Joseph & the first Christmas

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: Mt 1:18 - 24

There are many lessons to be learnt from the first Christmas. This time around we’d let Mary & baby Jesus rest and shift our focus to Joseph. I don’t know if there are many men in the history of the earth that would have been able to flow along with Mary as Joseph did.

For a minute, put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. Here is this young, holy, and beautiful lady that you have decided to marry. She walks up to you one afternoon with this strange “gospel” that goes something like – I am very much in love with you and gladly await our becoming man and wife its just that there is this great news I have for you. I am pregnant. The God of Abraham is responsible for this oh praises to Yahweh Adonai!

I can imagine Mary, typical woman; she has a lot to say and yearns to share it with her man with that wonderful degree of detail that is legendary with the woman. It is in her best interest to give as much detail as possible. The trouble is that the more details she gives the faster she’d prove her insanity. Joseph wanted the “child” to be a parable that refers to some great idea that Mary will bring forth. Mary assures him that a parabolic child does not make the tummy rise. She maintains that it is the handiwork of God.

Who had ever heard of such an event in human history?

Joseph, evidently asides being a just man, is also a thoughtful man. He is analytic, a man of intelligence. This is obvious because we are told, “he thought on these things”. I know of many men that in the same situation it would be said “he screamed on these things ..”. However no matter how thorough Joseph is in his intellectual adventure this is an area where the brain will not compute. Someone would hastily say that Joseph should have remembered Isaiah’s prophecy that a virgin shall be with child. That is so easy to say because you are not Joseph.

Mary was a wise woman. She tells the news to Joseph but does not try to convince him or railroad him into going along her way. She couldn’t afford to keep quiet for she was sporting a bump. If she doesn’t do the talking, her tummy would. She had to do some talking. That is common sense. You see, sometimes folks throw away common sense when it comes to spiritual matters. Imagine the folly of Mary refusing to say anything to Joseph. She would have allowed foolishness open a door that would have effectively shortened her life and jeopardized the first Christmas.

God has a way of getting the right parties to come to a place of conviction also.

It is clear that Joseph did not believe Mary – rare is the man that would. He had rejected her testimony. He did not accept or believe one word of what she said. We are told that he was “minded to put her away”. That is old English expressing the fact that he had already decided to part ways with her. He was strategising how to go about staging the break up. While it might not be obvious to us now, the truth of the matter was that Mary’s life was in jeopardy. If Joseph acts rashly Mary will have to explain how she got pregnant to the elders. If she goes down that route the whole thing could end up in death by stoning.

The way God leads in these matters is based on a concept of multiple witnesses. You see, if you are getting involved in something that involves other people’s cooperation and consent, God will not only get across to you, he will get across to the others too. For example, when an angel appears to Cornelius and says to go to Peter to hear the good news of salvation, God finds a way to get across to Peter also that there were men seeking him that he should go with [see Acts 10: 1 – 20]

Joseph’s analytic mind had shut out any possibility that Mary could be right. It is obvious that in his soul realm his whole being was full of noise. He kept thinking of how to spare Mary’s life by secretly releasing her. His mind was leading him down the wrong alley and quickly too. His powers of analysis had shut out God. In effect there was little room for God to get through to Joseph while Joseph’s mind was in full control. This greatly limits the avenues that are open.

You see, very often our minds are immersed in a sea of thoughts, worries, fears and anxieties during the day that the only times of rest we have are the times we sleep. It is a dangerous combination to be a champion at worrying and mix this with sleeplessness. Man’s constitution is not designed to function optimally in that scenario. If you do not manage your thought life properly and deprive yourself of good sleep no matter how spiritual you are when you start out, it doesn’t take long before you break down emotionally and end up a spiritual wreck.

Somehow in the midst of this storm Joseph managed to sleep! That is supremely commendable. We know that he slept because the bible says “Then Joseph being raised from sleep”. So Joseph did sleep. When we sleep we function a lot more in the subconscious, which is a much richer realm than the conscious. This is why sleep is good. When you sleep you allow the things that you have heard, experienced or become exposed to during the day become properly catalogued.

