Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: You've got to learn when trouble comes, get heaven's attention. That's what Mordecai did. He was getting heaven's attention. He was saying this isn't a time to be cute and be full of myself; this is a time to say I need God like never before. And folks, we need Him today like never before.

Guest (Male): America's Christian foundation may not collapse today or tomorrow, but you don't need 20/20 vision to see the cracks. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard. The day is coming, maybe in our lifetime, when our faith could put our lives and the lives of everyone around us in grave danger. But God is calling us to prayer, not to panic; to faith, not to fear.

Today we return to the story of Mordecai, whose decision to follow God had risked the lives of every Israelite in Persia, including his own. His response is a wonderful example to all of us. Remember to visit pastorpaul.net where you can hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. Now let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message, Getting Heaven's Attention.

Paul Sheppard: The Bible says in Proverbs 28:13, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will receive mercy." God specializes in taking you from way off the beaten path somewhere, getting yourself tangled up into God knows what. I mean somewhere so desperately lost you're not even on a GPS. You can't be found. The thing keeps saying, "Trying to acquire satellite signal." That's where you are in your life, just way over somewhere.

God specializes in saying, "I know exactly where you are. When you are mine, I know where you are even when nobody else can locate you. And I am the Great Shepherd. The Great Shepherd goes after the sheep." The Great Shepherd isn't worried about the 99 that are all safe and whole and over there saying, "I don't know where he went. Last time I saw him, I don't know." They're over there trying to figure stuff out. And you're over here lost and panicked and messed up.

And here comes the Shepherd with a rod and a staff. He says, "I'm going to pick you up, and I'm going to bring you back to where you are. And I'm going to beat off the jackals that are trying to kill you while you're isolated away from the flock. And I'm going to make sure that you are pulled out of your trouble and pulled out of your mess. And when I get through, I'm going to get more out of you than I ever got before, because now you know how to appreciate the leadership of the Shepherd in your life."

Oh, I came to let somebody know that God has a life for you to live that has hope in a future. "Hope in a future" was not for the lucky few that have done everything right. "Hope in a future" was not even a word that Jeremiah spoke to wonderful people. He spoke it to jacked-up people who were in exile because of their sin, who had brought destruction into their own life. And we rejoice over that word, but we act like it's for the really wonderful Christians.

No, Jeremiah said the Lord said to tell you all who are in exile, who are messed up, who have made wrong decisions: "I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord. They are plans to do you good and not evil. They are plans to give you hope and a future. I'm not done with you. In fact, I'm just starting with you. And I'm going to get you to where I have destined you to be."

Oh, I came to tell somebody who has messed up, somebody who is living right now in fear of things being revealed in your life, of fear of the consequences for something you've done on your job or whatever the case may be. I want to let you know God says the next decision simply needs to be the right decision. And once you make the next decision the right decision, you will see that God is going to take you from where you are, messed up and confused and gotten yourself all in the wrong circumstance, and He knows how to bring you in alignment with His perfect will.

I couldn't serve a God who needed me to be wonderful all the time. That's why I don't understand people even singles looking for a spouse and you're looking for a perfect person. For what? There is no perfect person. They all are going to have their issues. And if there were a perfect person, what would they want with you?

So what you have to learn to do is say we all need to be on the same journey. You do want to see a person on the journey of righteousness. You want to see a person who wants to please God. You want to be with a person who doesn't want to break God's heart. You want to be with a person who knows how to repent, who knows how to get down and say, "God, I've messed up." I want to let you know, no matter where you are, you are never too far from the grace of God. You need only make the next decision the right decision.

The second point I want to lift out of this portion of our study in Esther is that when trouble comes, get heaven's attention. When trouble comes, get heaven's attention. Do you know that all of this sackcloth and ashes stuff that you see going on—see, in our society, we don't have a real frame of reference for it? But in Old Testament times, devout people of God, people who were called according to God's old covenant, they had the practice of going down into sackcloth and ashes when they were in mourning and grieving.

