For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. – 2 Timothy 1:7

Fear is a debilitating force. If can cause you to do all sorts of things that you don’t want to do. All fear is, is your mind thinking of the worst case scenario and believing it will happen. This most of the time is the farthest from the truth. A different mindset to have is to think what if the best possible scenario happens? This is a better possibility to think of. So when you are stepping out, always apply your faith to the best possible situation.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. – John 14:27

This peace that God gives us will embolden us to step out and take the risk required to accomplish what God put on our hearts.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7

Anxiety is tough to stop from entering into your mind before you step out t and take a risk. What this verse says to do is to pray and make your request to God. As you keep your mind fixed on Him, he will give you peace that passes understanding in your heart. This peace is not like the worlds peace (as I just read). It will calm you down and allow you to move forward boldly and do what He called you to do.

Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. – Ecclesiastes 11:1-2

The lesson here from this verse is not to have only one stream of income. If anything happens then you would not have any finances coming in to support your life. While you are working, you should think on how to create multiple streams of income so that if something cuts off one, you will still have some money coming in.

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. – Job 42:2

This is a verse that encourages and reminds me when fear tries to grip my heart. I’m reminded that God can do all things and no plan of His can be stopped. Because of his great live for us and how much good he wants to do in our life, we have confidence that God will always allow things to work out in our favour in the end. So with that, we can step out boldly.

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. – Esther 4:15-17

According to the rules, anyone who enters before the king without being called would be killed. This was the risk that Esther would take in order to prevent all the Jews from being killed. There was some specific things that she did first before taking this risk. She prayed and fasted and asked Mordicai and all her servants to do the same. She positioned herself across from the King in her Royal outfit which was very strategic. Then she invited the King to a banquet so that she can ask him to change his decree against the Jews. When we step out to take risk, we need to do as Esther did and calculate the risk know how to mitigate our chances of failure. This was very wise on Esthers part.

Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. “We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.” So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there! – 2 Kings 7:3-5

Lepers were not allowed in the city but were to depend on charity outside the city gate. Because of the famine and the army their situation was desperate. They thought to themselves “what do we have to lose if we make a move”? And this is the question that some of us need to ask ourselves if we are in a tough situation. There may be no other way out but to risk it and move forward boldly into what God called you to do. As we see in this passage of Scripture, God already prepared the way ahead of them.