Discovering Destiny (Part 38): God’s Favor Vs. Your Performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR1Y9ukk6qk

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture(s) we will study today:

Genesis 37:1-4 TPT“This is the story of the family of Jacob, who had settled in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived as an immigrant. Jacob’s son Joseph was seventeen, and he served his older half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, helping them watch over the flocks. One day Joseph went to his father with a bad report about their behavior. Now Israel’s love for Joseph surpassed that for his other sons because he was born to him in his old age. So Israel had made him a richly ornamented robe. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated him and would not speak a kind word to him.”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 30:22-24 AMPC“Then God remembered Rachel and answered her pleading and made it possible for her to have children. And [now for the first time] she became pregnant and bore a son; and she said, God has taken away my reproach, disgrace, and humiliation. And she called his name Joseph [may he add] and said, May the Lord add to me another son.”

Romans 9:11-12 TPT“And before her twin sons were born, God spoke to Rebekah and said: ‘The oldest will serve the youngest.’ God spoke these words before the sons had done anything good or bad, which proves that God calls people not on the basis of their good or bad works, but according to his divine purpose.”

2 Timothy 1:9 ERV“God saved us and chose us to be his holy people, but not because of anything we ourselves did. God saved us and made us his people because that was what he wanted and because of his grace. That grace was given to us through Christ Jesus before time began.”

Jeremiah 1:5 ERV“Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I chose you for a special work. I chose you to be a prophet to the nations.”

Genesis 18:19 NLT“I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.”

Genesis 41:46 AMPC“Joseph [who had been in Egypt thirteen years] was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went [about his duties] through all the land of Egypt.”

Ephesians 2:10 TPT“God has made us what we are.  In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.”

Psalm 139:16 TPT“You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book.”

Setting the Stage:

On Friday, we closed out Jacob’s life, and we saw that his destiny was never just about him. Today, we open the life of Joseph. Moses begins the chapter with “This is the story of the family of Jacob,” and the very next name on the page is Joseph. He is 17, watching sheep in a robe his father made him. He has not interpreted a dream, run a household, or saved a nation. He has done nothing yet.

And the favor is already on him. A father’s love, a robe, and the hatred of ten brothers, all before one accomplishment. Here is what I want you to see. God did not wait for Joseph to produce before He picked him. Destiny is assigned before it is achieved.

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. God Picked You Before You Did Anything Right Or Wrong.

Romans 9:11-12 TPT says God spoke over Jacob and Esau “before the sons had done anything good or bad… God calls people not on the basis of their good or bad works, but according to his divine purpose.” Put Joseph next to that verse. At 17, he had no resume. All he had was a bad report (he was tattling), a robe he did not sew, and his father’s love, which already “surpassed” what he had for the other boys. That is what favor looks like before you earn it. It is given. But hear me clearly, because this is where people get it wrong. This does not mean your decisions do not matter. Romans 8:29 AMPC says He “foreknew” us and “destined” us “from the beginning.” God predestined you according to His foreknowledge of your decisions. He did not wait to see what Joseph would do, and He is not waiting on you.

How this applies to you:

— Favor is given, not earned.

— Predestination does not mean your decisions do not matter. It means God never had to wait on your decision to know what you would decide. He planned your life around His foreknowledge of every choice you would make, the right ones and the wrong ones.

— You will still reap what you sow, and God factored your harvest in long before He picked you.

— Religion says perform first and get picked later. Grace says you were picked first, so now you perform from the pick, not for it.

— You are not building or deciding your destiny; you are uncovering and discovering the one God already decided. Joseph carried it at 17 and did not understand it until 30. That is what this series is all about. 

— You cannot be disqualified from something you never qualified for.

— Psalm 139:16 TPT says, “You saw who you created me to be before I became me!” God saw the prime minister when everybody else saw a teenager in a robe.

2. You Are Carrying Something You Do Not Understand Yet.

Rachel prayed for a son and when he was born, she had no idea she was holding the man who would keep Israel alive through a famine. Joseph did not know either. At 17 he had a robe he did not ask for, a dream he had not had yet, and no explanation for any of it. Here is what I want you to see. You can carry something for years before you understand it, and understanding it is what discovery is.

