Note: I preached a message yesterday about healing and the power of your words, which was life-changing. Here is a link to the message if you want to watch and listen: https://youtu.be/7o3lFPZCk-A?si=TnsfkwBnVpgIwIbq
Today, we continue our series entitled “Laser Focus,” with the point being that we should live with a Laser Focus on the Fixed Purpose God established for us before the world began.
This is the main scripture we will be looking at this year:
(Proverbs 4:25 TPT)
Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions.
We are also looking at these scriptures as we consider the life of Joseph.
(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 40:12-15 & 20-23)
12 Then Joseph said, “I will explain the dream to you. The three branches mean three days.
13 Before the end of three days, Pharaoh will forgive you and allow you to go back to your work. You will do the same work for Pharaoh as you did before.
14 But when you are free, remember me. Be good to me and help me. Tell Pharaoh about me so that I can get out of this prison.
15 I was kidnapped and taken from the land of my people, the Hebrews. I have done nothing wrong! I should not be in prison.”
20 Three days later it was Pharaoh’s birthday. He gave a party for all his servants. At the party Pharaoh allowed the wine server and the baker to leave the prison.
21 He freed the wine server and gave him his job back, and once again the wine server put a cup of wine in Pharaoh’s hand.
22 But Pharaoh hanged the baker, and everything happened the way Joseph said it would.
23 But the wine server did not remember to help Joseph. He said nothing about him to Pharaoh. The wine server forgot about Joseph.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
Setting the stage:
In this series, I’m discussing how God has a fixed and established purpose for your life and how we, as humans, should live with a laser focus on that fixed purpose. Having a laser focus for a few minutes or even hours is one thing. However, when it comes to God’s purpose for your life, it involves believing in the things He places in your heart and then walking those things out over time. Many of these things take weeks, months, years, and sometimes even decades.
While the goal is to maintain a laser focus, most people find this challenging over the long term. While it’s crucial to maintain your focus, this is certainly easier said than done. This is why, in this series, I am teaching you about Biblical patience (the force of consistency). You need divine patience to walk with God consistently for the long haul, and part of developing this patience is learning to manage your emotions. This is what I will talk to you about today, from the life of Joseph.
Most scholars believe Joseph was 17 when he received the dream from God, was betrayed by his brothers, and sold into slavery. Two years after the part story we are reading today, he became the Prime Minister of Egyp at 30 years old. This puts his age, during the story we just read, at about 28 years old.
So there he was, in prison, after holding the dream in his heart for 11 long years. He had been through many ups and downs in life, mainly because of the dream God gave him. It’s astonishing to me that he never gave up on God. Joseph was convinced that God would do what He said He would do… someday.
I know what it’s like, and I know how painful it can be to wait, and wait, and wait. Earlier in this series, I dealt with the scripture that says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Joseph’s dream kept getting deferred and delayed, but by the grace of God, he kept believing.
As we pick him up in this story of his life, Joseph is 11 years into the journey. I am sure there were times during those 11 years when Joseph had gotten his hopes up. These were times when he believed God for a breakthrough, but unfortunately for him, he was disappointed over and over again, and his time had not yet come. The dream was still valid, but the timing was not right. This is a significant lesson for all of us. This is what learning to live by faith and patience is all about.
The day God used Joseph to interpret the dreams of the butler and the baker is a day he got his hopes up. When the butler and the baker left the prison on their way back to Pharaoh, Joseph knew the butler would get his job back, and the baker would be killed. God revealed that to Joseph, so he was confident it would happen just as God said. Guess what? It did. However, God did not say anything to Joseph about the butler being his key to getting out of prison. While God did not say it, Joseph inferred it. He put his hopes in the butler. He said, “Don’t forget about me! Tell Pharaoh about me so that I can get out of this prison.“
I can see Joseph in prison. Can you see him? He is getting ready. He has prepared for this day for years. He can barely contain the excitement. He knows that somehow, the butler is his key to getting to the king, and the king is somehow his key to God’s dream. He does not have all the details (because God won’t give you details), but he believes it is going to happen. So he OPENS his heart to it. He raises his expectations. He gets his hopes up. He removes all the safeguards he had placed around his heart. As far as Joseph was concerned, this was it! This was his time! He felt like God was going to do it! He could picture himself walking out of the prison and walking into his destiny. And then… the butler forgot about Joseph.
The butler got his job back, just like Joseph said. The baker was killed, just like Joseph said. But once the butler got his life back, he forgot about the man God used to usher him back to his position, and Joseph was left “holding the bag.”
There are so many lessons here that, for the sake of time, I will mainly address tomorrow. For today, I will share my heart in a personal testimony about this and then give you some quick nuggets.
