Sunday Message Summary, 23 July 2023
Joseph was a mere 17-year-old when he was sold as a slave by his brothers. Everything as he knew it suddenly changed, and his life took a turn for the worse. However, this does not necessarily mean that he was outside God’s divine alignment. It is GOD who leads us, so our lives are divine and orchestrated by Him. Each stage we go through has a divine purpose, and there is a time and season for every purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV). As in the case of Israel, it is also GOD who leads us into the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2-5 NKJV). It is deliberate and divine. We also see from the life of Joseph that it is very important for us to know and understand the times and seasons of our lives. If we don’t understand, we will likely die in the wilderness of proving, testing and character-building.
There is a lesson where GOD leads us. To teach us a lesson, GOD takes us through a stage of our lives, to try to perfect us. If we are not learning the lesson, He will not take us to the next stage or phase. This is why people stagnate in one area of their lives – for failure to learn the lesson. GOD sent Joseph, but his mode of transit was through slavery and imprisonment (Psalm 105:16-20 NKJV). The Word tested Joseph. GOD calls us in our current state, but He will not use us in the state we are in, so He has to prepare us. No one is born with character, but character is formed, developed, and built. The wilderness stages of our lives are thus for discipline, proving, testing and character-building.
After we receive the promise of GOD, there is a journey of epic proportions that awaits us. The process of humbling and training awaits us. We cannot bypass this. There are no shortcuts in the Kingdom of GOD, nor is there an appeal process. GOD has a perfect Kingdom and perfect principles to run the Kingdom. This process, where all of hell seems to congregate against us, is the most significant part of our calling and life. When we are going through rough patches, there are lessons for us to learn in the Scriptures, so we must not lose our heads nor our minds. Our calling and ministry will take us to unfamiliar territories. There is a time when everything that can go wrong will actually go wrong. However, GOD has allowed it because there is something He is perfecting. We all go through the baptism of fire – this is the time when GOD breaks us to mold us. In the case of Joseph, his attitude of total dependence on GOD took a time of breaking.
The promotion of GOD goes through the dungeon (Genesis 41:14-16 NKJV). It was after the dungeon that Joseph’s attitude changed. This is why he did not fail even though he went through things where it was impossible not to fail. It can only take the messenger of satan for GOD to perfect in us what it takes for Him to use us. When GOD is done with us, we will glory in our weaknesses, for God’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV). Regardless of what we go through, we must rest assured that a calling from GOD will not fail (Philippians 1:6 NKJV), GOD will finish what He started in us (Hebrews 12:2 NKJV), and that He is faithful to fulfill His Word of promise to us (Hebrews 10:23 NKJV).
We all go through the baptism of fire – this is the time when GOD breaks us to mold us.
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