And his master [Potiphar] saw that the Lord was with him [Joseph] and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. —Genesis 39:3
DO YOU KNOW of anyone who is in a worse situation than Joseph when he stood naked in an Egyptian market, waiting to be sold as a slave? His whole world appeared to have collapsed around him. Just a few days earlier, he was in his father’s embrace but now, his own brothers had betrayed him. All that he owned had been stripped from him. He was reduced to nothing more than a slave in a foreign land.
When God’s presence is made manifest in your life, that’s when His glory shines forth through you!
Was this the end of Joseph? In the natural scheme of things, it sure looked like it was. But even with the odds stacked up against Joseph, the Lord was far from finished. Even in this dire situation, the Lord was with Joseph, and at this dark and bleak juncture in Joseph’s life, the Lord called him a successful man (Genesis 39:1–2)! Remember, it is not what you have. It is who you have that makes all the difference.
“How can the Lord make a young slave with not a single cent or possession to his name succeed?”
Well, let’s continue with Joseph’s story. Genesis 39:3 tells us, “And his master [Potiphar] saw that the Lord was with him [Joseph] and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.” This is a powerful statement and it offers a promise that you can believe Jesus for, in every area of your life. Can you imagine every project, assignment and even errand that you undertake becoming prosperous? Your hands become hands of blessing.
You touch your family members and they are blessed. Your company may be struggling to manage a difficult project, but once it is placed in your hands, the project becomes blessed. You become a blessing waiting to happen to someone, waiting to happen to something, everywhere you go!
Now, how will this happen? The Lord Jesus will make it happen when you depend on Him in the same way that Joseph depended on Him. Joseph had nothing. He could not trust in his skills or experience (he had never been a slave), nor could he trust in his natural connections (his father was out of the picture because he believed that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal). All Joseph had was the Lord’s presence, and he depended on the Lord to manifest His presence, His power and His glory through him!
That’s what you and I need—a manifestation of His presence in everything that we do! You see, it is one thing to have His presence (all Christians have His presence because they have accepted Him as their personal Lord and Savior), but when His presence is made manifest in your life, that’s when His glory shines forth through you!
Don’t forget that Joseph’s master, Potiphar, was not a believer in God. He was an Egyptian who worshipped idols. Yet, when the manifested presence of the Lord shone gloriously through the work of Joseph’s hands, even this unbelieving heathen could see the tangible results of the Lord’s special anointing, power and blessing upon Joseph’s life. Potiphar marveled and could not but acknowledge that the Lord was with Joseph, and that “the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.”
Now, isn’t it interesting that Potiphar did not merely conclude that Joseph was a good worker? Instead, Potiphar could see that it was not Joseph’s skills, but rather, his God who was prospering all that Joseph set his hands to. Genesis 39:3 tells us that “the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.” This could not have been “spiritual discernment” on Potiphar’s part —he was not a believer and had no spiritual discernment when it came to the things of God. So this tells me that Potiphar must have witnessed tangible results that were really out of this world. He must have seen results that were so spectacular that he knew they were beyond that of an ordinary human being!
Perhaps Potiphar ordered Joseph to dig new wells for his household and every well that Joseph dug yielded water even in the midst of a drought. Perhaps the field that Joseph tended yielded crops that were shockingly bigger than the crops in the surrounding fields. Perhaps Potiphar saw how Joseph called upon his God when the children in the house were suffering from some epidemic in the land, and they were all healed. Whatever the case was, Potiphar knew that the prosperous results he had witnessed were not a result of Joseph’s natural abilities. They had to be due to the fact that the Lord was with Joseph, and God made all he did to prosper in his hand. Isn’t that beautiful? My friend, God wants to do the same in your life today. See Him leading and blessing you, and increasing your effectiveness today!
Today’s Prayer
Father, despite the negative circumstances in my life, thank You for reminding me that it is not the end for me. I will be successful because You are with me. Your unmerited favor upon me will cause the work of my hands to prosper and yield supernaturally good results! I shall see all that You have put in my hands abundantly blessed!
Today’s Thought
I can have success beyond my natural abilities and in spite of any negative environment because the Lord is with me.
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Prince, Joseph. 100 Days Of Favor, Daily Readings From Unmerited Favor.