Encouragement From the Life of Joseph

By: Matt Tyler

Recently, I read Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness by Charles Swindoll. What a great book! I highly recommend it to people. True to the book's title, the basic topic of the book is a study on the life of Joseph. His story is recorded in Genesis 37-50. It is an awesome, true, and relevant story to study especially when thinking about trials, rejection, temptations, abandonment, and a whole range of other issues. However the book especially hits home when it comes to the issue of Faith. And that, among other reasons, is why I studied the life of Joseph recently.

Anyway, I wish I could type up the entire book on this note for you to read, but that isn't very plausible. I also wish I could review the book but time does not permit me to do so. Instead, I will type up a section I came across today that might be an encouragement for Christians. This encouragement is especially for those who wish their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ would live as God calls us to live- namely, a life of holiness.

Keep this verse in mind:
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1:13-16)

Here is a section from Charles Swindoll's 'Joseph' as it relates to Genesis 39:

"You must not be confused by the immediate results. Again, remember Joseph. After doing what was right and resisting evil, he was falsely accused and dumped in prison. And if you take the time to read ahead, you'll see that he was later forgotten for an extended period of time.

Don't be confused by the immediate results. You may lose your job. You may lose your lover (if you want to call that person a lover). You may lose acceptance by the group. You may be ridiculed. You may be bumped out of the club. You may be the only one who's not "doing it (whatever it is)." Then be the only one! If you name the name of Jesus Christ, name it fully, name it completely, and keep yourself morally clean from this day forward. Even if it means demotion or loss of stature or loss of a job. Get out! You owe it to your character and to your family. Most of all, you owe it to your God.

...Whatever your situation, no matter how alluring or pleasurable or momentarily delightful the bait looks, don't linger. Claim the supernatural strength that comes from knowing Jesus Christ and, operating under the control of His power, stand strong in His might. Right now, this very moment, determine to be a Joseph. Make up your mind to join his ranks- and from this day forward, resist.

Otherwise, you will yield. It's only a matter of time."


Let this be an encouragement to you today. 'Stand strong in His might,' as Swindoll says. This is a great reminder to me as I go out and face the World. Joseph lived. And he faced huge challenges as he lived in and faced his world. But He stood strong in the mighty arms of God.

The World, and sadly many Christians, will yield. Sometimes we can get so discouraged by that fact that we end up doing the very things we do not want to do, as the Apostle Paul says. Resist. Fight. Life isn't peaches and cream (which sounds gross to me anyway) unlike some teachers will tell you. It is a struggle. But in the arms of our God we can face those trials. We will keep the Faith. And we can resist when we use the self-control the Holy Spirit gives us. And that, my friends, is the key. The believer get's the fruit of the Spirit, he receives the ability to apply the Truths of Scripture to his life.

When we put our trust in Christ and we begin to really know and understand our Lord and Savior then that becomes our strength! He is our Lord. He is over our lives. He is our King. The knowledge of this gives us strength because we know that Jesus Christ endured to the end and we our 'in' Christ. But interestingly enough and praise God for it this also gives us supernatural strength.

You have it. So, use it. Back to Joseph. The reason this is displayed so beautifully in Genesis 37-50 is because of what Joseph went through. We read the story with the ending in mind. And even when read for the first time the tension is released with the reading of the next verse. But this was Joseph's life. He spent years on a roller coaster of extreme, uh…excuse me, EXTREME
ups and downs. He did not know how it was going to end. He did not know why it was happening. His brothers turned against him. Your brothers in Christ may do the same. You will have ups and downs. You know what strategy Joseph used? The Lord was with Him and he lived with integrity (Genesis 39: 4, 8, 13). Are you a believer? Then the Lord is with you also. So live with integrity!

On a final note, view life in this manner: Genesis 50:19-20, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

I Am Lacking.

By: Matt Tyler

Yes. It is true. I am. Often my notes are written to try and encourage people to evangelize more, live authentic Christian lives, or come to repentance and faith in Jesus. However, this note's focus is slightly different, yet the call is still the same. I messed up today. I mess up a lot. Everyday. My flesh is weak.

