DCLM Daily Manna 9 January 2026 Devotional by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Cross Before Crown

TOPIC: Cross Before Crown (DCLM Daily Manna 9 January 2026)

KEY VERSE: And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti” – Esther 2:17

TEXT: Esther 2:10-17 (KJV)

10 Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.

11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.

12 Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)

13 Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king’s house.

14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.

15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

DCLM Daily Manna For Today MESSAGE:

A politician who lost at the poll many times, but still went onto become one of history’s most admired personalities, said he learned to bide his time in the face of hurdles that tried to stop his march into the hall of fame. He remained humble and obedient to the laws of heaven, he said, despite the torments. Sometimes, according to him, he suffered ridicule and outright rejection from those who told himhe would never make it. They frequently referred to his serial failure in school. But the man, Abraham Lincoln, finally became the president of the United States, one of its greatest.

Centuries before Lincoln, a Jewess called Esther showed greater tenacity and trust in God when a series of events cropped up, threatening to destroy her people in the land of Persia under King Ahasuerus. This young woman was an alien slave in the land, where an unforgiving king, hurt by his wife, sought to pick anew woman from among a group that included the young Jewish lady. The odds were against her. She was in the midst of axenophobic people. The Jews were targeted for annihilation. She was closely monitored by her disciplinarian father-figure, Mordecai. She did not buckle. God celebrated her simple faith in Him, and moved the king to crown her his queen, eventually.

The path to greatness, grandeur and glory is not rosy but thorny. That route is self-rejection for stoic submission to opposition expressed in trials, troubles, temptations and tests. It is bowing to the will of God that seems to run contrary to our wishes. Many describe them as blessings in disguise. The discerning, like Esther and Lincoln, would therefore calmly receive such buffets as the cross that must be borne before coronation.

Genuine followers of Christ who want to make heaven must bear this in mind: the Master Himself carried the cross of shame before He was crowned in matchless glory. When we are mocked, threatened or denied our rights as we serve the Lord and evangelise, let us joyfully see it as the cross ahead of the crown reserved for us in Christ’s kingdom.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Today the cross, tomorrow the crown

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Matthew 20-21

Deeper Life Daily Manna For Today 2025 was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.