What is your petition?

Reading the book of Esther from the Bible in mid-June, she goes before the king uninvited, which could have cost her head, but the king extends his scepter to her because she finds favor in his eyes. She walks up to him, into his presence, touches the tip of the scepter, and he asks her, “What is your petition? What is your request? Up to half of the kingdom it’s yours!” Essentially, “You have a blank check, what do you want?!” And she knows exactly what to say, she has a plan.

This same interaction happens two subsequent times in the story, each time the king asking, “What’s your petition? What’s your request? Up to half of the kingdom it’s yours!” And each time Esther has an immediate response. Finally, in the last exchange she presents the plan in its fullness and the king gives her the authority to carry it out.

I couldn’t get past, “What’s your petition? What’s your request? Up to half of the kingdom it’s yours!” I started thinking, if I went before the king (a human king) what would I ask for? This went on for a few days before it hit me, wait a second, if I went before the King (God) what would I ask for? I felt the Lord say to me, “Daughter, you’ve found favor in My eyes. What’s your petition? Write it down, bring it before Me and let’s talk. I don’t create robots – I’ve given you gifts, talents, desires – what do you want to do?” This was a life altering shift in thinking, I had prayed for the past few years along the lines of a whining, begging, discontent child, “What’s the one thing You want me to do? Just tell me the one thing You want me to do and I’ll do it.”

So, I wrote my petition down, left the page open, held it up towards the ceiling and said, “Alright God, here’s my petition, talk to me.” Over the next week two opportunities presented themselves to me. They were things that in the past I would have shut down out of fear or the checking off of each finger as to why “that’s not possible,” or “I can’t do that.” Instead, I wrote them on my petition and said, “Alright God, here’s what I’m considering doing, talk to me.” Some more details, possibilities, and options come to light for each of the opportunities, so I add those to my petition and asked God to speak.

He clearly warned me that one of them was not for me, that I had not been authorized by Him to take part. The other opportunity I wrote down in the fullness of what I could envision as a petition and once again presented it to God, asking Him to speak to me. As I’m falling asleep that night, three phrases from a prophetic word I had been given by a complete stranger 3 1/2 years earlier simultaneously sprang to life inside of me. I burst out, “Oh my goodness! This is that! This is that!”

Those phrases were, “Immediately when you came up here I saw you as a mountain climber”, “I’m just gonna speak it out, I just see Europe”, “It’s not just for you to go travel, it’s because there is going to be a personal revival on the inside of you and there are going to be people around you who will need to hear you declare that God is more than enough.” The next day I took a leap of faith trusting that God was directing my steps and bought a one-way ticket to London, gave notice for my apartment, and resigned from my job!!! I could not stop laughing, deep belly laughs, after taking that first step, while shaking, sweating, and heart pounding! Living by faith is not comfortable!

I’ll share part of my petition (the concept, not word for word): I want a life of adventure. I want a life that takes everything inside of me. I want a life that’s stimulating and challenging and makes me excited to get up in the morning, and all for Your Kingdom purpose.

I am now on the start of that grand adventure with God, and the best is yet to come!