At the time of writing, I had read a little pamphlet by John MacArthur just a few hours before. This was not the first time that I had read this little pamphlet, but I decided to read it again. God has given Johnny Mac a lot of wisdom and I often learn from him by reading some of his material more than once. This pamphlet is called Found: God' Will. First of all, I highly recommend it, it provides the BIBLICAL way of discerning God's Will, which, by the way, is a lot less complicated then we make it.

Now, within the pages MacArthur talks about living a Spirit-filled life (here I am a Baptist, talking about being filled with the spirit ;) ). There are two significant things that John MacArthur says that are at the forefront of my mind: First of all, he says that the Spirit-filled life is yielding every decision to the control of the Spirit. He then goes on to ask what the spirit filled life actually is. What does it look like? According to MacArthur, it is being saturated with the things of Christ with His Word, His person.

Whew. I see that definition and I look at the Biblical characters that were great examples of this and I find I am truly lacking. For all of my talk on the importance of verbally sharing our faith and socially living it out, I often mess up in all areas of my life. I am not perfect. Far from it.

This was displayed beautifully (or not so beautifully) several weeks ago in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I was with a couple of friends and I was catching up on a few things. I was in a hurry to get back home but we still talked for a few minutes. All of a sudden, a man in a dark van pulled up next to us and started asking us for some money. Apparently, he had his daughter in the back seat and he had to make it back to Fayetteville. He needed gas. Well, we now live in a day and age where it is rare for people to carry cash on them. I am that type of person. Sure I had my debit card...but cash? Nope. I had none. The Wal-Mart gas station was less than a football field away and I could have easily driven over there and filled his van up with my debit card. I could have driven over there and spent a few minutes sharing the Good News with this man. But I didn't. I could have let God use me as His ambassador. But I did not. My excuse: I have no cash and therefore I cannot. Sorry sir, go on your way. Sorry sir, I have the greatest News in the whole world: You can escape punishment for your sin, but instead of meeting your needs and telling you about it, I need to go.

Now I could argue, and it may be true, that I just didn't think about pulling out my debit card for him. I could argue that I wanted to be wise with my money- heck, I didn't know anything about this guy! I could argue whatever I wanted to. What I can honestly say, though, is that sharing the love of Jesus with this guy was not on my mind. It hurt me to say no to him, that was probably the Holy Spirit, but sharing Jesus with Him was not on my mind. If it was, I probably would have remembered my debit card. I probably would have driven over there with him. If I was truly saturated with the things of Christ, while I was filling up his car I probably would have showed him that he had sin in his life and needed to get right with God.

Some will try and reassure me: Matt, don't be legalistic, you don't have to help everyone that comes your way. Matt, it's really okay that you forgot this one time. Matt, you didn't have cash on you. [Insert your reassurance remark here]. While I am reassuring myself, or you are, that man still has needs and he has met yet another Christian who didn't explain to him the Most Important News in the whole World. And there is a chance he NEEDED to hear that.

I serve a God who is in control. He is sovereign over all things. That alone gives me the reassurance that I need. And while I did mess up, my prayer is that next time I will be prepared.

Frankly, it takes work to "yield every decision to the control of the Spirit" as Macarthur said. It's not necessarily the easiest thing to do. However, for the believer it should be a somewhat natural response in view of all that God has given us. As Christians, the importance of craving the pure milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:3) is incalculable. After all, it is only through reading the Word of God daily that we can saturate ourselves with the things of Christ. And while it is true that you, and I, are lacking we cannot use that as an excuse to cover up our responsibility. Our lives need to be full of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, forgive me. My flesh is weak and I am lacking. I want to be saturated with the things of Christ. Guide me in that. Thank you for the blood of Jesus, which covers me when I am lacking.

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This is a post that was first posted on Facebook on Tuesday, July 7^th 2009. It has been slightly edited.