Discovering Destiny (Part 65): Your Destiny Is Bigger Than Your Lifetime
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 close out the life of Joseph with part two of what his life teaches us about destiny.
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 45:7-8 NLT
"God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh, the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt."
Hebrews 11:22 TPT
"Faith inspired Joseph and opened his eyes to see into the future, for as he was dying he prophesied about the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, and gave instructions that his bones were to be taken from Egypt with them."
Supporting scriptures:
Genesis 41:38-40 TPT
"He said to them, "Where can we find anyone else like this one, for he has the Spirit of God in him!" So Pharaoh turned to Joseph and said, "Since God has divinely revealed this to you, there is no one as wise and full of insight as you. I hereby place you in charge of all my affairs, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I, the king, will be greater than you!""
Genesis 41:33-36 TPT
"Joseph continued, "Let Pharaoh select a very wise and discerning man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint other officials throughout the land to collect one-fifth of all the crops each year during the seven plentiful years. Have them gather all the food of these abundant years that are coming, and under Pharaoh's authority, have the grain stored in the cities for food. Store it all as food reserve for the people during the seven years of famine coming upon Egypt, so that the land will survive the famine.""
Genesis 41:51-52 TPT
"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.""
Genesis 50:19-21 TPT
"But Joseph dried his tears and said, "Don't be afraid. How could I ever take the place of God? Even though you intended to hurt me, God intended it for good. It was his plan all along, to ensure the survival of many people. So, don't worry. I myself will provide for you all that you need, both for you and your little ones." Then with more kind, reassuring words, Joseph comforted his brothers."
Genesis 50:24-25 NLT
""Soon I will die," Joseph told his brothers, "but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, "When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.""
Joshua 24:32 NLT
"The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the plot of land Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for 100 pieces of silver. This land was located in the territory allotted to the descendants of Joseph."
Setting the Stage:
Yesterday, we walked with Joseph from the robe to the prison. Today, we pick up where we left off. The butler forgot Joseph, and he sat in the king's prison two more years. Then Pharaoh has a dream nobody in Egypt can interpret, and the butler finally remembers. Pharaoh sends for Joseph. He shaves, changes his clothes, and stands before the most powerful man on earth. He interprets the dream, and then he does something nobody asked him to do. He hands Pharaoh a plan. Pharaoh turns to his officials and says, "Where can we find anyone else like this one, for he has the Spirit of God in him!" Joseph is thirty years old, and he woke up in prison and went to sleep in the palace.
For seven years, Joseph fills the storehouses of Egypt. Then the famine hits, and the whole world comes to Egypt for bread. One day, ten men walk in and bow with their faces to the ground. They are his brothers. More than twenty years after the dreams, the sheaves are bowing. But God had already done something in Joseph before those men ever arrived. He had named his firstborn Manasseh, saying, "God has made me forget all my troubles and my parental home." So when Joseph finally tells them who he is, he does not pay them back. His heart was already healed from the pain. He tells them, "So it was God who sent me here, not you!"
Jacob came down to Egypt, crossed his hands over Joseph's two boys, and gave Joseph the double portion. When Jacob died, the brothers were sure Joseph would finally get even. After all those years, this is the first time (at least in the Bible), that they apologized. But Joseph was too settled in God to do anything at that point. Joseph wept and comforted them. Then Joseph lived to be 110 years old. And with his last breath, he did not talk about the palace. He talked about the promise. He made his family swear to carry his bones out of Egypt. Hundreds of years later, they did. And they buried those bones at Shechem, the very place where Jacob sent a seventeen-year-old boy to go check on his brothers.
Here is what I want you to see today. Joseph's destiny did not end in the pit, and it did not even end in the palace. His destiny was bigger than his lifetime.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. While We May Want All Sorts Of Promotions, God Only Promotes You Into What He Prepared You For.
Think about what happened in that throne room. Joseph had never held a position in the government and most certainly never stood before a nation. And still Pharaoh looked at him and said, "I hereby place you in charge of all my affairs, and all my people will obey your commands." How does a prisoner become prime minister in one day? I taught you this in Part 53: God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. Pharaoh could not explain it, so he named it: "He has the Spirit of God in him!" Here is the key. Every room Joseph walked through was a classroom. Potiphar's house taught him to manage. The prison taught him how Egypt's throne worked. The palace was not a surprise to God. It was the place God had been preparing him for all his life.
How this applies to you:
-- Promotion does not come from people; it comes from God, and He uses people to deliver it.
-- Pharaoh did not know Joseph's name when he woke up that morning. By sundown, Joseph wore the king's ring. That only happens when you are destined.
