Bible Ballistics: BBs #428    “This” Time Is Now!!!

 

As we make our way through this cold winter weather that is gripping much of the U.S., I couldn’t help but think about the times that we live in—things are cold and then they get hot! When they’re cold everyone is crying for it to get warm, when it is hot, people clamor for it to cool off! It’s the nature of the dissatisfied human heart. But for those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ the King of Glory—we ought to look at things with different eyes; we ought to recognize that God is ever at work in our lives, regardless of the temperature, the time or the political climate. God has called us to serve Him faithfully wherever HE has placed us; or as someone as so aptly put it, “Bloom where you’re planted”; and while that isn’t scripture it does have it’s roots in scripture. Let’s take a ‘gander’ at The Word.

Esther was a godly young woman who found herself in a pagan culture, in the palace of a King—yet God hadn’t placed her there by mistake.

“Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther,

Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape

in the king’s house,

more than all the Jews.

14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace

at this time,

then shall there enlargement

and deliverance arise to the Jews

from another place;

but thou and thy father’s house

shall be destroyed:

and who knoweth

whether thou art come

to the kingdom

for such a time as this?

15 Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan,

and fast ye for me,

and neither eat nor drink

three days,

night or day:

I also and my maidens

will fast likewise;

and so will I go in unto the king,

which is not according to the law:

and if I perish,

I perish.

17 So Mordecai went his way,

and did according to all

that Esther had commanded him.”   Esther 4:13-17

Esther wasn’t looking to be a hero, but when confronted with the opportunity to serve God ‘where she was planted’, even at the risk of her life, she chose to be available to God, for His service, even if it cost her life—so she fasted, prayed and obeyed God!

What is your “such a time as this”? What circumstances are you wanting to change, get out of, rearrange or scream and cry about? Well my friend, those circumstances haven’t caught God by surprise. “God never says ‘oops’!” and He hasn’t misplaced you or me! We are living here, now because God created us “for such a time as this”—no matter what our “this” is!

Only “YOU” can do what God has created ‘you’ to do, and we ought not wait for someone else to do what God wants us to do. Just as Mordecai told Esther, God’s plans won’t be thwarted because of our cowardice, laziness, apathy, fear or greed—God will use someone else if we refuse to heed His call. And we will never know the blessings that God had for us if we fail to step up to the bat right where we are!

We’re not called to fret over tomorrow, or yesterday but to live “this” day to its fullest for Jesus, to follow Him anywhere/everywhere He leads—to minister His Word, His grace and His love in whatever way He has called us to minister! And YES, we are all ministers of that which we have received from Jesus! Praying always, as He taught us!

“After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father

which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.(in me)

10 Thy kingdom come (in me)

Thy will be done

in earth, (in me)

as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread……”.   Matthew 6:9-11a

We are to seek His kingdom, His will, and His provision for each day! Just a little further on in this ‘Sermon On The Mount’, Jesus spoke these words to all of us who are HIS!

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God,

and his righteousness;

and all these things

shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow:

for the morrow

shall take thought

for the things of itself.

Sufficient unto the day

is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:33-34

So what’s your “this”? You’re there for “such a time as this”; what will you do with your “this” today? Pray and obey, as Esther did, or desert? The choice is yours, but choose wisely, there’s a test at the end! Amen and Amen!