Preparing by Prayer

verse 15. We'll read through these three verses,

then we'll pray and get started. Esther sent

this reply to Mordecai, go and assemble all the

Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me.

Don't eat or drink for three days, day or night.

I and my female servants will also fast in the

same way. After that, I will go to the king.

even if it is against the law. If I perish, I

perish. So Mordecai went and did everything Esther

had ordered him. Let's pray. God, we thank you

for your word. It is good, dear Lord. You are

good to us. You give us the freedom to come here

today and to study your word, and I pray. that

your Holy Spirit would help us to grow in what

we see, that we can grow in this story, and that,

dear Lord, that there would be something in this

word that we need to hear tonight. I pray, God,

that you would help us to be free of the worries

and the stresses and the aggravations of this

world, and that in these few minutes, dear Lord,

your Holy Spirit would just speak through me

and to each one of us in this church. In Jesus'

name I pray it. Amen. Now we saw in our sermon

Sunday where Esther was called upon by Mordecai

to speak up for the Jewish people. The evil man

Haman, who the king had kind of put in charge

over everything, come up with this plan to kill

all the Jews. And Mordecai had sent the word

to Esther that she needed to speak up. And Esther

responded, look, I cannot go before the king.

No one is allowed to go in the king's presence

if the king has not summoned for them to come.

And she said, look, if I go into the king's presence,

if he does not extend his scepter, then I will

be killed. Then we see the famous response of

Mordecai where he says, look, you've got to go

because you have been placed here for such a

time as this. And this is Esther's response that

we see in these verses. Esther says, okay, I'll

do it. But before I go, I need to be prepared

to do it. This book never mentions God throughout

the book of Esther. And even here, prayer is

not mentioned. And you may say that I'm reading

too much into this text, and maybe I am, but

I don't think so. It is mentioned that they were

too fast. Before Esther was going to do this

thing that Mordecai had said you need to do this,

knowing that her life was in jeopardy, she said,

before I do it, I need you to get all the other

Jewish people together so that you can fast about

what's about to take place. And she said, I'm

going to do it too with all the servants and

people around me. We're all going to fast for

three days, day and night. Now, it doesn't say

that they're praying there, but I don't think

it's going too far for us to assume that that's

exactly what was taking place. We often see...

probably more times than not in Scripture, when

fasting is mentioned, that it involves praying,

prayer, and fasting. These are Jewish people.

These are people of God. When they fasted, almost

certainly, I would guess, more times than not,

they would pray, if not every time. And even

though God is not mentioned here and prayer is

not mentioned here, I believe that that's probably

what was taking place. is that Esther was telling

Mordecai and the Jewish people, y 'all need to

pray and fast and y 'all need to seek the Lord

because we're about to do this thing. I'm about

to do this thing. I'm going to have to go before

the king. It's a scary thing. My life is in jeopardy.

So we need all the help we can get. And so we

want to take this time to humble ourself before

God before we continue through with this plan.

Before I go and approach the king, I want to

make sure, we need to make sure that we are prepared

and that we are seeking God and that he is with

us in this endeavor. And so Esther listened to

what Mordecai said. He said, look, you've been

placed here. Perhaps you're here for such a time

as this. And she says, okay, I'll do it. She

says, but the law is the law and the law states.

That if I go before the king, I may die. But

what does she say? She says, but if I perish,

I perish. Now that's a beautiful example for

us to follow. Because there may be things that

God calls us to, areas for us to serve, that

may be inconvenient, that may put us in harm's

way, that may cost us our life. Now maybe that

kind of teaching is... It's not heard enough.

Maybe too much we say, oh, well, God only wants

to put us in good situations, and it's only going

to be good if we're serving the Lord. Maybe it

is, and God's going to be with us, and maybe

in that we experience God's grace and feel his

presence in another way, but it's not necessarily

always going to be good because sometimes doing

the Lord's work is not easy. It is dangerous.