-- Joseph had never run a country, but he had the Spirit of God in him. God's grace was on him for the assignment, and you can say the same: God's grace is on you for everything God has assigned to you.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He planned the promotion right along with the preparation. The pit, the house, and the prison were all on the way to the palace.
-- Nothing you learned in the hard place will be wasted in the high place.
-- Joseph showed up, and grace showed out.
-- When God promotes you, nobody can stop it. What people held back for thirteen years, God released in one day.
2. God Gives You A Plan Bigger Than Your Problem.
Joseph did not stop at the interpretation. Before Pharaoh ever offered him a job, Joseph laid out a strategy: "Let Pharaoh appoint other officials throughout the land to collect one-fifth of all the crops each year during the seven plentiful years." Store it in the cities. Guard it. Then open the storehouses when the famine comes, "so that the land will survive the famine." Think about this. Joseph's dreams were about his family bowing down to him. But God's plan was about feeding a whole world. The dream got Joseph's attention, but the plan fulfilled his destiny.
How this applies to you:
-- I taught you this in Part 49: Vision without details is a wish.
-- Joseph's dreams showed his family bowing. God's plan showed a world being fed. God's dream for your life is always bigger than your understanding of it.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He made it bigger than you.
-- Joseph stored grain in the good years so there would be bread in the bad years. The plenty was part of the preparation. God can give you money with a mission and prosperity with a purpose.
-- The purpose of God's overflow is to impact those you are assigned to reach.
-- The famine was the problem, but God had the answer sitting in Egypt seven years before the first crop failed.
-- Ask God for the vision, and then ask Him for the details. He is a God of the details.
-- If what you are doing right now is not the thing, it is the thing getting you ready for the thing.
3. God Heals You So You Can Forgive Them.
Look at the order. Joseph named his sons before his brothers ever walked through the door: "God has made me forget all my troubles and my parental home," and "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." I taught you this in Part 54: God healed Joseph before He brought the brothers back. That is why, years later, when Jacob died, and the brothers were sure Joseph would finally pay them back, Joseph dried his tears and said, "Don't be afraid. How could I ever take the place of God?" He did not just forgive them. He said, "I myself will provide for you all that you need." That is what a healed heart looks like.
How this applies to you:
-- God heals you before He allows you to face those who hurt you.
-- Hurt people hold grudges; healed people hand out blessings. This is one of the reasons why you want to open up your heart to healing. You want to live blessed and not bitter.
-- Joseph had the power to punish them, and he used it to provide for them instead. That is what grace looks like.
-- Joseph's brothers never said they were sorry, and he forgave them anyway. You do not need their apology to be free.
-- Having a divine perspective makes it easy to forgive people. When you see God's hand in the story, their hand loses its power over you.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and your healing is part of it. You cannot carry a grudge and focus on your destiny at the same time.
-- Healed people heal people, and forgiven people forgive people. Since God has healed and forgiven you, this teaches you how you ought to treat others.
4. Faith Always Looks Past The Palace (The Blessing).
Joseph had everything a man could want in Egypt. The ring, the chariot, the palace, and his grandchildren on his knees. And yet, with his last breath, he did not talk about any of it. He said, "God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt." Then he made them promise: "When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you." Hebrews says, "Faith inspired Joseph and opened his eyes to see into the future." Over 400 years later, Moses carried those bones out of Egypt, and they were buried at Shechem, "in the territory allotted to the descendants of Joseph." Here is what I love about it. Shechem is where Jacob sent Joseph to find his brothers when he was seventeen. God brought Joseph full circle.
How this applies to you:
-- Egypt was Joseph's assignment, but the promise was bigger than Egypt or Joseph. When Joseph called for his family to come to Egypt, they came in as 70 people. 400 years later, they left as millions. They had become a great nation. God is always looking at the bigger picture.
-- Joseph had a palace in Egypt and still asked to be buried in the Promised Land. Faith keeps your heart on what God said, even when life is good where you are.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and it reaches past your lifetime. What God starts in you will keep blessing people after you are gone.
-- The story that started at Shechem ended at Shechem. God will bring you full circle.
-- Your faith is a legacy.
-- This is where we close the life of Joseph. On Monday, we begin the life of Daniel. Joseph's God is your God, and He is not finished with you.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, my destiny is bigger than my lifetime!
My promotion comes from You, not from people!
You qualify me for what You call me to do!
You give me the plan before You give me the position!
Nothing I learned in the hard place is wasted!
You heal my heart before You bring them back!
I forgive because I have been forgiven!
I will not carry a grudge into my destiny!
My faith will bless people long after I am gone!
You will bring me full circle!
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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