Did you know that God has already given you all you need to fulfil your purpose in life? It's true! You have a personal, unique and God-given purpose and He has given you the talents, gifts and grace to accomplish His purpose through you. That's amazing!
This week's blog is taken from another teaching by Karen Conrad, our Upstream Guest Speaker this month. The teaching is called The Promise of Purpose.
Esther 4:14-16. Last week we looked at Hagar's struggles and victories and the story of Esther is similar in many ways. But where Hagar was a servant girl rejected by her mistress and was found wandering in the wilderness with nothing at all, Esther had everything the world could possibly offer her. She was a Queen - a level of earthly power that none of her people had, all the jewellery, servants, clothes, security and luxuries she could ever possibly want.
However, Esther's people, the Jews, were facing annihilation. Esther's identity as a Jew was unknown to the King and if she had just kept quiet, she could’ve carried on her life of plenty and no one in the palace would've known.
But just as Hagar was given a reason to return to Sarah and fulfil what God was telling her to do, so too we see that Esther is given the thing she needs to do what God is calling her to do: Purpose!
Now, we may never face a life or death choice to fulfil God’s purpose in our lives, but there are often times when doing what God has called us to do causes other people to react in a way which can be uncomfortable or potentially risky for us in many ways. To pursue our purpose in our lives, sometimes there will be people who are not very happy with us!
So Mordecai is led to deliver that great line to Esther; 'for such a time as this'. It was a Purpose. After pondering this, Esther decides to do what God is asking her to do. ‘If I perish, I perish’ says Esther. At that point she was willing to give up her life because she knew she was fulling the purpose God had for her. What had changed? She had been given the power of purpose.
But Esther also had a confidence in God. She knew He would never leave her or let her down. So she had faith that God would bring success. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. And He will never ask you to do something that He isn't prepared to provide for.
When we find God’s purpose and we connect with our faith, we become bold and confident to step forward into something that, without that understanding of who God is and that He is a good God who’s purposes are for our good as well as His kingdom, we would’ve shrunk away from.
When you discover your purpose and you understand that God is for you and has given you all you need to accomplish that purpose, you become fearless.
So when the challenges of life come along, when your purpose is questioned or challenged by those around you or situations and you’re thinking ‘there’s no way I can do this in the natural’, know that God is for you, that He has given you all you need, connect your faith to that truth and step forward with confidence. That is an amazing way to live!
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