They had a practice of getting down to a place where their humility was obvious, their desperation was obvious, where they weren't ashamed to say, "Oh God, we're in a mess. We need You right now." And that's what this was about when he tore his clothes in Esther 4:1, put on sackcloth and ashes, went out into the city wailing loudly and bitterly. He's trying to let folk know: "I've made a mess. Things, we are in trouble. We've never been in trouble like this. And this isn't the time to be cute. I need God to help us. I need some folk to pray with me. I need some folk to intercede with me. We are in trouble."

Folks, let me tell you something. It is time for us to learn again how to get God's attention. Now, that's Old Covenant tradition, and those are patterns that we see there. And it is true that the New Covenant does not give us any patterns of going into sackcloth and ashes; that is not the practice of the New Testament church. The New Testament church was taught to pray and to fast, but to do it in faith, not in desperation.

You know why we don't have to be desperate? Because we have a Savior who said, "I can be touched with the feelings of your infirmities." And you don't have to be desperate when you have a Savior like me, but you do need to learn to call upon Me. You do need to learn to get My attention. We don't pray because God doesn't know what we're going through; we pray to acknowledge our need for Him to intervene in our lives.

See, you've got to understand there are some Christians who have gotten so cocky with their New Covenant rights that they act like even fervent prayer is wrong. I've heard some folk who are hyper in faith teaching, and they just say, "Oh, I just quickly tell God. I command Him to do what His word said, and then I'm through." No, you might be sincere, but you're mixed up.

First of all, we don't command God. I said we don't command God. I've studied the book cover to cover. I've studied the New Covenant meticulously because that's the one under which we live. You are not taught in the pages of the New Testament that you boss God around. Don't get so faith-filled that you get cocky. No, prayer is never demanding of God. Prayer is always saying, "Lord, here are my needs. I present them to You with thanksgiving. I present them in faith, but I need You." He's always God, you're always not. Come on, let's get this right.

Some folks are so busy trying to live in heavenly places until they act like they are the fourth person in the Godhead. Not you, but people I know. And probably somebody on your row. Just a little too out of sorts in their faith walk and they need to bring this into biblical alignment. I believe in confessions of faith. I believe in saying what the Word says. But don't get to the place where you act like you have so much faith you don't need God. You pray because you do need God.

We're taught to pray. We're taught to fast in the New Testament. It's part of what we do as believers. You don't fast just because you don't have the ability to get God's attention without fasting. No, you can get God's attention without fasting. You know why we fast? We fast to surrender and yield and get ourselves focused and fixed on the Lord. We fast because when you deprive yourself of one area of need, you can focus better on another area of need.

So when you fast, and you'll notice this in your own walk, when you are fasting, when you center that time in the Lord, you will hear clearer. When you read the Bible, you will experience God richer. It's because you are feeding one area that typically doesn't get a certain type of nourishment. See, we're so busy feeding the physical that sometimes the spiritual goes lacking. Fasting makes you bring your appetite in line and say, "Today is not about food; today it's about hearing from God and lining up with His will and listening to His still, small voice."

I'm so glad for those folk that mentored myself and many of the people I got saved with. We were young folk, and the saints would teach us, "Boy, turn your plate down." And we'd be in school, and lunchtime coming, and they had just the right food would be offered on the day that you had chosen to fast. I don't know how that worked out, but it looked like the very day you chose to fast, that's when they come out with the specials that you would want.

But we learned in those early days, the saints called it "turn your plate down." If you learn to turn your plate down and get before God and focus on Him, what happens is you can hear clearer. You have better lines of communication, spiritually speaking. And let me tell you something, don't be so cute a Christian that you don't know how to fast.

You've got to break the stronghold that many times is our appetite for physical food. Sometimes it becomes a stronghold, and you have to break it. You don't believe it's a stronghold? Just tell your body, "You're not going to eat today," and see how your body screams and hollers and rants and raves like a spoiled little child, falls out in the floor and kicks and screams. You know I'm telling the truth. Why? Because we're not used to bringing it under subjection in certain ways. But I promise you, if you'll follow the biblical guidelines and pray and fast in faith, we will see God intervene on our behalf.

