Grace in Galatians (Part 184) – Joseph Focused on Doing Good While He Was Waiting

https://youtu.be/NfJkqZlc52g?si=krfmthJhZ_MFuQUK

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.

As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians.

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 we will study today:

Galatians 6:10 NIV“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Galatians 6:9 ERV“We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up!”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 39:2-3 AMPC“But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to flourish in his hand.”

Genesis 39:9 AMPC“He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God?”

Genesis 39:21 AMPC“But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and loving-kindness and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison.”

Genesis 41:38 AMPC“And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Genesis 50:20 AMPC“As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day.”

Romans 8:28 TPT“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are God’s lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.”

Colossians 3:23 TPT“Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others.”

Setting the Stage:

Yesterday, we crossed over into Galatians 6:10, and I made a clear connection between verse 9 and verse 10. The Apostle Paul tells us what to do while we’re waiting on God. We should do good to all people. Especially the family of faith. Today, I want to take you one layer deeper. Doing good in the wait is not just an instruction. It is a survival strategy. It is what keeps you sane, sober, and standing between the promise and the performance. The doing good is the engine that carries you through the gap.

While we were dealing with verse 9, we looked at the life of Joseph and the life of David. I’m going to do the same thing now with verse 10. When Joseph was just a teenager, around 17 years old, God gave him a dream. He saw his brothers bowing down before him, and even his father bowing down before him. But then you know the story: his brothers tried to kill him. They sold him off as a slave. He was sent off to a foreign country. He operated as a slave there, then he was falsely accused, and he wound up in a prison cell. 13 years after he got the dream, he was promoted from prisoner to prime minister one day, and then over seven years later, his brother showed up, and the dream came to pass, so there was a 20-year gap. 

Watch what Joseph did in the gap. Watch what he refused to do. He did not turn bitter. He did not stop being Joseph. He did not save his gift for the throne. In every room he was forced into, he “did good.” He served Potiphar with excellence. He kept his integrity when no one was watching. He ran a prison from the bottom up. He used his gift to bless a cupbearer who forgot him for two more years. And here is the part most people miss. The “doing good” was not just preparation for the throne. The “doing good” was what KEPT him until the throne came.

I told you yesterday that I have been waiting on God for something for 13 years. The same number Joseph waited. And I will tell you the truth. If I had spent those 13 years staring at the calendar, I would have lost my mind. I have not lost my mind because I refused to stop being a blessing in the wait. I keep writing Today’s Word. I keep preaching the gospel. I keep leaving Rick and Isabella Pina’s Ministries. I keep helping build Inspired Solutions. I keep serving on boards, coaching and mentoring, and seeking to be a blessing to as many people as I can. And of course, I keep focusing on my first ministry, which is my family. If I had stopped doing good, I probably would have given up in more ways than one, and quitting would have negatively impacted many areas of my life.

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

1. Joseph Served Excellently Even When He Was Betrayed By His Own Brothers.

Genesis 39:2 says the Lord was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house. But here is what I want you to see. The Lord was with Joseph BEFORE Potiphar’s house. The Lord was with him in the pit. The Lord was with him in the slave caravan. Joseph could have shown up to Potiphar’s house broken, bitter, and refusing to serve. He had every reason to. His brothers had betrayed him. He had been ripped from his father’s house. He had been sold like cattle to a foreign trader. Most people would have shown up to slavery with a chip on their shoulder. But Joseph went to work. He did the job of a slave with the character of a king. And Potiphar noticed. The AMPC says his master saw that “the Lord made all he did to flourish in his hand.” Excellence in the wait is what positioned Joseph for the next level. Excellence in your wait is what positions you too.

How this applies to you:

— Most people would have phoned it in. Joseph clocked in. The slave who serves like a king will not stay a slave forever.

— Genesis 39:3 says Potiphar saw that “the Lord was with him.” Potiphar was an Egyptian, not a Jew. Your boss does not have to be a believer to recognize the favor of God on your life. Excellence preaches in a way that far exceeds anything you could say out of your mouth.

