God has everything you need on His banquet table

Many years ago God spoke to me about bringing life-skills programs into the country we serve in. The country was going through many changes which meant the young generation rising up would make different decisions to that of the generations before them.

God showed me a picture of a highway. At the end of that highway were two forks, one going to the right, and one going to the left. On that highway stood that rising generation of young people. They were standing at the fork, looking both ways. God said to me; ‘Deb this generation are going to need life-skills to navigate their future. I want you to start teaching life-skills and start with the girls, with the women.’

I said God, that is such a good idea. It really touched my heart, however, I sat on it for months. After God waited on me to respond, He spoke to me again. This time He spoke a little differently. He said; ‘Deb, if you don’t do what I have asked you to do, I will get someone who will.’

If you don’t do what I ask you to do, I will get someone who will. Has God ever spoken to you like this?

The story of the Wedding Feast has a similar theme. If you don’t come, I will ask others to come. Read the Parable of the Wedding Banquet and then I will tell you the outcome of what I did next.

Matthew 22: 1-10  – The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

The king was saying; ‘Hey, my banquet is ready. The table is fully prepared, organized, set up, equipped with all you need. All you have to do is come.’

It’s not that difficult, all we have to do is come.

The King invites his friends and family to the wedding of the year and yet they all refuse to come. Not just once, but twice, Who needs to be asked twice to a wedding? This was no ordinary wedding banquet we are talking about. Not some invitation from a friend down the road. The King has invited them, but they turn the invitation down.

So what does the king do?

He goes out and invites the ‘whosoever will’ to come and they get the benefit, they get the experience, they are the ones who get to connect with the King and enjoy the fruit of all the king has prepared.

I sat on my invite from the king for several months until God tapped me on the shoulder and said; ‘Deb, if you refuse to come, refuse my invitation, I will get someone who will. I will ask the ‘whosoever’ to accept my invitation. 

God’s plan was not for the whosoever to do what He called you and I to do, but if necessary, He will call them.  

The good news is, I didn’t refuse or delay after that tap on the shoulder. I immediately picked up the phone and asked friends who trained in life-skills to come and teach my team and I their program and from there we took that course right throughout our country and across South East Asia, and it didn’t stop there. My colleague and I went on to write our own Life-Skills program which is now in thirty six nations across the globe, and growing.

What if I had not answered the call of God? What would I be doing now? I can tell you what I would be doing now. I would be sitting on the grandstand of life looking down at someone else doing what I was called to do and missing out on the incredible fruit that God chose to use me and my colleague to birth.

MY QUESTION TO YOU IS THIS:

What invitation has the King sent to you?

What has God been calling you to? What has God spoken to you about, but you are too scared to trust Him in? It is time to stand up and move forward into what He is called you to do.

When He speaks, He says to you; ‘Just come. Everything is prepared. It is ready. Everything you need to fulfill the call I have put on your life is on the banquet table.’

God has sent you the invitation. Don’t sit and wait for Him to make the first move. That is up to you. Sitting waiting for God to do something first, is back to front. I can tell you now, you will be sitting for a very long time. He is waiting for YOU to make the first move, and when you do, when He sees you doing something, He looks at you and says; ‘Now we are ready to move forward.’

Trust God in your journey.

Deb