Leading The Way

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Leading the Way, featuring Dr. Michael Youssef, the author of more than 50 life-changing books. I hope that you've read his latest book, An Unholy Alliance. It's available to order when you call 866-626-4356. Or you can order online at ltw.org.

The life story of Esther is both intriguing and inspiring. A Jewish orphan becomes queen at a critical moment in history, used by God to save the Jewish people. Today on Leading the Way, Dr. Youssef takes you into Esther's life experience and helps you grasp that your unique talents, your resources, your life experiences can all come together to provide amazing opportunities of service to the Savior. So listen with me and be challenged to live a life of obedience.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Now I'm going to start the message today by asking a question: Do you have a vision for your life? Before you answer this, I'm going to define vision for you so that every single person at the sound of my voice will be able to identify with having a vision for your life, each of you.

Now I learned this definition that I'm going to come to in a minute about 50 years ago from a godly, wise man who went to be with the Lord. And that is why I want to share it with you because it's changed my life. It changed the trajectory of my thinking and my ministry completely. So are you ready for it?

A vision is this: It is seeing the need and meeting the need. Did you get that? It is seeing the need and meeting the need. It's that simple. I'm not talking about personal needs. We all have personal needs and we all work toward providing for our personal needs. Everybody does that.

But I'm talking about a spiritual—I'm talking about something that is in ministry, something that is serving God. Seeing and meeting the need should be done exactly where you are. You don't have to go across the world; you just go across the street.

If you open your eyes, if you open your heart, God will not only show you the need but he's going to qualify you, he's going to equip you to meet that need wherever you find yourself right now, this very moment in your life.

The truth is there are a lot of Christian believers who see the need and then they say, "Someone else will meet that need." Or "I'm going to pray that God would raise somebody to meet the need." It's a cop-out. "Oh, I pray that God himself will meet the need without me." Or "Let's have a meeting and discuss this need." No, no, no. God who showed you the need wants you to meet that need.

So by God's grace you can say, "By God's grace alone, by God's power alone, by God's strength alone, I will step up and meet that need." This does not mean it's going to be easy. I don't tell you that. It's not going to be easy. It does not mean that there is no price associated with your willingness to meet that need. It doesn't mean there is no cost of meeting that need, or that you're not going to experience apprehension or even fear and hesitancy in attempting to meet that need.

No, for over 50 years in ministry, I've found this to be absolutely true. Every time I see a need and every time I hear the voice of God telling me, "You need to meet this need," every time, every time, every time, I panic. When God says, "I will equip you, I will strengthen you," I still panic. I can tell you truthfully not one time, not one time, not one time that I did not ask the Lord, "Please ask somebody else."

Not one time, not one time that I did not feel unworthy—that's the sanctimonious talk—or unqualified. Not one time did I not feel apprehensive or even fearful at times, depending on what it is. Not one time, not one time I did not feel unwilling to pay the price. Not one time that I did not feel lazy and balk at the thought. Not one time that I did not say, "Oh no, he did not mean that for me. You must mean somebody else."

But I also can testify to the glory of God alone that he and he alone did all of the heavy lifting once I said, "I do." Now we have been looking at godly women of old. We looked through Hannah and Jochebed, and now I conclude this series of messages by looking at a woman of vision. And you will understand the definition once I get to that.

Remember the definition? You see what? The need. And you meet what? The need. She was an ordinary Jewish woman who was living under the yoke of the Persian exile. You remember the Jews when Babylon invaded Israel and they took the Jews captives? They took them into exile in Babylon.

But once the Babylonian Empire collapsed through defeat by the Persians, the Persians became the superpower of that day and they inherited all these exiles, especially the Jewish exiles. This ordinary woman saw a need and met the need and saved an entire race of people.

Oh, but again, it did not mean that she was not tempted not to meet that need. Oh, she was tempted. It does not mean that she was not terrified—I'm going to show you—of meeting that need, or that she did not experience doubt, anxiety as she was meeting that need. Listen to me, please. All these challenges, they just go with the territories. They go with the territories, so don't be surprised by them.

But she became a woman of vision. And when you want to become a woman of vision, man of vision, you will experience these things. But under God, he will strengthen you to overcome. There is nothing wrong with feeling self-doubt at times—not all the time. If it's all the time, you need some help.

There's nothing wrong with experiencing apprehension at times, especially when you're meeting a big challenge. There's nothing wrong with feeling anxious at times—not all the time. But the question is, will you trust God enough to get you through all these challenges? Now, her Hebrew name was Hadassah.