— I’ve been in the communications and technology arena for over 36 years. My career has seen me get elevated, promoted, and acknowledged time and time again. It was not because I started off with a degree or connections. It was because I was (and always have been) committed to excellence. 

— Joseph was not promoted because of his connections. He was promoted because of his consistency. You cannot simply network your way to the next level. God gives you the grace to work your way there, and when you are submitted to Him, your work is always excellent.

— Some of you have been working a job that feels like a demotion compared to what God said about you. Joseph would tell you, “Work the demotion like it is the destination, and watch what God does.”

— The wait does not get to redefine your work ethic. God’s hand was on Joseph in slavery the same way it was on him in the palace, and the work he did was the same quality in both rooms.

— Colossians 3:23 TPT says, “Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself.” Your boss may not deserve excellence. But Jesus does. You are not working for your boss. You work for the Audience of One.

— Hear me on this. The excellence Joseph poured into Potiphar’s house was not just preparing him for the palace. It was what kept him sane while the palace was delayed. If you commit to doing good in your wait, the doing good itself becomes the strength that carries you through. You will not just endure the wait. You will be built by it.

2. Joseph Kept His Integrity When The Wait Got Lonely.

Genesis 39 tells us Potiphar’s wife pursued Joseph day after day. She kept coming after him, and he kept saying no. She wanted sex, and this young man, in a foreign country, far from family, far from accountability, and far from anybody who would ever know, kept saying NO! He could have rationalized. He could have said, “I have been wronged by everyone in my life. I deserve a moment of pleasure.” Instead, he gave one of the most solid responses in the entire Old Testament. He said, “How can I do this great evil and sin against God?” Catch who Joseph thinks he is sinning against. Not Potiphar. Not himself. God. The wait did not erase Joseph’s identity. He still saw God as central. Most failures in the wait happen because people forget who they are while they are frustrated with the wait. Joseph did not forget. Joseph knew who he was, even with no one watching.

How this applies to you:

— The wait gets lonely. Lonely people make compromises that people of integrity would never consider. But Joseph kept his integrity because his identity was not contingent upon his location.

— Joseph’s first allegiance was to God, not to his comfort, not to his release, and not to his convenience. When you keep your priorities in order, you’ll be amazed at how much you can endure. 

— The wife’s offer was real. She was rich. She was powerful. And she was offering a young man a guilty pleasure. But he refused to sin against God, even though His God had allowed him to wind up as a slave. We can all learn critical life lessons from young Joseph. 

— Many Christians are seduced in the wait. Maybe it’s not by a person. But it’s by a paycheck. Or by a relationship. Or by an opportunity that does not line up with what God said. Do not trade an Isaac for an Ishmael. Do not trade the promise for a substitute, just because it is taking longer than you wanted.

— Joseph fled. He did not negotiate. He did not entertain. He ran. Sometimes obedience requires you run from the temptation, because you know it is getting too strong. 

— The result of his integrity was a false accusation and a prison cell. Sometimes doing right gets you punished in the short run. But heaven keeps a different ledger than the earth. What looked like a setback was a setup.

— Joseph’s integrity in the wait did not just protect his future. It protected his present. Integrity is what kept him standing. When you commit to doing right while you wait, the doing right becomes the very thing that holds you up when everything else is trying to take you down.

3. Joseph Used His Gift To Bless People Who Could Not Repay Him.

Joseph lands in prison for a crime he did not commit. The Bible says the Lord was with him there too, and the warden put Joseph in charge of the entire operation. Then two new prisoners arrive. The cupbearer (the butler) and the baker. Both have troubling dreams. Joseph could have sat in his corner and stewed about how unfair life was. Instead, the Bible says he saw their faces and asked, “Why the long faces?” That question is the heartbeat of doing good in the wait. He NOTICED. He used his gift to serve them. He told them the truth even when the truth was hard (the baker would die in three days). He asked the butler to remember him before Pharaoh. And the butler forgot. For TWO years. But Joseph did not stop using his gift just because the last person did not pay him back. The next dream he interpreted was Pharaoh’s, and that interpretation moved him from the prison floor to the Prime Minister’s office in a single day.

