Bible League: Living His Word "For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish."— Esther 4:14 ESV Through a series of events outside of her control, Esther was in a position to save all the Jews in Persia. Is God calling you to use your position for a great task also? It may be your time to be doing what God has called you to be doing for His people. Can you hear the Lord say, "you have been chosen for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14)? In His infinite wisdom, God has set it all up. He's led you through a lot to get to this point. There have been educational experiences, life experiences, disciplinary experiences, and a whole host of other experiences. Together, they have made you ready. Together, they have given you the skills to succeed. The plan of the Lord for you was hatched in eternity, but it is coming to fruition now. This means it's time for you to step up. It's time for you, like Esther, to speak out. This is not the time to be silent. This is not the time to shrink back in fear. Faith is required to believe that this is the time. The time you live in needs you more than you'll ever know. You have what it takes for the moment. You have the tools necessary for deliverance. Liberation is in your hands, but you must step up and speak out for it to come into being. Can't you see this? Can't you see that the Lord has set you in place for this time? Don't think that you're not important enough. Don't underestimate your importance in the great scheme of things. If you shrink back in fear, if you remain silent, then the Lord will arrange deliverance from another place. Someone else will arise and take your place. Someone else with the strength and courage to step up and speak out will take over. Deliverance will still come for God's people, but you will have forsaken your part in it. The moment will leave you behind. Don't let that happen! Prepare yourself. Set aside your fear, step up, and speak out. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingMalachi Malachi 1 -- The Word of the Lord to Israel by Malach: I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Malachi 2 -- Priests Reproved for Neglecting Their Covenant; Judah's Unfaithfulness NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Malachi 3 -- Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; Robbery and Remembrance NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Malachi 4 -- God's Final Judgment on the Wicked and Blessing on the Good NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 22 Revelation 22 -- The River and Tree of Life; Christ Is Coming; Nothing may be added to the word of God NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.Insight If your conscience is clear, you can come to God without fear, confident that your requests will be heard. John reaffirms Jesus' promise that whatever we ask for will be given to us. You will receive if you obey and do what pleases him because you will then be asking in line with God's will. Of course this does not mean that you can have anything you want, like instant riches. Challenge If you are truly seeking God's will, there are some requests you will not make. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Jeremiah 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these hopeful seasons have come and gone--your summer and your harvest have past--and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you--will you ever be saved? Is there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with you--the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection--what more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you are till death forever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it! Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. A brother's voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit. Let not the new year's midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, now, NOW believe, and live. "ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE; LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE, NEITHER STAY THOU IN ALL THE PLAIN; ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAIN, LEST THOU BE CONSUMED." Daily Light on the Daily Path Joshua 13:1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the LORD said to him, "You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 2 Peter 1:5-7 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, • and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, • and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 1 Corinthians 2:9,10 but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." • For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. Hebrews 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |