Prayer Works Morning Devotion: August 18, 2025

Thus Says The Lord-Who God Says He Is, His Commandments and Promises

Genesis 45:3-8 "God Sent Me Before You To Preserve Life "

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Good morning, everyone, good morning. Happy and blessed Monday morning to you all. Let's go before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you once again for this new day. Thank you for your grace and mercy following and covering us.  

Thank you for this community and this fellowship that gathers every morning on this call to start our day thinking of you and reflecting on your word and considering ways that we can apply it to our lives.  

So we thank you, Father God, for this privilege to serve you and to follow in what you tell us to do and how your leaders, we love you. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful to have you in our lives and it's in Jesus name I pray, Amen.  

This morning I'm going to be reflecting on the topic God sent, God sent. That's the focus this morning, and I'm going to share with you and the focus passage comes from Genesis 45: 3-8. And I'll read that first and then share a few things that came up for me in my spirit as I was reading it.  

So Genesis 45: 3-8 then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Doesn't father still live? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence and Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me.  

So they came near then, he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. For now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life.  

For these two years, the famine has been in the land and there are still five years in which there will be neither ploughing, ploughing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  

So now it was not you who sent me here, but God and he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. After reading this passage and reflecting on Joseph's life, some questions came up for me. 

 The first one was how did Joseph know God sent him? How could he know? Other questions that came up for me were, how in the world did Joseph keep a steadfast faith and obedience to God after he had been sold as a slave in Egypt by his brothers?  

How is that possible? Another question came up. When God gave Joseph favor in the households to which he had been sold for the first household was Potiphar, and God gave him favor.  

So much so that Potiphar made him head over his household. How did Joseph know that God sent him? How did Joseph know God sent him when in the face of temptation by Potiphar's wife and he and it would have been so easy for Joseph, just to give in.  

How did he know God sent him? How did he keep his faith? When Joseph was wrongfully accused, when he rejected his master's wife advance and was imprisoned. How did he know God's sent him?  

When Joseph was given the gift of interpreting dreams like prior to this, when he was 17 years old and he told his father and his brothers dreams that he had of their sheaves bowing down to him, and they were very resentful of him.  

Telling him about these dreams and he didn't give an interpretation of what the dreams meant but they pretty much knew that well, you're saying that eventually we're going to be worshipping you, even his father asked that question.  

So he hadn't had been given the full gift of interpreting dreams. But later on in his imprisonment as a slave, he was given the full gift of interpreting dreams. Now, how did he keep his faith? When given the gift of interpreting dreams, how did this not all go to his head?  

And when he used his gift to help a fellow prisoner, but that prisoner then later forgot all about him for two years. How did he know God sent him? How did Joseph know God sent him when he was standing for the most powerful man in Egypt, Pharaoh.  

How did he keep his faith? How when he was able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams for him, how did Joseph remain humble and not give himself credit for the ability to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, but gave all the credit back to God.  

So much so that Pharrell knew that God had given Joseph this gift to interpret this dream that foretold of seven years of famine in Egypt, that were to come. And when Joseph was elevated by Pharaoh and made ruler throughout Egypt at the age of 30, he was only 30 and he was made ruler throughout Egypt.  

How did he know God sent him and finally here we are in this scene when he's facing his brothers who had sold him into slavery when he was 17 years old and he could have easily taken revenge against them for what they had done. But he didn’t.  

How? Did Joseph know God sent him? With all that had happened to him how did Joseph keep his faith? Know that God sent him for such a time as this. As I continue praying about this and asking God for a deeper understanding about these questions. 

The Holy Spirit revealed something to me that I had never thought of before. Joseph was taken in bondage to Egypt, already believing in God. He already, already had such great faith and fear of God.  

But how? I think it's safe to presume that Jacob, Joseph's father, who was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac. Jacob Had poured his faith in God and everything he had learned in his life.  

All the hard lessons he had learned, the dreams he had had, the visions he had had his wrestling with God. He had told Joseph all about this. And Joseph not only heard the stories, but he also saw with his own eyes Jacob's faith.  

And to and not to mention, Joseph also knew he was tremendously loved by his father, so much so that his brothers were jealous of him. And that's a whole nother story about whether or not it was wise for Jacob to love Joseph over his brothers.  

That's not the focus this morning. Some other things that also came up for me was that Jacob also trusted Joseph with responsibilities even over his older brothers and God gave Joseph the gift of dreams for telling what was to come. 

So as believers in Christ, God has sent us and is sending us to lead others to a new life in Christ and deliverance from spiritual famine and bondage through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

If you look back on all the chapters of your life to date, can you discern God's hand over your life? Can you remember the pits and the prisons he delivered you from? Can you remember how God healed you and is healing you?  

Can you remember all the people in your life who deeply hurt you, were jealous of you betrayed you, and try to destroy your possessions, your body, your mind, or your heart? Can you like Joseph truly forgive them and see how what they meant for evil, God turned so good.  

As believers this is what we're called to do. To see God, even in the dark. To keep our faith, to stay humble, to do and say when God tells us and to go where God sends us. You my brothers and sisters in Christ are God sent.  

And your family, your job, your community, and wherever God leads you, you are God sent. So walk in the knowledge that God has sent you to be a light and a witness to his goodness, his faithfulness and his love especially where it's darkest. Let us pray.  

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you that when we hungrily pursue your word and seek to get to know you better through studying and meditating on your words, you always show up.  

You always grant us deeper revelation as your word says. Those who hunger and thirst after you will see you. So we thank you, Heavenly Father, that you give us this ability to see you.  

To develop a deeper understanding of who we are in Christ. To help us Father God, to have the power, the wisdom to discernment, all that we need to stand and to do to say all that you are leading us to do to say and where you're telling us to go.  

We thank you, Heavenly Father, that we serve such a righteous such a faithful, such a loving Father, that even when we are in our darkest moments, we can stand firm as Joseph already going into the darkest places with our faith intact. Standing firm, not giving into temptation, doing what is right and forgiving Heavenly Father.  

So I ask Heavenly Father that you bless each and every person on this call. That you bless everyone connected with them. That you bless and cover them wherever they go to day Heavenly Father, every day is a new day.  

We can't live in tomorrow. We can't live in yesterday, but we live right now in this moment and today. So I pray, Heavenly Father that today you will give us Our Daily Bread. Today you will give us the words to speak, today you will give us the heart to love the eyes, to see the hands to do and you will guide our steps this day Heavenly Father.  

Thank you for this day Heavenly Father, thank you for your new mercies. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for the community of believers that you have raised up on this prayer call and on this Bible study that you called your son our shepherd pastor Zee to start.  

And that you are equipping and using as a means to train up our brothers and sisters in Christ to grow in us our faith. To help us to see all that you have for us. Eyes having seen, ears having heard, neither has it entered into the hearts. 

We have no idea Heavenly Father the good that you have in store for us, but we want to walk in it, we want to see it. We want to lay hold of it. We want to trust you. We want to believe in it. 

We want to walk in faith in it Heavenly Father. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have revealed yourself to us because we know we are only on this call. We are only seeking you every morning because you have revealed yourself to us.  

You have called us to yourself and we thank you for this most precious gift. And we thank you for sending Jesus Christ to come in the flesh, to model for us the way to go, the way to be, the way to think, the way to speak, the way to see who you are.  

So thank you Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your mercies. Thank you for how far you have carried us and we just pray Heavenly Father, that you made this day be a light in the dark.  

Give us this day Our Daily Bread, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the Kingdom, yours is the power, and yours is the glory forever and ever, Amen. Amen family, God bless you, we love you, have a powerful day in the Lord.