Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
We all face times in life that the storms of life “let” the wind out of our sails and we wonder where God is and question why He did not answer our prayers the way we expected Him to and in the time frame we wanted things done in. In those times, the enemy accuses God and tries to get us to question the goodness and faithfulness of God. During those seasons, many people lose hope and just quit their walk with God. Some people lose sight of the vision and plan God has for their lives and many people do things they would not normally do. Proverbs 29:18 “Without prophetic vision, people abandon all restraint.” Other people obey Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.”
Joseph was only seventeen when the enemy tried to destroy the calling of God on his life. God began to show Joseph in his dreams the destiny and calling upon his life. In his first dream, Joseph dreamed that while he and his eleven brothers were binding the harvested wheat into bundles, Joseph’s bundle stood up all his brothers’ sheaves bowed down before his sheave. When he told his brothers about the dream, they were furious with him. Later Joseph dreamed that the sun, moon and the stars of his eleven brothers bowed down to worship his stars. His brothers angrier than ever. When Israel sent Jacob into the fields to check on his brothers, they saw him coming and schemed to kill him because of their jealousy. Ruben, the oldest brother tried to spare Joseph’s life by putting him in a pit in the wilderness, the bible says he planned on going back and pulling Joseph out of the pit. While Ruben was away, a band of Ishmaelites traveled by on their way to Egypt and Judah, attempting to spare Joseph’s life, sold him as a slave.
Joseph was only seventeen when Potiphar. The captain of Pharaoh’s guard bought him and put him to work in his house. Joseph rose above the storm and chose to honor God in everything he did even though God had allowed him to become a slave. Because he served God in that difficult place, God blessed Joseph while he was a slave and soon Potiphar put him in charge of his whole house. The favor of God can attract unhealthy relationships. Potiphar’s wife saw Joseph was handsome and began to pursue a relationship with him. Joseph knew that God would not be pleased if he gave into Potiphar’s wife and had an affair with her. She became angry when Joseph resisted her advances and accused him of rape. Even during the accusation, the favor of God was still upon Joseph and instead of killing Joseph, a slave, for attempted rape, Potiphar put him in Pharaoh’s prison. Psalm 105 reveals that Joseph’s feet were bound with chains while he was in prison.
Once again, Joseph overcame the temptation to accuse and blame God. He chose to honor God, believing that God would deliver him from prison. Joseph did not have the written word that we have, all he had to hold onto were the two dreams God gave him of his destiny. I love how Moses stated in Genesis that the Lord was with Joseph in prison. When Joseph was twenty-eight, two of Pharaoh’s servants were put into the prison with Joseph. One night, they both had a dream. The butler told Joseph his dream and God gave him the interpretation that the butler would be restored in three days. Joseph refused to take credit for the interpretation but told them that God had shown him the meaning of his dream and asked the butler to please remember him when he was restored to Pharaoh’s house. The baker then told Joseph his dream and Joseph told him that in three days he would hang. Sur enough in three days, the butler was restored and the baker was hung. I wonder if Joseph got excited, believing God to deliver him out of prison with the interpretation of the butler’s dream. Joseph waited patiently on God for two more years, not giving into despair and loosing hope of the promise of God. Instead, he continued to do all the things he was supposed to do continued to trust God.
Two years after the butler was restored, God gave Pharaoh a dream. No one in Pharaoh’s house could interpret the dream and he became very agitated. The butler remembered Joseph (finally)and told Pharaoh about him. Pharaoh sent for Joseph in the prison. Joseph cleaned up, shaved, and changed clothes to go before Pharaoh. Once again God showed Joseph the interpretation for the dream. Not only did God show Joseph the meaning of the dream, he also gave Joseph a solution for the coming famine. When Joseph told Pharaoh there would be seven years of abundance then seven years of drought, and that he should find someone to oversee the collecting and storing of harvest during the years of abundance so not only Egypt would survive the drought, but also the surrounding countries would have food to eat. During the famine, Israel sent his ten sons to Egypt to buy grain and they came bowing down to Joseph, not recognizing him. When they came the second time to buy grain, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and they became very afraid. Joseph’s ability to trust God was amazing, he spent thirteen years in slavery before God was ready to place in a place of leadership that saved many peoples lives. According to the bible, he oversaw the gathering of the crops for seven years before the drought came. We do not know exactly at what point in time his brothers first came to buy grain to survive or how long the made it on the first purchase of grain. I do know it was at least twenty-two years after he was sold into slavery before he was reunited with his beloved father. His unwavering faith in the vision God gave him, helped to develop in him the Godly character he needed to bring deliverance during the famine for several nations.
On Tuesday evening, my husband and I watched the so-called results of the election on FOX news. I know what God has prophesied the election results to be and I know He is faithful and He will do all He has promised. The longer we watched, the more disgusted I became in the fake news and the false narrative. FOX began to prophesy (yes prophesy, the devil always imitates God) and call the election for races when only 25 percent of the vote was even counted. The moment the polls closed in California, they declared that every race in California was won by the Democrat nominee. This false narrative in California has gone on for several years. All through out the day on Tuesday, the media was reporting about the dominion machines not working in different parts of the country (later we learned the fact the machines that did not work were in Republican areas) and coverage of people calling their local sheriffs to report election fraud. I watched a press release in Tulsa where the voting judge told the people helping with the elections not to give the Republican voters the local city council ballot. (I am thankful we live in Levelland; I went to vote; it was done in order and extra security measures were put into place this year.)
Sadly Dr. Oz and another Republican running for senate believed the false narrative and conceded to their opponents. I listened to Mike Lindell speak yesterday. He was so very excited, cyber security teams were set up in the major battle ground states, and they have caught election fraud and have the proof that cheating changed many of the elections. One example he gave was the results of Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz ran against a man who had a stroke and struggles to put a sentence together. He also wants to open up the prisons and let even murderers go free. The cyber team has proof that every time Dr. Oz was ahead, the system dumped in 90,000 votes for his opponent. Fox and other news stations want us to believe that Dr. Oz lost to a man with that mindset. Go to Frankspeech.com to see the stories behind the fraud.
As the body of Christ, we are standing in the valley of decision. Are you going to give in and say all hope is gone and things will never change or will you be like Joseph and trust God is working things out for your good? Psalms 105:17 “He sent a man before them, Joseph- who was sold as a slave.” God chose you to serve Him in this hour. Will you trust and serve Him even when you do not see the results with your natural eyes? There are times God is building character in us and testing to see what we are really made of. In verse 19 “The word of the Lord tested him. “Will you pass the test; will God find you faithful? Yes, the devil is tempting us to quit, but “Greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world.” 1John 4:4. Will you use your weapons to defeat the enemy? “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty for the pulling down of strongholds.” 1 Corinthians 10:4.
Are you willing to continue to pray for our great nations and pull down the fraudulent winners? Will you stand with God and declare that all cheating will be exposed and every thief will be found? We have blessings Joseph did not have, the written Word, the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. “We are more than conquers” Romans 8:37. I love how Joseph handled his brothers. He told them “But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” God is good and He is faithful. The things we see are deceiving, and we cannot believe everything we hear and see. 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul taught us “For we walk by faith and not by sight.” “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.”
Don’t let the enemy take your hope, keep your faith in God. “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Be encouraged, things are not as they appear, do not come into agreement with the devil, but keep prophesying that God has already won the victory.
Cathy Nesmith