When we read about the year of preparation that was necessary for a royal bride in Esther 2:12, those twelve months can seem rather excessive and indulgent. A whole year is a long time for what basically amounts to a bath or shower!  But then again, not many of us have been born into royalty. ... Continue Reading →

On this our penultimate of the fast preparing us to be the Bride of Christ, let’s look again at Eph 5: - “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph 5:2).  It was love for us that led Him... Continue Reading →

When we think of perfumes, we generally think of sweet smells, maybe floral or lightly spiced aromas.  I’m sure we wouldn’t normally think of the smell of burning as a sweet one, as it is acrid and unpleasant to our senses – but to God it is the aroma mentioned most often in the Bible... Continue Reading →

As we learned previously, the perfumed anointing oils of this six days are not about covering up bad smells, as the first six days with myrrh (symbolising death, mourning, repentance, purification & consecration) walked us through the cleansing process available to us through the blood of Jesus.  Now we are cleansed, pure, entirely acceptable in... Continue Reading →

As we saw yesterday, we may be tempted to think of ourselves in association with the smell of our old worldly life, but once we are truly born again of the Spirit, we have a new nature: cleansed, redeemed, purified and fully acceptable before God.  He has already done everything possible to deliver us from... Continue Reading →

Today sees the start of the second half of our 12 days of preparation. Just as Esther experienced six months of anointing with myrrh (for burial and purification) followed by six months of sweet spices and perfume (to make her a pleasing aroma to her Bridegroom-King), so we are entering our second set of six... Continue Reading →

On this our final day preparing ourselves with myrrh, there is one final property that we need to apply, and that is of consecration.  Myrrh was a vital ingredient in the anointing oil that was used to consecrate priests as holy for God. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekel of liquid myrrh, half... Continue Reading →

For millennia people have used myrrh in purification treatments because they found it was helpful in healing wounds, dulling pain, and slowing the rate of decay in corpses.  Modern scientists have found that myrrh is a very effective anti-bacterial agent, antioxidant and anti-parasitic treatment. Purity and cleanliness are often used interchangeably in the Bible, but... Continue Reading →

Yesterday we saw how patient God is with us when we struggle to let go of the things we hold dear that actually have very little eternal value – how He grants us the gift of mourning to we can process the letting go and come to a place of consciously saying goodbye to what... Continue Reading →

When anything in life dies, there is always an element of mourning.  Myrrh speaks of mourning for what was – honouring the beautiful that we used to enjoy but are now being asked to leave behind.  When God calls us to “forget the former things”, it is easy enough to reply ‘yes Lord’ initially out... Continue Reading →