TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 13TH JUNE 2024)
“So Joseph pleased [Potiphar] and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And [his master] made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge.
From the time that he made him supervisor in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the Lord’s blessing was on all that he had in the house and in the field.
And [Potiphar] left all that he had in Joseph’s charge and paid no attention to anything he had except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was an attractive person and fine-looking. Then after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said to his master’s wife, See here, with me in the house my master has concern about nothing; he has put all that he has in my care.
He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, for you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God?
She spoke to Joseph day after day, but he did not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her. Then it happened about this time that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the house were indoors.
And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me! But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out [of the house].” Genesis 39:4-12 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 164TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Blessed be the name of the LORD for another day from the Day Himself. We give Him praise and are very grateful to the One and Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, for waking us up this morning.
Today God will be speaking to us from the life of one of the amazing youths in the Bible. The man Joseph.
Though he lived hundreds of years ago, his life and God’s dealings with him, portrays so many truths that can be of great help to us in our generation. First, we can see how good God can be to us, looking at him.
He was miraculously preserved by the goodness of God, even when he contributed to some of his woes at home. His immaturity would have cost him so much, if not for God’s goodness. That shows how we need God’s goodness to help us deal with the effects or consequences of things we do in ignorance, immaturity, and blindness of heart.
It tells us that we should always ask the LORD God to surround us with His goodness in prayers, and fill our lives with his mercies.
Such request can make your life a slippery ground for the evil one, making it impossible for him to destroy you. It can bring down into our lives, downloads of God’s goodness to preserve us in the midst of unpleasant circumstances.
In fact, the sibling rivalry in his household would have consumed Joseph’s life if not for the goodness and mercies of the LORD that filled it.
Bitter sibling rivalries are always a threat to a man’s prophetic destiny. That is why we need the goodness of the LORD. Only the goodness of the LORD can preserve the seed of destiny within us when the enemy descend into our homes to use our differences to destroy us.
The Bible says a man’s enemies shall be they of his household. That is why we must keep asking the LORD to fill our lives with His goodness and mercies. And the faith position to maintain is the position of remaining faithful to the LORD, and committing your soul to Him in prayers always.
IT IS NOT THE POSITION OF ASKING THAT GOD KILL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS. JOSEPH NEVER DID THAT.
History has it that he cried bitterly and went through much agony, especially when he was sold to the Ishmaelites, but he never wished them death.
The Bible says the archers shot at him and wounded him, referring to how bad he was treated by his brothers. But he never asked the LORD to kill them. Rather he committed his soul to the LORD, and his bow remained strong.
If you do the same, God will be with you and your bow will remain strong. Yes, He will never forsake you. He will make sure He perform his good word in your life. So, free your heart from bitterness and be good to all who might be bad to you.
The situation might not permit you living with them in the same house, but you must maintain a positive spirit towards them and keep praying for them.
If there are emotional injuries of unbearable hurts, just turn them to the LORD, stand on His word to ask Him to fill your life with a measure of His goodness and mercies that will not let you hate them, or lead you to give up the faith, or perish due to what you might be going through, or must have gone through.
With an adequate measure of God’s goodness and mercies in your life, you will fulfill every detail of what the LORD has purposed for you, and become in their lives what Joseph became in their lives.
Talking about what happens when the righteous go through suffering or persecution, both at home and elsewhere, the man God used to show us a pattern of how the Christian faith should be like, said;
“For this reason, I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” 2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV
KEEPING WHAT YOU COMMIT TO GOD IN PRAYER IS HIS DELIGHT.
God has a History of keeping what people commit to Him in prayers until the day of their manifestation, rewards or exit from the earth.
For us in God’s kingdom, whatever we do not have the power or reach to keep, we commit to God to keep. He has the reach and power to keep anything that we commit to Him to keep. He is omnipotent and omnipresent. In other words, He is always powerful and always present.
For instance, if we do not have the power or reach to keep our businesses running, we commit them to the LORD to keep. If we do not have the power or reach to keep our kids safe, we commit them to the LORD to keep.
If we are going through, and do not have the power to keep our souls sanctified, healthy, strong and faithful to the LORD, we commit them to the LORD to keep. That is what makes committing ourselves to God always in prayers our life style.
