Rend Your Heart

"Even now," declares the Lord,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing --
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is there God?' "
Joel 2: 12-17
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When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,
he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because
you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews
will escape. For if you remain silent at this time,
relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from
another place, but you and your father's family
will perish. And WHO KNOWS but that you have
come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Then Esther sent this replay to Mordecai: "Go,
gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and
fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days,
night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do.
When this is done, I will go to the king, even though
it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of
Esthers' instructions.
Esther 4:12-17
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"Beloved, in the times of greatest struggle when you
make the Godward decision over convenience, earthly
comfort, or carnal pleasure, you too have come to a
critical moment in the fulfillment of your destiny. A
defining moment. A war is being waged over your head
in the unseen realm, and a great cloud of witnesses is
cheering you on. You have no idea what's at stake."
Beth Moore ~ Esther Study