For Such a Time As This
Esther was an orphan. She had never known her homeland, only life in exile. Her nation had been conquered and its people carried off. She lived as a third-culture citizen: she was from neither here nor from there.
Officially, she and her people were free to return home, but life in a foreign land was all they had ever known, so there they had stayed.
All of this could have been acceptable to Esther and her people, especially as she had recently been elevated to queen, but a change in the law had brought a new threat: the government had declared war on them and they were all to be exterminated. Legally. According to law. Even she, the queen.
But under the coaching of her godly uncle, Mordecai, Esther realized she need not live as a victim. Her future and that of her people was in her hands.
She could make a difference.
She had been born for such a time as this.
And so, by faith, Esther acted to save her people even as in the background, God was sovereignly orchestrating events. From throne rooms to bedrooms God was working to save His people. All His plan needed was the cooperation of the one who had been born “for such a time as this.”
The Bible teaches that we, like Esther, are living in a “foreign land,” – we are in this world, but we are not of this world. The societal shift of only the past ten years makes this more than clear. All signs say these shifts are not going away or even slowing down any time soon: there are more serious changes to come.
Many social observers are now writing that if the present course holds, the future of the church in America does not look promising: our culture is hammering it home to us: we are in this culture, but we are not of it, and for this, there is a price to be paid.
Challenging times lie ahead.
In challenging times, there are 5 things we need to know.
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Know that challengers overcome challenging times.
Again, it doesn’t take an Esther or a Mordecai to see that we live in challenging times.
But challenging times call for challengers: men and women of God who refuse to be victims of the times in which they live; men and women of God who are overcomers in Christ, challengers of the status quo who refuse to live in the barracks of fear, but dare to fight on the front lines of faith.
Followers of Jesus Christ cannot be victims of our times, not if God is the Sovereign Lord of History and Time, of Nations & Their Rulers. And He is. He most certainly is.
As Lord of History and Time, He is Lord of Our Times.
Challengers do not retreat from challenging times, but in the name of Christ, they rush forward into those times, believing they have been born for such a time as this, given life to be instruments of God’s power and glory in the world.
Times have always been challenging for followers of Jesus, but God’s challengers have always risen to meet those times by faith, in the power of the Sovereign and Almighty God.
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Know that you have been uniquely formed for such a time as this.
Like Esther, you are a living example of the truth of God found in Jeremiah 1.5:
Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you, I placed my hand upon you and appointed you unto nations.
When our family entered missionary service many years ago, we were blessed to travel from church to church raising monthly support. Our two daughters were very young at the time. Well-meaning, but misguided Christians told them, “You poor little girls; God called your mommy and daddy to be missionaries, to live in a foreign country, but he didn’t call you. You will only be baggage in your parents’ call for the next eighteen years.”
It was clear to us this was not the truth, but a lie, one we had to keep from entering our daughters’ hearts and minds.
And so, we fought that lie with the truth of Jeremiah, telling our daughters,
“Before God formed you in mommy’s womb, He knew each of you, he had placed His hand on each of you and appointed you. In other words, out of all the parents in all the world, God gave you to us to love and raise. Out of all the places in the world where you could grow up and fulfill God’s dreams for your life, God willed that you grow up in France and in Belgium, speak French instead of English, have French and Belgian best friends. You are not baggage: in His pleasure in you, God chose these things for you that His unique dreams for your life might come true.
Today, both of our daughters call those “foreign” countries “home.”
You can call your time and place “home” today, confident in the God who says to you, “For such a time as this, I have formed you and sent you out into your world.”
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Know that God has positioned you to make a difference in the world.
Like Esther, God is calling you to seize the reason He created you, commissioned you and called you at this moment in time.
Seize the moment by letting the challenges and the possibilities of the moment seize you
What if?
What if through you, God intends to bring deliverance to people, many or one?
What if God has positioned you to make a difference in your world and time?
What if God really did bring you into this world for such a time as this?
Seize this moment by seizing God’s reason for your creation, commission and call!
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Know that God is working invisibly in the background.
Don’t place your trust (or fear) in what you see, hear or feel. While these things speak of reality, they are not God’s truth and they are not the whole story.
Even as Esther’s people were facing destruction, little did they know that God was at work in the background, silently, invisibly setting the stage for their deliverance:
It was God who placed Esther in the house of Mordecai and then in the palace as queen;
It was God who orchestrated events in the life of the king, of Mordecai and others, intersecting them at the precise moment for maximum impact and for deliverance;
Even on the eve of the Jewish people’s apparent destruction, the hand of God was invisibly at work on their behalf.
That hand, unseen, is at work in your life. The invisible hand of God is more true than the news on the TV screen or the news of a good or bad economy. The invisible hand of God is more real than the job you didn’t get or the relationship that didn’t work.
The hand of God is more true, more real than any and every challenge you face in life.
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Know that God is working in & through you for purposes greater than you.
If it were all about you and me, God would tell us to simply grab all the treasure and pleasure we can for ourselves. But the Cross of Jesus reminds us that it’s not all about you and me. The Cross of Jesus reminds us that it’s all about the glory of our God and the eternal good of those who do not yet know Him personally.
The Cross of Christ calls for more than man-in-the mirror-living. The Cross of Christ calls for all eyes to be on Jesus-living: not for my sake, but for His.
Like Esther, the purpose of your creation is more than the life you see in the mirror, more than your own personal surviving or thriving.
You are no mere spectator to these times! God has placed you in these times that through you He might maximize His glory among nations, that nations might be saved and become the people of God, and that the people of God might be strong in their God
Like Esther, the purpose of God’s commission in your life is about more than you enjoying your own position in the courts of kings, in a church office, or on American Idol.
You have been commissioned by God to take the giftings and abilities of your creation and use them for His glory, for the good of His people and for the salvation of those who do not yet have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ
Like Esther, the purposes of God’s call upon your life go beyond this moment and these times – His purposes of God’s call on your life are eternal.
God has entrusted you with the lives of those around you and those far from you. His call on your life touches on matters as great as nations and as simple as a single soul.
Know This!
Yes, We live in challenging times, but know that you have been born for such a time as this.
Know that God has positioned you to make a difference in the world, a difference that will last forever in the lives of others.
Know that you do not work alone: God is working invisibly in the background to fulfill your creation, commission and call. God is working in and through you for purposes far greater than we can imagine.
For such a time as this, God has given you life.
Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.
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