Discovering Destiny (Part 54): How God Heals The Pain Of Your Past
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 41:50-52 TPT
"Prior to the famine, Joseph and Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, had two sons. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, 'God has made me forget all my troubles and my parental home.' The second he named Ephraim, saying, 'God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.'"
Supporting scriptures:
Psalm 147:3 AMPC
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows]."
1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT
"Or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged."
Genesis 42:9 ERV
"Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about his brothers."
Genesis 45:4-5 NLT
"'Please, come closer,' he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, 'I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don't be upset, and don't be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.'"
Genesis 50:20 NLT
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people."
Philippians 3:13-14 TPT
"I don't depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus."
Isaiah 61:7 NLT
"Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours."
Genesis 48:5 NLT
"Now I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are."
Setting the Stage:
Yesterday, we saw that Joseph walked into a job he had never done with the grace to do it. Today, the Bible slows down in the middle of a big story and lets us into Joseph's house. The harvests are pouring in. The storehouses are filling city by city. Joseph is running the largest operation on earth, and right in the middle of the busiest season of his life, he becomes a father. Asenath gives birth to a baby boy.
Picture Joseph holding that child in a palace in Egypt. More than thirteen years earlier, he was at the bottom of a pit, listening to his brothers argue about what to do with him. He was sold for silver, marched to a foreign country, lied about, and locked in a prison. He never got to say goodbye to his father. In that culture, a name was a declaration. Joseph could have named that boy after Jacob. He could have named him after the home he lost. Instead, he looked into his son's face and said, "God has made me forget all my troubles and my parental home." He named him Manasseh. There had to be a moment when Joseph thought, "Every time I call this boy's name, I am going to remember that God healed me."
A few years later, a second son was born, and Joseph did it again. He named him Ephraim, saying, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." Now, look closely at the detail Moses put at the front of the passage: "Prior to the famine." Both boys were born before the famine. Joseph had no idea what was coming. He did not know that in a few short years, the famine would push the same ten brothers who sold him all the way to Egypt, and that they would walk into his office and bow for grain. Joseph did not know, but God did.
Here is what I want you to see today. God healed Joseph before He brought the people who hurt him back through the door. Healing was not an afterthought in Joseph's story; it was part of the plan. The same God who planned your destiny before you were born also planned your healing.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God Healed Joseph Before His Brothers Walked Through The Door.
Look at the timing. The Bible says both sons were born "Prior to the famine," and the famine is what brought the brothers to Egypt. God put Manasseh in Joseph's arms years before He put the brothers in Joseph's office. God made sure Joseph's heart was ready before that day came. I call this healing in advance. God was not just filling storehouses in Egypt; He was filling Joseph's heart. The psalmist said, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows]" (Psalm 147:3 AMPC).
How this applies to you:
-- God does not just plan your destiny; He plans your healing too.
-- Joseph had no idea his brothers were coming. But God did. So, before the famine brought them to Egypt, grace had already reached his heart.
-- An unhealed heart in a position of power is dangerous.
-- Joseph had the authority to lock his brothers away for the rest of their lives, or even have them killed, and nobody in Egypt would have questioned him. Thankfully, healing kept his power clean.
-- God is healing you now for a conversation you have not had yet.
-- Some of the people who hurt you are going to show up again in your story. When they do, you want to meet them healed, not hurt.
-- Hurt people hurt people, but healed people heal people. God wants you to be the latter.
-- In my book, Level Up Your Life, I teach that you will never have life prosperity beyond your soul prosperity. John prayed that his friend would prosper and be in health "even as your soul keeps well and prospers" (3 John 1:2 AMPC). Your soul is your mind, your emotions, and your will, and God knows that a wounded soul will have a hard time receiving the fullness of God’s blessing.
-- God cares so much about where you are going that He heals you on the inside before He releases what He is releasing on the outside.
2. Love Does Not Keep Good Records Of Bad Things.
Manasseh means "making to forget," but Joseph did not get amnesia. Years later, when his brothers bowed in front of him, the Bible says, "Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about his brothers" (Genesis 42:9 ERV). Joseph knew exactly who they were. He remembered the pit, and he remembered the silver. So what did God make him forget? The Bible answers that question in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul said love "keeps no record of being wronged" (1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT). Some people keep very good records of very bad things. They can tell you the date, the time, what was said, and who was in the room, and every time they open that file, they bleed all over again. The Bible does not tell you to forget that it happened. It tells you to stop keeping the record. Joseph remembered the event, but he closed the file. God did not erase the memory; He removed the sting. The pain was gone.
How this applies to you:
-- Forgetting the pain does not mean forgetting the promise. Joseph forgot the troubles, and he remembered the dreams.
-- The Bible never asks you to pretend it did not happen. It asks you to stop keeping score.
