Has God shaped you for such a time as this?

25 years ago God spoke to me regarding being involved in a future ministry helping and leading those in the LGBTQ+ lifestyle to Christ.  Little did I know that all those years later how much the world would change and the seed that was sown back in 1997 would start to bear fruit.

When I shared this with my Pastor at the time, his reply shocked and hurt me to the core, “Those people can’t be helped.” he said with such authority and conviction that those five words lead me to leave the church and go back to the lifestyle with no hope.

Looking back, now rooted deep in my relationship with Christ again and in a loving church, I realise that 1997 was not the right time or season. I was too easily hurt and offended and swayed by other people’s opinions. I was the unfinished article, still a lump of clay on the potter’s wheel.

We can’t force God’s hand if the time is not right. Only God knows when we are ready to step into ministry, and will open the doors that need to be opened and close the ones that need to stay closed for now or forever. The question is, ‘Has God Shaped you for Such a Time as This?’
We may face opposition, failure, fear, and even arrest as we try to fulfil God’s plans for our lives. But God is with us every step of the way. He is working all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

This verse was spoken to Esther because she found herself in a position to rescue her people, the Jews, from death. But, if she followed through with her plans to intervene, she put her own life at risk because of the laws at that time. Esther was reluctant, but she trusted that God sovereignly put her in that position at that time to do what needed to be done. This tested her faith, and God was working all things for good in her situation.

“If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14, MSG).

God has a plan for your life. There are times when God will ask you to do things that are difficult. Can God accomplish His plans without you? Yes. But He asks you to participate in His plans because it strengthens your faith.

Sarah Harrison