Today we continue our series entitled, “Faith and Patience Volume IV — The Wonder Twins”. I have laid the foundation for faith. Now I am doing the same for patience. I like to teach by both precept and example. I will use Joseph as a good example of our need for patience.
(James 1:2-4 TPT)
2 My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!
3 For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things.
4 And then as your endurance grows even stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.
(Galatians 6:9 NIV)
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
So what does this mean for you today? We will seek to learn from the phases of the life of Joseph. Each phase (paternal, pit, Potiphar, prison, and palace/Prime Minister) has significance to this series and to our lives.
1. You must be processed for your purpose.
a) We are all called to do different things in life. When we get a revelation of our purpose (meaning that God literally REVEALS it to us), we often get excited, and understandably so, but most of us have no idea what will be required of us in the process. God is smart to show us the PROMISE, but not the PROCESSING, because if He did, many of us would run the other way.
b) Joseph received a dream from God when he was just a teenager. He believed the dream. He embraced the dream. He even shared the dream. But he had no idea what was going to have to happen in his life in the space between the PROMISE and the PERFORMANCE. Joseph would have to wait over 20 years for the dream to come to pass, and 13 of those 20 years were full of processing and pain.
c) In order to become the man/woman you are called to be, you must be willing to patiently endure whatever is required on the path to your purpose. This is why you need faith and patience. Faith alone won’t get you there. Especially not if you are called to do something great. Because, the greater the assignment, the greater the attack and the longer the processing.
d) As I close out this point, I will share a personal testimony about this.
Back in the year 2000, I was a young preacher. I had been preaching for a few years, I had led a congregation, and I knew I was called to preach/Pastor for the rest of my life. However, like many who have gone before me, I was going to have to learn to wait on God.
It was early in the morning one Sunday. I was in church an hour before service, praying. No one was in the sanctuary with me. I was alone with God. I cried out to God. I wanted to know why things were not happening faster for me. Like most young people, I wanted things to happen fast. The Lord reminded me of the story of Moses, when he was born. Although Moses was destined for greatness, he was born with a death sentence from Pharaoh and his mother had to hide him.
The Lord began to speak to me about Moses and what was happening while his mother hid him. He had me to picture Moses as a baby and his mother holding him and feeding him. I could see her hiding him and feeding him. She hid him and fed him and he grew as a result. She kept hiding him, she kept feeding him, and he kept growing. The Bible says that when he could no longer be hid, she released him into the water. When he was released, he was actually being released into his destiny. God saw to it that the same man, Pharaoh, who had signed Moses’ death decree, actually wound up financing the ministry, paying for his education and preparing him for his life’s assignment.
The key part of the story is that there came a day when Moses could no longer be hid. The Lord said to me, “I am hiding you for your assignment. I am feeding you while I am hiding you, and you are growing. There will come a day when you can no longer be hid. One that day I will release you.” 20 years later, I am still waiting. God has used me to do great things, but in many ways, what God has revealed to me has not even started yet. I am still being processed for my purpose. So when I tell you about faith and patience, when I teach you to REST in God’s finished work, I am not telling you about something I read. I am telling you about something I live every day. I know what it’s like to have greatness in you, to know you are called to something bigger than what you are experiencing, and to have to wait until God releases you. The day came for Moses, the day came for Joseph, the day will come for me and I believe it will also come for you! But you must develop patience and add it to your faith.
2. The Paternal phase.
When Joseph was at home with his father and brothers, he experienced great favor. I will explain why.
Joseph’s father, Jacob, fell in love with a woman named Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel so much that he worked 7 years to marry her. Laban, her father, tricked Jacob on his honeymoon night and gave him Rachels’ sister, Leah, instead. So Jacob worked 7 more years for Rachel. Leah gave birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. But Rachel, the woman he loved, was still barren. So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah, to have babies with. Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali. But Rachel was still barren. Leah then gave her servant to Jacob to have babies with. Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. But Rachel was still barren. Afterward, Leah became fertile again and gave birth to, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. And Rachel was still barren.
After all this time, the Bible says, “God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.” (Gen 30:22-24 NKJV)
That other son was Benjamin. She prophesied in her season of favor and God honored her prayer. That’s a quick nugget to always OPEN YOUR MOUTH in the season of favor.
Getting back to Joseph, you can see why Jacob loved the boy. He was the firstborn of the women he truly loved. So he favored Joseph ABOVE the other boys. Jacob gave the boy a coat of many colors. Joseph flaunted the coat before his brothers and his brothers HATED HIM and HIS COAT!
I will share a few quick nuggets as we close and I will pick it up from here tomorrow:
a) There will be people who DESPISE YOU because of the FAVOR of GOD on YOUR LIFE! The good news is that THEIR POISON CANNOT STOP YOUR PURPOSE!
b) Not everyone who is WITH YOU is FOR YOU! This is a lesson we must all learn.
c) Favor is not earned. It is given. Favor should be appreciated, but not FLAUNTED!
d) People will get frustrated because you receive for free what they have been working hard to earn!
e) Learn how to handle favor. Remain Humble in your prosperity!
f) Joseph had to leave his home because greatness is never developed in comfort.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for revealing my divine purpose to me. It is so big that I understand I must be processed for my purpose. I must endure the pain associated with my processing in order to become the man I am born to be. I declare that I will. I live by faith and I develop patience. With faith and patience at work in my life, I shall receive everything You have promised and I shall experience Your best before I die. I will never stop. I will never give up. I know I am being processed for greatness and I trust the process! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
