Added Rick Renner Ministries Link.  How could I miss out on this one?  My apologies.

Planning ahead is more a skill than an art. When you follow any well laid out plan, you increase your success rate by ensuing you are equipped to complete the goal. When Jesus sent the Disciples into the world, He equipped them with the necessary power to minister to the lost. Similarly, Jesus has equipped us with the necessary power to finish our race.

Scripture Reference: Matthew 10:1-42

When you look at the word favour, what comes to your mind. Usually, it is someone doing something nice for you because you asked for it. Favour according to:

Strong’s Concordance
H2580 חן chên khane From H2603; graciousness, that is, subjectively (kindness, favor) or objectively (beauty): – favour, grace (-ious), pleasant, precious, [well-] favoured.

Favour according to the dictionary is:

FA’VOR, n. [L. favor, faveo.]
1. Kind regard; kindness; countenance; propitious aspect; friendly disposition.
2. Support; defense; vindication; or disposition to aid, befriend, support, promote or justify. To be in favor of a measure, is to have a disposition or inclination to support it or carry it into effect. To be in favor or a party, is to be disposed or inclined to support it, to justify its proceedings, and to promote its interests.
3. A kind act or office; kindness done or granted; benevolence shown by word or deed; any act of grace or good will, as distinguished from acts of justice or renumeration. To pardon the guilty is a favor; to punish them is an act of justice.
4. Lenity; mildness or mitigation of punishment.
5. Leave; good will; a yielding or concession to another; pardon.
6. The object of kind regard; the person or thing favored.
7. A gift or present; something bestowed as an evidence of good will; a token of love; a knot of ribbons; something worn as a token of affection.
8. A feature; countenance. [Not used.]
9. Advantage; convenience afforded for success. The enemy approached under favor of the night.
10. Partiality; bias. A challenge to the favor, in law, is the challenge of a juror on account of some supposed partiality, by reason of favor or malice, interest or connection.
FA’VOR, v.t.
1. To regard with kindness; to support; to aid or have the disposition to aid, or to wish success to; to be propitious to; to countenance; to befriend; to encourage. To favor the cause of a party, may be merely to wish success to it, or it may signify to give it aid, by counsel, or by active exertions. Sometimes men professedly favor one party and secretly favor another.
2. To afford advantages for success; to facilitate. A weak place in the fort favored the entrance of the enemy; the darkness of the night favored his approach. A fair wind favors a voyage.
3. To resemble in features. The child favors his father.
4. To ease; to spare. A man in walking favors a lame leg.

All are good definitions of favour, but they all point to this summary given by Dr. Mike Murdock who states regularly, “You do not need to have everybody like you; just the right person.” Who is the right person that you need favour from?

Esther garnered the favour of the King. Favour can turn the tables on your crisis. Haman was killed with the very weapon that was meant for Mordecai and the Jews.

Esther 7:1-10 NLT
(1) So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet.
(2) On this second occasion, while they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”
(3) Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared.
(4) For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”
(5) “Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?”
(6) Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.” Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen.
(7) Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden. Haman, however, stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that the king intended to kill him.
(8) In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king was returning from the palace garden. The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.
(9) Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.” “Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered.
(10) So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

Favour is a necessary ingredient of success. Favour is part of the Blessing. Joseph obtained the favour of Potiphar, the Jailer and eventually Pharoah.

Genesis 39:3-6 NLT
(3) Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.

Favour kept Joseph alive because the punishment for the crime he was wrongly convicted of was death.

Genesis 39:21-23 NLT
(21) But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him His faithful love. And the LORD made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.
(22) Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.
(23) The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The LORD was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

Favour kept Joseph safe while he was saying “no” to the criminals on a daily basis.

Genesis 41:37-46 NLT
(37) Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials.
(38) So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?”
(39) Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are.
(40) You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.”
(41) Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.”
(42) Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck.
(43) Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second-in-command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, “Kneel down!” So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt.
(44) And Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval.”
(45) Then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah. He also gave him a wife, whose name was Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. So Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt.
(46) He was thirty years old when he began serving in the court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence, he inspected the entire land of Egypt.

Joseph continually challenged the crisis and as a result he moved into a new position of authority. He had encountered many setbacks during his life, but he did not quit ministering. In each situation, Joseph postured himself as a servant and served to the best of his ability.

Pharoah gave joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah which means deilverer. This was a foreshadowing of Jesus, but it was Joseph was favoured because he was able to use all that he learned to produce a plan that not only saved Egypt from famine, but also turned Egypt into a major world power.

Ministry is work, but if you commit the work that you do to God and let Him direct your path (Prov 3:6), you will be favoured.

When we examine the life of Joseph, we find that Joseph made the decision to believe God. This is the most critical desion that anyone can make. Once Joseph made his decision, he stuck with it despite all the negative circumstances that he landed in. Sticking with this decision allowed Joseph to excel in both his work and work ethic.

Genesis 39:2-3 NLT
(2) The LORD was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.
(3) Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.

Joseph was annointed for business and administratration. In fact, Joseph was not only able to read and write, but also able to interpret diagrams and architectural drawings. He was more than capable in this area and Potiphar noticed this.

When you are in the right place at the right time doing the right thing the right people will notice you. The world calls this luck or brown-nosing. Whatever it is that you are called to do will not grow beyond a seed unless you grow it in the proper environment. Joseph was just a boy, a younger brother to be tolerated by Isreal and his family. To Potiphar in Egypt, Joseph was a capable, shrewd administrator.

It did not happen only to Joseph. Step through the Bible and look at opportunities taken. David took the opportunity to move beyond the “back forty” into the Palace. Remember, nobody told David to fight Goliath, yet it released the warrior in David.

1 Samuel 17:23-37 NLT
(23) As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel.
(24) As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright.
(25) “Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!”
(26) David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”
(27) And these men gave David the same reply. They said, “Yes, that is the reward for killing him.”
(28) But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”
(29) “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!”
(30) He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer.
(31) Then David’s question was reported to King Saul, and the king sent for him.
(32) “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”
(33) “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
(34) But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock,
(35) I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.
(36) I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!
(37) The LORD who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the LORD be with you!”

Solomon took the opportunity to pass up riches and wealth to gain wisdom. That wisdom was known throughout the European and Middle-Eastern Areas. He was so wise, that world leaders came to him with their riches seeking what the wisdom he had asked for. Solomon is the embodiment of:

Proverbs 24:3-5 NLT
(3) A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense.
(4) Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.
(5) The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger.

Paul took the opportunity to be redeemed.

Acts 22:6-21 NLT
(6) “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.
(7) I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’
(8) “‘Who are You, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you are persecuting.’
(9) The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.
(10) “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’
(11) “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.
(12) A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.
(13) He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him!
(14) “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and hear Him speak.
(15) For you are to be His witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.
(16) What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’
(17) “After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple and fell into a trance.
(18) I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about Me.’
(19) “‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.
(20) And I was in complete agreement when Your witness Stephen was killed. I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned him.’
(21) “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

What opportunities have been staring you down from the other side of the crisis you are facing. Remember this: Battle is the seed for territory. Battle is also the seed for your future. If you choose to let the crisis go unchallenged, it will grow into a mountain. Take the opportunities and exploit them for God. After all, how many mountains does it take before you are hemmed in and your progress is nullified?