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 fthe path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions.
Additional scriptures for today:
(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 41:14 ERV)
So Pharaoh called Joseph from the prison. The guards quickly got Joseph out of prison. Joseph shaved, put on some clean clothes, and went to see Pharaoh.
In our last message, we saw how the butler forgot about Joseph. Today, we will deal with the fact that he remembered Joseph two years later, at just the right time.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Never Stop Getting Ready For What God Has For You Next!
By this point in the story, it had been 13 years since Joseph received the dream from God. 13 years of waiting is a long time. Think about it for a moment. 13 years is 156 months. 13 years is 678 weeks. Let that sink in. Today, it is hard for many believers to wait a couple of weeks for God to do something. It had been 678 weeks (or so).
So there he was, running a Royal Penitentiary under the Egyptian Government. After all this time, he was still being prepared for his life’s assignment. Understanding how the prison worked was helping him understand how Egypt worked. Every day he worked in the prison he was learning more and more about Egypt and he was getting closer to his life’s assignment.
Here are a few things to internalize for your own life from this point:
— Remember, no matter what is going on in your life… God has a plan and He is always working!
— You may feel like you are spinning your wheels, but if you are walking with God and you are living by faith, your time is never wasted time.
— Keep the DREAM before your eyes! Never give up on the the DREAM, because just as long as you don’t give up, it shall come to pass!
— GREATER is coming you, but you must remain in the faith!
— YOU ARE NOT BEING PUNISHED…. YOU ARE BEING PROCESSED! You are learning things TODAY that you NEED in your TOMORROW!
— Up until the point when Joseph was called out of the prison, so he could be ushered to the palace, God was still working and God was still getting him ready. It will be the same with you. If there is still blood flowing through your veins, God is not through with you and God is working! He is preparing you for your purpose!
2. Eventually, your time will come.
When God graced Joseph to interpret a dream for Pharaoh’s butler, and Joseph told him that he was going to get his job back, the butler was supposed to mention Joseph to the king. But he forgot about Joseph!
Two years later, Pharaoh himself had a dream: he was standing by the Nile, and out of the river, seven fat and healthy cows came up, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven ugly and skinny cows came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. All of a sudden, the skinny cows ate the fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted — thin and scorched by the east wind. Then, the thin heads of grain swallowed up the healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up again.
The next morning, Pharaoh’s mind was so troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. The king told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them. This is where the tide shifted for Joseph.
The butler finally remembered Joseph. He said to Pharaoh, “Now I remember what I was supposed to do. When you were angry with me and your baker, you threw us both in prison. While there, one night, we both had dreams, and each dream had a different meaning. A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant, and everything happened just as he said it would. I got my job back, and the baker was put to death.” This was Joseph’s big break. Pharaoh sent for Joseph.
The guards wanted to get Joseph out of the prison quickly. But Joseph sensed that this breakthrough had come. He shaved and changed his clothes first. He made himself presentable before coming into the presence of the king.
I will deal with what is happening next in a minute. For now, I want to highlight.
— No matter how long it takes, your season of harvest will eventually come.
— Paul said, ““Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (??Galatians? ?6?:?9? ?NIV). This tells us a few things: 1) there is a “due season” for you, which means there is a season when your harvest will come “due,” 2) this “due season” will not come before the proper time, and 3) if you don’t give up, you will hang on long enough to experience it, however, if you choose to give up, you may forfeit what God has for you.
— Joseph waited 13 long years, but when it was the right time, his breakthrough came. The same will be said of you if you keep believing!
— The last point I will make here is one I may talk more about later. It is this: You are anointed to succeed where others have failed! Pharaoh had access to all sorts of wise men and he gave them all a chance to interpret the dream. They failed. Joseph came in and by God’s grace, He succeeded where the others had failed. When the grace of God is on you, you will do hard things in way that seems easy, because you won’t be the one doing it; it will be the grace of God through you!
3. Trust God’s timing.
If the butler had mentioned Joseph to Pharaoh when he said he would (two years earlier), nothing would have happened. The timing was not right. Pharaoh did not have the dream then, so he would have dismissed the mention of Joseph. However, two years later, the timing was right, and Joseph actually needed what Joseph could provide. Although I am sure Joseph did not like waiting for those two extra years, it was in God’s timing for him to wait. When the right time came, it came to pass!
A few things we can glean from this:
— We may not always like God’s timing, but His timing is always perfect.
— There is a time and a season for everything (Ecc 3:1). Things will happen in your life AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME!
— If your watch is not set to God’s clock, meaning that your expectation is not in line with God’s planned manifestation, you will be frustrated because you will want things to happen before their time. I have been there more times than I want to remember. But in order to walk with God for the long haul and for us to develop into the men/women we are called to be, we must learn to trust God’s timing. This takes patience and maturity.
— When it finally happens, you will be able to look back and thank God that it did not happen when you wanted it to happen!
4. Discerning your moment is critical.
Although the people coming to get Joseph were in a hurry, Joseph did not leave without first shaving and changing his clothes. After 13 years of slavery and imprisonment, he sensed it was his opportunity for a breakthrough, and he did not approach it unprepared. Never face a divine opportunity unprepared.
— You must be READY when it comes time for God’s FAVOR to flow and your SEASON to shift!
— Joseph got ready because he had been waiting for this moment for 13 years!
— Learning to walk with God and be led of His Spirit requires us to learn to discern divine impulses and divine moments. Joseph sensed that this was a divine moment. So he got ready for it. He did not want to rush into the moment unprepared.
— No matter how long you have been waiting on something, don’t rush into it unprepared. Your preparation will show up in your performance!
— Joseph did want to look like what he had been through. He did not want the pain of his past (13 long years) to hold him back in the present moment. He did not want to go stand before Pharaoh, looking like a prisoner. He took the time to get cleaned up, to shave, and to change his clothes. He wanted to be ready for his moment. We can all learn from this.
— When you sense that God is ready to move, you get ready to receive!
— Living in the Spirit is about living from the inside out. Once you are Born-Again you must shift from natural learning to supernatural discerning, from relying on your intellect to relying on your divine instinct, and from leaning on your education to trusting the revelation you are receiving from God. This how you will discern when your MOMENT comes. When you discern it, get ready to RECEIVE because God is about to RELEASE!
GREATER IS COMING!
That is enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I am preparing daily for the divine appointment You have destined for me.
I declare my heart remains steadfast, trusting in Your perfect timing and perfect plan.
I believe I am being processed for greatness, even in seasons of waiting.
Every experience I encounter is equipping me for the moment You reveal Your glory in my life.
I will not grow weary or lose heart, for I know my breakthrough will manifest when my harvest comes “due.”
I affirm that my moment will come at the exact right time—Your time, not mine.
While I wait, I will recognize and seize the divine opportunities You provide.
I am ready and waiting to step into the fullness of what You have promised me.
I embrace every lesson learned in the waiting as preparation for my elevation and when that times comes, I will be ready!
GREATER IS COMING for me, and I am ready to step into it with faith and confidence!
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