Listen, we still believe in prayer and fasting in the church of Jesus Christ. We still believe in old-fashioned getting before God. We still believe that when you have trouble, God is the answer to your problems. And so you've got to learn when trouble comes, get heaven's attention. That's what Mordecai did. He was getting heaven's attention. He was saying this isn't the time to be cute and be full of myself; this is a time to say I need God like never before. And folks, we need Him today like never before.

Guest (Male): Don't go away. We have more of today's Destined for Victory message coming up next. We want to thank all of you who support Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support. Those sacrificial gifts help keep this media ministry going. If you'd like to join us in our mission to preach timeless truth for victorious life, please consider making a safe and secure donation at our website, pastorpaul.net, or give us a call at 855-339-5500.

That's 855-339-5500. Now for more lessons from the story of Mordecai and Esther, let's get you to the second half of today's message: Getting Heaven's Attention.

Paul Sheppard: The last thing I want you to see in this portion of scripture is to look for the means God will use to answer your prayers. Look for the means God will use. See, we're looking to God, we're getting heaven's attention, the answer is going to come from heaven. And what we have to learn to do is look for the means that God will use. See, God could answer supernaturally, completely apart from human intervention, but very often God blesses us through people.

But just like we learned earlier in the series, that divine favor comes from God through people, so do many of the answers of your prayers. God can answer some of our prayers supernaturally, completely apart from human intervention. But He will also, in many cases, use people. The trick is to know the people are the means, but the source is God.

Do you know it's God who provides for you even if it's through a job that pays you? The job's cutting the check, but God is sending the provision. That's what you've got to understand. And that's very important to know so that when that job kicks you out, you realize that's just a means gone; my source is still with me. My source has still promised to supply my every need. My source is going to get me where I'm supposed to be.

That's why Elijah learned that when the brook dried up and the ravens stopped flying in—that was the supernatural provision. You ever gone through a period where your ravens stopped coming? Your brook dried up? Your bonuses fell through? Your job started issuing pink slips? That's nothing but the brook drying up. That's the ravens stop flying in. You know, it catches you by surprise at first, just like I'm sure Elijah that first day. He was sitting there by the brook saying, "Man, my goodness, the raven sure is late today."

No more raven, brook drying up, but God is still God. So he just had to say, "Okay Lord, apparently You're through using this means to bless me. What's the next step?" And God says, "Well, you've got to go to Zarephath for your next provision. There's a widow there, and I've commanded her to feed you." I love that story because that helps us understand people who try to fight the principle of giving, sowing, tithes, and generous offerings into the kingdom and try to fight that based on the lack of what they had.

They say, "I shouldn't even be asking for money because the little bit I have, you need to be giving me some. You shouldn't be asking." Well, the problem is you don't read your Bible. Because if you read your Bible, you would understand that in the kingdom, we operate by different guidelines. In the kingdom, we receive by giving. In the kingdom, when we need it most, we give it most because we're saying to God, "I'm putting You first and I'm believing You to respond to my worship by providing my need." And look at the case study.

There's a widow with a child who has next to nothing left. In a famine, along comes a prophet, knocks on the door, says, "The Lord said to tell you to give me something to eat." Now, you know in the natural mind, natural people say, "See, that's why I don't even go to church because the preacher is just worried about himself. He ain't worried about nobody else. They ought to be giving me money. They're up there taking my money every time I turn up there asking for another offering." If the widow had done that, she'd have died in the famine.

God said, "I want to bless you." How are you going to bless her? By giving up your food to this man of God. She sat him down at her table despite her inner fears, despite the enemy whispering in her ear, "You shouldn't be giving him anything." She fought all that off, and she gave. And while the prophet was sitting there eating—it reminded me of those old days my father used to talk about the old saints used to, it's so different than today.

Back in the day, he said he and his siblings couldn't eat until the guests who had come home from church with my grandmother. He said they were one of the poorest families in the church, but she loved bringing somebody home. "Oh, come on and eat with us." And my father said, "We'd be standing around because we knew we couldn't eat until they were finished. And we'd stand there looking at the piece we want on the table."

