Because You are Blessed I

Sunday 13 August
READ: Gen. 39: 21 - 23
MORE LESSON: Gen. 49: 22 – 26

Joseph was a blessed man but the story of his blessing is a rare case. He was blessed but he passed through very difficult situations that made it look like he wasn't blessed. In actual sense, it was the outworking of the blessing upon his life that made him pass through those adverse situations in life. The good thing about Joseph is that he maintained a good attitude through it all. He understood that the reason he was persecuted was because he was blessed and not because he was cursed. Many times you pass through difficulties not because you are not blessed but because you are blessed.

Joseph had lost his mother as a small child and his brothers were jealous of him because his father loved him. Right from childhood, he knew adversity. The brothers tried to kill him and eventually sold him to human traffickers. Looking at his life on the surface, one would think that he is a child who had ill-luck. On the other hand, all the things he went through were all because he was the one that the Lord had chosen to be blessed more than his brethren. All the difficulties you are going through could be because you are blessed.
Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt but, in the house of his slave master, the Bible records, And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian: Gen 39:2. Can you imagine a slave being called prosperous? that was Joseph for you. He was a slave but he was prosperous. In fact, it was the blessing upon his life that made his master to prosper. Joseph was doing well until the wife of his master started to entice him to commit adultery with her. He refused and persecution started again. He eventually ended up in the prison. Why? Because he was blessed! The blessing on Joseph's life was so obvious the woman wanted him to sleep with her. The woman would have partnered with the devil to corrupt and destroy the blessing on Joseph's life.
This is a lesson for all; Joseph was blessed but he needed righteousness to sustain the blessing because the Lord will not be with a sinner. The prosperity of the Lord belongs to the righteous. Joseph passed through a lot of hardship and persecution both of which were an outworking of the blessing upon his life. If it was someone else, he would have become bitter and started complaining, 'Why are all these happening to only me?' However Joseph maintained a right attitude from the pit to slavery and from slavery to the prison till he finally got to the throne. So all that he passed through was because he had a blessing upon his life that was on its way to happen. He ran the race with patience, godliness and commitment to his God-given dream and he made it to the throne. The pathway to the throne can be thorny but the godly will not turn back.

Prayer/Action
* Give God thanks for choosing you for the blessing, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that the blessing of God in your life shall be sustained and nothing will rob you of it, in Jesus’ name.
* Prophesy that all adversity is working for your good, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
By the efficacy of the blood of Jesus, no litigation against me and my family in hell shall stand; I declare them null and void today, in the name of Jesus.