April 14, 2011 God Requires Y our "Yes"

God Requires Your “Yes”
Read Esther 5-10

Esther 4:13-14 “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

LET’S BE CLEAR about something: When God calls, you need to say, “Here am I.” Oops, didn’t’ mean to scare you. I know. It can be scary making that kind of commitment.
We can take this scripture and applaud Esther because she would respond to God’s call for “such a time as this”. But she had to really come to trust God. Notice in the previous verses how she made an excuse to not go to Xerxes. Her unwanted presence could cause the king to kill her.
But even a death threat is no excuse when God calls. When God calls us to speak words of salvation, we need to go. God wants that person saved, and he wants you to be his partner in that salvation. If we say “No, I don’t want to go.” He might say, “Okay, I’ll send someone else. But you will lose the blessing I had planned for you.”
Yes, God doesn’t need you to save someone. He can get someone else. But you will miss out on so much blessing he has prepared for you. God’s penalty over Esther’s family would have been their destruction if she had said, “No, this isn’t for me. Not now, Lord.”
The God who saved you from death commands you to bring life to others. It is a privilege and a joy. Trust God’s “Go” call to you. Even if you’re scared to death.


Pause and Consider: overcoming great fear leads to great faith.