Don’t Give Up!

“Be followers of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises.” —Hebrews 6:12 (NKJV)

It’s normal for a Christian to believe for things that have not yet happened.

We come from a long lineage of people who believed the impossible, held on to the promises of God and saw God do what no one thought He could do. If you are believing God for things that have yet to happen, be encouraged today. It’s not a burden to believe God’s promises; it’s a privilege.

Believing is what we do, it’s who we are.

God often tells us whatHe will do, but He very seldom tells us when He will do it. We are to fill in that unknown time period with faith and patience. We can’t necessarily make the promises of God come to pass, but we can believe them until they happen. Rather than resent the process, we should learn to appreciate it.

Don’t give up, don’t stop believing, it’s not too late!

Joseph is a great example of faith and patience, and the Bible makes this statement about him:

“Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him.” —Psalm 105:19 (NKJV)

Joseph had a dream from God. This represents God’s promise. It doesn’t have to be an actual dream. It could be an impression, a conviction or a glimpse into your future God has given you. He knows how to communicate His plans and promises.

In Joseph’s case it was a God given dream, actually two dreams (Gen. 37:5-11).

In his dreams, God was asking Him if he wanted to do something great with his life, to make a difference and be a blessing to his family, and Joseph was thrilled. This was an awesome day for Joseph.

Once he accepted God’s promise, everything changed. Instead of being lifted up as he had dreamed, he found himself in a pit, waiting for his brothers to kill him. There was no mention of the pit in his dream. God showed him the end result, but left out nearly all the events in between.

I’m sure Joseph did some soul searching in the pit, wondering how this fit into his plan to do something great with his life! If we could have spoken to Joseph that day, we would have told him, “Don’t give up Joseph; it’s not over yet!”

The brothers decided not to kill him but rather sell him into slavery. Joseph then found himself in route to Egypt to be sold into slavery. He was sold to a man named Potiphar and became a slave. He worked hard at this dead-end job and became the best slave in the household.

Far from being rewarded for his hard work and loyalty, he was falsely accused of sexual assault by Potiphar’s wife. Being a slave with no rights, he was thrown into prison with no chance of parole.  He was the very definition of a person with no future. But dreamers dream, and believers believe. That’s what we do!

He began his new life as a convict with a sense of purpose.

Joseph was a man who ran with vision, never quit and never gave up. He became the best inmate in the prison and was put in charge of the entire facility. Our word to Joseph at this time would be, “Don’t give up Joseph; it’s not over yet! God’s going to do what He said He would do!”

Over the course of a long time, Pharoah had a dream that he could not interpret. His butler remembered Joseph from prison, and suddenly, Joseph got the call he had been waiting for his whole life. He was summoned to the palace to meet with Pharoah. Who knew that a dream about cows would make such a difference in the lives of so many?!

Here is the interpretation of the now famous dream of the seven fat cows and seven skinny cows:

“Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” —Genesis 41:29-32 (NKJV)

Joseph advised Pharoah to put a wise man over the entire kingdom and store up grain in the years of plenty to prepare for years of famine. Pharoah’s reply was, “Who’s wiser than you?”

In an instant, Joseph was promoted to prime minister of Egypt and became the second most powerful man in the world.

Everything in his life had gone wrong. Everyone he had ever trusted had betrayed him. Rather than allowing life to damage him emotionally and becoming crippled by circumstances, he believed God’s promise. Everything that happened to him prepared him for his future.

Don’t give up on the promises God has made to you! Run with a vision, and live with purpose, even if you have a dead-end job and no one believes in you. God is the promoter and the rewarder. When He causes promotion, no one can stop it!

Your life takes on new meaning when you believe promises that look impossible. You march to the beat of a different drummer! Remind yourself of the promises God has made you, and get back in the business of faith. It’s the family business!

Take this advice from God to heart:

“Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.” —Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NKJV)