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.
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. Today we will cover the PIT phase.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. As you grow into the person you are called to be, you must learn to handle the favor of God correctly.
It’s one thing to receive a promise from God and to enjoy the benefits of His favor. But if you don’t learn to handle God’s favor correctly, instead of drawing people to God, it can instigate rejection and resentment in the hearts of others towards you and your God. Joseph was highly favored by God. The favor of God can be seen in every season of his life and every stage of his development. God favored Joseph.
When the favor of God is on you, people will go out of their way to use their POWER, ABILITY, INFLUENCE, and MONEY, to HELP YOU in ways you could never help yourself… and it has nothing to do with what you did. It has everything to do with FAVOR! FAVOR is not earned. It is given. It is an act of God’s grace. Therefore, favor should never be flaunted.
Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors as a symbol of his favor towards him. Joseph flaunted his coat and his favor before his older brothers and they hated him for it. Hate is a strong word, but it applies in this case. Joseph’s 10 older brothers literally hated him because of the favor of God on his life.
When God’s favor goes before you, you want to let people know that this is the Lord’s doing. In other words, when the spotlight is on you, you want to DEFLECT the glory back to God. If you do, God can be glorified and people will know that it is not really about you, but rather the God you serve. But if you do not deflect the glory, and you foolishly take credit for things you truly never earned, it will cause bitterness, resentment, and ultimately a spirit of rejection in the hearts of others. Because they are working hard to earn things that are freely given to you.
If you really want to walk in God’s best, you are going to have to learn to embrace God’s favor and handle it correctly. Make sure to always give God the glory and never take His credit!
2. You cannot share your dream with everyone.
(Gen 35:8 & 10)
8 His brothers said, “Do you think this means that you will be a king and rule over us?” His brothers hated Joseph more now because of the dreams he had about them.
10 Joseph also told his father about this dream, but his father criticized him. His father said, “What kind of dream is this? Do you believe that your mother, your brothers, and I will bow down to you?” 11 Joseph’s brothers continued to be jealous of him, but his father thought about all these things and wondered what they could mean.
a) While you are believing God, while you are waiting on the manifestation of God’s promises, you cannot share everything with everyone!
b) Only share precious things with precious people! And even then, do it with wisdom.
c) Some things you have to meditate on ALL BY YOURSELF! Because not everyone who is WITH YOU is FOR YOU!.
d) If you share it, it has to be with DREAM MAKERS and not DREAM KILLERS!
e) This is why you must surround yourself with people of like-precious-faith. You want people who are going to celebrate you and appreciate what God has called you to do, instead of becoming jealous and tearing you down.
3. God dreamed about you.
I want you to pause for a moment and think about the fact that the God who sits on the circle of the earth actually takes time to think about YOU!
God had a dream for Joseph. Joseph did not come up with the dream. This is the DREAM that DEFINED Joseph’s LIFE! Guess what? What was true for Joseph is true for you! God has a DREAM for your life! God DREAMED ABOUT YOU before you were born!
Now that you are Born-Again, the Holy Spirit revealed TO YOU, the things that God prepared FOR YOU, but where concealed FROM YOU! Through the Holy Spirit, God PUTS HIS DREAM in your HEART and MIND! Once He does, it becomes “a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy.” (see Ecc 3:11 AMPC).
Joseph was 17 when he received the dream. The dream did not come to pass until he was 39. It took 22 years. Having faith and patience is what this series is all about. Everything God said will come to pass in the fullness of time!
Joseph had to keep his dream before his eyes! You are going to have to keep God’s dream before your eyes as well! Keeping the dream before your eyes will help you maintain your patience!
4. People will reject you while you travel down the path to your purpose.
(Gen 37:17-20 ERV)
18 Joseph’s brothers saw him coming from far away. They decided to make a plan to kill him.
19 They said to each other, “Here comes Joseph the dreamer.
20 We should kill him now while we can. We could throw his body into one of the empty wells and tell our father that a wild animal killed him. Then we will show him that his dreams are useless.”
a) The attack is against the DREAM! The reason why you are facing so much opposition is because God’s dream for your life is huge! Remember, the greater the assignment, the greater the attack. And the greater the assignment, the longer the preparation period will be for it!
b) Satan does not care about you. He cares about the dream God has for you. The enemy is not really fighting you. He is fighting God’s purpose for your life. The attack is against the dream. Joseph’s brothers want to kill him, but if you read the text carefully, what they really wanted to kill was the dream!
c) People rejected Jesus and they will reject you. Just remember that when they do, they are not truly rejecting you. They are rejecting the God in you and they are attacking His purpose for your life!
d) The enemy’s poison cannot stop your purpose. Nothing anyone does can ever stop what God planned! Just remain in faith and hold on to your patience. In thie fulness of time, it SHALL come to pass!
e) Reuben wanted to save Joseph. He said, “Let’s not kill him. We can put him into a well without hurting him.” Reuben planned to save Joseph and send him back to his father. But God did not let him. See, what is happening TO YOU is sometimes happening FOR YOU! Sometimes there are people who want to HELP GET YOU OUT of your SITUATION. But God WON’T ALLOW THEM TO. Because YOUR SITUATION is actually PROPELLING YOU INTO YOUR DESTINY!
f) God will ALLOW PAIN to PROPEL YOU to where you WOULD NOT GO VOLUNTARILY! Joseph would have never fulfilled the DREAM at HOME! What his brothers meant FOR EVIL, God was going to USE FOR GOOD!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for Your favor. You are continually raising up people to use their power, their ability, their influence, and their money, to help me in ways I cannot help myself. Your favor goes before me like a shield. I appreciate Your favor, but I don’t flaunt it. I remain humble in my prosperity. I know I am only walking out the dream You birthed in Your heart for me, before the world began. The enemy may attack the dream. But the enemy’s poison cannot stop my purpose. I keep pressing. I keep believing. I hold the dream close. I only share it with people of like-precious-faith. And I will hold on, no matter how long it takes, knowing that the things that happen TO ME are actually happening FOR ME. They are PUSHING ME INTO MY PURPOSE! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
