God loved us when we were alienated from Him. He loved us when we were good, when we do the things we should. He loved us when we were bad, even though it makes Him sad. God loves us unconditionally. He knew us, yet He loved us! No one is always good, yet that does not change the way He feels about us. He does not employ the ‘an eye for an eye’ method of exerting revenge. No, He does not revenge, but in loving kindness He draws us to Himself. He loves unconditionally. We are called to emulate Him even in knowing, yet loving.

The love of God never ceases to amaze me! His love is so stubborn and relentless. His love knows no measure. His love found a way to reconcile mankind to Himself! He turned away His own wrath by sacrificing His own Son, Jesus!! Isn’t that amazing? And what’s even more amazing is that Jesus Himself loves us just as much, and is ready and willing to forgive us of our sins. Jesus did not delegate this responsibility to humans – the responsibility to forgive sins. He is our High Priest. He encouraged us not to sin but just in case we did, He was our advocate with Father God. We are only required to confess our faults to each other!

Humility is not one of my strong qualities. So, it is quite humbling when the Holy Spirit tempers my desire to exalt myself. I had an experience where I was in the right and I just wanted to defend myself and expose the offending party. With anger in my heart and fire raging in my eyes, I was prepared to step forward and beat my chest like the Pharisee, defending my right! But then, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, “Hold your peace and do not let your attitude or your voice betray how you feel”.

Queen Esther could’ve kept quite and save herself (maybe); but that would do no good. She was placed in a position of trust, influence and power. She had to do something, even if it cost her life! Praise be to God, who giveth us the victory. Victory was hers. She took the risk and victory was hers and her people!

The Bible is filled with experiences of persons that could easily be grouped into either garlic perfume or a sweet-smelling perfume. Can you think of some examples? All life experiences do leave a lesson about Christ, good or bad. What lesson was taught from Job’s experience? What about Judas? Can you recall a time in your life when your victory in your testing turns out to be a testimony for Christ?

Trials are not all bad. You can profit from it. Just like risks – proper management can turn them into opportunities - the same is true for trials. Successfully overcoming your trials does produce a Fruit of the Spirit in your life. There are various levels of trails, and each level gets more challenging. If you fail any level, you will have to retake it until you’ve passed. You cannot get to the next level until you’ve successfully passed the previous one.

We must break the cycle of verbally abusing each other in our speech. It’s all around us. It is a common practice among all – even those we thought should do better have been caught in this web of deceit. Let us slow down a bit to choose our words well, and to listen to the words of others and be deliberate in our utterances. If we all continue to bite and devour each other, the cycle will not end.

Just as in Daniel’s experience, the “Prince of Persia” sometimes delayed the answer to our prayers. But Michael will come to our rescue. I just paused this morning to tell you that your weeping is just for the “night”. God isn’t sleeping. He will deliver. Whatever your struggles – hold on! Just as a day consist of a dark part and a light part, our light will come. Just as the sunshine comes after the rain, The Son of righteousness will shine on you – just hold on!

The king was heartbroken. How could they not come when he had already prepared everything for a grand celebration? There was much food for the reception - what would be done with it? Perhaps, believing that the first set of servants might not have been persuasive enough, he sent yet another set of servants; but, this time, the specially invited guests treated them badly and even murdered them. Word got back to the king, who was furious. He realized that those invited guests were unworthy of his invitation. In retaliation, he then sent his armies who destroyed all those murderers.

The King came in before the actual wedding to see if all was ready for the ceremony to begin. That’s when he saw the man unfittingly dressed. This is a royal wedding and all under the King’s control must be in order. What’s with this wedding garment – why was it so important?