There Is Always A Story Behind The Story

Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob, and because Jacob favored him, his brothers hated him. One day while they were out in the fields, his brothers took hold of him and sold him to Ishmaelites passing through on the trade route. Then they killed an animal and dipped Joseph's coat in its blood, and took the coat back to their father Jacob, who was deceived into thinking his son had been cruelly killed by animals. Think of the terrible injustice done to Jacob's beloved son Joseph. His brothers had disposed of him out of their hatred of him. They sold him as a slave, utterly forsaken. When the Ishmaelites reached Egypt, they sold Joseph to Pharaoh's captain of the guard, the highest man in his administration. "Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there." Genesis 39:1 Imagine if you can, finding yourself sold as a slave by your own flesh and blood. Would Joseph's heart be able to bear it? Would he be consumed with bitterness? No, even in this terrible injustice his faith sustained him, and the Lord honored Joseph's faithfulness. Big time! vs 2-3: "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand." Attitude is everything. Don't just read the words, put yourself in his place. We know the rest of the story, but Joseph didn't. He wasn't bitter against God for not intervening and delivering him from those who had done him such wrong. He maintained his faith and served Potiphar with all his heart, and God was with him. vs 5: "So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field." Well, there's more. It wasn't bad enough that Joseph had to endure the rejection of his family and captivity in a foreign land, no, there was more terrible injustice to come. Potiphar's wife was attracted to Joseph and asked him to sleep with her. vs 7: "And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, 'Lie with me.'” Joseph adamantly refused her as she continued day by day trying to seduce him. Then one day as he was trying to leave her presence, she grabbed his garment as he left. Then when her husband came home, she showed him the garment and told him that Joseph had tried to seduce her and that she had screamed and grabbed ahold of his shirt. vs 17-18: "Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, 'The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me, so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.'” So Potiphar was enraged and threw Joseph into prison. Now - if it were you, how would you react? Rejected by family members, sold into slavery, falsely accused and thrown into prison - pretty hard to take! Do you feel that you've been the victim of injustice? If so, has it destroyed your faith? God did not explain to Joseph why these things had happened to him, but in spite of that, Joseph remained faithful. As it turns out, God was to use this whole story to save Joseph's entire family much later on. But Joseph didn't know that. In his rejection and in his humiliation, Joseph remained faithful, he did not allow bitterness to consume him, though he had no idea why God allowed all this calamity to happen to him. Still, his faith did not waver. And so it is with those who belong to the Lord, there is always a story behind the story in everything that happens to God's people. Many cannot keep their faith in the face of injustice and humiliation, but that is what we are called to if we mean to walk as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And we have the PROMISE that God will work it all out to the good for us. "And we know that IN ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 IN ALL THINGS… Nothing happens to the people who walk with the Lord, unless it has been allowed by the Lord. And when he allows injustice or humiliation in our lives, there is always a purpose behind it. ALWAYS. A purpose and a promise - that he will work it out for the good. Pray with me: Father, you see the injustices that have been done to me, you know the rejection I have endured, but I believe your Word that says that you will work it all out for my good if only I maintain my faithfulness when I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I pray for grace, I pray for endurance, and most of all I pray to maintain my faithfulness to YOU when I'm in the midst of troubles that I don't understand. Help me Father, to keep my faith in the dark times, knowing that you WILL work it all together for good. In Jesus’ name I ask.

