Joseph: the consistent servant of God.

Well, it has been a while since I submitted a post on my blog. I got sidetracked by the health problems of my little granddaughter, Lexie, but I am going to do my best to get back to doing an entry as often as possible. Today I want to share about some of the things that the Lord has been ministering to my heart.
I have been thinking about God's consistent servant, Joseph. He was a man who just kept on serving God no matter what the circumstances in his life were. Unlike many of us, he didn't depend on what was going on around him to motivate him to serve. Many times we encounter difficulties and those situations often sidetrack us from effectively serving the Lord. Satan loves to deter us from God's plan in our lives. If he can't steal our soul, he will steal our service to Christ.
The best example of how to live consistently for the Lord that I have found in scripture is Joseph. He was the favored child of his father and a dreamer. A couple of prophetic dreams that Joseph experienced and he shared with his family led to some jealousy and sent him down a path that looked like the destruction of his future.
His brothers stripped him of his colorful coat his father had given him and threw him into a pit planning to kill him. Just when they were about to kill him, some Egyptian slave traders happened by and they sold him into slavery instead of killing him. After arriving in Egypt, Joseph was sold into the house of Potiphar and quickly rose to a place of prominent service to his master. Everything in the master's estate except Potiphar's wife was accessible to him. When Potiphar's wife decided she wanted Joseph to have sex with her, he did the right thing and refused. In a rage she grabbed his cloak as he ran away and falsely accused him of trying to rape her. As a result, he was thrown into prison where God gave him the interpretation to dreams the other prisoners were having. One of these prisoners promised to remember Joseph when he left the prison and returned to work for Pharaoh. But for a while the cup bearer to Pharaoh did not remember the man who had predicted his reinstatement to his position. 
After being troubled by dreams that his advisors could not interpret for Pharaoh, the cupbearer told him of the man in prison that interpreted his dreams. Joseph was brought before Pharaoh and quickly told the leader that there would be seven years of plenty and seven years of absolute famine. 
Joseph saved the land of Egypt and was second only to Pharaoh. 
The very brothers who had come against Joseph to kill him are forced to flee to Egypt to beg for some of the food that Joseph had stored away for Egypt's survival. 
What a perfect set up for revenge!!! Most of us would take this advantage and exact a painful justice upon the ones who had so unmercifully plotted against us...not Joseph. He told his brothers that what they had meant for evil, God had used for their salvation. He was the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 8:28 "We are assured and know that [^[a]God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose." 
In all that Joseph had been through, he just kept doing the right thing...kept serving his God...and being promoted and blessed everywhere he went. He did not allow his circumstances to derail his life in Yahweh. He had a relationship with God that superseded his situations and the blessings of God were hunting him down. Not so he could use his position and relationship for his own gain....but for God's purpose and plan.

What have I been thinking?? I've been thinking that I want to be more like Joseph...rising above the negative in my life to see the full plan of God unfold for me and those I am in relationship with. That is my prayer. How about you???

KNOWING HIS WAYS

Romans 11:33 Amplified Bible (AMP)

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!

This scripture tells us that God's path and methods are far above our ability to understand. This is where faith enters into the equation. Faith in His judgments, His decisions, and His ways. We think that we have life all figured out but the truth is that we really don't have much of a clue about what is really going on. The only way to come to a place of understanding is to have Him in us. When we are saved we have the greatest opportunity to see His ways unfold and have some understanding of the ways of the Lord. The mysteries of God are only discoverable through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. If we look at the ways of God from our mear human understanding we will always be puzzled and not be able to process what He is doing. The scripture that is inspired by Him can give us tremendous insight into His ways and the direction that we are given. As we read the Word, we through the help of our Teacher (the Holy Spirit) gain the great wisdom of God Himself.


One example is the passage of scripture that tells us that we can find strength for life through the joy of the Lord. In times of trouble it seems that we are overcome by sadness and depression. The power of joy will strengthen us and cause us to walk THROUGH our difficult times in a way that God will bless. To someone walking purely in the flesh, the supernatural power of God doesn't make any sense at all...only those who "know" God will see HIS footprints carrying us through the hard times.


I want to know more of Him and His ways...as I live in Him more and more I learn more and more of His "unfathomable" ways and mysteries. Let us all who are "in HIM" reach higher and higher. That's what I've been thinking...

INTEGRITY AND A BLAMELESS HEART

Psalm 101:2-3 Amplified Bible (AMP)

² I will behave myself wisely and give heed to the blameless way—O when will You come to me? I will walk within my house in integrity and with a blameless heart. ³ I will set no base or wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them who turn aside [from the right path]; it shall not grasp hold of me.

