Let’s set the scene leading up to chapter 8. Esther has exposed the enemy of her people Haman and he has been hanged on the very gallows which he designed for Mordecai. The enemy has been dealt with. In fact he has been made a public spectacle! All that he possessed, every asset, is now given to Queen Esther by the King. Mordecai, the faithful intercessor at the gates, is elevated to a position of stewardship over the house of his enemy. He is given the king’s signet ring. This is a powerful symbol because the signet ring is what was used to place the king’s seal upon any legal document written. This meant that no man could reverse what had been written. So we see here that Mordecai has ascended to a powerful place of governing in the Persian kingdom.

All seemed to be well now that the enemy was dead. However, there was still an issue that needed to be dealt with. When Haman had possession of the king’s signet ring, he had issued a decree of destruction against the Jewish people. This decree was sealed with the king’s seal and could not be cancelled. Destruction was still looming on the horizon at the end of that year. So Esther again approached the king uninvited. For a second time she risked her life for the lives of her people. With tears she interceded for their deliverance and once again, she found favor with the king and He held out the scepter to her. He gave Esther, and consequently, Mordechai, the authority to issue another decree to counteract the decree of Haman.

Est 8:8 And you write for the Jews as it pleases you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring. For the writing which is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring, no man may turn back.

This is an amazing command because the king says ‘as it pleases you’; in other words, ‘write whatever you want’. What a display of trust and confidence in the ability of Esther and Mordechai to speak on the king’s behalf. Esther has openly shown the intents of her heart in always interceding on behalf of others, not for her own selfish reasons. Mordechai has proved himself faithful to the king by reporting an assassination plot. So the king knows he can release these two to judge righteously and issue a just decree in his kingdom. They have been tested and tried and their quality is evident. By their fruit the king knows them.

Beloved, this is very significant for us in this season. Haman is a type of satan, who hates the people of God. Jesus Christ made a public spectacle of him on the cross. He said, “it is finished”. When Haman was hanged, the defeat had been accomplished. However, what remained behind was the decree of Haman which still stood as a legal document and Haman also had ten sons who carried his genes and had the potential to continue to reproduce generation after generation of destruction against God’s people. Satan is the father of lies so these ten sons represent the lies that your enemy has produced to accuse you before the Lord. His intention is to steal and kill and destroy – that is the motivation of the decree Haman issued.

Saints, the refining fire you have been in has been to test your quality and now the time has come when you have found favor with the King of Kings. He holds out to you the scepter and you must arise from your place of intercession and fulfill the King’s order. There is a changing of the season in your life. You are going from a place of interceding with tears to a place of standing in governmental authority and issuing a decree according to your own heart’s desire! Your prayer life is going to be radically different from now on. The time for weeping and travailing at the gates is over. It is now time to formulate and issue a decree, the words of which will profoundly affect every province of the kingdom in which you reside. It is a decree which will completely counteract and nullify every plot and decree which the enemy has made against you.

The trial you have undergone has purified your heart’s desires and cleared your spiritual sight. Dross has been skimmed off, your blind spots have been exposed and you are no longer in a place of judging by what you see or hear in the natural. The Holy Spirit has revealed to you, just as Mordechai did with Esther, the far-reaching plans of the enemy for destruction against you and yours and you understand clearly what is at stake. Therefore you are equipped with the wisdom necessary to formulate a decree in righteousness and justice which will do a complete work.

Mordechai dictated a decree addressed to God’s people firstly, but also to the chief rulers, governors and princes of the 127 provinces. Paul tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but ‘against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Eph 6:12 ). So this decree which you are going to craft is addressed to the demonic rulers, governors and princes whom are presently operating in the provinces of your life. It is a spiritual decree, worded with spiritual wisdom which will confound every form of demonic wisdom operating in your life and that of your family and areas where you have influence. God has placed you in a position personally and geographically for such a time as this. The job you are in, the circle of people He has brought you into relationship with, are all part of your ‘kingdom sphere of influence’ at this time. God divinely engineered the insertion of Esther and Mordechai into the Persian palace at that particular point in Jewish history to expose, foil and overthrow the undercover plans of the enemy. You find yourself exactly where you are for the very same reason.