How this applies to you:

— Favor arrives before understanding does.

— Rachel asked for a son, and God handed her a young man who would save an entire region. What God puts on you is almost always bigger than the prayer that produced it.

— Many times, you will not discover what you refuse to carry. So just be open to whatever God wants to do through your life. 

— Stop despising what you do not understand yet. The robe made no sense at 17 and it made perfect sense at 30, and the only thing between those two numbers was time and obedience.

— Ask God for the meaning, not just the blessing.

— The question is not “God, what will You give me?” It is “God, what did You already give me, and what is it for?” Discovery is asking the second question until He answers.

3. They Hated What Was On Him, Not What He Did.

Genesis 37:1-4 TPT says, “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated him and would not speak a kind word to him.” Look at the order. They saw the love, and then they hated the boy. Joseph had not interpreted a dream yet; that comes in verse 5. He had done nothing to those men except carry a robe and a bad report. They hated what was on him. Let me be honest, because I have lived this in the Army, in corporate America, and in ministry. When the favor of God is on your life, some people get frustrated that you received for free what they are working to earn. But do not hide what God gave you to keep them comfortable.

How this applies to you:

— Their poison cannot stop your purpose.

— Here is a strange way to discover what is on your life: watch what comes against it. Nobody fights a man going nowhere, so when opposition shows up before you have accomplished anything, let it point you to your assignment and then take it to God.

— Opposition that shows up before achievement is the first proof of assignment.

— Favor should be appreciated, not flaunted. Carry your favor with humility, but never apologize for it.

— Not everyone who is with you is for you.

— Ten brothers could not say a kind word to him, and one Father in heaven had already written his days in a book. One voice from heaven outweighs ten voices down here in this world.

— Jesus said, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first” (John 15:18 NLT). Being hated for what God put on you puts you in good company.

— I will close with two statements I want you to remember: 1) Satan only attacks those who are worth attacking, and 2) the attack is against the assignment. 

4. Your Finish Line Is Somebody Else’s Starting Line.

Look at how the passage opens. Genesis 37:1-4 TPT says Jacob “had settled in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived as an immigrant.” Isaac wandered it. Jacob settled it. Then the next verse says, “This is the story of the family of Jacob,” and it hands the story to a 17-year-old. Moses tells the rest of Jacob’s story by telling Joseph’s. One man’s finish line became another man’s starting line. Isabella said it on Sunday: “Your ceiling becomes your children’s floor.” Now do the math. Genesis 41:46 AMPC says Joseph “was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh,” 13 years after this chapter. What God started at 17 in Canaan, He finished at 30 in Egypt, and nine years after that, the whole family showed up, and the dream was fulfilled. Joseph was destined to save Egypt and the surrounding nations, and that included his own family. 

How this applies to you:

— Where you finish is where your children should start. Or, said another way: your children shouldn’t have to start where you did. 

— Part of your assignment is to make sure the next generation does not start from zero.

— Isaac lived in Canaan as an immigrant so Jacob could settle there, and Jacob settled there so Joseph could be sent from there. Every generation stood on the last one’s ground.

— Somebody’s obedience is the reason you are standing where you are standing.

— Ephesians 2:10 TPT says, “Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny.” God’s plan for you includes people you have not met.

— In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, measure your destiny by what you carry and who you hand it to. What you carry tells you a lot about what God planned to do through your life. Who got used to carry it to you tells you a lot about the work that happened before you arrived on the scene. This is all part of your destiny. 

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, thank You that You picked me before I did anything right or wrong!

Favor is on my life, and I did not earn it!

I cannot be disqualified from what I never qualified for!

My decisions matter, and You knew every one of them before I made them!

Somebody carried this favor to me, and I honor them today!

I am a carrier of the blessing, not a collector!

Their poison cannot stop what God put on my life!

One voice from heaven outweighs ten voices in the field!

My ceiling will become the floor my children start on!

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I carry what You gave me, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!