No human can afford to actively filter every single thing he hears during the course of the day. If you do that you will become emotionally wasted and drained. This is the problem that people whose thoughts wander all over the place face. Their mental energy is getting depleted quickly and this exposes them to exhaustion. There is a safety mechanism in sleep that helps restore us. You are sharper at discerning things.

Sometimes you find believers that are in a tough situation and are looking to receive directions from God. They persistently pray all night and all day for extended periods and still nothing happens. The direction they so sorely want to receive seems so far away. We need to learn to rest. Praying all night and all day to the extent that you deprive yourself of sleep is actually counter-productive! It promotes exhaustion and not creativity.

You will notice that one of the things that quickly deserts people when they are in dire circumstances is sleep. There is a reason. Confusion is amplified in our soul when we fail to rest.

We can glean some beautiful gems from this detailed story about Joseph and how the first Christmas came about and it is this – what did Joseph do before he went to sleep?

The last conscious thing that he did before drifting off into sleep was that he did some thinking. There is a strong correlation between the direction that Joseph received and the thoughts he had before going to sleep. As a minister I often counsel people who fill their thought-life with junk as the last thing they do before going to bed at night. They feed on spiritual junk. Sometimes it is even books that profess to be “Christian” but are full of gloom and doom and scary stuff. They stay full of this before drifting into sleep and then wonder why they end up with nightmares. Reading books that celebrate the occult, demonic activity and the likes before going to bed is the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with your inner well being.

The truth is that whatever we focus on, whether good or bad, gains dominance in our awareness. A Christian fellow unconsciously opens doors to the enemy by focusing all his attention on satan's activity, things that are evil and an evil report. I know of folks that all they do when they are in a tough situation is to focus on the times that they have missed it and times when they didn’t quite pick the leadings of God. They are full of a fear of not getting it right. This fear erodes their spiritual initiative and robs them of the leadings they so sorely need to receive. When you are actively involved in fear or have your mind set on certain things, that slant limits you from receiving direction from the Lord Jesus.

You must learn to come into a position to receive direction. Thats the key word "receive".

Hmm .. should I stop here? …. for additional tapes …. [we’d continue later]

Recognising divine patterns

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, [there is] none so discreet and wise as thou [art]:
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. Gen 41:39 – 41

As you read through Genesis 37 – 41, there is a recurrent theme that marks out Joseph. Joseph was envied by his brothers, set up by Potiphar’s wife and subsequently reduced to the standing of a common felon. A casual glance shows that at the onset Joseph was the son of a wealthy Jacob, and then we see him become a slave in Potiphar’s house after which he becomes a prisoner of Egypt. That is one way of looking at it, but is that the eternal perspective on things?

I want you to notice what Pharaoh said to Joseph - he set Joseph over all the land of Egypt. This means that back of Joseph was the throne of Egypt and back of that throne is Pharaoh himself. The more you delve into Joseph, the more you see that this thing is not a unique event in the life of Joseph. This elevation before Pharaoh did not drop out of thin air.

I want you to pay close attention to the verses below:

For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. Gen 37: 7 - 8

Joseph tells his brethren a dream. Somehow his brothers knew the meaning of the dream without Joseph having to interpret it to them. I want you to notice that we are not told that Joseph interpreted the dream to them. He told them the contents of his dream and their response showed that they knew its meaning. I want you to see that the dream implied that Joseph would rule over his brethren.

And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. Gen 37: 9

As soon as Jacob heard this dream, he knew its significance. Again we are not told that Joseph did any interpretation. Joseph’s dream is expanding in its scope. In the earlier dreams we see no reference to his parents coming under his dominion. It seems that the more he dreamt, the wider the scope of his dreams. It should dawn on Joseph that what he was to function in was not just on family level.

The brothers responded to Joseph’s dream out of their flesh. A casual reader will assume that Joseph was loosing significance with each step he took. This is because of the way we often measure things. A fleshly interpretation of things will say that Joseph moved from son to slave and then to prisoner.

The implication of his dreams was that he carried a governmental anointing, something kingly, and something by which he will walk in high authority where human lives are concerned. Joseph learnt how to handle people by his early contact with his brothers. It seems that the greatest area of challenge that Joseph had was with people.

In reality, his dreams showed him that people were going to be committed to his charge.

