Discovering Destiny (Part 63): God Is Going To Give You Double
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. Today, we come to the final message on the life of Joseph.
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 48:5 TPT
"Furthermore, I will adopt as my very own your two sons who were born in the land of Egypt before I came here. Yes, I claim Ephraim and Manasseh as mine, no less than my two oldest, Reuben and Simeon."
Genesis 49:22-24 TPT
"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine growing by a spring, whose branches run over a wall. Persecutors fiercely attacked him; they pursued him with their bow and arrows. But Joseph's bow remained steady, because the power of the Mighty One of Jacob strengthened him, by the name of the loving Shepherd, the Rock of Israel."
Supporting scriptures:
Genesis 37:28 NLT
"So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt."
1 Chronicles 5:1-2 NLT
"The oldest son of Israel was Reuben. But since he dishonored his father by sleeping with one of his father's concubines, his birthright was given to the sons of his brother Joseph. For this reason, Reuben is not listed in the genealogical records as the firstborn son. The descendants of Judah became the most powerful tribe and provided a ruler for the nation, but the birthright belonged to Joseph."
Deuteronomy 21:17 ERV
"The man must accept the firstborn son from the wife he does not love. The man must give that son a double share of everything he owns because that son is his first child. The right of the firstborn belongs to that son."
Joshua 14:4 NLT
"The descendants of Joseph had become two separate tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And the Levites were given no land at all, only towns to live in with surrounding pasturelands for their livestock and all their possessions."
Galatians 4:7 NLT
"Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir."
Ephesians 1:5 AMPC
"For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]."
Genesis 49:25-26 TPT
"The God of your father will help and protect you; the God who is more than enough will bless you. He will bless you with the blessings of heaven, blessings of the deep that lie beneath, and blessings of the breast and womb. The blessings of your father will be greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains, surpassing the blessings of my ancestors! May Joseph's blessings crown his head and rest on the brow of the one set apart, prince among his brothers."
Setting the Stage:
In our last message, I showed you how God gave Jacob double his time with Joseph: seventeen years before the pit and seventeen more in Egypt. Today, the double portion lands on Joseph himself. Before Jacob ever crossed his hands over those boys, the old man said something that changed the family forever: "Yes, I claim Ephraim and Manasseh as mine, no less than my two oldest, Reuben and Simeon." With one sentence, Jacob moved his grandsons up a generation. They were no longer grandsons. They were sons. And every son of Israel would become a tribe.
Now think about what that meant. In that culture, the firstborn son received the birthright, and the law said the firstborn got "a double share of everything he owns." Reuben was the firstborn. But Reuben dishonored his father, and the Bible says, "his birthright was given to the sons of his brother Joseph." Every other son of Jacob would father one tribe. Joseph would father two.
Now, some of you are doing the math. Twelve sons, but Joseph counts twice, so is it thirteen? Here is how God worked it out. Levi became the priestly tribe, and the Bible says, "The descendants of Joseph had become two separate tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And the Levites were given no land at all, only towns to live in." So the Promised Land was still divided twelve ways, and two of those twelve portions belonged to Joseph. It's just that the Levites did not get any land.
Then Jacob called all twelve of his sons to his bedside to speak over their futures. When he got to Joseph, the old man could not stop. He looked back over everything his son had survived and said, "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine growing by a spring, whose branches run over a wall." Then he named the archers: "Persecutors fiercely attacked him; they pursued him with their bow and arrows." And then he named the One who kept him standing: "But Joseph's bow remained steady, because the power of the Mighty One of Jacob strengthened him."
God took everything that was meant to destroy Joseph and gave him double. Hear me today: God is going to give you double.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God Knows How To Get Your Inheritance To You.
Look at how the birthright traveled. In Part 18, we watched Esau trade it for a bowl of stew, and Jacob ended up with it. Then Jacob's own firstborn, Reuben, lost it by sleeping with his father's concubine. So who would get it? Not Simeon, the second son. Not Levi. Not even Judah, though the kings would come from his line. The Bible says, "the birthright belonged to Joseph." The eleventh son. The one in the pit. The one everybody thought was dead. Here is what I love about it. Joseph did not fight for it, campaign for it, or even ask for it. But what God had for him was for him.
How this applies to you:
-- God never loses track of what He assigned to you.
-- Reuben had the position, but Joseph had the promise. A position can be lost; a promise from God cannot.
-- The brothers sold Joseph for "twenty pieces of silver," and God handed him the firstborn's inheritance anyway.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He planned your inheritance right along with it. What people do to you or what you do to yourself may delay what God assigned to you, but you will not be denied what God promised.
-- Esau traded the birthright away. Reuben lost it through his own choices. God carried it all the way to Joseph.
-- What God has for you will find you, even in Egypt.
-- Stop worrying about the people who seem to be ahead of you. God never misdelivers an inheritance.