Most of us do not have the power to keep calm in the midst of storms, either in the home front or elsewhere, so we commit our souls to the LORD to keep us calm. We do so, knowing who we believe.
The Bible says, in the midst of suffering and persecution, we should always commit our souls to the LORD. We should do that knowing who we believe.
I believe that was what Joseph did when he finally got to Egypt, the place of his temptation, his further trials, and then his triumph.
When he was tempted, he said to the tempter, “I fear GOD.” That led to his trials, suffering unjustly in the dungeon. Then came the day of his triumph when Pharaoh sent for him.
The Bible DESCRIBED all that as the word of the LORD testing him. It says,
“They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him, The ruler of the people let him go free.
He made him lord of his house, And ruler of all his possessions, To bind his princes at his pleasure, And teach his elders wisdom.” Psalm 105:18-22 NKJV
You and I will be tested by the word too. It could come as what came upon Joseph or any other thing. But we will be tested through temptations, and trials. If we know who we believe, during the testing of the word, we will not fear failing. We will only fear who we believe, the LORD God.
YES, WE WILL WALK IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD NOT THE FEAR OF THE ENEMY.
Knowing who you believe is therefore important, oh yes, always important to the faith. It is when you know who you believe that you will commit yourself to Him. If you commit yourself to Him, He is able to keep you. He will give you the strength and wisdom of heart to take care of yourself.
The strength to overcome temptation for Joseph, came from his knowing who He believed. It was not easy for a young man to do that in Egypt. Ancient Egypt was a place with terrible sexual abominations.
There was nothing wrong with sleeping with your daughter, your mother, sister, or whatever. It was a dirty place. It was unusual to say no to sexual advances. In fact, it was an honor to say yes to anyone who wants you to sleep with them. But Joseph refused to bow to the dirt on ground.
A major part of our devotional text says;
“….Now Joseph was an attractive person and fine-looking. Then after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said to his master’s wife, See here, with me in the house my master has concern about nothing; he has put all that he has in my care.
He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, for you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God?
She spoke to Joseph day after day, but he did not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her. Then it happened about this time that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the house were indoors.
And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me! But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out [of the house].” Genesis 39:6-12 AMPC
In this scripture, we find Joseph doing, long before the cross, what many of us do not do, even after receiving what his dispensation never got.
WE FOUND HIM HONORING WHO HE BELIEVED WITH HIS BODY.
The Bible says our body is not for sexual immorality but for the LORD. But most of us are not keeping it for the LORD, not even as Joseph did, despite having the grace, mercy, and the Holy Spirit living in us; things he never had.
You find the young man Joseph, doing what Jesus would later come to say we should do, when sin come knocking at our door. You find him not adjusting his theology to accept the sin because of his desire for pleasure. His desire for God was stronger than his desire for pleasure.
You cannot claim to be alive, until your desire for God become stronger than your desire for pleasure. Yes, no one can claim to be alive until his or her desire for purity, holiness, and righteousness becomes stronger than his or her desire for other things.
If your desire for God and the purity, holiness, and righteousness He commanded in His word, is weaker than your desire for pleasure, you will be adjusting your theology to accept any sinful deeds that will give you pleasure. You will lose the Bible sense to be pure, holy, or righteous.
You will develop the boldness to fall into any sin or even live in it. Joseph never had that boldness. That was why he ran. That is the weakness we need; the weakness to run from sexual sins and all forms of abominable things that we are tempted to commit.
As we bring this to a close, I want to submit to us that Jesus is our mercy seat. He is also our Judgment seat.
His mercies have given us the boldness to approach Him. But not the boldness to live in sin and grandstand. It has given us the weakness to run away from sin and the boldness to stand in righteousness when temptation comes our way!
The Cry of the Spirit today is saying to us; “Fear sin enough to run away from it! Be bold in righteousness enough to say no to sin.”
However, it will not be by might nor by power, but by the inner convictions and empowerment of the Spirit within us; therefore we should not harden our hearts to Him!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION TODAY
“Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,” 1 Corinthians 6:18-19 AMPC