Personal testimony:
I have pictured Joseph in that prison cell many times. I imagine him looking out of his cell and looking out of the prison windows, hoping to see some cavalry coming so he could get out of prison. But the cavalry never came. I can imagine Joseph thinking to himself, “Finally! Thank You Lord! This is it! This is my time! I have been through so much. But thank You Father, I don’t care about that right now, my breakthrough is here!”
I can see him waiting with great expectation. I can also see him when he realized the butler forgot about him and when he realized no one was coming to save him. Can you picture him? The Bible does not say this, but I can see Joseph crying in his cell. His heart is broken because he allowed himself to believe on the highest level he ever had. He gave himself the license to dream without any limits or any filters. He held nothing back. He opened his heart ALL THE WAY, so when the butler forgot about him, he was crushed.
I know what that feels like. I am not just sharing things I read. This is how I live. This is real to me. I know what it is like to have a dream from God in your heart and to be in a position like Joseph, where you can’t do anything about it. When your dream is contingent upon others, and you are waiting on others to do what you know, God said will come to pass. It takes real patience to wait on God for years, like Joseph did, like I am, and never give up on what He said.
I will share some personal with you.
There are many things I am believing God for. These are things I know God promised and I am waiting on His timing to bring them to pass. But like most people, like Joseph, I have that ONE BIG THING. I have that ONE THING that is connected to my life’s purpose that is bigger than everything else I am believing God for. I am waiting for the season to come. I am waiting for the time to SHIFT in my favor.
Because this thing is SO BIG to me, like Joseph, I have had to manage my expectations (and my emotions) along the way. As humans, after we are hurt over and over again, we build up internal protection mechanisms. So there are times when we sense “it” is going to happen, and we get excited, but we don’t FULLY open our heart to God, as Joseph did in the text, because we know what it is like to feel the sting and the pain of disappointment, if/when it does not happen.
A few years ago, I thought my time had come. I had raised my expectations before and have been disappointed more times than I want to remember. But this time was different (I thought). This time, I really thought it was it. So I removed all the protections I had around my heart, opened my heart FULLY to what I believed God was about to do, and gave myself the license to DREAM on God’s level. I gave myself the license to SEE MYSELF walking in what I know I am called to do. With no barriers, no limits, no protections in place, my heart was FREE to FEEL THE FULNESS of the call. I could FEEL it with every fiber of my being. My purpose was pulsing through my body.
There was a meeting scheduled. I believed my time had come. My heart was open. But when the meeting happened, it was about something else. It was not what I expected. The meeting had been shifted to a phone call, and when the call was over, when I realized it was not going to happen like I thought it would happen, I cried uncontrollably. I cried like I believe Joseph cried in that prison. I was crushed. There is no heartbreak like the pain you feel when your heart is broken by God (at least, that is how you feel).
So, as I said, I will teach you more about this tomorrow. But for today, I will give you a few quick nuggets.
1. Stay Faithful Amidst Disappointment: Even when things don’t work out the way you wanted or expected, keep believing God because if God said it, He will bring it to pass. He needs you to maintain your integrity and faith until the right time comes.
2. God’s Silence Isn’t Absence: There may be times when it feels like God is silent, but He is often working on things that are oblivious to you but will be made clear when the fullness of time comes. Just rest in the fact that God is with you!
3. Embrace Divine Delays: Delays are not denials. Joseph’s story teaches us that God’s timing is perfect, even when it vastly differs from our own timelines.
4. Keep Your Heart Open: Like Joseph, keep your heart open to God’s possibilities. Do not allow past disappointments to close off your faith in future fulfillment.
5. Guard Against Bitterness: Protect your heart from bitterness when people or circumstances let you down, even when you feel like God let you down. Don’t get bitter. Because if you get bitter, you will CLOSE your heart to what is next.
6. Live in Expectation, but Rest in the Present: While it’s important to live in expectation of God’s promises, find contentment and purpose in your current season.
7. Let God Heal Your Brokenness: When your heart is broken, especially from unmet expectations or deferred hopes, allow God to minister healing and wholeness to you.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I declare by faith that I will remain steadfast and unmovable, even when my emotions are tested.
I trust in Your timing, knowing that every delay is part of Your divine plan for my life.
I commit to keeping my heart open to Your guidance and refuse to close off to new opportunities, even after disappointments.
I will not allow bitterness to take root in my heart but will continue to live with joy and expectancy for what You have promised.
I believe that You are working behind the scenes and that Your silence is not an absence but a preparation for the blessings ahead.
Father, You empower me to manage my emotions effectively, grounding them in faith and Your Word so that I remain aligned with Your will.
I choose to embrace divine delays and trust in the perfect timing of Your plans, knowing that You work all things for my good.
You teach me to rest in the present moment, finding contentment and purpose as I wait on Your promises to unfold.
As I wait, I will continue to declare Your promises over my life, speaking words of faith and victory.
GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
