SOMEONE REMEMBERED JOSEPH
“Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!” (Psalms 105:15, BSB)
I woke this morning, 19th June 2021 to these resounding words, ‘Someone remembered Joseph’. I carried on with a few chores as I heard them again, and again. I quickly reached for my bible and began reading the passages pertaining to Joseph and his prison cellmates.
I knew this was a ‘now’ word for me. It was yet another key Spirit-released word aligning me to my full breakthrough. Since entering 2021 rapid changes are taking place around me as I hurdle towards the promise of restoration. It is truly amazing to see how God has used prophetic writings to release me from this place of waiting. I do not know who is reading my blogs but God has always assured me that it is not business as usual where ministers write their books, launch them and benefit from their well deserved hard work. Not so for me! The Spirit has always reiterated that it was not yet my season for launching books. The Spirit fed my spirit that the purpose for the publication of my books is to stir the spiritual atmosphere. Any backlash coming from writing would be experienced during my time of testing before entering my public role.
I am now able to write without any repercussions whatsoever. Unless of course it is something entirely new then I would be tested on it. But the point being made is that I have overcome the testing season and passed the test as God showed me in dreams. Yes, I have passed the test and in a dream I had twice, which is a certainty, I was surrounded by an angelic host as they clapped their wings. I was clapping as the tears flowed. It was a touching and beautiful experience.
During my season of change, the Spirit revealed that it would not be the Body of Christ that celebrate what God is doing through me. Many have looked at my efforts from afar with contempt. It need not have been so if everything had gone to God’s original plan. But the enemy had his dirty paw-marks printed all over the script as the leadership failed me. Everything I have worked on and prepared, I have been led to put out there as active faith. Indeed, the Spirit urged me that my affirmation as an end time strategic prophet would not come through the body of Christ. No, they judge by what their eyes see and thankfully I do not qualify for the part according to man’s judgement. Hence, my solitary journey of rejection for purpose. Well, I wonder what they will make of me now, as the experiences after ten years have prepared me for an unimaginable upgrade?
Joseph Mistreated for Purpose
The word given to Joseph from God as a young lad in his father’s house came in dreams. As Joseph recalled his dream it was not well received by his jealous siblings. “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7, BSB) In time, Joseph’s life took a course that he could not have imagined. He was rejected and mistreated by his brother as they plot to kill him. They conspired to throw him into a pit. Left for dead in the pit he was retrieved and eventually sold on to travelling merchants. (18) “They bruised his feet with shackles and placed his neck in irons, (19) until his prediction came true and the word of the LORD proved him right.” (Psalms 105:18-19, BSB). Joseph’s journey would in time bring him into the house of a wealthy Egyptian official, namely Potiphar. He found favour in Potiphar’s house and was given full charge under his master concerning the stewardship of the household. Potiphar’s wife, besotted with the godly young man, in a fit of spite, being shamefully rejected and humiliated she accused him of trying to rape her. (13) “When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, (14) she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. (15) When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” (Genesis 29:13-15, BSB). As a young man of spiritual integrity he ran for his life escaping the evil cutches of Potiphar’s wife. Her lies would be his undoing in his master’s household. He was seized upon and thrown into prison.
God permitted the events unfolding in young Joseph’s life as he was chosen for purpose. Behind every prophetic word given by God there is an experiential journey fraught with testings, challenges and spiritual attacks. Like Job, one is always tested on their spiritual integrity. When all the trappings of your life are removed, can you remain resolute in your faith? When you are accused of sinning, rejected by those you loved and forgotten, do you still hold on to the word God gave you, many years earlier?
Spiritual integrity is continuing with what is right in God’s word even when you are doubted, your reputation is in tatters and everyone has walked away. By virtue of that word being prophetic, the long wait will see the faithful ones around you eventually drop away. It is a journey that reveals the heart of those nearest to you. But there is no victory without the battles to test the cogency of a word from God. A word, is rightly to be tested and proven true.
God’s Timing
It was whilst in prison that Joseph met the Chief Butler and Chief Baker of Pharoah’s household. His prison experiences with his cellmates was part of the aligning of the word given to him by God, coming into being. His journey, fraught with relational issues, goes with the territory of being called by God to an earthly assignment in the nations.
In time, God would ensure that someone remembered Joseph. When a season of disfavour ends for God’s servant, He will move every obstacle to bring about divine favour. A ‘kiaros’ moment ushers in divine change. At every opportunity the mantle is stirred as the prophetic gift in Joseph makes room for him as the need arises. His spiritual gift was the interpretation of dreams. King Pharaoh had a dream twice and sought help with the interpretations. His magicians, diviners and the astrologers of Egypt could not interpret the dreams.
In the fullness of time, the Butler would remember Joseph, the man he met in prison who could interpret Pharoah’s dream. He confessed his sins that added to Joseph’s sentence in prison and went to the King. “Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh.” (Genesis 41:9, BSB). The troubled king then came to learn of the young Hebrew man incarcerated in his prison. God orchestrated it that Joseph’s gift was now needed in Egypt, the place of his confinement. Joseph would be God’s chosen servant in a time of national crisis to bring salvation from a severe famine that would threaten Egypt and the other nations. “So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the dungeon. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he went in before Pharaoh.” (Genesis 41:14, BSB). On meeting the King, Joseph did not refrain from telling Pharaoh that his God was the interpreter of dreams.
Once God’s servant was identified, the process from prison into the palace was a swift transformation. There was no looking back for Joseph as great favour completely changed his life. HIs time had come to prosper in the things ordained for him. The word given him many years earlier of his family bowing down to him was about to come to past. His prophetic word would prove him to be true and propel him exponentially into a position of strategic authority in the government in Egypt.
A Word From God
Every word from God must come to pass and be attested under persecution, rejection and mistreatment.. By virtue of that word being from God, it sets in motion a backlash from the realm of evil as the enemy of destiny seeks to prevent its fulfilment. Such ferocious assaults against a servant of God is an indication of the strategic level of that word in the nations. Sadly, it is the people nearest to you that will come under attack as to bring the greatest pain to your heart. Others who are not privy to the day to day spiritual challenges, cannot fully appreciate what it takes spiritually to release souls in the nations and bring them out of the darkness that envelopes their souls. They will judge you falsely as they are easily preyed upon by the enemy. Again, it is the way the enemy works against the erring, sinfully unrestrained people. The Lord always remind me to forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.
Like Joseph, in confinement you spend much valuable time alone with God musing over the gross injustice done to you. The training and preparation you undergo will in time yield dividend. It will all make much more sense as breakthrough looms.
The Lord indicated to me that I was many years in preparation ahead of those who have now come on stream in the last few years and months, readying their piece of the jigsaw puzzle. The Spirit revealed I was preparing a Kingdom platform that many others can work from. Soon to be revealed will be the greater scheme of what this was all about. It will be a platform of projects, businesses, spiritual gifts and unique ministries. A display of creativity, diversity and all spiritual manifestations and differentiations of human potential. The control, drudgery and sameness of church life will be a thing of the past, as our Lord reveals what He had in mind to show off humanity’s kingdom uniqueness, purposes and individualism. The time comes when the word from God that you carry will bring about its intended purpose.
Gwendolyn Smith. #NewPentecost. 21st June 2021