And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Gen 41: 46

Joseph wasn’t 31 or 29, but 30 when he stepped into that which he was born for. A rough calculation shows that Joseph was about 17 when he got sold into slavery. Since he was 30 by the time that he stood before Pharaoh it implies that he had 13 years between being sold into slavery and standing in Pharaoh’s presence. Again, that’s 13 years! What could Joseph have mastered in those 13 years? Was there a way by which Joseph could have observed what the future held for Joseph?

I am convinced that Joseph’s life turned out to be the logical conclusion of a pattern that was discernable all through his life. This pattern stands out to us because we have the advantage of seeing his whole life played out in a few chapters of Genesis. You need to be aware that God keeps patterns with us. One hopes that Joseph recognised these patterns. These are patterns of God’s workings. The patterns that God keeps with us are to aid us in intelligently preparing for the future. Why didn’t Joseph avoid the tough relationships that he was faced with? It is likely that sometime during his life in Egypt Joseph came to recognise the meaning of the patterns.

A strange fact of life is that tough relationships are great turning points in our lives. There are tough relationships that we shouldn’t avoid but develop our muscles in and there are others that we should move out of – we have to learn the difference.

Moses became aware of God’s plan at age 40. He had a ministry to Pharaoh, but mistakenly tried to bring about the plan by killing an Egyptian on the street. He was on the run for another 40 years and he had a wonderful testimony of leadership for the last 40 years of his life. Clearly there is a numerical pattern in Moses’ life. Should Moses base his predictions on this? I think it should aid us in standing in faith as we go through periods of intense change.

But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:
But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
Gen 40: 14, 18 – 23

Joseph actually was designed to stand before Pharaoh. While it might not have been obvious to him at the beginning, we can see this pattern. He first met an important army officer in Pharaoh’s army. Then he meets people that have ministered daily to Pharaoh. Potiphar didn’t stand before Pharaoh, but the chief baker and the chief butler did. The chief butler directly puts the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

Joseph interpreted the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker. These were high officials close to Pharaoh’s throne. His interpretation prepared the chief butler for restoration to high office and also prepared the baker for death. He had done both men great favour – they each had information on what loomed ahead and so could prepare adequately. Joseph leans on the chief butler returning a favour by mentioning him to Pharaoh.

By now it is clear to Joseph that he should stand before Pharaoh. You note that like many of us, Joseph tries to bring about fulfilment through political means - in this case the well tested method of "name dropping". It does take a lot not to resort to this. There are very few men who develop the capacity not to try to bring to pass these things that they have already sensed within. It is one thing to see something ahead and a totally different thing to resist trying to administer its fulfilment by our own ability and means. The closer Joseph got to "graduation", the stronger the urge to resort to this. He was very close to standing finally in the full dream of God.

I am convinced that Joseph was an outstanding administrator. Imagine what would have happened to the prison system of Egypt as a result of Joseph’s activity there. He could easily have started a revival in that place for whatever he said governed the place. In reality he was physically in the prison, but had assumed greater administrative duties than the one he had while in Potiphar’s house. Administratively he had made tremendous progress! He was in charge of the life or death of tens of thousands of prisoners. He would have learnt how to handle the toughest of men.

Joseph, when he stood before Pharaoh could expect the pattern to continue. He had managed Potiphar’s house in Egypt. He had managed the prison system of the whole of Egypt, and now he was to manage the whole of Egypt. I have deep respect for this guy - it took him 13 years.

Often I meet Christians who are sweating over trying to discover God’s purpose for their lives. They are waiting for some gruff heavenly voice and all the while missing the opportunity to discover the patterns of God already present in their lives.

… to be continued

Elijah, the Widow and the Rest of us

S Sekou ABODUNRIN

I encourage you to read the piece in 1 kings 17: 9 – 16 many times over before proceeding

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath Lk 4: 25 – 28

The story of Elijah and the widow is replete with instruction for our day. Some might think that this was an everyday occurrence in Elijah’s powerful ministry, but in reality Elijah clearly didn’t have an anointing that flowed in his life that “guaranteed” that every one who “sowed into his ministry” would have a supernatural financial turn around. If he had claimed such, he would have been fleecing the impressionable widow who was in a dire situation. We know this to be the case because the Lord Jesus said that Elijah was sent to one widow alone. For all we know then this event was not repeated. Elijah was not aware that millennia later there will arise precious folks who will claim that poor people should sow their last financial resource into their ministry and trust for financial breakthrough.

