Fear Not: God's Promise of Victory for Women Leaders

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TheLionWithin.Us: The Triple Crown of Spiritual Growth

30 Minute Daily Reading Plan

Daily Bible Reading— February 2025, God’s Strengthening Word: Sharing God's Love

For the Least of These

The Complete Devotional With Josh Norman

IHCC Daily Bible Reading Plan - June

Growth 360 Blueprint for Moms: Reflect, Refocus, and Activate Your Life for God’s Purpose

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

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Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="EST.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="p"> 1On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. 2The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. 3And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king&#8217;s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. 4Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.</div><div class="p"> 5The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, 10the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.</div><div class="p"> 11The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. 12The king said to Queen Esther, &#8220;The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king&#8217;s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;If it pleases the king,&#8221; Esther answered, &#8220;give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day&#8217;s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman&#8217;s ten sons be impaled on poles.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman. 15The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.</div><div class="p"> 16Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king&#8217;s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. 17This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.</div><div class="p"> 18The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.</div><div class="p"> 19That is why rural Jews&#8212;those living in villages&#8212;observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.</div><div class="s1">Purim Established</div><div class="p"> 20Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.</div><div class="p"> 23So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. 24For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. 25But when the plot came to the king&#8217;s attention,#9:25 Or when Esther came before the king he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles. 26(Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, 27the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. 28These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews&#8212;nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.</div><div class="p"> 29So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes&#8217; kingdom&#8212;words of goodwill and assurance&#8212; 31to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. 32Esther&#8217;s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="EST.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">The Greatness of Mordecai</div><div class="p"> 1King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMAL">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="MAL.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p"> 1&#8220;I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="p"> 2But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner&#8217;s fire or a launderer&#8217;s soap. 3He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="s1">Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="p">&#8220;But you ask, &#8216;How are we to return?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.</div><div class="p">&#8220;But you ask, &#8216;How are we robbing you?&#8217;</div><div class="p">&#8220;In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse&#8212;your whole nation&#8212;because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty, &#8220;and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty. 12&#8220;Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="s1">Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;You have spoken arrogantly against me,&#8221; says the Lord.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yet you ask, &#8216;What have we said against you?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;You have said, &#8216;It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Faithful Remnant</div><div class="p"> 16Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;On the day when I act,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty, &#8220;they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMAL">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="MAL.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Judgment and Covenant Renewal</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 4:1-6 is numbered 3:19-24. 1&#8220;Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty. &#8220;Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch28" data-usfm="ACT.28">
 <div class="label">28</div><div class="s1">Paul Ashore on Malta</div><div class="p"> 1Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, &#8220;This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.&#8221; 5But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.</div><div class="p"> 7There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. 8His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Arrival at Rome</div><div class="p"> 11After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island&#8212;it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. 12We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. 13From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. 14There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. 15The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. 16When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.</div><div class="s1">Paul Preaches at Rome Under Guard</div><div class="p"> 17Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: &#8220;My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 18They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. 19The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. 20For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21They replied, &#8220;We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: &#8220;The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:</div><div class="q1"> 26&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Go to this people and say,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;You will be ever hearing but never understanding;</div><div class="q2">you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.&#8221;</div><div class="q1"> 27For this people&#8217;s heart has become calloused;</div><div class="q2">they hardly hear with their ears,</div><div class="q2">and they have closed their eyes.</div><div class="q1">Otherwise they might see with their eyes,</div><div class="q2">hear with their ears,</div><div class="q2">understand with their hearts</div><div class="q1">and turn, and I would heal them.&#8217;#28:27 Isaiah 6:9,10 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="p"> 28&#8220;Therefore I want you to know that God&#8217;s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!&#8221; [29]#28:29 Some manuscripts include here After he said this, the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves.</div><div class="p"> 30For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ&#8212;with all boldness and without hindrance!</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJUD">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="JUD.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for#1:1 Or by; or in Jesus Christ:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.</div><div class="s1">The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People</div><div class="p"> 3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God&#8217;s holy people. 4For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about#1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.</div><div class="p"> 5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord#1:5 Some early manuscripts Jesus at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling&#8212;these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.</div><div class="p"> 8In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, &#8220;The Lord rebuke you!&#8221;#1:9 Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century a.d.). 10Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct&#8212;as irrational animals do&#8212;will destroy them.</div><div class="p"> 11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam&#8217;s error; they have been destroyed in Korah&#8217;s rebellion.</div><div class="p"> 12These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm&#8212;shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted&#8212;twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.</div><div class="p"> 14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: &#8220;See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.&#8221;#1:15 From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century b.c.) 16These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.</div><div class="s1">A Call to Persevere</div><div class="p"> 17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, &#8220;In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.&#8221; 19These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 20But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in God&#8217;s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.</div><div class="p"> 22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear&#8212;hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.#1:23 The Greek manuscripts of these verses vary at several points.</div><div class="s1">Doxology</div><div class="p"> 24To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy&#8212; 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.</div>
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