Well, some people would say he was careless and that if he had hidden his dream, he would not have gone through the ordeals of the pit and then being sold into slavery.
However, I also want you to know that if he had not verbalized his dream, he might not have been sold into slavery and he might not have been transported into Egypt from where he eventually fulfilled his destiny! Talk about God using perceived enemies to fulfill His counsel over your life!
Hear me well this morning! God is using some of the people you hate right now and you think don’t like you to achieve His overall plans for your life! In the end, you will see how everything will eventually add up! Before you fight the person that jilted you, why don’t you wait for the unveiling of the new person God is bringing your way? You will thank him or her later for breaking your heart!
Learn to talk faith and not doubt. Learn to say what you want God to do and not what you are going through in your relationship or as singles. It is a spiritual principle! Say what you will like to happen and not just what has happened or what is happening!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am a dreamer. I will not stop dreaming!
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will give the strength to say No in the face of compromise
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Gen 39:2 KJV And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
COUPLES – How To Show Respect To Your Spouse – Part 2
What are the practical ways to show respect to yourselves in marriage?
1. Know that your spouse is so very special before God. Your spouse is bought with the precious blood of Jesus. Jesus would have come to die for your spouse alone.
2. Do not yell at your spouse. You may be angry but never yell.
3. Allow freedom of expression. It is okay to be different. That’s why you married in the first place. Men and women are meant to be different.
4. Let your spouse feel safe, secure, and trusted by building mutual respect.
5. When you have opposing opinions which will happen most times, you listen. Your listening shows respect.
6. Respect that your spouse is worth listening to. He/ she has something vital to bring to the table.
7. Allow healthy space when it is needed, it shows respect. Let your spouse be by him/herself, have her own friends, her own things etc
8. Do not control one another. Your relationship is unhealthy when there is the slightest control. God asks us to love, not control. Jesus never controlled the church.
9. Both spouses should admit once they are wrong and sincerely seek forgiveness. Swallow your pride and admit you are wrong and apologize.
10. Never treat one another shabbily, in private or public. Show appreciation for every little thing your spouse does. Don’t take each other for granted.
God bless our marriage.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY my marriage is blessed in all ramifications.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will enable you to pay the price for the fullness of His blessings in your home.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Heb 13:4 [AMP]Let marriage be held in honor (esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things. And thus let the marriage bed be undefiled (kept undishonored); for God will judge and punish the unchaste [all guilty of sexual vice] and adulterous.
Dear child, today I write to you on behalf of your mom and Dad. Mom and dad loves you. They want you to always know that they care about you, and they love you from the depth of their hearts.
One of the proofs of their love for you is that they have chosen to expose you the God’s word and the love of Christ at a very tender age, taking you through these devotionals every day is evidence of this fact.
I know you sometimes feel they don’t love you, especially when you are scolded for doing something wrong.
I am about to shock you!
The fact that they scolded and correct you is proof of how much they love you!
I know you won’t believe me, so I will be showing you what the bible says about correction and scolding, you will agree with me that the bible is the ultimate truth. Let’s see what our focus verse for today says.
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. –Proverbs 3:11-12 (KJV)
Let me make this verse a lot simpler for you.
The bible is saying first of all that God corrects us as his children when his corrects come, we should pay close attention and take it as a warning, and that God corrects those he loves, as parents correct a child they are proud of.
So you see God corrects us, and so do our parents. The role of mummy and daddy is to let us know when we do something wrong and help us do better, even if we get flogged for it.
It’s a child that is loved that gets corrected, today embrace every scolding and correction that comes from your parent, and always strive to do better to make them proud of you.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, help me to accept corrections at all times. Amen
ACTION PLAN: Tell your parents how much you love them
DECLARATION:
I love my mum and Dad, I cherish their sacrifices.
We all know the story of Joseph and I will like to bring out some salient truths by the Spirit of God as it relates to relationships and marriage.
What God did in the life of Joseph is what you could call a ‘crazy miracle.’ God did not just make him an important man in Egypt, a strange land, he actually became a father unto Pharaoh!
It is like God making you a father unto the King of Dubai! It is as crazy as that! How did Joseph get there? What kind of a person is he?
(4) And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. (5) Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (6) For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. (7) And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.(8) So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. – Gen 45:4-8 KJV
Here are things to learn
1. Joseph was a dreamer
Never stop dreaming about your life and future. After his first dream, the scripture says that he dreamt yet another dream! Don’t stop visualizing where you want God to take you to or where He has shown you that He is taking you to.
Keep hope alive! It is not out of place to visualize and pray about the kind of relationship, marriage, and home you will like to have. Don’t let the experiences of relatives and your environment suffocate or kill your dream. That nobody has enjoyed his marriage in your family does not mean that would be your experience! No!
To be continued…
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am a dreamer. I will not stop dreaming!
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will give the strength to say No in the face of compromise
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Gen 39:2 KJV And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Against contrary opinions, respect in marriage is mutual. People are of the opinion that respect for the husbands is a big deal. Yes, it is. Just as men do not want to be disrespected in private or public, so also do women need a dose of respect.
Men can readily tell what a bruised ego is and in this part of the world, an average man will not tolerate being disrespected in any form, method, shape, or size. In other to have a relationship that is healthy and mutually beneficial, respect has to be mutual.
Some of us don’t even know when we are being disrespected. The gospel of men’s dominance has been preached for so long that women feel they are not worth much, that they are just worthless, less than good, helpless, weaker vessels.
Contrary, women have tremendous strength, ability, knowledge, wisdom, and great dexterity. It takes great strength to be a mother and give birth to a child. To keep a home, multitask, submit to your husband and stay married. All these take great strength.
But if we are going to have a healthy marriage relationship, we would know that submission to one another in the fear of God is essential. A man not submitted to Christ is a difficult man and hard to submit to.
This is not teaching or telling wives not to submit to their husbands. It is addressing the fact that marriage is meant to be mutually beneficial to both the husband and the wife.
What are the practical ways to show respect to yourselves in marriage?
I will write about that tomorrow.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY My marriage is blessed in all ramifications.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will enable you to pay the price for the fullness of His blessings in your home.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Heb 13:4 [AMP]Let marriage be held in honor (esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things. And thus let the marriage bed be undefiled (kept undishonored); for God will judge and punish the unchaste [all guilty of sexual vice] and adulterous.
