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Today we continue our series entitled, “Faith and Patience Volume IV — The Wonder Twins”. I am using Joseph as a good example of our need for patience. We are seeking to learn from the different phases of Joseph’s life. Each phase (paternal, pit, Potiphar, prison, and palace/Prime Minister) has significance to this series and to our lives. There are lessons to be learned in every season.
(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.
(Ecc 3:1 ERV)
There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time.
(Gen 41:46-49 ERV)
46 Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving the king of Egypt. He traveled throughout the country of Egypt.
47 During the seven good years, the crops in Egypt grew very well.
48 Joseph saved the food in Egypt during those seven years and stored the food in the cities. In every city he stored grain that grew in the fields around the city.
49 Joseph stored so much grain that it was like the sands of the sea. He stored so much grain that it could not be measured.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Setting the Stage.
Joseph was in position, he was favored of God, and he got to work. For the next seven years, it was just as God had revealed to Joseph — a time of abundance. The land produced bumper crops, Joseph devised a plan to store a portion of the crops in strategically designed sites, and he executed the plan. Instead of building the national reserve in one location, which would later require an elaborate distribution system, Joseph targeted specific cities throughout the nation that could serve as local distribution points during the years of famine. These cities collected a portion of the surplus from the surrounding fields (20%, as God had directed), and they prepared themselves for the time to come. The wisdom of God upon Joseph’s life would make Pharaoh and Egypt abundantly prosperous during the time where other nations were unprepared.
2. It takes focus and patience to execute on what God said.
I pulled the following from a Harvard Business Review article:
“If you run a Google search for “A mediocre strategy well executed is better than a great strategy poorly executed,” you will get more than 42,600 references. Where the idea comes from is not certain, but in 2002, in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, Jamie Dimon, now CEO of JPMorgan Chase, opined, “I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management.” (The Execution Trap, Roger L. Martin)
Getting the idea from God is awesome. Divine revelation is designed to give you an advantage in this world. God gave Pharaoh and Egypt the advantage over neighboring nations when He gave Joseph the revelation of what was going to happen next. But it takes thoughtful and prayerful consideration to establish an executable plan, based on what God said. And once the plan is in place, it takes disciplined execution to actually do it.
Maybe God has spoken to you about your future. Maybe God has helped you develop a plan. But once you have an idea of what you need to do in order to receive what God said, you have to actually DO IT, and this part, the execution, is often not glorious.
Do you have the discipline it takes to EXECUTE the plan God gave you?
3. Delayed gratification is a lost art.
People today want everything NOW! The problem with that is the fact that God is NOT in a hurry. God takes the long view. God reveals things to you that may not happen for years. God gave Joseph a dream when he was 17. Joseph did not see a breakthrough in the manifestation of the dream until he was 30. And the actual dream would not come to pass until he was about 39.
No one wants to acknowledge the fact that God’s dream may take over 20 years, and within that span, there are portions that may take years as well. The “storing up grain” phase took 7 years. Think about that for a moment. After Joseph waited 13 years to get to where he was, he was going to have to execute God’s plan, in a disciplined fashion, for 7 long years. Digest that for a moment. That is 84 months of disciplined execution, just so they could be in position to withstand another 84 months of famine. This is the type of discipline and patience God is looking for from us. This is why I am teaching this series on faith and patience.
4. Vision retrains you while you are waiting on God.
While Joseph was leading Egypt to store up 20% of the grain during the 7 years of abundance, it is easy to see how the exercise could have seen futile. I can see people saying, “This is stupid! We have an abundance. We are enjoying year after year of overflow. We are getting a bumper-crop after a bumper-crop. It does not matter if we store up 20% of not.” This is why discipline and patience are so important.
Solomon said, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” (Prov 29:18). Another translation reads, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” God provided the vision, the prophetic revelation, when He revealed to Joseph what would happen next. But it was then on Joseph to provide exceptional leadership through those 7 years of plenty in order to execute God’s plan, so Egypt would be ready for the 7 years of famine.
People with vision (prophetic revelation from God) are people who DON’T do everything.
— Their vision restrains them.
— Their vision keeps them focused.
— Their vision makes their life simple.
People with NO vision (NO prophetic revelation from God) are people without restraint.
— They don’t know where they are going, so they are willing to try anything.
— Since they don’t know where they are going, they think any path will take them there.
— These people aimless wander their way through life, trying one thing after another, hoping something “sticks”.
Paul said,
“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Cor 6:12 NIV)
— Just because you CAN do something, it does not mean you should.
— People with vision know what they should do and they focus their efforts therein; they have disciplined execution!
— People without vision lack the direction to make the right decisions; decisions that will take them down God’s path for their lives.
Joseph had God’s vision and he had the discipline to EXECUTE God’s plan for 7 long years. It takes discipline and patience to execute for the long haul and to remain focused on the details while you do. Disciplined execution is one of the major keys to Godly success.
That is enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for revealing portions of my future to me. The glimpses You provide help me see the VISION You cast for me concerning my life. This VISION restrains me. I keep the VISION before my eyes. I meditate and medicate on it day and night. I am convinced it shall come to pass. I do not deviate from Your path. The VISION gives birth to detailed plans. And once I have a plan, I declare by faith, that I have the discipline to execute Your plan, no matter how long it takes. Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