We have been talking in the Men of Courage Bible Study that I lead at the WILD Church about what it means to be a man of integrity. This verse of scripture is key to accomplishing that goal. We as people of God have to make a strong commitment to walk with a "blameless heart". It is imperative that we behave ourselves with great wisdom as we walk through the mine field of life. 


In order to stay right with our God we have to be careful to avoid setting anything before our eyes that would cause us to turn aside from the plans that God has for us. It is a wonderful thing to be in the will of God and a terrible thing to be outside the presence of the Lord and our God's full and absolute favor. The enemy knows our weaknesses and he will allow us to destroy ourselves if we indulge our weakness. 
All of us as Christians have felt the pull of those things that the scripture calls "base and wicked things". The enemy wants us to let these evil things grab hold of us and destroy our testimony and ability to function as a child of the Living God. So many times, we find ourselves dipping our toe in the waters of sin and before we know it we are drowning. That's the way that Satan works - a little compromise here and there and we begin to move away from a vital relationship with our God.


Integrity comes when we make the heart commitment to keep our heart blameless before the Lord. This stand gives us great confidence in the Lord and His way. We choose to keep those things before us that are higher and better. By making wise choices, we are able to know the favor of God's presence and that makes all the difference in our daily walk. We can approach God with every situation and circumstance that comes up in our lives. His being with us and working to cause all things to work together for good in our lives is a life-changing experience. 


I believe that I have a God inside of me who will not "share" my heart with anything or anyone. He is jealous for me and wants my heart single and my focus clear. God help me to walk in a blameless way and great integrity. That's what I've been thinking....

GOD KNOWS OUR TRUE HEART!!

Job 31:6
“Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!”


What is INTEGRITY? Integrity is a term used in metallurgy to describe consistency inside out. For example a metal with integrity will have the same tensile strength throughout. Tensile strength is the resistance of a material to breaking under tension.


The statement made by Job was really a courageous one. He asked God to judge his integrity. It takes a great deal of confidence to stand before God and ask Him weigh your heart and know your integrity. God better than anyone knows our heart's motives and He judges our true intent. This statement by Job tells me that he is trusting in God alone to be his Judge.


Job endured a ton of hardship and his heart still cried out to the Living God in praise and adoration. In the midst of hardship instead of the grace and mercy we need, those closest to us will sometimes judge us. This is what happened to Job. His friends accused him of being sinful and thus the calamity that came upon him was in their eyes the judgement of God. His wife who should have known his heart told Job to just "curse God and die!" Really uplifting advice, huh?


In spite of the condemnation that came his way, Job trusted in his personal relationship with His God. He made a statement that God has used in my own life to keep me in right relationship with Him. Job said "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him." Job was willing even in the face of death to trust in his God and let the Lord judge his heart.


This challenges me to lean hard upon the promises of God and know that what the scripture says in Romans 8:28 is true. God causes all things to work in concert to bring a good result...the word does not say that everything is good, but it does promise us if we will trust God in even the difficult times, the end result will be "good". This is where Job was hundreds of years before Christ came and Paul penned the words in the letter to the church in Rome. Because of Job's relationship to God, he would not trust in the advice of critical and judgmental people, but would, instead, trust in the justice of God Almighty, King of the Universe. Lord, give me that level of trust...I need it and only You can give it. That's what I've been thinking....

PURE EYES=PURE HEART

Job 31:1 King James Version (KJV)

 I made a covenant with mine eyes.

The eyes are the gateway to our soul. Job was a man that God had awesome confidence in. One reason for this was the commitment that he had to keep his heart pure toward the Lord by guarding his eyes from the things that would hinder his walk with the Almighty. We would to well to follow Job's example and take a serious look at what we allow to enter into our soul and take the spiritual steps to ensure our heart remains as pure as possible. What does having a covenant with our eyes entail?

First, a convenant requires a sacrifice. For us, we realize that Jesus has already paid the price of our sacrifice and will give us the strength and resolve to walk in His ways. But there is some "sacrifice" on our part. We can't indulge ourselves like men of the world do. We can't allow our lives to be influenced by crude sexual language, by flirtation with the opposite sex, or even veiled insinuations that taint the reputation and spoil the heart of a believer. You may sacrifice friends, sacrifice your "cool factor", or bear the brunt of cruel jokes because you choose not to lower yourself to operate in the flow of the world's immorality. So, yes, to live like Job did with pure eyes requires some sacrifice in our modern world.

Having a covenant with your eyes also means that we should already have our minds made up that we will restrict "what" we look at. According to a ChristiaNet survey, 50 percent of Christian men are addicted to pornography. And it’s not just a “guy-thing;” 20 percent of Christian women are addicted to pornography, and 60 percent of Christian women admitted to significantly struggling with lust. So we can't just expose our eyes to things that snare our soul and cause us to walk in bondage to the desires of our flesh. Seeing creates memories, memories create fantasies, fantasies create obsession, obsession creates opportunity, and opportunity creates action. Action ends in guilt, condemnation, and bondage to our enemy. If our mind is made up that we will not give the devil the opportunity to dirty our minds, not just with porn, but with other things that call out to our flesh, we will be able to more consistently walk in holiness and be free from the shackles of enslavement to sin.