Now I want you to notice something significant. The decree Mordechai issued was written on the 23^rd day of the third month (Esther 8:9). It was to be carried out on the 13^th day of the twelfth month (Esth 8:12). There is a nine month period between the word being decreed and the fulfillment of its contents. That indicates a type of pregnancy because there is a nine month period between conception and the birth of a child. God has placed the power of life and death within your tongue. The conception of a child is the beginning of a life. So, in extending the scepter and giving you the authority to issue a decree ‘AS IT PLEASES YOU’ (Esther 8:8) in the King’s name and bearing His seal, God is giving you the power to choose the parameters of this thing that will be formed in the period between your decree and experiencing the fruit of the words you release. Many sperm race towards the womb but only one penetrates the ovum. God is effectively placing in your mouth the power to choose the spiritual DNA of the sperm-word that will bring forth life and deliverance in its appointed season.

This is spiritual genetic engineering at its most profound. The power to choose what the baby you birth looks like is exhilarating because it means that you and God are co-laboring together in the Kingdom. You have come to a position of operating on governmental authority because you fear the Lord and have grown to maturity. The time of childhood is past; the time when you were under the administration of the law is over. You have entered the time of mature manhood; the time when you actively participate in a time of intimacy with the Holy Spirit in forming and crafting a Word to be released. You are beginning to participate in the glorious freedom of the sons of God (Romans 8:21).

Please note that this decree was carried by ‘messengers on horseback, riding on swift steeds, mules and young dromedaries used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud’ (Esther 8:10 AMP). This reminds me of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The Living Word came into Jerusalem and was greeted with rejoicing. Nobody noticed the donkey; Jesus was the center of attention. In the same way, as you carry your decree to every area of your influence, you are only a bearer of the Living Word, the mule used in the King’s service, bred from the royal stud. All the glory and all the praise goes to God alone. Even though Mordechai rode through Shushan in royal robes with a crown on his head, he was still in service to the King. This speaks of humility and the fear of the Lord. It is not about you.

It is about the extension of the influence of the Kingdom of Heaven in the kingdoms of this world.

Dan 7:21 I watched, and that horn made war with the saints and overcame them 7:22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High. And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

For those of you who have felt that the enemy has been warring against you and overcoming you, know this: the Ancient of Days seated on the throne has declared judgment in favor of the saints and it is time to go in and possess the kingdom!

Your cry has come to His ears and He is delivering you from your enemies and from those who hated you, those who were too strong for you (psalm 18:17).

Psa 18:19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 18:20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

It is now time for a fresh Word to be released to counteract the schemes of the enemy in your life. The court of heaven has been convened and God the Righteous Judge has heard the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution and for the defense and He has issued judgment in favor of the saints! This is because the handwriting written against us, the decree of Haman, has been nailed to the cross:

Col 2:14 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.

Saints, we have known this theoretically; we have believed it by faith yet have largely not tangibly experienced this deliverance in many circumstances we face. Now it is time to experientially walk in the manifestation of that Truth. Now it is time, standing on the Rock of this Truth ‘It is Finished’, for our heads to be lifted up above our enemies (psalm 27).

Jesus nailed the handwriting and accusation against you to the cross on the first day. Now, on the Third Day, it is time to truly lay hold of that for which He laid hold of you. Just as Mordechai released his decree in the third month, so we must now rise up as the Bridal Melchizedek Priesthood, in the Third Day since satan was made a public spectacle of the cross, and release a decree in the earth which will destroy the ten sons of Haman wherever they are to be found.

Psa 18:37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; nor did I turn again until they were destroyed. I have shattered them, and they cannot rise again; they have fallen under my feet. For You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have humbled under me those who rose up against me. You have also given me the neck of my enemies; so that I might destroy those who hate me. They cried, but there was none to save; even to the Lord, but He did not answer them. Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I cast them out like the dirt in the streets.

It is time for all the enemies of Christ to be made His footstool. It is time for us to rule in the midst of our foes.

Psa 110:2 the Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion; rule in the midst of Your enemies.

The rod of strength that is being sent out of Zion is the decree of the Esther and Mordechai alliance, the Bridal Melchizedek priesthood ruling in the earth in righteousness and justice.

Psa 110:4 The Lord has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 110:5 The Lord at Your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of His wrath.

Through this decree, the influence of principalities and powers in your life is going to be annulled. The decree is being made in the name of the Lord of Hosts and is unchangeable. Therefore craft it and issue it with boldness and full confidence that the authority of the Throne of the Universe is behind every word that is uttered. Be aware that the words you choose define the parameters of your future. You are sending it out from a heavenly position, seated at the right hand of the Father and it is not going to return void. It will accomplish the purpose for which you and the Holy Spirit send it.