Two Hearts - Two Destinies

"Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' And they said, 'What is that to us? You see to it!'” Matthew 27:3-4 When Judas saw Jesus standing there condemned, he realized he had made a terrible mistake and regretted it. So he returned the money he had been paid to betray Jesus, but the priests and elders weren't interested. So he went out and committed suicide. vs 5: "Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the Temple and departed, and went and hanged himself." Earlier in this story, recorded in Matthew 26, we see Peter who denied Jesus three times! When he heard the rooster crow, the words of Jesus came back to him, in which Jesus had told him he was going to deny him three times before the rooster crowed. "And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' So he went out and wept bitterly." Matthew 26:75 What is the difference between these two men? They both denied Jesus. The difference is in the heart. They both sinned a grievous sin, and one was not worse than the other. But more telling is what they did with it. Judas could have been forgiven, but instead he committed suicide. Peter, cut to the heart for what he had done, wept bitterly. Suicide is regret weighed down with despair. Weeping bitterly over sin is repentance. "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death." 2nd Corinthians 7:10 We are all sinners, every one of us, and it's not a matter of the kind of sin or the degree of sin. A person who has not been born again will treat his sin much differently than one who has been. Judas had witnessed the miracles Jesus did over the past 3-1/2 years, and he saw Jesus escape every attempt by Satan to kill him before his time. So Judas thought that if Jesus was seized by the leaders of the people, that Jesus would fight and overpower them, put down the Roman government, and restore the Kingdom to Israel. When Judas saw that his plot had failed, and when he realized the greatness of his sin, he killed himself. Peter, on the other hand, LOVED Jesus. Throughout the Gospels we see Peter again and again acting from a deep love for him. When he realized his sin, the regret hit him in the heart. How could he have done this to someone he loved so much, the one he knew is the Messiah? He heaved great sobs of shame and regret. A repentant heart leads to godly sorrow, not to killing oneself. Judas removed himself from all possibility of forgiveness, but Peter later received the great forgiveness the Lord extended to him. Later, after Jesus was raised from the dead, he had a little conversation with Peter: "So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” John 21:15 Jesus asked this question three times, and by the third time Peter was humbled in sorrow and grief. vs 17: "Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' And he said to him, 'Lord, you know all things, you KNOW that I love you!'” And that's the point. Throughout the narrative there was no question whether Peter loved the Lord. A weak human being as we all are, he had cowered in fear when the crowd took hold of Jesus to condemn him. Yet the sorrow Peter had was godly sorrow. That was true repentance and he was forgiven. Friend, it doesn't matter what evil you have committed, the degree of sinfulness is irrelevant to the point being made here. What matters is what you do with it. If you humble yourself before the Lord, he will hold out to you the hand of mercy. He loves you and is waiting with forgiveness for you. He will receive you. Come before him, confess your sin, all of it. Humble yourself before him and know the depths of his mercy and forgiveness. He will wash you and make you clean. And you will be clean! "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, AND HE WILL LIFT YOU UP." James 4:10

The Testimony of Jesus Is The Spirit Of Prophecy

"For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10 The Bible is full of prophecy from Genesis to The Book Of Revelation. Let's take a look at some of those prophecies. “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22:1 This Psalm was written more than a thousand years before Jesus cried those words from the Cross. One can go back and forth from this Psalm to the New Testament passage of the Crucifixion and it’s very obvious how the details in the Psalm were so demonstrably fulfilled at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Look at some of those details in Psalm 22: vs 7-8: “All those who see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him, let him deliver him, since he delights in him!’” Fulfilled in the New Testament: “He trusted in God, let him deliver him now IF he will have him;” Matthew 27:43 Some prophecies contain very specific details: “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” Psalm 22:18 Fulfilled in the New Testament: “Then they crucified him, and divided his garments, casting lots…” Matthew 27:35 Consider the fact that King David, the author of the Psalm, lived more than a thousand years before Christ was on the earth! How did he know the details that Christ would fulfill a thousand years later? Some argue that Jesus knew the prophecies and deliberately fulfilled them. Well ...how did he deliberately fulfill the prophecy that he would be born in Bethlehem, especially since Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth? All the prophets prophesied concerning Christ as well. For example: "...then they will look on me whom they pierced." Zechariah 12:10 In the New Testament: "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out." John 19:34 The birth and death of Jesus Christ were the most important events in all of history, and Satan does all he can to minimize them, or to corrupt them. Satan becomes very obvious when you examine what his focus is. His focus always is to corrupt what the Bible says about Jesus. The one thing that makes the Bible different from every other “holy” book, is prophecy. “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, and from ancient times things that are not yet done…” Isaiah 46:9-10 No other religious book can include prophecy except in a very general way, because God alone knows the future. Satan knows the Bible thoroughly, and based on what has been revealed he can predict some things, especially things that he is able to cause to come about. But he cannot be accurate because except for what God has revealed, Satan does not know the future. The Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is filled with prophecy, many in great detail. Imagine knowing a thousand years before the crucifixion that those at the crucifixion would take the garments Jesus wore and cast lots to divide them among themselves? Only God, only God alone could put such specific details of prophecy together so long before Jesus was even on the earth. “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10 If you have a heart to search for truth, do not search among the many “religious” books outside of the Word of God. They are limited to only what has already been revealed and most of them, if not all, contain blatant falsehoods; in details they will show themselves liars unable to deliver. No, search the Word of God. Ask the Spirit of God to show you the truthfulness of the Scriptures in the prophecies contained therein. There you will find truth beyond all question. More: Who Is Jesus Christ?