How can you possibly trust God in the times you are drowning in hardship, suffering and heartache?
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, remained a slave in Egypt for 11 years, then his life went from bad to worse. He was falsely convicted of rape and put in prison. How could anyone trust God after all that? Joseph’s life reveals 4 keys to trusting God despite the circumstances of your life.
00:00 Joseph’s Story
4:08 Key #1 to Trusting God. God causes all thing to work for your good.
6:03 Key #2 To Trusting God. God is Greater than anything you face!
7:02 Key #3 to Trusting God. God’s plan is greater than your understanding.
8:29 Key #4 to Trusting God. God’s Love for You is Real, It’s tangible.
10:14 Activation
Promised Link: Chuck Colson’s book: “Born Again” https://amzn.to/3WCCiNY This is an affiliate link.
Joseph’s Story -see the video
*Key #1 to Trusting God. God causes all thing to work for your good.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
It’s impossible to image how the bitter hatred of Joseph’s 8 older stepbrothers, who sold him as a slave, could ever be a good thing.
And how could Potipher’s wife lusting after young Joseph and accusing him of rape become a good thing? In prison for two years. A criminal. How could God ever use that for good. But he did!
Chuck Colson, special counsel the President Nixon, was convicted of Watergate-related crimes and sent to prison. He went from having an office next to the president, to a prison cell. How could that ever be a good thing?
Colson gave his life to Jesus before he went to prison. When he got out, Colson wrote books that changed the lives of thousands of people (including me) and founded Prison Fellowship International which has transformed the lives of millions of prisoners and their families around the world. Who but God could turn Colson’s disgrace and shame into something so glorious?
God promised it and he will do it: He will work all things for your good because you love him and are called according to his purposes. And God has a purpose for your life. God has plans – detailed, specific plans for your life.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
*Key #2 To Trusting God. God is Greater than anything you face!
Genesis 29:20-21 tells us “the Lord was with him”, was kind to him and gave him favor.
Even more so, the Holy Spirit is always with us to help us and be with us forever:
John 14:16-17: Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. … he lives with you and will be in you.
1 John 4:4
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
God, the Holy Spirit who is always with you, is infinitely more powerful that Satan..
*Key #3 to Trusting God. God’s plan is greater than your understanding.
First, God has a plan. A great and wonderful plan to redeem mankind. We live in the final days of that plan. God’s primary goal is to save us and transform us to be like Jesus.
There will be things we don’t know or can’t understand about God’s greater plan and what is happening to us. What is happening in our lives may not make sense. For 13 years, Joseph’s life didn’t make sense. Then, suddenly, it did! Joseph’s life was lived to save the lives of everyone in his family which would soon become the Israelites, a great people.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
In the prison, at the lowest point of his life, God was working in Joseph. It may have felt like God had forgotten him, but God had great plans for Joseph.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God’s plans for you are good! God is the redeemer – who turns bad into good in our lives.
*Key #4 to Trusting God. God’s Love for You is Real, It’s tangible.
What God did for Joseph, he will do for you. He will use your greatest struggles to grow your character, then lift you out of those struggles when you are ready to do the things God has planned for your life.
Isaiah 59:14 is a precious promise.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
God is saying to you, right now, “I LOVE YOU. I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU.”
There are more keys to trusting God found in this amazing story. Read the story in Genesis and let Holy Spirit strengthen and encourage you.
Activation: See Practical Steps to apply this to your life today.
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