Oh, it's a different day today. The kids go eat today if all your guests starve to death. But he said, "And sure enough, every time I'd look at the piece I want, the guest swoop right in and bam! Pick it up." But while Elijah was sitting there dining, feasting on this meal God provided through the widow—it was God, but it came through her—while that was happening, she looked over and meal was running out of the cabinet, and oil was dripping from the cruse that hadn't been there five minutes before. Why? Because God responded to her heart of obedience.

And let me tell you something, in your life, you've got to understand God will take care of you through any means He chooses. And when one means dries up, just look to the Lord. "Okay, what are You going to use? Who are You going to use? You can come do it supernaturally, but if You want to use somebody, I'm open to that too." And we get that from the fact that Mordecai does not see Esther as his source.

In fact, Mordecai didn't get Esther's attention; the other way around. Esther heard about his weeping and wailing, and she tried to send clothes because she heard he had torn his clothes. She's in the palace all hooked up. She told the wardrobe person in the palace, "Hook up my cousin out there by the gate." And the wardrobe fellow came out with these new clothes. Mordecai said, "Uh-uh. I'm not putting them on. I'm getting heaven's attention."

Wardrobe goes back in, tells Esther. Esther says, "Find out what in the world he's doing. Why is he out there carrying on like that?" And word goes back to her about the edict, about the decree that has been stated by her husband the King, signed off on by the King, engineered by Haman. Once she gets that information, oh, and Mordecai, when he sent that information after she had inquired, he said, "And tell her she needs to go to the King and do something."

See, Mordecai is just looking for how God is going to do this, and he figures God has set her up as queen. This looks like a divine setup. So once he realizes that, he says, "Tell her to go talk to her husband." She sends back word and says, "I can't do that because nobody can go into his chambers, not even his wife, without being called." She said, "And the last time he called me was 30 days ago." Right there in your scriptures. She said, "It's been a month since I've seen him. I can't just bust up in there."

And I love, and let me close this part of the series with this, I love Mordecai's response. He didn't panic. He said, "Let her know she's worried that she may be killed if she goes uninvited into his presence." He said, "But tell her if she won't do it, God is going to raise up our deliverance from somewhere else." Oh, I love Mordecai's faith. He doesn't have all his eggs in the Esther basket.

That's where some of us would be. "Esther ought to be ashamed of herself. Now, she know I'm out here about to die, and she didn't..." No, no. When you are walking by faith, you don't focus on people. They're only a means. "If you won't help me, don't think I won't get helped. If you won't say yes, don't think God's not going to come through for me. I don't care what you say; God is going to meet me at the point of my need."

Mordecai said, "But here's what you need to know: even if you won't go, God will raise up our deliverance from somewhere else." He said, "And you're going to be the one dead. We'll be out here alive because God took care of us, and you'll be dead in the palace." Let me tell you something. You're looking for a means, you're not looking for a source. You have a source. His name is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides for your every need.

If people won't help you, if they won't give you that job, if they won't give you back that money, if they won't repay that loan, don't get your eyes off of folks and get your eyes fixed on Him, who is the author and the finisher of our faith.

Guest (Male): Life is about transportation—getting from where we are now to the place we're going. But we don't get to call on God the way we hail a taxi. He won't pull up beside us and let us tell Him where to go. God is a pilot, not a cabby. Well, I'm sure you have someone in your life—a friend, a coworker, a family member—and you have never just quite had the right words to say to them about the gospel of Christ.

If so, you're going to love this month's Destined for Victory resource. It's called You Are So Loved. It's a booklet, a short, readable gospel presentation that doesn't feel like a tract, and it just might open a door you've been praying to have open for years. That's You Are So Loved, our thank you gift today for your generous donation to Destined for Victory.

You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1766, Fremont, California 94538. Well, all good gifts come from God, even if they come through man. Here's Pastor Paul.

Paul Sheppard: Some of you all have to get to the place where you realize your deliverance, your help, your victory, your breakthrough, your money, whatever it is you need, is not tied up in some one individual or one company or one set of folk that you wish would give you their favor. If they don't bless you, that doesn't mean you're not going to be blessed.

Guest (Male): That's next time in our message, "When Something's Gotta Give." Until then, remember: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.