But as usual, the Babylonians and then the Persians always changed the Jewish names and gave them local names. So they called her Esther. After her parents died, she became an orphan. So a close relative—we're not sure how, but possibly an uncle—adopted her and he became her adopted father, she became his adopted daughter.

This godly man, her adopted father Mordecai, he occupied a high-level office in the court of the King of Persia. Through the sovereign intervention of God, through God's hand working behind the scene, Esther becomes the Queen of Persia, the wife of the king. Think about this with me, please, please. A Jewish girl becomes the queen of the king of the superpower of the day.

An exile! Of course, being a Jew was only known to her and her adopted father Mordecai. That was kept a secret, not even from her husband the king. Nobody else knew it. No doubt Mordecai taught Esther as he was bringing her up. He taught her how to be faithful to Yahweh in the midst of this pagan environment.

No doubt he taught her the scriptures. No doubt he taught her about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Mordecai himself worked in the palace and therefore he became a role model for her, how to stand firm in her faith in the midst of this pagan culture of the palace. He set the example of refusing to compromise his biblical conviction even though it was dangerous for him to do so.

He was a role model of how to refuse to get swept off your feet by the trappings of power. You see, in those days when King Xerxes was on the throne of Persia, there was a second-in-command, there was a number-two man in the palace by the name of Haman.

Haman was a bloodthirsty, ambitious, egotistical maniac and a drunk with power. Haman was determined to eliminate the Jewish race altogether, not just in Persia, but everywhere in the world. Remember, these were not just any group of people; it's not any just ethnic group of people. These were the people in some of whose loins are going to be born the Savior of the world, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Haman's plan was diabolical and don't ever forget, Satan had worked overtime to destroy the Jewish race simply because he knew the Bible. And he knew what the Bible said, that the Messiah will be born from the Jewish folks. The moment he heard Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, that the seed of the woman is going to come to be the Redeemer of the world and is going to basically destroy Satan, he's been working overnight to eliminate them so that Jesus would not be born. It's a diabolical plan.

And it all started with Mordecai in the palace refused to bow down to Haman as god. And so out of vendetta, Haman wanted to liquidate the entire Jewish race from the face of the earth. When Mordecai hears of this dreadful plan, he immediately goes to the Lord. He prays and he fasts.

He calls upon Yahweh. He says, "Come and save your people yet again." He calls upon Yahweh to intervene. Mordecai saw the need and he met the need, even if it's just praying and fasting. Sometimes that is a great meeting of the need.

But that's not all. He enlists the help of his adopted daughter, the Queen of Persia, to save her people. Queen Esther became totally distraught, to say the least—I'm going to show you from the scripture. She was so distraught over this whole situation and her precarious position in the palace and where she was, where she found herself first in hearing of this dreadful news. She panics, and who would blame her?

And this is a textbook example of what I've been trying to tell you regarding having a vision for your life. When you develop this vision for your life—is prepared to see the need and meet the need—you're going to see it and you're going to be active and God is going to use you in a mighty way that you never thought possible that you can do in your life.

She saw the need and ultimately met the need. But it doesn't mean she was not thinking twice about it. She thought twice about meeting that need. Again, who would blame her? Listen to me. She knew what happened to her predecessor, Queen Vashti. She just did the wrong thing once and she was finished. She knows what happens in that kind of environment.

And don't forget, now Esther's life is on the line. Her life is on the line. All that she worked for, all that she has accomplished is on the line. Everything she achieved is now on the line. I wonder how many of us, including your pastor, would be willing to meet the needs that God has shown you and called you to meet it when it requires placing everything on the line.

Meanwhile, the finger of the Holy Spirit pointing to you and saying, "It's you." I have been there several times in my life when the Holy Spirit unmistakably says, "It's you." And I said, "Surely not me." It's like when the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon. You remember the story in the book of Judges? And he comes to Gideon and you know what he said to him? He said, "O mighty man of valor."

And Gideon looks around and says, "Where? There's nobody behind me. I think he made a mistake. Surely you're not talking to me. I'm afraid of my shadow. I walk against the wall. I'm terrified of my shadow. I think you got me wrong here. You got the wrong man." Something happened with Moses. When God called, you know what he said? He said, "Lord, you don't understand. I only stutter every time I speak."

