Dare to Step Out On Faith and Find Great Joy

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

If we are to level up, the child of God must stop playing it safe! We must dare to step out on faith and be willing to put our lives in God’s hands in every circumstance!

Dare to Step Out On Faith and Find Great Joy

Shared on May 18, 2025

Introduction

There are higher levels of faith that we can reach and live with.  We’ve seen that at the highest level of faith, one will live content and in serenity.  To live in such serenity, one must also be willing to step out on faith at all times, regardless of circumstance, no matter how difficult a moment may seem.

Esther’s Story

Many of us will say that we believe in God, yet many of us struggle to put our words into action.  Keep in mind, faith is moving, living, breathing – it is active.

So, I want to share Esther’s story with all of you in this message.  The reason why I want to share Esther’s story with you is because her story is one of putting fear to the side and stepping out on faith.  

Esther was of the tribe of Benjamin, Israel’s youngest son.  Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah, lived in exile in Babylon, along with the rest of those who were of the southern kingdom.  Esther was raised by her cousin, Mordecai, as his own daughter (Esth 2:7).  

In Esther 1, we’re told the story of how the Babylonian king, Ahasuerus, dethroned Vashti, his queen.  After Vashti was dethroned, there was a wide search for the next queen of Babylon, which Esther was selected to be a part of (Esth. 2:8).  The king ended up falling in love with Esther and chose her to be his queen (Esth. 2:17).

Now, some may think of her becoming the queen of Babylon as random or a coincidence.  I don’t believe in coincidence when it is clear that God’s hands are in the mix.  Esther had a calling and a role to serve!

A Time of Distress

After Esther had become the queen, Esther 3:1 tells us that a man named Haman was promoted to an incredibly high position in the Babylonian kingdom.  In this position of power, the king commanded that those within the king’s gate were to bow and pay homage to the man.  Yet, Mordecai refused to bow and pay homage to Haman (Esth. 3:2).

Mordecai’s refusal to bow and pay homage triggered Haman.  In his anger, Haman went to the king about the Jews, all of those of the southern kingdom of Judah (Esth. 3:8).  Haman spoke of how the Jews lived according to their law and not the king’s law.  So, Haman desired to destroy the Jews as he believed it was not fitting for them to remain, all because Mordecai wouldn’t bow down to him.

In Esther 4:1-2, we will see that the word of the decree to destroy the Jews had reached Mordecai.  This news caused Mordecai to have great grief as he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went and wailed in the city.  Mordecai’s distress was shared by other Jews throughout the provinces of Babylon (Esth. 4:3).

When news of Mordecai’s distress reached Esther, she became distressed and wanted to know the cause of Mordecai’s trouble (Esth. 4:4).  So, her cousin sent a copy of the decree back to Esther with a plea for Esther to go before the king and plea on the behalf of the Jews (Esth. 4:8).

Let’s be clear, this was a moment that was calling on Esther to move, to step out on faith.  How would Esther respond in this moment?  Would she step out on faith in this time of distress?

Esther responded to her cousin, “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.”

Esther’s response was one of fear and reluctance.  Esther considered her life and did not want to lose her life.  So, because of her fear, Esther was leaning towards not stepping out on faith.

Does Faith Involve Risks

Would you have stepped out on faith if you were in Esther’s shoes?  The moment that Esther found herself in raises a question that I wish to ask you today.  Does faith come with taking risks?  Let’s consider this thought for a moment.

Taking a “risk” implies that there is a chance that something could go right or something could go wrong.  So, taking a risk implies that there is potential danger, potential failure, and potential setback.  So, does faith involve one taking risks?

You may think that faith does not involve one taking risks, yet I tell you that faith, inherently, is a risk.  To be clear, faith and believing is not the same.  Faith moves, it lives, and it breathes.  Faith is moving in what one believes in!

In Hebrews 11:1, we’re told that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Faith moves towards what one hopes for and dreams about.  

Paul said that hope that is seen isn’t hope as he asked, “Why does one still hope for what he sees (Rom. 8:24)?”  It is easy to have faith when something is sitting right there in front of us.  It is easy for us to “have faith” when there is no struggle!

Faith is a risk – it comes with it!  Faith calls on us to trust in the invisible God, a God we have never seen, but we believe in His presence!  We trust in the only begotten Son of the invisible God, again, whom we haven’t seen but we believe the disciples’ eyewitness report!

Life Calls for Faith

I believe that life, its trials, tribulations, and temptations, make it necessary that one ought to move by faith.

You see, life presents us with dreams, hopes, and desires that we would like to fulfill.  Yet, life also makes it difficult for us to accomplish and achieve our hopes, desires, and dreams.  

As we see with Esther’s story, so much of life is beyond our control.  We can’t control the thoughts or the actions of those around us.  We also find that we have little to no control over the outcomes of those things that happen around us.  Even inside our own bodies, we lack control!  One moment we feel we’re in great health, and then suddenly, something can go wrong inside of us.

Blocked by Hesitation and Fear

The question that we must answer is whether or not we are willing to take the risk and step out on faith in difficult times.  Are you willing to step out on faith when things may seem impossible?

It is easy for us to say that we have faith in easy times, but what about in times of distress?  If we desire to reach the highest level of faith, we must be willing to step out on faith at all times!  As James said, faith without works – without moving – is a faith that is dead!  What is it that can come from dead faith?

In Esther 4:13-14, Mordecai shared a word of warning and encouragement with his cousin.  Mordecai warned her, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.  For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.”

