Discovering Destiny (Part 43): Every Promotion Comes With A Test
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 39:7-12 NLT"And Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. 'Come and sleep with me,' she demanded. But Joseph refused. 'Look,' he told her, 'my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.' She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, 'Come on, sleep with me!' Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house."
Supporting scriptures:
Genesis 39:13-18 TPT"Realizing he had fled, and she was holding his robe in her hands, she called for her household servants and said to them, 'See! My husband brings this Hebrew foreigner here to make fools of us! He barged into my house and tried to have sex with me, and I screamed; and when he heard me scream for help, he ran out of the house and left his robe!' She kept the robe beside her until his master came home and she told him the same story: 'This Hebrew foreigner you brought among us barged into the house and tried to violate me. As soon as I screamed out for help, he ran outside and left his robe here beside me.'"
Titus 2:11-12 TPT"God's marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone. This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age."
1 Corinthians 10:13 ERV"The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it."
1 Peter 2:20 TPT"For what merit is it to endure mistreatment for wrongdoing? Yet if you are mistreated when you do what is right, and you faithfully endure it, this is commendable before God."
2 Timothy 2:22 NLT"Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts."
Genesis 39:19-20 AMPC"And when [Joseph's] master heard the words of his wife, saying to him, This is the way your servant treated me, his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the state prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison."
Romans 8:28 AMPC"We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose."
Setting the Stage:
Last week, we left Joseph running Potiphar's house. The Lord was with him, everything he touched prospered, and Potiphar handed him the keys to everything he owned. Moses says that Potiphar did not worry about a single thing except the food on his plate. Think about how far Joseph had come. He arrived in Egypt as property, a Hebrew teenager who did not speak the language, sold by the men who should have protected him. Now he is running the estate of one of Pharaoh's officers. Then verse 7 opens with a word I want you to notice: "and." The same favor that got Joseph promoted got him noticed. Potiphar's wife looked at the young man everybody else was praising and wanted him for herself.
Look at how it played out. She asked once, and he said no. "Come and sleep with me," she demanded, and Joseph told her why he would not. His master trusted him with everything in the house and held back nothing but her. To Joseph, this was not just a betrayal of the man who trusted him. It was a sin against God. That should have ended it. It did not. She asked day after day, and he kept saying no. Verse 10 says he "kept out of her way as much as possible." He did more than say no. He put distance between himself and the temptation. But we know from the text how this played out.
Here is what I want you to see today. Joseph has now lost two coats. His brothers stripped the first one, the robe of his father's favor, and used it to lie to Jacob. Potiphar's wife grabbed the second one, the cloak of his position, and used it to lie to Potiphar. Both times, the coat came off. Both times, the destiny stayed on. The path to your destiny is not just a series of yeses. Every promotion comes with a test. Your destiny has a "No" in it, and the "No" you say in a room nobody is watching decides whether you walk out of that room still on the path to your purpose.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Favor Put Joseph In The Room, And The Room Came With A Test.
Look at the order of events. Genesis 39:6 says Potiphar trusted Joseph with everything and did not think about anything except the food he ate. Verse 7 says, "And Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully." The promotion and the temptation arrived in the same season, through the same door. Joseph did not go looking for trouble; trouble looked for him. That is what happens when the blessing on your life becomes visible. Favor draws the right people and the wrong offers, sometimes on the same day. Paul told Timothy that grace "teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness" (Titus 2:11-12 TPT).
How this applies to you:
-- In God's Kingdom, most promotions come with a test attached. God wants to know that your character can handle the blessing.
-- Some of you prayed for the position, and God gave it to you. What you did not pray for was the offer that came with the position. The test is not a sign that you are out of the will of God; it is a sign that you are on a path worth testing. If you never get tested, then maybe you are not going anywhere of significance.
-- The enemy does not waste his best temptation on people who are going nowhere.
-- Joseph was 17 when he was sold and 30 when he stood before Pharaoh. This test came somewhere in the middle, in his twenties, in a foreign country, with no father, no brothers, and no accountability around but God Himself. The type of restraint that this young man showed proved to God that he was ready for the next level of the assignment. For you, the requirement may not be restraint, but believe me, before God elevates you to the next level, you will be given the opportunity to prove your character.
-- Grace does not just forgive you after you fall; it teaches you how not to fall in the first place. You have to make a decision: do you want to rely on the grace that will forgive you after your mistake, or the grace that can empower you not to make the mistake at all?
-- In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, do not be surprised when the favor and the fight show up together. The room God opened for you to thrive in is the same room the enemy will attempt to trip you up in. God has already provided you with the grace to succeed, but when you are faced with decisions that may violate God's will, God will not force you to do the right thing. That choice is yours! And you will deal with the repercussions of your decisions (good or bad).
2. Joseph Answered Temptation With His Assignment.
Listen to what Joseph said. He did not say, "I am not attracted to you." He did not say, "What if we get caught?" He said, "My master trusts me with everything in his entire household... He has held back nothing from me except you." Then he said, "How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God." Joseph answered her with two things: the trust he carried and the God he served. He named what he had, not what he was missing. Most people fall because they focus on the one thing they can't do, and they lust for it. Joseph focused on everything entrusted to him, and it settled the matter.
