FYI
1. Esther was a sex slave. She was kidnapped by a foreign ruler who was her King while in exile. In that society & at that time, she was given one night to either “please” the King & be made a bride, become one of his many concubines, or be sent away as “damaged goods”.

2. The “One Night With the King” was not an romantic evening, it was an evening of desperation whereby she had to do all she could to win over the King are have a terrifying and unknown future. She won over the King, & her later fear to speak was wrapped up in this context.
3. When Mordecai warned her that if she didn’t speak God would raise up another, wasn’t Mordecai rebuking her for faithlessness. Esther was Queen, but she was a slave to that position; this wasn’t a Disney movie situation. Her fear of being killed was legit & Mordecai knew this.
4. The story of Esther includes 2 women.

1. A Queen (Vashti) who risked death by refused to be objectified & was ultimately sent away. Her exile made way for another woman.

2. Queen (Esther) who was objectified, but whose circumstances made possible salvation of God’s people.
5. So what was the “such a time as this?”

God in his cosmic wisdom that transcends space & time raised up two strong women who would stand against the violent misogyny of a Pagan world. Thru their courage & insistence to rise above circumstances their moves prevented a genocide.
6. The story of Esther is not a story of Romance. It’s a tragic story of slavery, sexual oppression, misogyny, and loss. Remember, Esther had to abandon her Jewish identity in Order to stand a chance in that society (original name Hadassah)....
7. One of the applications we can receive from Esther is that even sexual oppression does not define a survivor’s life or legacy. We are so much more than our loss, oppression, & trauma. Though our experiences may leave what is like toxic soil, From it God can still sprout roses
8. Beloved, HOW you read the story of Esther, the story of David and Bathsheba, the story of Abraham and Hagar reveals much of your heart & your posture towards men & women. In all of these stories, women are being sexually oppressed & in two of the cases are even sex slaves...
9. God shows up for Hagar. Though we don’t read any specific engagement b/t God & Bathsheba it is clear whose side He is on; it is Bathseba whose son is blessed by God & who is part of the line to the Messiah, & Esther is remembered thru canonized Holy Scripture.
10. If we truly desire churches to be safe places for women, where they can flourish and abound in all God desires them to be; we must understand various biblical stories rightly. We must be able to see the heroes where tradition only saw side-characters to the stories of men.

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APIs in general are so powerful.

Best 5 public APIs you can use to build your next project:

1. Number Verification API

A RESTful JSON API for national and international phone number validation.

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2. OpenAI API

ChatGPT is an outstanding tool. Build your own API applications with OpenAI API.

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3. Currency Data API

Currency Data API provides a simple REST API with real-time and historical exchange rates for 168 world currencies

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4. Weather API

Real-Time & historical world weather data API.

Retrieve instant, accurate weather information for
any location in the world in lightweight JSON format.

🔗 https://t.co/DCY8kXqVIK

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दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।