How this applies to you:

— Joseph noticed the sadness on two strangers’ faces while he was in his own prison cell. The capacity to notice somebody else’s pain while you carry your own is one of the most Christlike things you can do.

— Some of you have been so consumed by your own wait that you have stopped noticing the people God placed right next to you. Look up. Someone is waiting on who you to be a blessing to them, but you won’t do it if you are too consumed with your own situation.

— The butler FORGOT Joseph for two years. Two years. But a lesson God keeps teaching us over and over again is that His timing is perfect. 

— Joseph did not say, “I will use my gift when I’m free.” He used it where he was. Do not save your gift for the

season after the wait. Use it IN the wait.

— Serving others while you wait on God does something to YOU. It keeps your heart soft, your gift sharp, and your faith alive. The doing good is not just for them. The doing good is what carries you until the promise comes.

4. Doing Good In The Wait Is What Carried Joseph To The Throne.

Here is the principle I want you to walk away with. Joseph did not arrive at the throne by waiting passively. He arrived by serving actively. Every act of doing good was a brick in the bridge between the dream and the manifestation. His excellence in Potiphar’s house got him noticed. His integrity got him out of bed and into prison. His prison service got him favor with the warden. His dream interpretation got him in front of Pharaoh. The doing good was not a side activity. It was the road. And listen to how Joseph summed up his entire 13-year wait at the end of the story. Genesis 50:20. “As for you, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive.” 

How this applies to you:

— The wait did not finish Joseph. The doing good kept Joseph alive in the wait. You do not endure the wait by waiting. You endure by serving.

— Joseph could have spent 13 years rehearsing his pain. Instead he spent 13 years rehearsing his calling. What you rehearse in the wait is what you become at the manifestation.

— Romans 8:28 TPT says “every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good.” Joseph’s doing good in 13 years of pain became the thread God used to save nations. Your doing good in your wait is being woven into something bigger than you can see right now.

— Some of you have been asking God “Why the wait is taking so long?” Joseph would tell you the wait is where the man is made who can handle the blessing. You are not just waiting for God to move. God is moving on you and in you while you wait.

— I have been waiting on God for 13 years for something specific. And I will tell you what kept me. The doing good. Today’s Word. Inspired Solutions. The Dominican Republic. Loving Isabella. Investing in my children. Showing up at church. The doing good is the engine that has carried me through, and it will carry you through too.

— Joseph was 30 when he stood before Pharaoh. He was been 17 when he received the dream. Thirteen years of doing good produced one moment of doing miraculous. Heaven was not delaying. Heaven was developing.

— Listen carefully. The wait will try to break you. The promise feels far. The calendar feels cruel. But if you commit to doing good in the gap, the doing good becomes the very thing that carries you across the gap. You will not arrive at the throne exhausted from waiting. You will arrive strengthened from serving!

That’s enough for today. Tomorrow, we walk with David.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that the doing good in my wait is not wasted. It is the road to the throne You promised me!

Like Joseph, I serve with excellence in every room I am put in, even when the room does not match the dream.

I keep my integrity when the wait gets lonely, because You are my first audience and You are watching.

I refuse to trade a throne for a moment, an Isaac for an Ishmael, or a destination for a shortcut.

I use my gift to bless people who cannot repay me, because heaven keeps a different ledger than earth.

I notice the people You placed next to me in the wait, and I serve them out of the strength You give.

I rehearse my calling instead of rehearsing my pain, because what I rehearse is what I become.

The same God who was with Joseph in the pit, the slave caravan, the prison, and the palace is the same God with me in every season of my wait.

I am living in THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, and I have discovered that doing good in the wait is the engine that carries me to the manifestation.

I am living THE GRACE LIFE, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

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

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