We put ourselves in harm's way. There are brothers

and sisters in Christ around the world today

who are in prison because they've done right,

not because they've done wrong, not because God

was not with them, but because God was with them.

them and they and they would seek God and they

would feel that God said go and do this work

and they said God I'll do it and they are in

prison and they are praising God and they are

still seeking God because they are where God

wanted them to be doing the work that God wanted

them to do and sometimes when God puts us where

we are for our such a time as this moment it

might not be easy, and it may very well be dangerous,

but we need to say, God, I'm going to seek you,

and I'm going to be prepared. That's the first

thing we need to do. is we need to do what Esther

said. She wasn't just flying in here willy -nilly.

She wasn't going in blind. She didn't say, okay,

if this is what you want me to do, I'm going

to do it. She said, no, I want to make sure that

I'm prepared. I want to make sure that the Lord

is with me in this, and I know it doesn't say

that in the text, and maybe I'm reading too much

into it, but I believe that that's what was taking

place, that they humbled themselves before the

Lord, and she wanted to make sure that the Lord

was going to be with her before she went. and

approach the king. And that's what the decisions

that we make need to follow that same example.

That as we make decisions in our lives, as we

make decisions at a church, that we need to take

the time to pray and maybe even fast to say,

God, we are humbling ourselves before you. We

are seeking you. We need help with this decision.

We need help to know what to do. So God, let

me be bathed in prayer or bathe the situation

in prayer so that I'll be ready for whatever

is going to come next. And then we need to say,

but God, I'm going to do what your will is. And

if I perish, I... And so Mordecai and the other

Jews, the queen and the ones who were around

her, they prayed and they fasted for three days

and for three nights. And then Queen Esther had

to do what she was called to do by Mordecai.

And that was approach the presence of the king.

She had already told Mordecai, look, if I go

and he does not extend that scepter, that I'm

in big trouble. And so after all this had taken

place, Esther got all prettied up, looking good,

and she went near the entrance of where the king's

throne was, and the king saw her standing there.

And when he did, he extended his golden scepter

and asked her what she would like. God heard

those prayers. God was with her. God delivered

her. And God gave her the king's ear. And so

it is for us. There are things that we are called

to that are scary, that look dangerous to us,

and we're not sure how they're going to turn

out. And maybe they turn out good or maybe they

turn out bad. But I guess they really don't turn

out bad. If it's the Lord's will and it's for

the kingdom of God, it may be difficult, but

it will be good in the end. And Esther was willing

to stand up for the Lord and to stand up for

the Lord's people. But before she did anything,

she wanted to make sure that all the people were

together fasting. And I believe praying as well

that God would be with the situation. And he

was. And so it needs to be for us. That we need

to pray over all that we do. And our lives as

a church, that we don't make any decisions on

our own, but every decision we make is made by

us coming to God and seeking his will and letting

him lead us in what we need to do. Let's pray.

God, we come to you. We thank you for this beautiful

story. And there are so many things I believe

that we can learn from this story. And I pray,

God, that you would help us to be so bold as

Esther was. that we'd be willing to go where

you send us, even into the danger zones, even

into the tough situations, dear Lord, that we

would have the same resolve that Esther did,

that we would say, if I perish, I perish. God,

it would be better to perish doing your will

than to live in disobedience to it. So God, I

pray that you would help us to live by that truth

tonight. I pray, God, that you would help us

to seek you in every decision we make. Sometimes

we get the cart ahead of the horse, dear Lord.

We start making decisions and never ask you,

not one time. Never pray for your guidance, never

humble ourselves before you, never seek you.

And I pray that you forgive me for that. And

maybe there are others who struggle with that,

that you would help us not to do that, dear Lord,

that we would be those who would seek you. and

that we would pray to you and that we would listen

and that we would be able to clearly hear and

discern the ways that you lead and guide and

instruct us, dear Lord, that we would be ready

for the task before us, that with boldness and

bravery, dear Lord, that we would be like Esther

and prepare ourselves and go to do whatever it

is you've called us to. And I ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen.