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Posts Tagged ‘Joseph’

Faith Building Verse-Hebrews 11:22

July 20th, 2022 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Faith-Building Verse is Hebrews 11:22.

By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

He gave these instructions just before dying in Genesis 50. He said to his brother Israelites, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

The reason this was a statement of faith was because Joseph knew the promises of God to provide land for His people. He made known the boundaries of this land for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, Joseph fully anticipated a day to come when the Israelites would leave Egypt and begin their journey to the Promised Land.

This Faith-Building Verse inspires us to believe the promises of God in the Year of Relationship.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

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Relationship Building Principle-Overcome Evil With Good

May 20th, 2015 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Relationship-Building Principle comes from Genesis 50:20.

Joseph was a godly man with great influence in the land of Egypt. His brothers had rejected him when he was a teenage boy. They were jealous of him and would not speak kindly to him. Many years later, they needed his help. When his brothers came to Egypt seeking relief from the famine, they made their appeal to Joseph, who had a choice to make. He could let the past embitter him against his brothers, or he could forgive them and offer them aid.

Joseph returned their hostility with kindness. This is a pattern similar to how God treats a world that has treated Him with hostility because of our sin. He has responded by offering us grace. He sent Jesus to the world, whose sacrifice on the cross overcame evil with good.

Near the end of his life, Joseph could look back and see the wisdom of God’s plan through the good, bad, and the ugly. He said to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” That is an expression of undeserved grace, the kind of grace that can restore broken relationships.

Overcoming evil with good is a relationship-building principle to take to heart in the Year of Connection.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

Moment Of Celebration-Family Reunion

March 3rd, 2014 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Moment Of Celebration reflects on a family reunion in the Old Testament.

Joseph was estranged from his brothers. When Joseph was a teenager, his brothers hated him to the point that they were willing to sell him to foreign merchants. They received money in the process of getting rid of him.

Little did they know that many years later, Joseph would be the one man who had the power of whether they would live or die. A famine had covered the land. Joseph was in a place of leadership in Egypt to manage the food supplies that were stored away for such a time as the drought.  Joseph’s brothers were dependent on Joseph to feed them.

Through our sin and mistreatment of Jesus, we were the reason that Jesus went to the cross. He did this willingly to demonstrate His mercy for unworthy sinners. He returned our contempt with His forgiveness. In this way, Joseph’s story is an example of how God can turn what is meant for evil with good.

Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”

When God’s love heals fractured relationships, that is a reason to be glad in the Year of Celebration.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com