Mon., 1/28/19 Devotion (Esth. 5:2a)

Today's encouragement comes from Esther 5:2a, which says this:

"And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand." (ESV)

When God sees the church, the bride of Christ, approach the throne of grace in and through Jesus, in prayer, He is pleased to hold out the golden scepter of His love, mercy, and kindness. All of this is because Jesus shed His preci-ous blood for His church.

Do we need to approach the throne of God today? Let us not come empty-handed. Let us bring, in the arms of our faith, the Savior of our souls, the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," (Jn. 1:29). No other offer-ing will be accepted.

[Puritan quote of the day: "A child of God keeps two books always by him: one to write his sins in, so that he may be humble; the other to write his mer-cies in, so that he may be thankful.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Godly Man's Picture"]