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FOUR TESTS THAT WE MUST PASS TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT STEP - EXCERPTS FROM OS TILLMAN'S BOOK
God took Joseph through four unique tests. I believe that Joseph was required to pass each one successfully before he qualified for the next. When he passed the last one, he was finally elevated for the call that God ultimately had on his life.
Test 1: LOVING YOUR ENEMIES
Joseph's first test involved his family's rejection. His brothers had sold him to slave traders. What could be worse than to have your own family sell you into slavery? It would be very easy to fall into bitterness toward your family and God if something like this happened to you. Betrayal is one of the most difficult tests in life, and it often comes from one's own family or those in the Body of Christ. Every day, you and I must work and live in environments that do not treat us in an honorable manner. Sometimes, it's downright cruel.
I believe some of these experiences are actually allowed in our path in order to find out how we are going to handle them. A. W. Tozer said, "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply."3 Most leaders who are used mightily by God have experienced a Judas-type of betrayal at one time or another. Whether or not God later elevated them was dependent upon how they handled the situation.I believe our response to betrayal is God's graduate-level course in our walk with Him. King David had a similar test when his closest companions created a source of pain in his life. We read of his struggle in Psalm 55:12-14, where he states, "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God." Bitterness and unforgiveness have disqualified many people from moving on in the kingdom of God. God will not elevate you if there is any root of bitterness in your life. If you have something against a brother or sister, you must forgive him or her if you expect God to bless your life.I had a very close friend who had become a mentor to me. We were the best of friends. However, an issue arose in our relationship that turned out to be very negative. It was very painful, but God used the situation to show me exactly how Jesus must have felt when Judas, one of his closest companions, betrayed him. I decided to bless this man in very tangible ways even though he refused to resolve our differences. Five years later, he asked to reconcile our relationship. I believe that this would not have happened if I had not taken the initiative to "love my enemy." Are you willing to wash the feet of Judas, as Jesus did?
Test 2: MORAL PURITY
The second test for Joseph was in the area of moral purity. Joseph was living in Pharaoh's palace and he had not been around women for a long time. To make matters worse, his boss's wife began to make passes toward him, which can be a huge temptation for any man. However, Joseph did the only thing anyone can do to withstand sexual temptation—he fled. He passed the purity test.
Judah, however, did not. In Genesis 38, we read how Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, allowed his purity—and his very staff—to be taken from him. Judah had just lost his wife, and after mourning her death he went on a little trip to Timnah. His widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar, posed as a prostitute, and Judah succumbed to sexual temptation, having intercourse with his dead son's wife. The form of payment was supposed to be a young goat, but because Judah didn't have one with him at the time, Tamar asked for a pledge.
"Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. He said, "What pledge should I give you?" "Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him (Gen. 38:17-18, emphasis added).
Judah gave up his staff—the one thing that represented his very life and work—to a woman who would later frame him with it. Sexual failure is like this. It requires everything from you. When you encounter sexual temptation, you must be like Joseph and flee. You cannot overcome sexual temptation any other way. Front Matter / 35 Men, especially, need to take heed and stay away from compromising situations. You do not want to be disqualified because of failure in this area. Even your computer can be a source of sexual temptation.
Test 3: PERSEVERANCE
The third test for Joseph was perseverance. Joseph had been in prison for many years. He had successfully interpreted a dream for some powerful people who could deliver him from prison. It is clear that Joseph had his hopes up, but he was not released. He remained in prison for another two years. Joseph was tired of being in prison, but there was something inside that kept him going. He persevered.
This is one of the most difficult aspects of the Joseph process, for it can take many years to get through this stage. Scripture tells us, "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Prov. 3:12). Many will give up the fight at this point, and they may even consider taking their own lives. When my advertising agency was successful, I had a staff of seven people. When my world fell apart, I was by myself for five years—alone and forced to do the best I could to satisfy creditors and make ends meet. At times, it seemed like a never-ending treadmill. But God was doing a deeper work than I could see at the time. He was building character. He was removing pride. He was preparing me for something hand-tailored for me.
The test of perseverance is the one that many people cannot endure. All too often, they will move when God tells them to be still and wait. They will decide that they have been waiting long enough, so they set out to deliver themselves. This is a big mistake. If God has not completed the deeper work, He will take you around the mountain one more time—or even more if that is what is necessary to complete the inner work that He has begun in your life.
