PRAY IT! Genesis 44:1-45:15

If I reflect back several years ago, when I was exploring God and whether or not I believed in Him, I recall being in my car and screaming "out-loud" in my head to the God that I thought may or may not exist "What do you want from me!?"*  I still have moments where I find myself asking the question from time-to-time.  :)

If we see an example of the character and grace of God reflected in Joseph, we see it very clearly in this week's readings. 

Three little words.

"I am Joseph" (found in Genesis 45, verse 3).

So powerful.

His brothers were so dismayed at this "big reveal" that they couldn't speak.

Five more words:  "Come near to me, please" (found in verse 4).  Scripture tells us "And they came near."

Did you feel a little speechless when you finally began to realize who God was?  When God began to whisper to you to draw near to Him, and nearer still, did you do so?  What was the result:  Best decision ever (yes!) or one you regret (not one little bit!)???

Scripture upon scripture paints a picture for us of a God who wants us to reveal Himself to us and to be close to us.  Maybe it is illustrated so many times because God knew we'd likely encounter difficulty wrapping our brains around this concept. 

What do you want from me?! 
Oh. 
You want me to know you and you want me to spend time with you...?
Cool.

John 3:16 speaks powerfully to the love God has for us.  James 4:8 encourages us to draw near to God.  The "Great Commandment" found in Matthew 22:37-38 beautifully sums up things:

And he said to them, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Is this not drawing near to God?

As we draw near to God, and catapult ourselves into His presence with more and more fervor... as we spend time with Jesus and become more Christ-like, we, too, are going to want to introduce ourselves to others... introduce them to God... and to invest in them and draw near to them.  It requires strength and vulnerability and obedience.  But it's worth it.

As you pray today, consider the following:
1.)  Thanking God for the ways in which He has revealed Himself to you.
2.)  Thanking God for beckoning you closer and closer into His presence.
3.)  Asking God who it is in your life that you need to "introduce" yourself to and spend more quality time with.
4.)  Asking God to help you with time management, priorities, focus, etc. so that "the dream" God has placed in your heart becomes "a reality".


Dear God,
Thank you for revealing yourself to me.  Thank you for continuing to show me your character, your goodness, and your love.  Thank you for continually encouraging me to draw closer and closer to you.  Please help me to reflect the love you have for me toward others, who need me to be available to them... to be "known"... and who need me to invest in them, so that they can experience some of the great love you have for them through me.

Amen.

The PoC Prayer Service is tonight, 7pm - prayers for healing and restoration.  Pastor Todd and I would love to see you there.

Blessings,
Pastor Celia

*If anyone wanted to know how the story ended:  God has a sense of humor and as I was screaming out in my head "what do you want from me," I noticed the car in front of me had a bumper sticker that said "cry out to Jesus"... Yeah.  :)

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Over the Top Blessings”

Supplies: Bible

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I’m writing this in the middle of a giant clothes pile. Well, technically clothes piles—plural.  Very plural.  Normally I would be a little…oh, let’s say “edgy” about having a living room covered in clothes.  But I’m not.  You see, today a dear friend dropped off eight lawn-sized garbage bags stuffed full of hand-me-downs for my kids.  Eight.  Full.  Dare I say bursting bags.  I’ve already sorted through six of them.  Three and a half are repackaged with clothes that don’t fit or aren’t my daughter’s style.  Another two are stuffed with clothes that should fit in a year or two.  The “tight now size” clothes are in piles that cover both the couch and the love seat.  You should have seen our firstborn prancing around making her outfits for the next week.  (I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to go through the two bags of boy clothes still sitting here.)

As much as I joke about it, this is an INCREDIBLE blessing.  I had just mentioned to a family member how desperately my kids needed clothes.  I was already making Christmas lists on their behalf, and toys were not featured prominently.  So here we are in this place of need, and true to His nature God provides.  Only this is the extra cool part: He didn’t just provide what we need.  A few shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, maybe a dress and a nice sweater and we would have been set.  Instead we got eight lawn bags.  EIGHT!!  God poured out an over the top blessing as only He can.

Share a time when you received an over the top blessing.  What happened?  Who blessed you?  How did it make you feel?

READ

Read Genesis 44:1-45:15 together as a family.  Really focus on those verses in chapter 45.

