NOTE: I am on vacation next week. I will NOT send out Today’s Word until the week after. I have lots of content on the website (http://todaysword.org/) and the YouTube Channel (https://youtube.com/rickpina). Please check out both while I am on vacation.
Today we continue our series entitled, “Faith and Patience Volume IV — The Wonder Twins.” I am using Joseph as an excellent example of our need for patience. We are seeking to learn from the different phases of Joseph’s life. Let’s get into it.
(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.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 ERV)
There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time.
(Gen 45:9-15 MSG)
9-11 “Hurry back to my father. Tell him, ‘Your son Joseph says: I’m master of all of Egypt. Come as fast as you can and join me here. I’ll give you a place to live in Goshen where you’ll be close to me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and anything else you can think of. I’ll take care of you there completely. There are still five more years of famine ahead; I’ll make sure all your needs are taken care of, you and everyone connected with you—you won’t want for a thing.’
12-13 “Look at me. You can see for yourselves, and my brother Benjamin can see for himself, that it’s me, my own mouth, telling you all this. Tell my father all about the high position I hold in Egypt, tell him everything you’ve seen here, but don’t take all day—hurry up and get my father down here.”
14-15 Then Joseph threw himself on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He then kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Only then were his brothers able to talk with him.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. It’s only a matter of time!
This series is about living by faith and developing the patience required to experience God’s best. Well, Joseph did it. He held on to the dream in his heart for 22 years. 13 of those years were some of the hardest years of his life. But he kept the faith, he remained patient, his breakthrough came, and he realized God’s dream. I hope this series has encouraged you to never give up on God’s vision for your life. If you hold on long enough, and you never relax the grip you have on your faith, you will SEE (in your hands) what God REVEALED (in your heart). It’s only a matter of time.
2. God sent you to this planet to leave a mark that will not easily be erased.
God blessed Joseph with the wisdom and the favor he needed to get into a position where he could literally save millions of lives. The grain he saved during the seven years of plenty prepared Egypt to be the only nation with food during the seven years of famine. This meant that Egypt had enough to feed her citizens, and enough to sell to the people of surrounding nations. Egypt made an impact in the entire region, and it happened because of one man, Joseph. Joseph was able to do it because of God.
My point here is that God can use one man (male or female) to bless a business, a city, a nation, a region, and/or the entire world. There is no limit to what God can do through a man who is submitted to His direction. If you give yourself over to God, you operate in faith so you can believe what He wants to do you through you, and you have the patience to endure all the challenges that will come (and believe me, the greater the assignment from God, the greater the attacks from the enemy), then God can use you to leave an amazing mark on this world. You will leave a legacy of righteous impact that ill be felt generations after you are gone!
So don’t just live focused on leaving the earth and going to heaven someday. Live focused on bringing heaven to the earth every day!
3. God is not opposed to earthly prosperity.
a) God is certainly not against earthly prosperity. He made lots of people in the Bible rich (as this world would measure it). He just wants you to remember the purpose of your success. God gives you prosperity with a purpose and money with a mission.
b) The plan God gave Joseph made a positive impact in the region surrounding Egypt during a time of severe scarcity. This plan also made Pharaoh and Egypt very wealthy, and Joseph very powerful. Joseph had to remember the purpose of the prosperity. God blesses us so we can BE a blessing to others! “Blessed to be a blessing” is what God promised Joseph’s great-grandfather Abraham. The Blessing of Abraham was on Joseph, and it is also on us today because of Jesus! (see Gal 3:14).
Like everyone else, Joseph’s father and brothers were being negatively affected by the famine. Joseph had what they needed (food), and Joseph also had access to the best land in all of Egypt. Because of what he had and where he was, he was able to offer his father an alternative. Instead of remaining where they were and dealing with lack for the next five years, Joseph offered his family a place where they would have more than enough of everything.
Goshen was a pasture land on the borders of Egypt and Arabia, not far from the Nile river. The word Goshen means “drawing water,” because it was one of the only areas in Egypt where it routinely rained. It was said to be watered by the showers of heaven and the land was very fertile. This was where Joseph chose to live and he was so blessed that he could offer the same to his family.
Joseph’s family could either stay where they were, endure the famine, and die, or come to Goshen and enjoy abundance in the midst of famine. The choice was theirs to make, but the point is that Joseph was blessed to at least offer them an alternative. Many times we, as Christians, live beneath God’s best because we fail to open our heart to dream on His level. God is not opposed to earthly success. God is not opposed to you being a position where you can BE a blessing to others. But like anything else, you can’t SEE it, you will never BE it!
4. Accept the grace and the responsibility to walk in God’s best for your life.
a) When God blesses you richly, He will also lead you to remember not to be selfish with His blessing. He gives you MORE THAN ENOUGH, so you can be in a position to BE a blessing to others. But if you fail to do so, and you hold on to what God gave you, because you are afraid of running OUT, then believe me, you will RUN OUT! But if you live generously, doing what God tells you to do with what He placed in your hands, you will RUN OVER and never RUN OUT!
The Apostle Paul said it this way. Paul commanded the rich in this world to “do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (1 Tim 6:18). He did not tell them to get rid of their money. He did not tell them it was bad. He did not tell them money was evil. No, Paul was teaching them to use their money to be a blessing to others. That counsel still stands today.
b) God did not send you to this planet just for you and those under your roof. God sent you to this planet to make a difference, to expand His Kingdom, and to make a divine impact! You can’t offer an option if you don’t have options yourself. You can’t offer to be a blessing – spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, etc. – if you are in the same boat as those coming to you for help. So please, stop putting limits on God. Believe God for the blessing, and then use what He blesses you with to impact the lives of others.
c) Some say, “Oh, I only want enough for me and my family,” or “All I need is enough to get by.” While statements like these seem ‘holy’ or ‘spiritual’ on the surface, they are actually selfish. You should want everything God wants to give you in order to do what He birthed you to do. You cannot feed the poor if you don’t have enough food for yourself. You can’t help pay someone else’s bills if you can’t pay your own. You can’t help put a roof over someone’s head if you don’t have a place to stay. Our God is a God of overflow because He wants us to bless others out of our overflow. God is not opposed to you having ‘more than enough’ because He wants you to be in a position to help others. But it comes with responsibility. The more you have, the more you have to manage, and the more demands there will be from others. However, the same God who gave you the grace to increase will give you the grace to manage the overflow.
d) The purpose of prosperity is evangelism. God can give you money with a mission and power with a purpose. God wants you to use what He places in your hands to bring glory to His name and to reach the world for Jesus. That’s the goal!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I expand my capacity to believe You for the blessing to be in operation in my life. I don’t have to be affected by the instability of the world’s ever-changing environment. The global economy is not my source. You are! You bless me to live a strong and stable life. I expect to be blessed so that I can be a blessing to someone else. I am blessed to be able to offer others an alternative to their current situations; I expect that they will accept, and when they do, You will get the glory for their changed lives! I am a conduit of Your blessing on this planet, which is why I boldly declare that GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