There is a whole army of new Elijahs it seems. Every one seems to have a supposed, “debt cancelling” anointing these days. I want you to realise that neither the Old Testament prophets nor any of the New Testament ministries practiced or preached this. It doesn’t make sense to pick and choose what portion of biblical records we will follow. If we stay true to the example set by Elijah, the first thing we need to establish is to recognise and discern what the Lord is saying to the minister and then to understand and discern what the Lord is saying to us.

Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 1 kings 17:9

If we go into the details of this, the Lord spoke to both parties concerned. He did not leave it to the prophet to go convince or pressure the woman into “sowing”. The Lord commanded Elijah just as he had also commanded the widow. Elijah did not do the convincing or commanding. We see that the Lord had spoken to the widow about Elijah’s sustenance before he spoke to Elijah about the provision that will flow through the widow. That’s the first principle in these matters – you must discern the leading of the Lord for yourself. This leading will not be one-sided. I often hear of people who give because God told a certain minister that all those who give would get such and such!

The pattern seems to be that one should be careful to obtain money from people without finding out what the Lord has instructed them to do. Elijah walked in confidence knowing that the Lord has also spoken to the woman. Some seem to think that whatever a minister says, the Lord has spoken. Let me put it simply, the Lord has a voice, he will speak to you by himself or through his word. You are responsible for judging the things you hear. Do not offload this responsibility on someone else no matter how mighty or anointed they are. You do not go about looking for opportunities to disbelieve ministers; neither do you open your mouth like a day-old chick to swallow anything that is spoken to you.

There is another point I want you to see, God instructed Elijah to dwell there. In other words Elijah was required to move to the locality where the widow was. Elijah wasn’t to get up the next morning after eating his meal or receiving the “miracle offering”, climb upon his golden donkey and ride into town to declare himself as “good ground” for the next available widow. If he had done that he would have been wrong. The principle and practice that we see in Elijah is that a minister that makes such pulls for money or the resource of others should be accessible to them.

I have heard of ridiculous things like £7, £77 or some other juxtaposition of 7s! Elijah wasn’t going to require 77 shekels or 777 shekels simply because 7 was the number of perfection. He wasn’t only going to make blanket guarantees to the widow. He was going to stay around to see the widow walk in the turn-around that he had spoken of! The Lord gave Elijah specific instructions. Elijah was to dwell, not roam around.

Put more simply, God didn’t allow his holy prophet the luxury that some of us ministers allow ourselves today. It is common practice to hear a minister tell those that have “sown” in response to the promise of a guaranteed financial turn around, when those things don’t come to pass, that it is likely the “sower” didn’t exercise faith to pull in the harvest! Clearly Elijah didn’t practice such nor did the Lord expect him to.

The pattern we see however is that Elijah was to dwell with the widow such that he was going to be around to pull in the harvest. If faith were called into operation to call in this “harvest” it would be Elijah’s faith. The woman had acted in corresponding action by supplying the resources to sustain Elijah; now the ball was back in Elijah’s court that the word of the prophet must not be seen to have fallen to the ground. It therefore makes sense that God instruct Elijah to move into close proximity and dwell. He was to instruct the woman until the “harvest” came in.

According to the testimony of Jesus, Elijah was sent to only one widow. This instruction that God gave Elijah then wasn’t for everybody, nor was it some universal message. It was singular. If we are not careful we will do some religious arithmetic and end up with some formula like

Mighty prophet + poor widow + gift from widow = supernatural provision for widow

Elijah knew no such arithmetic. The equation I made up above lacks the most important part – what has the Lord spoken to each person personally? Elijah didn’t multiply his revenue stream by enlisting all widows claiming that the “system” works. We know that there were many widows in Israel at that time. If he had built his ministry around this he would have succeeded for people respond to this type of thing. His heart was with his Lord and he wasn’t going to take advantage of the widows for you can imagine what the other widows in town would have tried having seen that things that happened when the widow responded to Elijah.

