You Can't Underestimate the God in Me

Last we discussed how God would bless you in the presence of your enemies. Sometimes God doesn't bless you right away. That doesn't mean He's not able to. Let's take a look at the story of Joseph. It's actually a pretty lengthy story so I'm not going to put the entire story in the post, but you can find it in Genesis chapters 37, 39-45

Genesis 37:3-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”

God had not outwardly blessed Joseph yet. He just shows him what was going to happen. You know how we get excited about things Sometimes the hate can come from people we never expected, like family. Joseph's brothers hated him so much that they sold him into slavery. 

Let's stop right there--sometimes your haters will have in an enslaved mindset. Y'all are probably thinking "I ain't nobody's slave." I don't mean literal slavery like in the 1800s. I mean bondage. It can be mental bondage where you constantly question whether or not you're even good enough for the things that God called you to do. We all have insecurities and those don't just stem from thin air. It comes from people constantly filling us with negative thoughts and words. 

Okay so now Joseph is in a place of bondage, and his brothers think they've won. That's just like the enemy to think that they've won the war because of a battle victory. Just as my pastor said this past Sunday "Even though this battle may not be physical, this battle for you may be a faith battle for you to show that you believe no matter the odds stacked up against you." Joseph had every odd stacked against him it seems like. His brothers sold him, his father thought he was dead, the master's wife tried to seduce him and then lied about it...it was just a lot going on. It's when it seems like it can't get any worse that God shows up and shows out. The very thing that Joseph's brothers hated him for was the thing that God used to bless him. 

Joseph's brother's didn't even recognize him. They probably were thinking "This can't be the same guy we sold off. The same little brother that said he was going to be this and that." 

Genesis 45:1-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

Joseph Revealed to His Brothers

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you whosent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

This really blessed me. Joseph left a 17 year old shepherd boy and now he is pharaoh. So what does that mean? It doesn't matter what people think about where you are right now. Just because you started somewhere doesn't mean it will end there for you. Let them underestimate who you are. That can throw everything they've got, but I serve a God that has never lost a battle. They can do what they want, but they cannot underestimate the God in me.

This is just like Job. Job lost everything he had. His wife told him to curse God and die. His friends tried to get him to turn his back on God. Ain't it funny when the people that are supposed to have your best interest at hurt give you the worst advice possible? Stuff kept happening and kept happening. Job got weary, but he didn't give up on God. He declared

Job 13:15 King James Version (KJV)

15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

When it was over, God gave Job everything he lost and then some. This is why you have to stay by God. He never leaves you or forsakes you. You may be going through right now, but it won't be like this always. God always win and everything attached to Him wins. 

But the truth still remains That in the Name of Jesus You will win Its my winning season Its my winning season Everything attached to me wins
--Jekalyn Carr