Dear friends, I want us to continue examining the life of Joseph. The lesson from his life that we will be focusing on today is this: You can prosper under any circumstances; all it takes is for you to pay the price for God to be with you. No matter what you do, no matter what your status in life and no matter what your circumstances, if you can have access to the presence of God, you will succeed. Joseph was in slavery, sold to a foreign land by his own blood brothers, but that could not stop his prosperity. What really determines our success or prosperity in life is the presence of God with us. The way might not be easy. The journey might be longer than we think, but if God is with us the way will be decked with the goodness and the favour of God. In all his afflictions, Joseph was able to pay the price to gain access to the presence of God. What was it that Joseph did? He held onto his integrity, he demonstrated his love for God through consistent obedience to God, and he followed the ways of God in the land of his affliction.
“And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. 2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand” (Genesis 39:1-4)
Genesis 39: 20-22 God’s presence was all that Joseph needed. This little boy of 17 years old was stripped of basically everything in life; his mother had died, his home and relatives were far away, and he was living in a foreign country with people of a different culture speaking a foreign language unknown to him. With all these circumstances in his life, Joseph had no chance at all to make it. It seems life itself is against him. But alas, when God is with someone, he has no lack at all. The person with whom God is has all it takes to be successful and to become whom he has been destined by God to be.
Study the lives of all the people of whom it was said, “and God was with him,” and you will notice that despite all the terrible and dangerous situations they found themselves in, they all shone like bright stars in their generation.
Dear reader, maybe you have been rejected by friends, maybe you have been rejected by loved ones, maybe your father and mother have forsaken you, maybe your husband has just left you for another lady or your wife has just left you to marry a more prosperous man, maybe you have just lost a breadwinner or a close relative. Your world may seem to be collapsing right now. Hey, listen to God’s word to you today. Stay in tune with God! He is all that you need in this life. Pay whatever price it takes to obtain His presence in your life. I guarantee you that the reward will be far greater than any price you will pay.Remember, if God be for you, no one and nothing can be against you. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8: 31).
May His majestic presence accompany your day today!
Remain blessed
Pastor Rufus Ajiboy