-- Just keep walking with God and keep your heart open. God has a way of making sure that what He has for you will find you at just the right time.
2. God Gives The Double Portion By Grace.
Think about who Ephraim and Manasseh were. They were born in Egypt, to an Egyptian mother, the daughter of an Egyptian priest. They had never lived in Canaan. They had never tended one of Jacob's sheep. By every rule of that culture, they were outsiders. And yet the old man looked at them and said, "I claim Ephraim and Manasseh as mine." They did not earn it, work for it, or qualify for it. It was declared over them. That is adoption, and adoption is grace. Paul said it this way: "Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir."
How this applies to you:
-- Ephraim and Manasseh did nothing to earn a seat at Jacob's table. That’s grace!
-- They had the wrong birthplace, the wrong mother, and the wrong background. Jacob looked past all of it and claimed them as his own. That’s what God does for/with us.
-- Adoption is not a reward for performance; it is a decision of love.
-- Every other son of Jacob carried one tribe. Joseph's house carried two, and not one of them was earned.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and adoption was always part of it. Paul said God "foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted" as His own children.
-- The double portion comes by grace, not by performance.
-- Stop trying to earn what God already declared over you. Heirs do not work for their inheritance; they receive it. Grace is a gift, and you cannot work for a gift. All you can do with the gift is receive it.
-- Part of learning to live the grace life is getting to the point where you keep your heart open to whatever God wants to do within and through your life. Sometimes He just wants to do things for you. In those moments, you have to learn how to receive without taking on the guilt and shame that religion puts on you, because religious people think you have to work for everything.
3. God Will Keep You Steady While People Shoot At You.
Jacob did not pretend Joseph's life had been easy. He said, "Persecutors fiercely attacked him." Think about all the attacks. His brothers' hatred. The pit. The slave market. Potiphar's wife and her lie. The prison. The butler who forgot him for two full years. Arrow after arrow. And yet Jacob said, "Joseph's bow remained steady." Here is the key. That strength did not come from Joseph. It came "because the power of the Mighty One of Jacob strengthened him."
How this applies to you:
-- The arrows were real, but so was the strength of God.
-- Grace did not stop every arrow from flying, but it kept Joseph standing until the shooting stopped.
-- Joseph's bow stayed steady, and it was not because Joseph was tough. God's power strengthened his arms. That is grace.
-- People shot at Joseph with hatred, lies, and forgetfulness. None of those arrows could cancel his destiny.
-- Here's something you have to learn: You do not have to shoot back to win. If you keep listening to me long enough, you will learn that you don't have to get anyone back. God has a way of either forgiving them or causing them to reap the harvest of the negative seed they have sown. Either way, that's none of your business.
-- Joseph never got even with his brothers, Potiphar's wife, or the cupbearer. He kept doing good in every room, and God handled the archers.
-- The same hands that strengthened Joseph are holding you steady today.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He knew every arrow that would come your way. He built the strength to outlast them right into the plan. You will still be standing when the shooting stops.
4. God Will Make Your Blessing Run Over The Wall.
Jacob called Joseph "a fruitful vine growing by a spring." A vine planted next to a spring has a water source the drought cannot touch. Egypt went seven years without a harvest, and Joseph kept bearing fruit. Then Jacob said the branches "run over a wall." A wall is a boundary. It marks where your property ends. Joseph's blessing never stayed behind his own wall. It fed Egypt. It fed the nations that came to buy grain. It saved the very brothers who sold him. And through Ephraim and Manasseh, it became two tribes in the Promised Land. Jacob told Joseph exactly where that kind of blessing comes from: "the God who is more than enough will bless you."
How this applies to you:
-- A vine planted by a spring does not dry up in a famine.
-- Jacob called God "the God who is more than enough." When you serve the God who is more than enough, your blessing will spill over into your family, your church, and your city.
-- Joseph stayed connected to the Source in the pit, in Potiphar's house, and in the prison, so his branches kept growing when everything around him dried up.
-- In the first psalm, David said that a blessed man will be like a tree, not just any tree, but a tree that's planted by the rivers of water. That tree has a constant supply of what it needs to grow and prosper. That's a picture of you when you stay connected to God in His Word.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He planned it bigger than your own house. Joseph's blessing fed nations and became two tribes.
-- God is going to bless you beyond your own walls.
-- This is where we close the story of Joseph. In our next message, we begin the story of Daniel, another Hebrew young man taken far from home who rose in a foreign palace by interpreting a king's dream. The same God who was with Joseph is with you.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, You are going to give me double!
What people took from me cannot cancel what You assigned to me!
You know exactly how to get my inheritance to me!
I am not a slave; I am Your child and Your heir!
My inheritance comes by grace, not by performance!
When the arrows fly, You hold me steady!
I do not have to shoot back to win!
I am planted by the Spring, and I will not dry up!
My blessing will run over the wall!
You are the God who is more than enough!
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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