Month: November 2022

God didn’t just prepare Joseph for the job, He made the job for Joseph.

No role existed until Pharaoh had his two dreams, double confirmation of what was to come. The harvest had to be wisely stewarded during the years of abundance to provide during the coming times of famine.

⁴⁸ Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. IN EACH CITY (Population Centre) HE PUT THE FOOD GROWN IN THE FIELDS SURROUNDING IT. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because IT WAS BEYOND MEASURE. Genesis 41

Joseph, often regarded as a Type of Christ, laid down the strategy, but each area was responsible for its own harvest. The harvesting and keeping of huge crops for seven successive years must have been very demanding for the workers, but God enabled them. The coming harvest of souls will also require very intensive work by the servants of the Lord. I believe that He is already raising up Hidden Leaders to guide this work and their roles will be completely different in scale and quality. Sudden massive  expansion will demand different skills from routine maintenance (The apostles Peter and Paul were such leaders in early Church growth.)

We said in yesterday’s blog that Joseph was recognised by Pharaoh and his advisers as the man for the job. He came on the scene from a completely unexpected quarter.

¹⁴ So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly BROUGHT FROM THE DUNGEON. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. Genesis 41

Some of the future leaders for the coming harvest may be from unusual backgrounds and probably not at all respectable. Pharaoh, a pagan ruler, chose a man he didn’t know and who was a long term prisoner and put his own palace Genesis 41:40 and then the whole country Genesis 41:43 in his hands. When God is in charge things will be very different, He always does things His own way.

Gamaliel gave the religious leaders good advice at the time of the new Church being birthed in Jerusalem;

³⁸ Therefore, in the present case I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹ But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.’

I also believe that there is a time of Super Abundance coming for God’s people, spiritual and material. A blessing of an amount that it can’t be counted, time will tell what God will do.

God bless and keep you today.

41 WHEN TWO FULL YEARS HAD PASSED, Pharaoh had a dream: Genesis 41

Joseph, a Hebrew, a believer in one God, after a further time of waiting became ruler of Egypt (represents the world). God brought it to pass in His perfect time. He placed a man who feared and honoured Him over all the land. Could we be about to see this again today?

Joseph gave Pharaoh the interpretation of his dreams, a prophetic outline of the next fourteen years, seven good years followed by seven years of famine.

⁴¹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain round his neck. ⁴³ He made him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, ‘Make way!’

Joseph lost his identity when ‘his brothers’ stripped off his robe and threw him into the cistern, and then sold him into slavery. Pharaoh gave Joseph a new identity when he made him the ruler of Egypt. His Ring, fine robes to replace the one he’d lost, a gold chain and a chariot to ride. Some in the body may be about to be confirmed in their new identities by the Lord.

⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh, a ruler, continued to establish Joseph’s new identity by giving him a new name and a wife. Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt, he had total freedom to move around after being confined for a long time. God will bring His people into freedom once again, after the enemy’s attempts at imprisonment.

⁵⁰ Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹ Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, ‘It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.’ ⁵² The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’

Before the years of famine Joseph had two sons born and their names are significant. Genesis 41:51, 52 Manasseh, it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and my family. Is God telling some today to forget the past and move on to the things He has for them? We can’t go forward looking back! Ephraim, twice fruitful in suffering. Many of us have gone through difficulties, but God uses them to produce fruit in our lives. Joseph’s second son, Ephraim, was the greater under his father Jacob’s blessing, but they were both blessed boys, counted as Jacob’s own sons.

⁴⁸ Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. IN EACH CITY HE PUT THE FOOD GROWN IN THE FIELDS SURROUNDING IT. Genesis 41

Each area was responsible for its own harvest, no centralised control. I believe it will be this way in the days of harvest that lie ahead, authority will be within the local body.

God bless and keep you today.