I have other good news for you! When the decree of Mordechai was executed , the ten sons of Haman were killed in the capital Shushan as well as 500 other men, not to mention what was done in the rest of the provinces. The king was so pleased with this result that he asked Esther if she had any further requests. She boldly asked for the same decree to be carried out for another day in Shushan and for the ten sons to be hanged in plain view like their father. In other words, the capital Shushan was granted a double portion of judgment against their enemies and every lie was exposed in plain view for all to see.

Beloved, because YOU are in intimacy with the Bridegroom in the inner part of the palace (psalm 45) and this is the place or the capital from which this decree is issued, your portion is DOUBLE RECOMPENSE in this season. The other provinces were given one day to execute justice but Shushan was granted a double portion. They killed 300 more men on the second day, 800 altogether. 8 is the number of new beginnings. A new chapter had begun for Shushan. Righteousness and Justice was the prevailing tone of the new season; it was the season of their joy!

Because you are the first to emerge from under shadow of the gallows which the enemy had engineered for you and proclaim a decree of life in the face of death; because you have the faith to arise and declare:

2Co 4:13 For we, having the same spirit of faith (according as it is written, "I believed, and therefore I have spoken"); we also believed and therefore speak,

You are therefore among the firstborn of a new breed, a company in the pattern of the Firstborn from among the Dead. The legal inheritance for the first-born from among the dead according to Jewish Law was a double portion. Jesus obtained a double portion inheritance for you and you are a co-heir with Him. That means you get to experience and enjoy the double portion of recompense . You’re going to have twins just like Tamar, and their names are Zerah ( meaning ‘dawning, rising of light’)and Perez (meaning ‘break forth, breaking through a wall).

God’s clear intention concerning you is expressed in Isaiah 61:

Isa 61:7 Instead of your former shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach, your people shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double what they have forfeited: everlasting joy shall be theirs. 61:8 For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrong with violence; and I will give them their recompense faithfully in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

It is not a coincidence that the anniversary of the date on which Mordechai’s decree was issued, the 23^rd Sivan, falls on June 9^th this year. That is this Saturday! The kairos Spirit-quickened time for a decree to be issued by the Bride of Christ is coinciding with an ancient anniversary in chronological time in the history of God’s people. Let us arise, keeping in step with Esther and Mordechai and join our voice with theirs in a mighty crescendo of unified sound waves. Let the sound reverberate through every spiritual dimension as it did from the cross, declaring to our enemy, “Enough is Enough! IT IS FINISHED!”

If you are looking for words to craft your decree, let me make some suggestions. Any word of life that has the prefix ‘RE’ will be fitting. When the earth was without form and void, God spoke and created. Here are some for you to include as you speak over a situation that is without form and void:

RESTORATION RECOMPENSE RESTITUTION RECOVERY REUNION RECONSITUTION REBUILDING RETURN REPENTANCE REDIRECTION

RECONCILIATION REPAIR

Beloved, in the next few days, write your decree, to encompass every part of the situation you have interceded for and sign it with the name of the Lord of Hosts. The book of Haggai says this:

Hag 2:23 MSG I will set you as a signet ring, the sign of my sovereign presence and authority. I've looked over the field and chosen you for this work

Then let us join those who have gone before us in bringing liberty to God’s people on June 9^th and read our decree aloud, boldly and confidently, knowing Heaven is behind us. Experience the first-fruits of your joy at the miracle of conception, knowing that you will embrace the healthy full-term baby in its appointed season. Then let the decree resound in province after province of our area of influence as we continue to keep our tongues conformed to the word of life which we are co-laboring to bring to birth. Every time you speak in agreement with this decree, flesh will be added to the bones of the fetus growing in your spiritual womb. You will begin to feel the stirring and kicking – proof of the life growing within. Believe to see the fruit of your words for they are words sown into your spirit by the Holy Spirit, Who knows the thoughts of God toward you. Know that even as you speak, the principalities and rulers are trembling and coming into subjection to the authority of Christ within you (Esther 9:3).

Mal 4:1 For behold, the day is coming, burning like a fire pot; and all the proud, and every doer of wickedness, shall be chaff. And the coming day will set them ablaze, says the Lord of Hosts, which will not leave root or branches to them. Mal 4:2 But to you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise, and healing will be on His wings. And you shall go out and frisk like calves of the stall. Mal 4:3 And you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day which I am preparing, says the Lord of Hosts.