Not only should we discipline "what" we see, we should be sure to allow God to control "how" we see. As an example, a missionary to the red light district of a large city worked everyday with young, pretty prostitutes that to many men would be a temptation. When asked how he could maintain his walk with the Lord in such circumstances, his reply was, "I never look at them THAT way". He saw the through the eyes of a son or brother. His compassion was fueled by "HOW" he saw them. We have to be ruled by the Holy Spirit and He will guide us so that we see others differently. We will look past the physical and to the spiritual needs of those we come in contact with. 

As I have been meditating on this brief but powerful verse, I am challenged to MAKE A COVENANT WITH MY OWN EYES! My heart belongs to Jesus and I can keep that heart pure...so can you. That's what I've been thinking....

RELEASE THE ANOINTING

1 John 2:20 Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁰ But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.

This scripture tells us that we are anointed of the Lord. What this means is that we have a special and powerful unction from the Lord. This is not the same type of anointing that is done for healing but is instead is believed by most Biblical scholars to be the anointing of the believer in the Holy Spirit by Jesus. We literally receive the same anointing that our Lord has. What He possesses becomes ours by a supernatural transfer of anointing. When the Holy Spirit comes in and indwells us, what God has given Christ comes into us and gives us access to an understanding of God's will and purpose. Most of all, as we consider this verse in context, this anointing and presence of god in us gives us understanding of who the TRUTH is....JESUS.

This is the key to all ministry and power to accomplish what God has called us to do. To KNOW Jesus and have assurance of WHO He really is....this is one of the most important revelations that the believer can have. Without that revelation, all our service, all our devotion, will yield little results. This is the foundation of effective service and ministry. As we grow in relationship with God we see that anointing increase because the more intimate we are with Christ because of that relationship. True knowledge of the nature and character of someone creates a larger degree of confidence and TRUST....FAITH INCREASES. 


The important thing for us to learn is how to release the anointing of God that is within us. The way that we release the anointing is through faith and faith expresses itself through action. In order to see God work in through us we have to "do" something....pray....speak....give....touch....the true expression of God is that our anointing interacts with those who need it...people. We are surrounded everyday by people who need a touch from God. The very best things in life happen when we allow God's power to flow through us in the little things of life...those God appointed times when we have the opportunity to reach out and touch someone with the love of God. Don't wait, let the anointing in you come forth as you release the Holy Spirit in you on others...healing, deliverance, salvation, and provision are right there inside of you...Christ in you the hope of glory...that's what I have been thinking...

IS AMERICA SINKING IN A SELF-MADE PIT?

Proverbs 14:34

Amplified Bible (AMP)

³⁴ Uprightness and right standing with God (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) elevate a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

I have been considering the admonition of someone to keep my "religion" and politics separate. This I can not and will not do. As I myself consider that I an not a "religious" person, but am, instead, a man who is in deep relationship with God through Jesus Christ. When I met Christ as Savior, He radically changed my heart and over the years I have been renewing my mind through the word of God. I will be growing in grace and mercy until the day I breathe my last breath. This kind of relationship changes everything, and that includes your worldview. I can't separate who I am in Christ, from politics, work, family life, hobbies, or any other area of my life. 

This nation was founded by men who for the most part - 51 of the 55 who signed the Declaration of Independence - were men who were strongly professed Christians. If the lives of these men are studied it is obvious that there political views were shaped and formed by their relationship with Jesus Christ. As they expressed themselves in their writings they often referred to this country as the great experience founded on the principles of freedom and Christian morality. John Adams wrote: 

"And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle"

His supposition was that there is no way to separate the good of the republic and the morality that flows from its people's relationship to the Lord Who gave us the heart for freedom. If we are to ignore the standards and convictions that we have and abandon our the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the things that shape the future of our nation, those who have no moral compass will certainly vote their views. It is the duty of every person who calls themselves by the name of Christ, to express the revelation of God through His word and do our best to return the land to right standing in the sight of God. I am reminded of the scripture that says it well. The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they hid is their own foot caught. I believe that our nation is sinking in the pit that we have made ourselves and needs to repent and turn back to the ways of God.


My prayer is that every deed done in darkness will be brought to the light and that the Body of Christ will stand up and do the right thing...not the democratic platform...not the Republican platform, but those who best express the convictions and nature of the Lord God Almighty. I know when I vote...I will pray and follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I encourage other Christians to do the same. That's what I have been thinking...