Elevate Devotional

Day 1

Is God’s path the best?

Day 1: The season that doesn’t make sense right now. (Genesis 37)

 

Are you in a season that doesn’t make sense right now? Have you been in a place that seems like there is no way out? 

 

In Genesis 37 we are introduced to a boy named Joseph. He is commonly known as Joseph and the coat of many colors. Joseph has a gift from God that he can interpret dreams and his dreams could be a message from God. He was the youngest of all of his brothers and his brothers hated him. They thought he was arrogant and it bothered them that Joseph was the favorite of their father, so they came up with a master plan to sell Joseph into slavery and tell their father he died. 

 

Read Genesis 37.

 

When reading this story, it seems that God had a plan for Joseph from the beginning. It was assumed that if God gave you a gift that he was going use it for His good. I believe he uses our life situations for his good, but at the moment it doesn’t seem like it. In today you have a very slim chance of getting sold into slavery, but there is a 100% possibility that you will go through a hard time in your life. Most of the time it’s hard to see where God is in those moments. 

 

Have you been to a place where it is hard to see God? Are you in a place where you cannot see how God is going to use your current situation?

 

I’ve been through many of these. Passing of family members, sudden passing of friends or mentors, loss of a job, finances just seem to not be there, relationship struggles, getting a diagnosis that puts your life on hold, or you just feel like nothing you are doing is making a difference and you feel like you are in a rut. Every time I look at God and wonder; why this is happening to me? God, this is messing with the plan that I had.

 

Something a wise person said to me was, “Make sure you always allow God to use your stories for His good.”

 

Tonight as you lay in bed I want you to ask God, “Will you use my current situation and story for your good?”

Let’s see over the next few days if God opens your eyes to see what He sees.

 

Day 2

Is God’s path the best?

Day 2: Why is this taking so long?

 

Most situations seem to take forever, or you are bouncing back and forth between a bad situation and you just cannot wait to be done with this season. You might often say, “when all this is over I will do this”, or you will say, “if only I wasn’t in this situation”.

Joseph seemed to have a lifetime of bad situations. He got sold into slavery, then sold again to another couple. When he was with the second owner, he was in a situation that led to him getting thrown into jail because of a lie someone told. 

 

Read Genesis 38-39

 

If you remember from yesterday’s devotional Joseph had this great gift from God to interpret dreams. There were two other people in jail with him and he ended up interpreting their dreams for them and ask them to tell people about his gift when they got out of jail. This story shows how long Joseph was waiting just for a chance to use his Gift for God in some way. 

A personal story: my wife and I had a plan to start having kids a few years after we got married. We both wanted to get established in our jobs and purchase a house before we even started trying. A few years went by, my job was going well, we bought our first house, and we were ready to start trying. After six months of trying we quickly realized there was something else going on. We ended up seeing a doctor that was successful with people in our situation. Over the next year, my wife went through an emotional roller coaster of medication, months of negative pregnancy tests, and one miscarriage. 

On my way back to the house after a stressful day of work, I sat in my driveway just wanted to escape from the pain of both my home life and my work life. At that moment I finally asked, “God, I need you to show me what this is for because I feel like I’m not being effective in my stage of life.” The answer I got back was, “Stay Faithful and Obedient”.

In both slavery and jail, Joseph never stopped being faithful and obedient to God. When someone needed their dream to be interpreted and was always willing to use the gift God gave him. During this time he never lied, cheated, or swindled his way to freedom but stayed obedient to what God had for his life. 

Today as you reflect on the season open up your notes app and write down :

Where in your life can you stay faithful?

Where in your life can you stay obedient to what God calls us to do?

 

Day 3

Is God’s path the best path?

Day 3: Deliverance

 

Two years after Joseph interpreted the other prisoners’ dreams, there was a situation where the Pharaoh was deeply troubled by a dream he had and no one could figure out what it meant. Pharaoh said if anyone could figure out what his dream meant, he would put them in the second command of Egypt. The person that was in jail remembered that Joseph had a God-given ability to interpret dreams. So Pharaoh called on Joseph to complete this task. When Joseph completed this task and it was put to the test, he was removed from jail and placed at the right hand of Pharaoh. 

 

Read Genesis 40-41

 

Everything has a season. If you are in a rough season it will pass. If you are in a good season, it will eventually fade as well. So what are we supposed to do when we have been delivered from the season we just wanted to end? We need to make sure we always remember the day we were delivered from that season. We need to also remember the closeness we have with God and the clear sight we have for life during this time. Why? Because this mountain top experience, where things are good, will eventually fade and we will eventually end up in another season in the valley. 

 

People in the old testament were excellent at remembering. They would set up special days, alters, and name certain places that would point to a time when God moved. They wanted to make sure they always remembered the places where God made an appearance. So take this time to write down how God delivered you from a season in your life. Try to write down dates, emotions, names, and how God moved in your life. 

 

The hardest part about being in a rough season is it is hard to remember where you were. We tend to focus on the here and now, but as Christian we need to make sure we don’t forget about the times when God felt close. But, the greatest thing we need to remember is the sacrifice Jesus made of the cross to purchase us from sin and deliver us to a relationship with God. We now can live eternally with God in heaven after this earth. That is something to always focus on.

 

Today, write down and make sure you remember the time of peace in your life. Always make sure you remember the times God delivered you from the hard seasons of life and brought you to the mountain top. 

 

Day 4

Is God’s path the best?

Day 4: God makes everything for His good

 

To end our story of Joseph he was in a position of power in Egypt. After he was appointed, there was famine and people were coming from all around asking for help. Joseph was in charge of this operation and the people that he never thought he would see again showed up. His brothers who sold him into slavery came to Egypt to ask Pharaoh for help with food because of the famine. 

 

Read Genesis 42-45

 

Through this interaction with his family, Joseph was able to bring his family to Egypt to take care of them. 

 

When you are at the mountain top and you feel like you are on that path that God has for your life, you need to be open for God to use that story. 

 

Two days ago I mentioned the story with my wife having trouble getting pregnant. Since we went through that season of life we choose to not only remember how God brought us out of that season, but we try to guide and encourage other couples where are in that season of life. We have been able to point where God moved and grew us during this season. We grew so much during that time and because of that example others can watch God do the same thing in their lives. 

 

God makes everything for His good. We need to make sure we do not waste God’s overarching story within our lives and make sure we share all the good things He provides. 

 

 Today, write down all the times God delivered you from a rough season in life. After you finish that, write down the encouragement that came from the deliverance so you can pass it down to someone else in that same rough season.