The depth and width of your calling is often proportional to the depth of the faith experiences in your life that come through adversity. A faith experience is any encounter you have with God that allows you to experience Him in a greater dimension. God frames your life through these experiences in order to speak to others. Moses' Red Sea miracle was a faith experience. Joshua's crossing the Jordan was a faith experience. However, if we short-circuit God's process in our lives by delivering ourselves out of our difficult circumstances, we will miss some incredible faith experiences. Perseverance is of vital importance if we are to enter God's promised land for our lives.
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Test 4: STEWARDSHIP
After 13 years of slavery and imprisonment, Joseph was finally freed from prison and elevated to the second highest position in Egypt. I wonder what that must have been like. Joseph performed well in his new role. He was a good steward. He passed the most challenging test of all—stewardship over prosperity.
When God began to change my difficult circumstances (after seven years), the funny thing was that it just didn't make that much difference anymore. I had learned to live in that difficult state and had become satisfied that I could live in it forever if I had to. In essence, I had finally "died." In Romans 6:4, Paul instructs us that we must die in order for Christ to be resurrected in each of our lives.
How can you tell when your adversity will be over? I believe your adversity will be over when it doesn't matter anymore. When Joseph was elevated to his high position, he was able to do it without fanfare, because he had learned to be content in his hard circumstances.
SCRIPTURES THE LORD GAVE ME DURING MY STAND FOR MY MARRIAGE
Malachi 2-10-17
10 Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
11 Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.
12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.
14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words."How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"
WHY IT"S IMPORTANT WE HONOR OUR VOWS
Ecclesiastes 5: 1-7
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth,so let your words be few.
3 As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.
5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.
6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.
Psalm 127 1_2:
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Christian Comments - DazzleJunction.com
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Father's Love Letter
IT'S TIME TO FIGHT FOR OUR FAMILIES!
For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. {2 Cor 10:1-4 RSV}
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TAMMIE-HANDMAIDEN OF THE LORD
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CAN GOD CHANGE A MAN'S HEART?
Psalm 33:10 The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
Proverbs 16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
Proverbs 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
Isaiah 14:26 "This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.
Isaiah 14:27 "For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"
Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Isaiah 14:24 The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, "Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,
Isaiah 18:6 They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
Isaiah 37:26 "Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
Isaiah 41:2 "Who has aroused one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him And subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, As the wind-driven chaff with his bow. (NASB ©1995)
HOW TO BUILD A HEDGE OF THORNS AROUND AN UNFAITHFUL PARTNER
"I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge...that I should not destroy..." (Ez.22:30)
A certain man discovered that his wife was secretly seeing another man. She would meet him on business trips and spend long hours after work with him. For months she had neglected her home responsibilities, such as making any meals for her husband.
He learned about the "hedge of thorns" that he could claim in prayer for his wife, and one day he used it. That evening when he got home from work, his wife was in the kitchen making their first meal in four months!
A wife learned that her husband was spending time with a younger woman. She learned further that he was planning to leave her and marry this younger woman. She was told how to pray for a "hedge of thorns" around her husband. The next evening he received a phone call from the young woman telling him that she wanted to break off their relationship.
The wife of a young pastor left him and began working in a bar. She was planning to marry the barkeeper. The grieving husband learned how to pray for a "hedge of thorns" around his wife, and three days later, his wife called him up and was ready to return home.
These are only a few of the many illustrations which Christians are experiencing as a result of building a "hedge of thorns" or "hedge of protection" around their loved ones. However, there is far more to the story than just praying a certain prayer.
The Scriptural basis for the "hedge of thorns" is found in several passages. First of all, God looks for an intercessor to make up a "hedge" of protection. (Ez.22:30). Job is an example of such a man in the O.T. (Job 1:5-12)
He prayed for God's protection over his family - including his sons and daughters whom he feared cursed God in their hearts. The result was that God "made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that He had on every side".
By building a "hedge" around an unfaithful partner, his/her "lovers" lose interest and Satan is no more able to take your partner captive "at his will". Satan must get clearance from God for whatever he does, and his actions become God's dealings in love. II Timothy 2:25-26; II Corinthians 12:7; Job 1:5-10)
A further illustration of the hedge is found in Hosea. God promised to make a hedge of thorns around Hosea's adulterous wife so that her lovers would lose interest in her. (Hosea 2:6-7)
After God built a hedge of thorns around Hosea's unfaithful wife, and her lovers left her, she decided to return to her husband. However, if she was to remain under his authority and protection, there were several things that he had to do. These are listed in Hosea 2:14-16.
