Be ready to forgive!

So… I will not paste all of the verses dealing with Joseph forgiving his brothers, but you can look them up yourself! You can find it in Genesis 42-43!

This is pretty self explanatory, but Joseph understood completely the art of forgiving! Think of your worst enemy… the person who it is hardest for you to forgive. What have they done to you that made it so hard? I have a feeling that it is nothing near as bad as what Joseph’s brothers did to him… Yet he still chose to forgive them! Did he have to? No! Even though it was the nice thing to do there was nothing at all making or forcing him to forgive them and have pity on them! Jesus did the same thing for you and I. You know… Sometimes i get this bright idea that it wasn’t near as hard to forgive me as it would be to forgive those who actually nailed Him to the cross, but I could not be any more wrong!! It was MY sin who took him there…. If He could forgive me then how much more can I forgive those who hurt me?

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Be ready to give an account!

^{Genesis 41}

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and^(A) blighted by the east wind. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸So in the morning^(B) his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the^(C) magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. ¹⁰When Pharaoh was^(D) angry with his servants^(E) and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ^11(F) we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him,^(G) he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. ¹³And^(H) as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

^14(I) Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they^(J) quickly brought him^(K) out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.^(L) I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh,^(M) “It is not in me;^(N) God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”^{[a] 17}Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold,^(O) in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. ¹⁸Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And^(P) I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one;^(Q) God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also^(R) seven years of famine. ²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh;^(S) God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come^(T) seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰but after them there will arise^(U) seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.^(V) The famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³²And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the^(W) thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land^[b] of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And^(X) let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Joseph Rises to Power

³⁷This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this,^(Y) in whom is the Spirit of God?”^{[c] 39}Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. ^40(Z) You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.^[d] Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See,^(AA) I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharaoh^(AB) took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and^(AC) clothed him in garments of fine linen^(AD) and put a gold chain about his neck. ⁴³And he made him ride in his second chariot.^(AE) And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!”^[e] Thus he set him^(AF) over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and^(AG) without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he^(AH) entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, ⁴⁸and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance,^(AI) like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

⁵⁰Before the year of famine came,^(AJ) two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”^{[f] 52}The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has^(AK) made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”^[g]

⁵³The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴and^(AL) the seven years of famine began to come,^(AM) as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

⁵⁶So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses^[h] and^(AN) sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe^(AO) over all the earth.

 

So, we talked about last time how the woman tried to talk him into doing things he shouldn’t do, but instead he ran, remember? I’m sure you do! 😉 Well, you would think after he did the right thing and he was such a man of honor and all that he would get in good with the king, right? Wrong. Joseph was put into prison. While in prison he explained some dreams for two people. When those two people got out of jail do you think they remembered him? Not right away… Once the cup bearer had been out of jail for a while when the King had a dream and he all of the sudden remembered Joseph! Now think about this… Joseph had been in jail for a while and had no clue that the Cup bearer had finally remembered him. All of the sudden he was summoned and within a few moments he was in front of the King. To be able to interpret the King’s dreams he had to be in a close relationship with God. My point in all this is… Each day we have opportunities to give an account. Whether it is a friend who needs help with something, sharing our faith, just knowing when to give an encouraging word, etc. You have to be ready! Joseph was… He had a close relationship with God and was ready to give an account. How is your walk with the Lord? Would you be ready if you only had a few seconds to go before the King? The truth is… you have chances to share your faith and give an account every day. It’s your choice as to how prepared you are! This is my challenge to you… get into God’s word and if you are already into God’s word then take it to the next level! Whatever that may be for you… whether it is a specific sin or whatever. Only you and God know that! So… go! Get into God’s word today! 🙂

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Psalm 100

Psalm 100:1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

² Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

³ Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his ^[a] ;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

 

I was asked to post this for Thanksgiving and I thought that it was a wonderful idea! Hope you all have a marvelous Thanksgiving!

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Links

Ok, so I’m hijacking the blog for a minute to deal with some maintenance type stuff. Our links have been updated, all blogs listed ave been read regularly by myself and others I trust (aka, my mom) for a while and are believed to be solid. You may notice that there are two categories for links, For Both and For Girls. That’s because the third category is woefully empty. Let’s face it, we’re three girls, we can only do so much. So, guys, if you have any suggestions on Biblical blogs for guys, do tell. Otherwise, be content with the For Both category!
Thanks-
SweetTart

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The Life of Joseph

First off, I want to apologize for not writing earlier in the week. I want to talk about the life of Joseph and 3 practical lessons that we can learn from his life!

 

The first application is in Genesis 39:11- 12, ” One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.”. The point of this is to be above reproach! Whether it is with guys/girls or whether it is in your school work, home life, in the words you use, in the way you interact with others, and even the things that you do when no one is watching. Are you above reproach? We see in these verses above that Joseph FLED! He didn’t say, “I do not think so”, “Not right now”, or “Nahhhh your husband might not like that.”. No! He RAN! I truly believe that if we took this fact to heart it would change the world we live in. Do you? I mean God promises us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that He will provide a way of escape for anyone who wants it. We can not ask why we could not get out when we were still standing on the edge of the sin! 2 Timothy 2:22a says, “Flee youthful passions!”. Youthful passions can be anything…. The point is you and I, we all need to FLEE! Then, by running away from sin what will we be running to? God! The end of verse 22 says, “Pursue Righteousness, faith, love, and peace!”! If you run away from something you have to be running to something else…. which way are you running? Next time you come up to a hard situation think to yourself, “Which way am I running?”. If your answer is towards sin (You may not be necessarily running towards it, but if you are not running away then you mise well be running towards it!)  or towards your Heavenly father?