God would say, "I equipped you. I qualified you. I gifted you. I prepared you for this. I have blessed you so that you may be able to meet this need." "Ah, but God, you got the wrong woman. You got the wrong man. You got the wrong boy, you got the wrong girl. God, you need to raise up some mighty woman, some mighty man, some mighty boy or girl."

Or you protest and say, "Well, but Lord, that means I'm going to be risking my reputation. Lord, I'm going to be risking everything that I worked for. Lord, I'll be risking every free moment in my life. Lord, I'll be risking my comfort." That's the curse of our modern time. We don't want our comfort to be disturbed. "Lord, but I'll be risking my security. Lord, I'll be risking my future. Lord, I'll be risking a great deal of opposition. Lord, I'll be risking everything."

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Who gave you everything? Who gave you everything? Who gave you everything? Yell it out, who gave you everything? God! And that's why Mordecai challenged Queen Esther when she hesitated.

He said to her, "Who knows? God may have brought you to the kingdom"—he's talking about the Kingdom of Persia—"for such a time. Who knows? God brought you to the kingdom for such a time." Can we say that together? "God may have brought you to the kingdom for such a time." Please listen to me. This is not a time for wistfulness or wishfulness. This is the time to roll up your sleeves and start making a difference.

Say, "God, what would you have me do?" And beloved, only focusing on the problem, only complaining about the problem, only focusing on the challenge, only exercising what I call the paralysis of analysis will get you nowhere. Will get the church nowhere. Will get the believers nowhere. And I want you to open the scripture to the book of Esther, chapter 4, verses 15 and 16.

When Esther finally recognized the desperate need and God's vision for her life to meet that need and save an entire race of people, here's what she said: Then Esther sent the reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa"—that's the capital city—"and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do."

"When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it's against the law." And here's what I really need you to underline, to highlight, and I want you to go back to again and again and again. One sentence: "If I perish, I perish." Say that with me. "If I perish, I perish." Oh beloved, there's something you may need to understand why she said that.

For anyone in the palace of the King of Persia, anyone, including the wife of the king, cannot just come to him at wish or whim. In fact, they expected no less than 30 days notice. How many days? 30 days notice. Well, they don't have 30 days. They don't have 30 hours. And that applies to the queen.

That was known as the laws of the Medes and the Persians. It cannot be changed, not even for the queen. And that is why she said, "If I perish, I perish." Oh my dear friends, that's what you call risking everything, everything. That's what you call putting it all on the line.

Mordecai's challenge to Queen Esther boils down to this—listen carefully, these are my own words, not the scripture words: Ask yourself the question, why are you in the palace to begin with? Why did God favor you that way? Why did God privilege you that way? Why did God bless you in this way? Why? You are a Jewish woman. Of all the women in the realm become the queen of the King of Persia, the superpower of the day.

Oh, listen, there are more beautiful women around, there were more qualified women, there were more connected women, there were perhaps more capable women. Of the thousands upon thousands of women in the empire, God called you. God placed you. God favored you. You believe in the sovereignty of God, I know that.

And you know that as far as God is concerned, he could do anything, right? I mean, he could click his fingers, people be saved; he can click his fingers, things would happen. And listen, I don't know why, but God chose to accomplish his purpose through his obedient children. I don't know why he did that.

Please listen to me. God saved you from sin and hell for a purpose. God has given you spiritual gifts for a purpose. God has uniquely blessed you the way he did for a purpose. God has placed you where you are for a purpose. God has given you the privileges that he's given you for a purpose. God has given you the opportunities that he has given you for a purpose. God has given you the family that he has given you for a purpose. God has given you the challenges that you are facing for a purpose. God has given you the job that he has given you for a purpose. God has given you the resources that he has given you for a purpose.

And the question is, what will you do with them for him and for his glory? He did not give you all of that so that you might look the other way and pretend you're not seeing what's going on. No, no, no. But rather so that you would be ready and willing to say, "Here I am." That's all he's asking you to do. "Here I am." Say it with me. "Here I am."

Please don't wait until life passes you by and then be filled with regrets of lost opportunities. Exercise God's vision for your life now.

Guest (Male): Dr. Michael Youssef with a challenge to answer God's call and be used for his purpose wherever that takes you. Want to talk with somebody about what you heard today, or any other day? Connect with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org/jesus.

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Speak with a ministry representative about ways to stand with Dr. Youssef when you call 866-626-4356 or connect online at ltw.org. Thank you for listening to Leading the Way. You can learn about ministry initiatives reaching across six continents in 28 languages at ltw.org. Take time to order my journal and other free resources at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.