The NT counterpart to this truth is illustrated in Christ's interecession for Peter (Lk.22:31-38) and for his disciples (John 17:12 - the hedge of prayer - none lost but the son of perdition). It is also illustrated in Paul's prayer for those under his spiritual care.
The basic teaching of Scripture on the hedge is found in II Cor. 10:4-5 "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."
This emphasizes the fact that Satan is able to have powerful holds on our mind, will, and emotions, but that through God we can and must pull them down.
The purpose of "binding Satan" (Matt.12:29) and building a "hedge of protection" around your partner is so that you can proceed "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
(II Cor.10:5).
There are a number of cases in which a husband or wife build a "hedge of thorns" around an unfaithful partner through prayer, saw the return of that partner, and then failed to follow up on the victory. Soon Satan regained a foothold in that partner's life. Thus, the following steps are very essential.
1. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE A GENUINE CHRISTIAN.
God only hears the prayers of His own children. We become a child of God only through putting our full faith and trust for salvation in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in dying for us and being raised from the dead.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us..." (Titus 3:5).
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)
2. CLEANSE YOUR LIFE OF ALL SIN
God delighted in building a hedge of protection around Job and all his family and possessions, because Job was "a perfect and an unpright man, one that feareth God, and...(hateth) evil,"
(Job 1:8)
We can claim the righteousness of Christ as Christians by confessing our sins and cleansing our mind, life, and home of anything that grieves the Spirit of God and hinders His work in our life.
"...Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." (Romans 13:14)
3. BUILD A "HEDGE OF THORNS" BY PRAYER
The following prayer is an example of building a hedge of thorns around an unfaithful marriage partner:
"Heavenly Father, I ask You in the name and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, to build a "hedge of thorns" around my partner. I pray that through this hedge, any other lover will lose interest and depart. I base this prayer on Your Word which commands that what You have joined together, let not man put asunder." ((Matthew 19:6)
4. RESTORE A SPIRIT OF ONENESS
Follow through on your prayer by getting alone with your partner (..."I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness.."), using gentle, kind, and loving words ("...speak comfortably unto her..."_, committing yourself to your partner's needs and visualizing hope ("I will give her her vineyards...for a door of hope"), restoring your partner's happiness ("...and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth..."), and restoring a spirit of deep friendship ("...thou shalt call me ish (my husband) and shalt call me no more baali (my lord)). (Hosea 2:14-16)
5. CAST DOWN WRONG REASONINGS
In the spirit of friendship and fellowship, cast down false reasonings in the mind of your partner by wisely using God's Word. Together, bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (I Cor. 10:4-5)
GOMER
Gomer was the wife of the prophet Hosea.
She was an adulterous wife.
In this account, God gives us a graphic illustration of how the "hedge of thorns" works.
Hosea 2:6-16
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT A "HEDGE OF THORNS" AROUND AN UNFAITHFUL PARTNER?
1. He/she will lose direction.
"...I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths."
2. Any other "lovers" will leave.
"...she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them."
3. Troubles will prompt a return
"...then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband: for then was it better with me than now."
Hosea 2:6-16
A "hedge will be ineffective if you have not resolved all past offenses, or if you do not follow through with Scriptural steps of actions.
THE PRAYER FOR A "HEDGE" INVOLVES THREE PARTS
1. YOUR SPIRITUAL 'CREDENTIALS'
We are able to approach a holy God through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ's death and resurrection have already defeated Satan's power. "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Cor. 15:57)
2. YOUR REQUEST
When we pray, we must be specific; the more precise we are in our prayer, the more able we are to judge its Scriptural basis and the more alert we will be in seeing His answer to it. "...Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2)
3. YOUR SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY
Every request must be based on the will of God as revealed in His Word. God's Word is the sword of the Spirit (Ep.6:17). Christians are able to overcome Satan "..by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony." (Rev. 12:11).
GOD GIVES FIVE STEPS TO WIN BACK A WAYWARD PARTNER
(Hosea 2:14-16)
1. Allure him/her away from ungodly influences.
2. Speak gently and lovingly.
3. Reestablish responsibility and by it restore hope.
4. Cause him/her to sing for joy.
5. Build an intimate friendship.
From Bill Gothard Ministries
http://www.cadz.net/
http://www.praisepowerprayertemplect.org/JIOSArchivesNationa
l.html
LET US NEVER FORGET THOSE WHO SACRIFICED ALL..