Friday, October 28, 2016

For Such a Time As This - Part 3

Thursday, October 28, 2016
If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?  Esther 4:14(NLT)
Christianity's Answer in Such a Time as This
Morally and spiritually America is in trouble.  We parallel the great civilizations of history in a frightening way.  But I do not believe we are through; in fact, I believe we still have the finest potential of any nation on earth.  I believe that, with strong Christian undergirding, the return of America to be one nation, under God can stem the tide of humanism and cannibalistic materialism that is eating our country alive financially, morally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I believe the flood of murder of the unborn, and violence towards our children can be turned.  I believe with everything that is in me that the church is the place to start:
If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, and  pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and         forgive their sin, and heal their land.   2 Chronicles 7:14(KJV)
And HOW shall we DO that?  What shall we do in such a time as this?
ANSWER:  LIVE THE FAITH IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS
1.     Believe in God  If ever there was a time for faith we are living it as we breathe in and out!   Mordecai believed God would deliver.  So did Esther. 
Note her answer to Mordecai:
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:  Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me.  Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day... Esther 4:15-16a(KJV)
If God will ever act in accord with our prayers to save America, it will not be with cheap faith.  And if we believe, we will also
2.      Behave as we believe 
Note the rest of Esther's answer:
...I and my maids will fast as you do.  When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish."  Esther 4:16b(KJV)
Faith was the answer for the Persian Jews, and it is still the answer for Christian believers of the 21st century.  Esther believed in God from her heart, and then put everything she was, had, and hoped-for into that faith.  She fasted (said no to self); she faithfully involved her support group (both the Jews, and her maids in the palace); and she made plans to plead her case before the king himself. 
And her plan was the BURN THE BRIDGE BEHIND kind!
It is said that when Alexander the Great landed on the shores of Persia to engage the enemy his forces were greatly outnumbered.  His officers pleaded with their commander to retreat and come back with a bigger army.  Alexander’s response was to burn the ships that brought them.  As they watched their escape plan sink into the horizon he told his generals:  We go home in Persian ships or we die here.

For You Today

You may rightfully say:  I'm not the wife of this nation’s leader.  That is true (and you may be grateful for that!)  But that was the opportunity presented to Esther.  God will present you with YOUR opportunity to believe and behave as if He is the answer to our problems. 
Can you fast and pray?  Can you involve (and yourself be involved) with prayer that will move the hand of God?  Will you make burn the bridge behind plans to speak for God no matter what it costs?  Can you give up selfish thinking, pride, and suspicion?  Can you work and pray with your fellow believers? 
If you can, you are ready for such a time as this.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Images: Edwin Long [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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