Mordecai called out Esther’s trying to play it safe.  Yet, playing it safe, Mordecai rightly pointed out, would not be a blessing to her.  Esther had been called on to be a blessing to her people, but her fear and hesitation would block her from her blessing!  

Some of us, in times of distress and difficulty, will do just as Esther did by trying to play it safe.  Your blessing may require you to go down a path that might appear to be treacherous.  So, we will stop and begin to consider the path, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking things over, being prudent.  In fact, the child of God is wise to consider their way! 

Sadly, many of us can get stuck in our thoughts and in our plans.  We get stuck fearing what could potentially go wrong.  Many of us get stuck trying to make things perfect so that there aren’t any risks.  Yet, how often do things go perfectly in life?  

Trying to eliminate all risks and be perfect can cause us to become indecisive!  Trying to be perfect can cause us to live in fear of messing up and failing.  If everything always went perfectly in our lives, what would we need faith for?  Why would we need to hope and to dream?  

We must not get stuck in a fear of failure or in a fear of worrying about whether things go wrong.  Such fear will ultimately lead to doubt, and doubt is where faith and our blessings perish.

Word of Encouragement Against Fear

It was with that thought in mind that Mordecai shared a thought of encouragement with his cousin.  Mordecai asked, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

This, I want you to understand, was Mordecai pointing to Esther’s calling being a divine calling.  Mordecai was pointing out to his cousin that it wasn’t random or a happenstance that she had become the queen of Babylon.  You see, Mordecai saw that God’s hand was in the mix, that Esther had been ordained, appointed, for that time of distress!

Do you believe that you have been called on, ordained, for this moment that you are living in today?  You see, many of us aren’t certain when it comes to such a thought, but I tell you that God’s hand is always in the mix for you.  Every child of God has been ordained to move by faith in this moment when things may appear to be so difficult.  You have been appointed to move by faith, trusting God at all times!

Faith and Security

While faith inherently comes with risk, you should understand that faith comes with a great reward.  Let me show you this reward that I am speaking of today.

In Matthew 14:22-33, Matthew shared an event that followed Jesus’ feeding of 5,000.  After Jesus fed the great multitude, He sent His disciples to sail over to the other side of the sea.  As they sailed across the sea, the disciples were met by a storm that caused them great distress.  As they were fighting the storm, Matthew tells us that they saw a figure walking on the sea towards them.

At first, the disciples thought they had seen a ghost, but Jesus called out to them not to be afraid (Matt. 14:26-27).  Peter, desired to prove whether the figure standing out on the water truly was Jesus, so he sought to walk to Jesus on the water (Matt. 14:28).

Now, Peter was taking a risk, right?  To be clear, Peter was stepping out on faith, and his stepping out of the boat to walk on water was a leap of faith.

So, Peter took the risk and we’re told in Matthew 14:29 that Peter did walk on the water, at least for a moment.  You see, when he stepped out on faith, Peter noticed the danger of the wind.  When he noticed the danger, Matthew 14:30 tells us that Peter began to sink.

I want to point out that stepping out on faith comes with certain risks.  Yes, stepping out on faith is not easy.  Yes, stepping out on faith can come with trouble, great difficulty, and hard times!  Yet, noticed what happened when Peter began to sink.

Matthew 14:31 tells us that Jesus immediately caught Peter.  Let me be very clear about this:  Peter didn’t fully sink.  Peter did not drown in that sea!  I personally believe that as soon as Peter may have began to try to fight the water, he was lifted up by Christ.

Again, when we step out on faith, we’re stepping out not knowing what is before us.  Stepping out on faith is like stepping out of a boat to walk on water.  The thing that you may be doing or going through might even seem like an impossible task.  Yet, the reward of stepping out on faith is that Jesus will lift you up before you ever begin to sink!  In faith, there is security, and Jesus is your security!

Risk It All!

With Jesus being your security, I ask again, are you willing to step out on faith and put your trust in Him? 

In my key verse, we will see that after receiving Mordecai’s message, Esther made a choice.  Esther sent word to her cousin to gather all the Jews and to fast for her.  If we likened this to anything today, we would say that Esther was calling on her “prayer warriors.”  

Why was Esther calling on her prayer warriors?  Because Esther had made the choice to put her fears aside.  Esther was ready to step out on faith and risk it all!  Esther made the choice to put her life in God’s hands!

How many of us are willing to put our lives into God’s hands?  Again, many of us say that we believe in the Lord, but we aren’t moving in such faith where we put our lives into his hands.  To be clear, I am not encouraging you to risk your life!  I am encouraging you to live without the fear of what could go wrong!  I am encouraging you to live without the fear of failure!

You see, this is the faith we ought to always live with.  Esther made the same choice that Daniel and his friends made.  Daniel’s friends made this same choice before they were thrown into the fiery furnace.  Daniel made the same choice long before he was ever put into the lion’s den.

God, I want you to understand, is a rewarder of those who will set their fear to the side and completely trust in Him.  There is a greater blessing that awaits those who gives God a chance to reward such faith.  In that blessing, there is a life where we live unburdened and in serenity.

So, I encourage you today to stop thinking that things will go wrong when God is with you.  I implore you today to stop being your own hindrance, your own worst enemy to your blessing.  Don’t be afraid to take risks and step out on faith.  God won’t let you sink, He won’t let you fail. 

Always keep in mind that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, the good and the bad.  Yes, there is likely going to be a struggle when you step out on faith, but that struggle is leading to your blessing.  Yes, things may not go according to your plans, but remember, God’s plan is higher than yours.  And again, always keep in mind that God’s thoughts towards you aren’t evil; they are of peace, a future, and a hope.