-- Some people keep good records of bad things. They know every date, every word, and every wound. Close the file.
-- God does not erase your memory. He heals your hurt. You remember it, but it no longer negatively impacts you.
-- Some people have it backward. They remember every hurt and have forgotten every promise. Paul said, "I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead" (Philippians 3:13-14 TPT).
-- You cannot fasten your heart to the future while your hands are still wrapped around the past. LET GO, so you can LAY HOLD!
-- I have said it for years, and I will say it again: Yesterday ended last night!
-- Let me make this personal. I preached on this Sunday. I was born again in Kuwait in August of 1995, and I came home to Brooklyn on fire, with a lot of zeal and no wisdom. I told several people in my family that they were going to hell. The word went out through the family that that boy had lost his mind. For years, my uncles, my aunts, my cousins, and even my godfather talked about me, and it always got back to me. I will be honest with you. Some of that was my fault. I had the right thing, and I delivered it the wrong way. But here is what I want you to see. Years later, I stood in front of those same people, and I remembered every word that had gotten back to me. I did not forget. But my heart was already healed, so I did not hold it against them. Today my family honors the anointing on my life, and that could never have happened if I had walked back into that room with bitterness in my heart.
-- Part of living out your destiny is allowing God to heal your heart so you can move forward.
3. You Are Not Ready Until You Can Face It Without Reliving It.
We serve a God who turns scars into stars. But let me be honest with you about something. You are not ready to say your scar has become a star until you can talk about it without reliving the pain of it. Look at Joseph. When he finally revealed himself, he said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt" (Genesis 45:4 NLT). He named the wrong. He did not skip over it. He did not pretend it never happened. And in the very next breath he said, "Don't be upset, and don't be angry with yourselves." Joseph could stand in the room with the men who sold him, say out loud what they did, and feel no need to make them pay. That is what being healed looks like.
How this applies to you:
-- A wound is still open. A scar is closed. Which one are you carrying?
-- Joseph forgave his brothers without having to relive the pain of it. He named what they did and released them in the same breath.
-- Here is the test. Can you talk about what happened without your heart rate going up, without your voice shaking, and without needing to be paid back? If not, God is not done healing you yet, and that is okay.
-- Jesus kept His scars, but the scars did not keep Him. They became evidence of what God did.
-- Some of you are trying to testify about a wound that is still open. Let God close it first. Then tell it.
-- Joseph did not preach forgiveness to his brothers. He lived it in front of them. Healed people do not have to announce that they are healed; you can see it in how they handle the people who hurt them.
-- Your scar becomes a star when it stops being your pain and starts being your proof.
4. God Made Joseph Fruitful In The Land That Hurt Him.
Now look at the name of the second son. Joseph did not say, "God made me fruitful after He got me out of Egypt." He said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." Egypt was where he was sold, where he was lied about, and where he sat in a prison for years. God did not send Joseph back to Canaan to bless him. God blessed him right there. And notice the order of the boys. Manasseh came first, then Ephraim. Healing came first, then fruitfulness.
How this applies to you:
-- God can turn your place of pain into your Blessing Place.
-- I have told you this many times: God does not have to MOVE YOU to BLESS YOU!
-- The land did not change. God changed what the land produced for Joseph.
-- Manasseh came first, then Ephraim. Healing came before fruitfulness. It still does.
-- Your pain had an address, and God put your harvest at the same address.
-- Stop waiting to leave before you expect to be fruitful.
5. Your Healing Is Tied To Your Destiny.
Everything we talked about today ties back to one word: destiny. When Joseph was 17, God showed him his brothers bowing. That was the dream. But the dream had a problem. To fulfill it, Joseph had to stand face to face with the people who hurt him the most. If Joseph had walked into that moment unhealed, the day his destiny came true would have become the day he got his revenge and his story would be much different.
How this applies to you:
-- Joseph was able to look at the people who betrayed him and say, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people" (Genesis 50:20 NLT). Only a healed man can say that.
-- Your destiny and your healing are connected. God will not hand you one without the other.
-- Some of the people you have to forgive are standing between you and your next season. God is healing you so you can walk through them, not around them.
-- An unhealed leader turns a destiny moment into a payback moment. God heals you so you can be trusted with what He promised you.
-- Please open your heart to God's healing before your critical moment comes, because God needs to know He can trust you in the room with the people who hurt you before He puts you in it.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, You planned my healing when You planned my destiny!
You heal my heart before You bring me into my next season!
I remember what happened, but I no longer keep the record!
I forget the pain, and I remember the promise!
I can face my past without reliving it!
You turn my scars into stars!
You do not have to move me to bless me!
You turn my place of pain into my Blessing Place!
You heal me first, and then You make me fruitful!
My healing is tied to my destiny, and it will outlive me!
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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