It’s time to allow Him to change you in the area He wants you to change! And I’m talking about ‘inner’ change, i.e. a change in the ‘inside’ of you. Change in the ‘inside’ will lead to change in the ‘outside’! In other words, an ‘inner’ change will eventually lead to an ‘outer’ change! (be it in your career, ministry, family relationships, finance, or in any other area of your life)
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “With unveiled face (i.e. transparent, honest, putting away ‘mask’, uncovered before Him), beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed (i.e. changed) into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” So, the Bible says a true ‘inner’ change comes by consciously & continuously beholding Jesus (feeding from His Word) & by the works of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at Genesis 37 now. This man Joseph had a destiny, a big one. In fact, his name ‘Yowceph’ means ‘let him add, or increase more and more’ in Hebrew. To the Israelites, a name means everything to them, and more often than not, a name also carries each one’s character & destiny! So, as you can see, Joseph was meant to “increase more & more”! However, before he could be who God wanted him to be, an ‘inner change’ must take place in his life first! And unless this happens, his outward ‘expansion’ (i.e. promotion) would still remain a distant ‘dream’!
Here in Genesis 37, instead of ‘let him add’ or ‘more to more’, Joseph’s life actually went from ‘minus to minus’, from bad (Genesis 37:2-4) to worse (Genesis 37:18-20), and then worst (Genesis 37:27-28). Not enough by being a guy despised by his own brothers (& notorious for pulling down others with his words & bad reports), he was also thrown into a pit, and then sold as slave! And if that’s still not bad enough, Genesis 39:19-20 says he was also thrown into prison for a wrong he never committed! So, as you can see, his life went ‘down & down’ all the way, from his father’s ‘blue-eyed boy’ to a lonely, ‘stripped of everything’ prisoner in a land far away from home!
As some people say, “When you are down at its lowest, the only way now is up!” It was then that Joseph had a change of heart, an ‘inner’ change of character.
In Genesis 40, by the time Pharaoh’s butler and baker were thrown into the same prison as he was, Joseph was already a changed man. And now, instead of being indifferent & insensitive (the way he used to be with his brothers earlier), he showed genuine concern and care (Genesis 40:7) for the fellow prisoners! Not only that, he even helped them by taking time to explain their dreams! And you know what? The rest was history! Later on, this very same butler (whom he had helped) remembered him, when no one else could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41:8), and the very next moment, Joseph was elevated to be Egypt’s next prime minister! His ‘expansion’ has finally come! And guess what? He did ‘increase more and more’ since that day, & God’s destiny in his life eventually came to total fulfillment! (see Genesis 50) And all these began with a simple change of heart on his part!
Beloved, maybe you know you too have a God-given destiny, or a ‘dream’ that has yet to come to pass. But you have also been discouraged, and left wondering if those ‘dreams’ will ever come to pass in your lifetime. You may even wonder if God has already forgotten about it altogether! May you receive His divine encouragement now, because I believe all’s not lost yet, and it’s never too late for a change! If God can do it in Joseph’s life, he can do it for you too! I really believe so! In fact, all it takes now is your allowing it. Of course you don’t have to end up in prison (like Joseph did) to have a change of heart! But will you allow Him to change you? Will you allow Him to lovingly search your heart? How about those ‘hidden’ areas in your life that have been ‘clouded’ with ‘cobweb’? How about a certain weakness in your character? Will you allow His light to ‘pierce’ through? Will you also allow Him to bring you back to His original plan for your life? Will you allow those ‘dark clouds’ to be cast away by His light? When the ‘dark clouds’ are gone, what you have is ‘clarity’, even in your vision & destiny!
My sincere prayer for you is that you'll walk in all of God's destiny for you, and the good work that He has begun in you, by His grace, He shall bring it to full, flourishing completion! Be blessed!