 

I truly believe that each one of you who read this blog are seeking God with your everything, but sometimes we just need a reminder to keep going! Just keep on running! I know I do! 🙂 I’m praying for you guys!

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His Strength, not mine… again

Ok, so it’s my week to do the blog and once again, I was wondering what to write about.  Again, God tells me, “Write about what you’re learning about.”

“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NKJV)

 If I had to choose a theme verse for my life this semester, it would have to be this one.  God keeps bringing this verse to mind in every situation that has come up in my life this past month.  Let me just give you a couple of examples.

Earlier this week, I realized that I had only read three pages in my history book last week since we were out of town.  This was mostly my fault as a procrastinator, because I had chosen to read other things, knowing full well that I should have been reading history.  I wanted to do better this week.

Because Mrs. Jody is teaching school now, she couldn’t be there to direct a drama event we did a couple of weeks ago.  Being her assistant director, I became director for the day.  Those of you who know me well know that I am naturally a follower, so this was a Hard Thing for me.

These are just a couple of instances that come to mind at the moment.  In each case, I had to come to God crying, “I can’t do this!!”  Then it was as if He said to me, “Now that you know you can’t, I can do it through you.”

In regard to reading history, He gave me a genuine interest in what I was studying and the ability to focus on completing the tasks at hand.  In one day, I was able to read (and comprehend!) six times the amount I had read the previous week.

At the drama presentation, God gave me Clay to keep me calm, and an amazing drama group who ran everything smoothly!

Over and over again, nearly every day, He tells me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”  And though I don’t have nearly as severe trials as Paul had, God’s grace is sufficient for whatever situation He has considered me able to handle.  And if He gives me an extra trial, I can be assured that He will also be holding out an extra measure of His grace, if I will only take it. 

His grace is always sufficient, if we will only depend on Him for strength.  “For when I am weak [I can’t do this!], then I am strong [I can do all things through Christ!].”

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God’s Chisel by the Skit Guys

For today’s post, I wanted to share a video that they showed in our youth group a few weeks ago.  It is somewhat comical, but mostly very convicting.

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A Mentor

My quiet time reading this morning was Titus 2:1-10.  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Titus%202:1-10&version=NKJV

I would love to elaborate more on this passage’s specific directions to each group (older and younger men and women, and servants), but to everything there is a season, and that is not what I am focusing on today. 

What I got out of this passage today was – be a mentor.  Something that Bro. Tom said when preaching on this passage really stuck in my mind: We need to have mentors, and we need to be mentors.  What exactly does mentor mean?  It basically means an adviser, counselor, and teacher; someone who will give godly advice and keep us accountable. 

Do you have a mentor?  Someone you can pattern your life after, go to for advice, who will tell you the truth even if it isn’t pleasant?  And I don’t mean actors or politicians or musicians that you can look at and say “I want to be like that.”  I mean a person in your real life – someone that you can look at face-to-face.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who is older age-wise, but must be someone who is more spiritually mature.  If you don’t have someone like that in your life, find that person to keep you accountable.

Bro. Tom also challenged each one of us to find a younger Christian to be a mentor to.  I want to challenge each of you to this also.  Some will say, “Are you serious?  I’m not old!  I can see that I should have someone to keep me accountable, but how can I be a mentor if I’m not old and wise?”  First of all, we as youth are commanded to set an example for all believers. (1 Timothy 4:12)  And secondly, dear brothers and sisters, I want you to realize that you are an example to someone whether you know it or not.  There are younger girls and boys that are watching you, and they want to be just like you!  How do I know?  Because I have girls that have told me that – they want to be just like me!  How convicting that is!  You don’t become a mentor when you ask someone “How can I keep you accountable?”  You become a mentor when a newer Christian looks at you and says “I want to be like that.”

Notice the flow of the passage.  We’ve got instructions to older men, then to older women.  Then it says “Older women, teach the younger women,” and “Older men teach the younger men.”  In order to be a godly mentor, we must first have a right relationship with God ourselves.  As Paul said of pastors in 1 Timothy 3:5 – “For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” I think this could be applied every believer as such: “If you’re not living a godly life yourself, how do you expect to teach others how to live in God’s will?”

Let me make clear what I am trying to say.  It is so important that we live in a way that glorifies Christ!  We never know who is watching, and patterning their life after ours.  I love how Jennifer put it the other day: It’s not that we should be concerned about what people think of us, but what they think of Christ because of us.  Jennifer, you don’t know how many times I have used that in my own personal life in just this past week.  I shouldn’t try to be godly so that people will say, “Look at what a perfect Christian Rebecca is,” but rather so that people will say, “Jesus Christ changed her life, and He can do the same for me.”

To summarize, my challenge today is this: First of all, if you have not, find a mentor – someone you can look up to, learn from, and be accountable to.  Second of all, be a mentor – someone that people can look at, see your life and praise God for what He is doing in you (Matthew 5:14-16).

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Apology

Hey, just a quick apology for the sparse posting this week. All three authors were out of town! Hopefully we will do a lot better in the future. Love you guys!

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The Hardest Thing

If you know me, our have read this blog any, then you’ve probably heard me talk about the Rebelution and the idea of Do Hard Things. Well, today I’d like to share with you the hardest thing.

So, what is the hardest thing? Surprisingly, it’s rather simple. Yet it’s fought against be our culture day in and day out. It’s a nasty little word called obedience. And more specifically obedience to our parents. Why is this the hardest thing? because everything we do comes back to it. Because the world says we don’t have to obey our parents. Beacuase, no matter what good and hard things we do, if we are not obeying our parents, they are null.

Ephesions 6:1-4 (ESV) says,  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Colossians 3:20 (ESV) says, Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Both these passages command us to obey our parents. and they both refer back to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (vs. 12, ESV) So do hard things guys and gals, obey your parents.

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