. It is like his own wife prophesying against him saying that your fall has been started. Your fall is started exactly like how she said. Yes, God started changing, the tables were turned, started exalting Motika and Haman was humiliated. So after returning home, when the king sent the minister to call Haman for the queen's feast, Haman rushes to be with the king at the feast. Now as the banquet, they are part of the banquet and as this feast comes to a close, Esther tells the king that someone seeks her death and the death of a people. This was a shocking news to the king. In fact he was the one who actually gave his ring to sign but he was not aware and this news was shocking and king demanded to know who was this man. And Esther reveals her identity to the king that she is a Jew and identifies Haman as an opponent enemy who actually is trying to kill me and my people. And the king was angered with this very act and he steps out from the feast to the garden and when he came back he saw that Haman was on the couch with the queen pleading for his life. But the very sight that he was next to the queen made a king very upset. So we see that in chapter seven verse seven that the king rose in his wrath and the banquet and wine went into the place of garden. But Haman stood before queen Esther pleading for his life for he saw the evil was determined against him by the king. When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said will he also assault the queen while I am in the house and as the word left king's mouth they covered Haman's face. And in verse nine we see that a harbona one of the eunuchs said to the king look the gallows which is fifty cubits high which Haman made for Mordecai. So immediately to kill Mordecai this is what the eunuch told the king and they immediately king told him hang him on that hang him on it. And as per his command Haman was hanged on that gallows. And then again in verse eight we see how Esther and Mordecai tries to save the Jews and Mordecai has come to the power. King makes Mordecai. Esther reveals that Mordecai is an uncle and he found finds favor in king's side and he's been raised as the prime minister and then both Esther and her uncle sees to it how they can save the Jews from all the place and the king gives the control to them and gives the ring and he says y'all issue I cannot reverse the decree that has been sent. But then Mordecai and Esther finds a way so that the Jews can save them. So they ask them to prepare for a battle, face and kill all the opponents whoever was trying to kill the Jews. And in that way they try to defend themselves and they try to kill all the Jews who tried to kill them. And in this way and also Esther and Mordecai said all the 10 sons who planned to kill Mordecai will hang on the same. They were killed and then they were hanged on the gallon itself and we see the hand of God here. We see the hand of God here. Mordecai a simple man, helpless man who only trusted on God. We see that in Zechariah. Can I request one of us to please turn to Zechariah chapter 2 verse 8 and 9. Can one of us read? Zechariah chapter 2 verse 8 and 9. For thus says the Lord of hosts, he sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you. For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For surely I will shake my hand against them and they shall become spoiled for their servals. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Thank you. Thank you. You see God says you are the apple of my eye and whoever comes against me I will raise my hand against them. See Jews are always God's delight. Jews are always God's delight even though they did not obey them but there was a faithful man, one person Mordecai who prayed and asked God to help. God heard his prayer and whoever planted an evil against Mordecai and destroying the Jews were killed and they were also hanged on this gallon. Especially the Haman and his two sons were hanged and others were killed and destroyed in that battle which they had fixed. So the one who plotted evil that evil came upon them itself because the very intention of them was not right. And they were not trying only to fight against the Jews but they were trying to fight against the God of Israel, the God whom who desires, who delights in Israel. So God will never forsake his people even though they would have forgotten. Our God is a God, a covenant keeper, is a protector. He has many plans to restore Israel until he is in control and he is with them. He is fighting for them. So this is the place, these are the people, the Jews, the Israelites are the people who have God himself with them. So the same God is with us. We are never alone. We are never alone. And despite our situation, despite the battle or circumstances that we face in our life, God is with us. He fights our battle. Also be sure that we are the apple of his eye. If anyone plans anything against us, just like the word says, no weapon fashioned against us shall prosper. And also God himself will fight our battle when we trust on him. His hand will be against it, against the situation, against the evil, against the enemy that trying to destroy or trying to destroy his children. So we see that