THINK

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the story of Joseph is an excellent example of forgiveness.  For the last several chapters, we’ve read with intensity as the young prime minister has been letting go of a life-long betrayal.  But now, we take a standard “forgive your enemies” message and we go over the top as Joseph pours out incredible acts of blessing on his brothers.  It would have been enough that he chose NOT to arrest them.  After all, a fair world would have had those boys rotting in prison for maaaaaaany years.  But Joseph cranks up the blessing meter by forgiving them AND inviting them all to come live with him in the lap of luxury, enjoying the favor of Pharaoh himself.  Over the top!

As surprising as this plot twist may seem, it is actually a perfect reflection of the Author Himself.  Before He even finishes the first chapter, God shows us His abundant, over the top nature when it comes to blessings.  After all, as sinners in a fallen world, we actually deserve to die.  We have each earned a spot in Satan’s prison for maaaaaaany years.  But God cranks up His blessing meter by offering each one of us total and complete forgiveness.  Through the death of Jesus, we all have the chance to have our own sins wiped off our record AND we get to live with our Savior in the the lap of eternal luxury, enjoying the favor of the King Himself.

APPLY

When’s the last time you thanked God for the blessing of His forgiveness?  If you are walking in relationship with Him, experiencing the over the top abundance of His grace and eternal life, spend some time praising Him for all that you have been given.  That’s a love that cannot be measured!  

Maybe you or someone in your family has been holding off on accepting Jesus’ gift of forgiveness because you don’t feel like you deserve it.  Welcome to the club!  You don’t deserve it; none of us do.  But that’s the point of an over the top God.  He’s doing this because He loves you just that much.  Don’t waste another minute—ask your family to pray with you as you receive this abundant blessing from your Brother Jesus.

PRAY

Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord, for Your gift of forgiveness.  We have each earned our place Hell, and yet You offer us a full pardon.  And in Your amazing ways, You pour out blessing upon blessing as we get to walk in Your presence daily, experiencing Your love and guidance through the Holy Spirit, holding on to the promise of Your eternal glory in our lives.  Thank You, God, for being over the top!  In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen.

REPLY

Did you and your family enjoy this devotional blog?  We'd love to know about it!  Our hope is to continue providing this weekly opportunity for families to do a devotion together.  If your family did this devotion, please shoot us an email, text or just post a comment to this blog.

EXPLORE IT - Genesis 44:1-45:15

Now more than ever, our culture is interested in “spiritual things.”  We place our faith in horoscopes, palm readings, and psychics to find out answers to our questions, when we’ll find love, and if we should make a drastic change in our career endeavor.  We pull out Ouija boards and Tarot cards to speak to spirits, always looking for answers and direction.  

Looking to the spiritual world for direction is nothing new.  In our passage this week, Genesis 44:1-45:15, we see Joseph’s cup being placed in Benjamin’s sack.  This cup is said to be used “for divination.”  Divination is the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or of the unknown through occult or supernatural means. 

This kind of cup, possibly more of a bowl, would be used for oleomancy (pouring oil into water), hydromancy (pouring water into oil), or lecanomancy (generally pouring liquids into containers).  After pouring these liquids into a cup, the diviner would interpret the shapes that were made.  The interpretations would foretell war or peace, health or sickness, success or failure.  We’re not sure if Joseph really participated in divination or if this is just a strategy to emphasize the importance of the stolen item.

All kinds of divination are forbidden in Scripture (Leviticus 19:26).  We are told to stay away from sorcery and witchcraft, mediums and spiritists, and those who consult the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-11).  As Christians, we have the source of truth, God.  He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6, italics mine).  While reading horoscopes and engaging in party games may seem harmless, we are instructed to stay far away.  Whether you believe divination contacts spirits, the dead, demons, or nothing, we are instructed to leave it alone.

God is the only source we are to pursue for direction, answers, and inspiration.  If God is truth, all else is false.  If God is the way, all else is misguiding.  If God is life, all else leads to death. 

Please hear my heart on this…seek God in all things and leave divination alone.

Blessings,
Pastor Amy

READ IT! - Genesis 44:1-45:15

This week, we are in Genesis  44:1-45:15 (ESV).  Let's read it together today and begin to study it this week in preparation for this coming Sunday's lesson.

Joseph Tests His Brothers

44 Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?[a] 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”

6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord's house? 9 Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord's servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord's servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy's life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

45 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neitherplowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

PREPARE FOR IT! - Genesis 43:15-34

This week, we're studying  Genesis 43:15-34 (ESV).  Let's review it again today in preparation for tomorrow's sermon.

15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph's house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food.21 And when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man's money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph's house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there.31 Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry[a] with him.