“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” (Is. 1:19, ESV).
“Your willingness is the highest gift you could give God.” With these words, my oldest daughter Ester addressed a group of teenagers gathered for a day of leadership training. This special day was held last week out at our Missions School. Ester, visiting us for the first time since her move to the U.S., was their special speaker. My heart was bursting with joy as I listened to her speak.
She is twenty years old, and this was one of her first times publicly teaching the Word of God. She’s got an innate gift for it. Her message was clear, powerful, and compelling. It spoke to me, too. So much so that I wanted to share with you a little bit about it today.
“God doesn’t really need your talent,” she explained. “He doesn’t really need your skill set or your money. He has all that. There’s only one thing He doesn’t have, that you do. And that is your free will. Your ‘yes’ is the one thing you can give Him that He doesn’t already have. That is why it is the very highest, best gift you could give.”
She went on to remind us that God also doesn’t need our perfection. As she pointed out, when God called the prophet Isaiah, he was pitifully aware of his own sinfulness before the holiness of God. This did not disqualify him for God’s service. God had a solution for his guilty conscience and immediately cleansed it when Isaiah cried out to Him about it.
We see that entirely imperfect Isaiah did have the one thing God was looking for, though: willingness. What a profound example he set for us all in this famous interaction of his with the Almighty. “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me’” (Is. 6:8, ESV).
Willingness. Surrender. That is all God needs. He will cleanse our lives. He will equip us with His power. Fire from His altar is available to everyone who desires to live for Him.
He is so eager to encounter, purify, and send us. Who will go for Him?
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Can you sense how precious your “yes” is to God?
Feeding On Jesus 
You have every reason to be proud. She nailed it!
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Aw, big smile. Your comment just made me really happy. And it’s SO good to hear from you, Mike! How have you been?
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Your daughter, Ester, has a gift for presenting the truth in clear and concise terms, in the power of Holy Spirit! Well done!
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She sure does! You hit the nail on the head, perceiving that, my sister. Thank you so much for taking the time to share that, it blesses me a whole lot.
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You are welcome, Sis! Ester will go higher than you because of the foundation of you and your husband’s lives!
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Hallelujah AMEN!! Let the generational blessings roll! 😁 Plus my in-laws and my father are ministers. And on my dad’s side there were ten generations of church leaders!!
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Yes, the generational blessings go to a thousand generations. Ester has quite the inheritance.
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Smiling joyfully. For which I am overwhelmingly grateful!
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😊
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Didn’t Moses ask for reassignment, also, due to a stutter?…
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Yes! That’s such a good illustration of this principle too. Thank you, Ana! It’s so good to hear from you 🙂
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🙋
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Yes! I will go! With all the excitement in my heart to follow Jesus, and to say “Yes, send me!” the same way Isaiah did. Thinking on it, over the past year in particular, I realised that Isaiah is my favourite book in the bible. God will speak to us through all parts of His word, but for this season I think there is a lot I am learning from Isaiah.
So wonderful to hear the joy in your daughter’s words for God, and the encouragement to say yes to him!
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