Apparently Elijah trained Elisha properly. How do we know?

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. Luke 4:27

Elisha didnt know the supposed bible fact that Naaman could "sow into the anointing"!

If you read the full story about Elisha, Naaman actually offered him money.

Have you noticed that people are more likely to give after a miracle has occurred? Should a wise minister receive such money? Thankfully Elisha didn’t receive such. In this case it wasn’t even Elisha that asked for it! Some that emphasise a money-anointing connection would gladly bring out the offering basket after such a profound miracle asking the fellow who has received the miracle to “sow unto good ground” or name the seed "my miracle turn around" :)

… to be continued

Distinguishing between perceptions & leadings

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

I encourage you to read through the whole of Acts 21 before proceeding beyond this point. Read it thoughtfully, and then lets explore some of the richness of the information contained within it.

4 And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

There is such a thing as living in communion with the Spirit of God. I want you to notice that there is such a thing as “speaking through the Spirit”. They were not giving instructions based solely on solid reasoning alone. It is true that the Lord gave us a mind to think with, but we should not confuse this with obtaining leadership from the mind. The mind was never given to provide man with directions. The mind will be involved in the decision making process no doubt, but the information at your disposal often originates in the spirit realm.

These disciples were Spirit taught. They knew that a man could speak things of the Spirit of God. You ought to give yourself more time to practice the presence of God – practice voicing that which the Spirit inspires within you. A time will come when that knowledge will bail you out.

I want you to notice the 10th verse.

10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

Agabus, a first century prophet of the church of the Lord Jesus, bears out this fact. Notice what he said – “thus saith the Holy Ghost”. He wasn’t hazy about this he was specific.
Lets put that in perspective and context. Agabus was a noted prophet, a proven minister, he knew the ways of the Spirit more than the average believer did for he was much more exercised in the workings of the Spirit. He pinpointed exactly what the Holy Ghost said! The Holy Ghost described through the ministry of the Prophet the events that would characterise Paul’s Jerusalem trip.
There is a marked difference between what the disciples said and what Agabus delivered by the anointing. Agabus informed Paul that there was danger ahead – he was informational. The disciples went beyond the bounds of information and became directional. There is a difference.

Lets break it down further.
12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

We notice that as soon as Agabus delivered the message of God to Paul, the people that were around Paul used the message, and their understanding of what the message means to instruct Paul – they were trying to lead Paul. In order words they interpreted the message. This explains what actually happened in verse 4 when it says that the disciples told Paul by the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. They had insight into the future, the things that they sensed weren’t exciting, and so they took it to mean a restriction.

We must learn to distinguish between getting a message from God and interpreting that message. The disciples definitely picked up the message of God in their spirits, just like Agabus did also, but unlike Agabus they went ahead to interpret the message and tell Paul what to do and what not to do. This is moving away from just perceiving the message of God to providing leadings based on that message. When you have a message for someone else you give exactly what the Spirit says, then leave it to the person to draw interpretation - except in the rare case that God gives you the meaning of the message.

14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

Likely the disciples were spiritually sensing that danger was ahead for Paul. They were correct in this. Truth is, no one is better equipped for your future more than you. Paul already knew that there was danger ahead. In order words he knew what they knew, but interpreted it differently. What the happenings in your life means to you might often be different from what those around you take it to mean. This is why you cannot afford to be “led” by those around you. People that are spiritually sensitive can get facts from God, they can deliver it to you, but you must know what is informational and what is directional!

To the disciples danger means, “don’t go”, whereas to Paul it was simply informational, something to prepare him for the tough road ahead. He took this all in and resolved to go all the way for the sake of the gospel. We don’t judge by the presence or absence of danger. Definitely it is foolish to expose yourself to danger just to prove to “others” that you are strong, for that is not the character of God.
Paul got the message, then interpreted it and built into his consciousness the resolve to follow through with God’s plan with or without danger. Actually it is obvious that Paul could have decided not to go and he wouldn’t be violating God’s plan. He also knew that going ahead wouldn’t be out of God’s plan. He had a choice.

.... to be continued