Mordecai also organizes a particular practice to commemorate this whole event. They called us holiday of Purim. What is Purim? Pur means lot where in the story when we read in detail, we get to see that Heyman had put lot to find out a day when he can completely destroy the Jews and Mordecai. So on the same day, so Mordecai names that day as Purim, a feast of lots which fell on good for them. So they celebrated this festival with great meals, gifts of food and they did lot of charity to the poor. One day before Purim, they fasted to commemorate Esther's 3 days of fasting. Through one brave act of Esther, we see that how she impacted the generation. So in the same way, even we can impact for generation when we step in with God. So here we see the shadow of Christ in this book just like how Esther, like Christ puts herself in the place of death for her people. As she said, if I perish, I perish, but receives the approval of the king. She also portrays Christ's work as an advocate on our behalf. This book reveals another satanic threat to destroy the Jewish people and thus the messianic line may be gone. But God continues to preserve his people in spite of the opposition and the danger what was ahead of them. And nothing can prevent the coming of Messiah. So in conclusion, the message was clear that God is sovereign even though his name was not mentioned in the whole book. But we see the sovereign power of God in the life of each one. We see the sovereignty and this faithfulness of God permeates throughout the book. So we covered most of these events and then the reflection. Do we trust in God even when God protects? Protective hand is not possible. Do we have the courage to speak up for what we believe and are we willing to suffer the consequence of doing so? More than anything, I would ask the question like do we trust God even when things are not very favorable to us? And can we trust on God's protective hand upon us? We may not see the supernatural things happening around us but then God's hand is always upon us. He orchestrates things. Nothing is out of control but God is in control and we have his favor and we need to trust that. This is one of my learning from this book. And if anyone would like to share your learning from this book, please feel free and go ahead. What was your learning from this book? Brother Isaac, Zellie? Yes brother. I learned out of the world that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. It is sacrificed for our people and she was elevated and active in the Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you brother. Leah, Zellie. Okay, there's a very interesting question of Sid here. When King accepted Queen Esther's proposal, then why she skipped it second day? Why she didn't told King about the evil desire of Amen and she did not second day? King might have killed him and before. See, this is what we may think King might have killed him and before but there's always God's timing. There's always, you know, she prayed and she had this wisdom and always it creates a curiosity when you put things delay, when you delay things. You don't tell it what if I or you would have been first time itself. We would have said even before inviting King to a feast, we would have just said the minute she found favor in King's side and you know, he put down the golden scepter for her to enter in. She would have just told what is happening towards her and her people but she invited the King to the feast. She created a curiosity in the King so that her request will be fulfilled. Her request will not have any other counter effect against it and it worked out for her in the way she thought she planned. She decided how she'll put it across. She was a woman of wisdom and of patience at the same time. Yes, the Vya. The Vya says Esther's wisdom, humility and self-sacrifice stands out in the story. Yes. And Zellis is inspired by the Mordecai's faith. Very true. Very true. Yes, we need to have faith. A God kind of faith could bring in miracle into our life. It could move giants, which could move mountains and allow God to do work. So we need to have faith. We need to trust God only then God can work in and through us and intervene into the situation and change our situation in favor of us. So with this, can I request one of us to please lead us in prayer? Yes, Esther used a power position for the protection of God's people and plan. Yes, you're right. Thank you. Thank you. Can I request Zellis to lead us in prayer and dismiss us, please. Okay. Father God, we thank you so much for this session. Lord, we thank you for teaching us with the life story of Esther and with the faith of Mordecai, Lord. Help us to be faithful, Lord. No matter what, help us to trust in you, Lord, to depend on you, no matter the situation, no matter what situation goes in our life, Lord. And Lord, whatever we have learned, Holy Spirit, continue to teach us so that we can put that practically in our life, Lord. You bless our maim and all our plasmids, Lord, as we disperse from this place, Lord. In Jesus mighty name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you so much for joining in today's session. See you all tomorrow. God bless. God bless.