How this applies to you:
-- The clearest "No" comes from a clear assignment.
-- Joseph called it what it was: "a great sin against God." He did not call it a mistake, a slip, or a moment of weakness. When you name the thing correctly, you handle it correctly.
-- People ask Isabella if she is a jealous woman or if she is afraid that I will cheat on her. Her answer is always the same. She says, "Well, my husband knows what he's called to do, and he knows the anointing that is on his life. If he wants to destroy that, then that's on him." Her answer lines up with Joseph's answer. Basically, what Isabella is saying is that I know better than to violate the assignment that is on my life.
-- Solomon said, "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint" (Proverbs 29:18 ESV). Read that backwards. Where there IS vision, people keep their restraint. Vision from God does two things at once: it constrains you, and it restrains you. It constrains you by narrowing your focus to the thing God told you to do. It restrains you by making everything that could pull you off that thing not worth it. People who have a word from God do not do everything. They cannot afford to. They are too locked in on the assignment to spend themselves on anything that would take them outside of it. Joseph did not have a wife, a father, or a pastor in that house. What he had was a dream from God.
-- If you have no vision for your life, you will cast off restraint, because there is nothing at stake. But when you know what God has called you to do, the "No" gets easy, because you know exactly what you would be trading away.
-- Potiphar was not in the room, but God was. Joseph did not say he could not sin against Potiphar; he said he could not sin against God. His integrity was not tied to who was watching. It was tied to a God who is always watching.
-- Your long-term assignment must be bigger than your near-term appetite.
-- Get so clear on what God has put in your hands that the enemy has nothing left to offer you.
3. He Lost A Second Coat And Kept His Destiny.
This is the second time somebody used Joseph's coat to tell a lie. His brothers dipped the first one in goat's blood and showed it to Jacob. Potiphar's wife held the second one and showed it to Potiphar. The Passion Translation says, "She kept the robe beside her until his master came home." She had the evidence. She had the story. She had the servants as witnesses. Joseph had nothing but the truth and the God who saw it.
How this applies to you:
-- They can take your coat, but they cannot take your calling.
-- Joseph was mistreated for doing right, and heaven took note.
-- Some of you did the right thing and still got blamed, passed over, or punished. Joseph knows that road, and so does Jesus. Doing right does not guarantee that people will treat you right.
-- Doing right and losing is still doing right. Ultimately, God is the God of justice and recompense, and He will see to it that all things work together for your good.
4. Joseph Stayed On The Path To His Purpose.
Verse 12 says he "left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house." Paul told Timothy, "Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts" (2 Timothy 2:22 NLT). Joseph ran from the temptation, and running cost him. His title, his authority, his reputation, and his freedom were gone by nightfall. The Amplified Bible says Potiphar "put him in the prison, a place where the state prisoners were confined" (Genesis 39:19-20 AMPC). That was not just any prison. It was the prison reserved for offenses against the king. It was the prison where he would meet the butler and the baker. It was the prison where his destiny would unfold right before his eyes. In Potiphar's house, Joseph learned how to run a domestic operation. In this prison, he would learn how to run a royal penitentiary. He lost the house, but he stayed on the path to his purpose, and that was the path that mattered.
How this applies to you:
-- Doing the right thing is going to cost you sometimes. But whatever you lose doing right becomes a seed, and God will see to it that you reap a harvest on every seed sown.
-- If Joseph had said yes to Mrs. Potiphar, he would have kept the house and lost the path. Saying no cost him the house and kept him on the road. The prison was not a detour. It was one step closer to God's expected end for his life.
-- My spiritual father, Pastor Tony Brazelton, says that God reserves the last move for Himself. When it looks like you are paying for doing right, God is still moving pieces around on the chessboard, and He has not made His last move yet.
-- Romans 8:28 AMPC says all things are "fitting into a plan." The No, the coat, the lie, and the prison all fit. The prison was part of the plan.
-- Choosing the hard right over the easy wrong may cost you in the short term. In the end, you keep your integrity intact, you stay on the path to your purpose, and you are one step closer to God's expected end for your life.
-- Stop measuring your decisions by what they cost you today. Measure them by what they will give you in the long term.
-- Get so focused on what God has called you to do that you refuse to do anything that would take you off that path.
-- Every promotion comes with a test, and God has given you the grace to pass it.
Meditate on this message. Every promotion comes with a test!
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, thank You that Your grace is on me!
Your grace has empowered me to say no to the wrong things and yes to the right things!
There is a favor on my life, and that favor brings me into the company of the right people!
Sometimes that favor draws the wrong attention, so if I get tested, I have the grace to pass every test!
If I am facing it, I have the grace for it!
I refuse to give up my ultimate purpose for a moment of temporary pleasure!
I will do the right thing. I will choose the hard right over the easy wrong every time!
My character is being developed, so I can handle the weight of the blessing!
Living this way, I know that in THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!
This is Today's Word. Apply it and prosper!
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