And while they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ?Now tell me what you really want. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!??Esther replied, ?This is my request and deepest wish. If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request and do what I ask, please come with Haman tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for you. Then I will explain what this is all about?

(Esther 5:6-8).

The door for God to release His favour upon us opens when we step out in faith. Sometimes we wait and wait for something to happen in our lives or for something to come through when all the while God was waiting for us to take that first step of faith. Then He releases His power in the first place.

Esther had decided she would take this leap of faith before she knew the outcome and before she knew what would happen. As she did, she found incredible favour with the king?more favour than even Queen Vashti had received. God had called Esther, and He had marked her with incredible blessing and favour?long before she saw His answers.

For whoever finds me finds life?and receives favor from the Lord.

(Proverbs 8:35)

??????????? Esther went before the Lord in a time of fasting and praying before she sought the king. She knew from her human perspective that the king would likely order her death; however, the very same God who had given her favour to be selected as queen was the same God who would give her favour again.

When fear rises up in us, we need to remember the faithfulness of God. The same God who did it before will do it again. The year my husband and I were married, he lost his job only months before our wedding day. On top of that, we had purchased our first home based on his income. What an anxious season for us! We had no idea if or when he would get another job. An entire year passed, and we were two weeks out from his unemployment concluding when my husband was offered a position at a tent rental company through a contact from my brother. At the same time, he had a ?potential? opportunity to work as the creative arts director at a church.

When he told me he felt he needed to turn down the tent rental company and pursue this potential job with no guarantee, everything within me wanted to say, ?Yeah, right! No way; take the sure job!? Instead, I knew my faith needed to override my fear. We took the unknown, faith-full road, and God opened up doors, moved mountains and worked everything for our good.

This year when we had to take a leap of faith with my husband?s starting his own business, rather than be overcome by fear, we looked back on what God had done before. We said, ?Faithful God, You have done it before; do it again!?

You release the favour of God when you step out in faith, but many of us never reach that place because we focus on fear. We look at how big our fall will be rather than how big our God is. When David fought Goliath, the battle had to do with the fact that no one else would fight in faith. They all fought in fear, missing the favour of the Lord. These mighty soldiers, who had been trained for war, could have easily swung a slingshot. However, their mind was limited by what a human mind could comprehend because they didn?t live by faith.

When you live as a child of God, He moves giants to give you victory. We need to hold to that faith and focus on the victory. The armored giant in front of you may look fierce and intimidating?even like it will take you out. For some, the giant is a job loss; for some, it?s a cancer diagnosis, and for some, it?s a major life decision. As you look at this giant, you think, This could completely wipe me out!

When our natural eyes see Goliath against David, we think, David doesn?t stand a chance. Let me share a spoiler: David wins! He had already won before he marched out on that battlefield. The moment he said, ?I will fight him,? was the moment he released God?s favour?His supernatural power. The supernatural always beats the natural.

If you are currently facing a Goliath and staring him full in the face with a heart full of fear, don?t see yourself as David in the natural. Picture David standing with His all-encompassing glory that is far greater than any Goliath. You, my friend, have that same power surrounding you; the favour of the Lord is upon you. You may face that giant with uncertainty in the outcome, but you need never feel any uncertainty regarding the power that is within you through Christ Jesus. His presence and power is what gives us the assurance we need to walk out on the battlefield. Neither Esther nor David were ever certain of the exact outcome in those pivotal moments. Esther?s response to breaking the law of the land and taking her life into her own hands was ?If I die, I die.? The certainty of their stepping out in faith was walking in the favour of God, and that outcome was enough for them.