Promise 105 Gen. 48:15

Gen. 48:15 - "He blessed Joseph, and said, 'The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day....'" While Jacob is blessing Joseph's boys he is explaining to them how God has been with him. I never really caught this before, but it wasn't David, who wrote Psalm 23, that was the the first to make the comparison of the Lord being a Shepherd. Usually when we think of Ps. 23 we see pictures of Jesus tending sheep, but look what Jacob is saying, "The God who is before time has been MY Shepherd my whole life" (all 147 years of it). The awesome God Almighty, the Creator of Heavens and Earth, the One powerful enough to breathe all things, the whole universe into existence lovingly walks with us, cares for us, guides us, carries us, finds us when we are lost, sheers the old self away and makes us new. The Almighty Holy Creator is our intimate, very good and loving shepherd who is with us every moment of the day. Thank You Lord!

Promise 104 Gen. 48:4

Gen. 48:4 - "and He said to me, 'Behold I will make you fruitfula nad numerous, and I will make you a company of peopl, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.'" Jacob is passing on the message of the promise to Joseph and his boys. It originated with Abraham and it continues down the line. We must always continue passing on the promises and blessings of God to the next generation. One, so that it is remembered and two, so it is received. One of the problems in many churches is that they have forgotten the promises and the blessings of the past. They think growth, prosperity and personal encounters of the power of God died after the time of scriptures. So now, they are not choosing to accept the inheritance that was meant for them to have. They are not seeing growth, prosperity and are not asking for great encounters because they don't know that they can. They aren't seeing God's super natural, Holy Spirit work in them and through them because they aren't asking. They aren't asking because somewhere down the line, someone dropped the ball and forgot to pass on the blessing by not passing on the promise. It's so sad! Go back and claim the promise and ask the big things of God, claim your rightful inheritance. If you don't understand what this means, ask the Holy Spirit, He'll tell you what it means.

Promise 103 Gen. 47:31

Gen. 47:31 - "He (Jacob) said (to Joseph) 'Swear to me.' So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed." Jacob wanted nothing more than to be buried with his other family members. When Joseph promised him that it would happen the internal joy and peace he felt collapsed him into worship. At age 147 Jacob worshipped God once again for the blessings He has provided. How many times do we just breathe a "Thank God" after we feel some relief over something, but then it just stays there? I confess that I so quickly move on to the next thing instead of taking the time to really worship God for His blessings. Lord forgive us for just moving on. I want to be like Jacob who lays his head down to meet his Heavenly Father and say a proper "Thank you, Daddy" to Him.

Promise 102 Gen. 46:33-34; 47:7

Gen. 46:33-34; 47:7 - "When Pharaoh calls you and says, 'What is your occupation?' you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers.' that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.' Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh." Here Jacob is supposed to be from the most loathsome group of people in all of Egypt and he approaches the Pharaoh, who is supposed to be "untouchable" by any person, and Jacob blesses him. God's favour in the eyes of man! Jacob really didn't have too much to fear because of Joseph's position in the house. But what about the Pharaoh? Here he allowed that man who is supposed to stay quite a distance from him, in that culture, to be drawn near to him. He even speaks with Jacob, then let's him bless him. He obviously wasn't bothered about what other people were thinking at the time. God gives us favour to fearlessly approach those who do not care for us, and bless them. Not only that, He can soften their hearts to us so that they will receive it.

Promise 101 Gen. 45:28; 46:3-4

Gen. 45:28; 46:3-4 - "Then Israel said, 'It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.' He said, 'I am God, the God of your fathers do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes'." Israel had a very difficult decision to make in his old age, and that was to uproot his whole household and to move out of the place that God had sent him to. Yet he was willing to take that step of faith . It was after that decision to go that God showed up and assured him that He would be with him. God assures him that he is still on the right track concerning the covenant promise that he will become a great nation. Too often we wait to hear God's voice before we take any action. We hold back on stepping out because we riddle ourselves with the "what ifs." What if it isn't God's will for me? But what if it is God's will and you are too chicken to test it and see? God doesn't put dreams and desires in our hearts just to tease us. If our dreams and desires are aligned with scriptures and within God's character, then I say "God for it!" God loves it when we step out in faith, trusting Him. The promise here is that He will show up and either confirm His presence in it or will stray you away, but either way He will make it clear to you.

Promise 100 Gen. 46:1-2

Gen. 46:1-2 - "So Israel had set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, 'Jacob, Jacob!' and he said 'Here am I'." God seems to speak to us most, not when we are crying out to Him, but when we are worshipping Him. The very act of offering sacrifices at Beersheba, by stopping along the journey, taking time out to remember God, was a form of worship during the day. When we too, stop what we are doing, take time out and turn our eyes on Him and worship Him, that's when He usually meets us. That's when we feel the Holy Spirit presence. Whenever I end the day in either worship or listening to a powerful sermon combined with worship. I can never sleep afterwards, the Lord just stays with me and keeps me up wanting to talk. He so desires to talk with us, He's just waiting for us to come to Him with a sacrifice of attention, a planned time out with Him so that He can share what's on His heart for us. Put God on your diary or schedule today and see what He has to say!

Promise 99 Gen. 45:7

Gen. 45:7 - "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance." You never know what God is going to do in you and through you, or through the people He puts in our lives. God has used specific people in my life to speak new revelation of Him and new life into me the past couple of years that will change the direction of my spiritual walk forever. I will always be grateful to them for their unreserved approach to bringing out the areas of growth I needed to address. Just as God has put transforming people into my life, I'm mindful that God might be putting me in someone else's life for that same purpose; to deliver them into the arms of the Heavenly Father. The key to those people encounters is through a clear communication with the Lord. To hear His voice giving our assignments where others are concerned. This doesn't mean we are to go and preach to people, but we are to make ourselves available for God to use us, at His choosing, in their lives. I don't ever want to fall asleep on my watch and miss what God is wanting to do to me and through me for others.

Promise 98 Gen. 45:5

Gen. 45:5 - "Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." Confrontation is a difficult thing. Sometimes we unintentionally bring offence to others. Maybe someone will get offended by something we say or do and we can become oblivious to it. So how do we handle those moments? God gives us a picture of graciousness through Joseph. When we are stuck in a position of conflict with a brother or sister, it is our opportunity to be life preservers. We can speak life into that other person, we can build them up and share God's love with them, we can 'be' love to them because Christ who is love, is in us. Its not always easy, I know, but it is a choice we have the privilege of making. God gave us life, lets do the same for others!

Promise 97 Gen. 43:14

Gen. 43:14 - "And may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.'" Israel is in a tough place, Jacob was pushed to a point of surrendering the last thing he loved the most, and that was Benjamin. He held on to him until he couldn't anymore for the risk of his whole family dying. He finally said, "here take him!' Even though he was releasing him to his other sons, he was really releasing him to God. He was also prepared to suffer the harsh consequences if anything were to happen to Benjamin. What he was missing though in the midst of this decision was that he wasn't recognizing Who he was releasing them to. He prayed that the God of compassion would grant favor for his sons but He didn't accept that prayer for himself. Instead of desperate hope, he should have known that God IS a compassionate God and that his sons would return to him. I know it looked like all the cards were stacked against him; thinking Joseph was dead, they were two years into a famine and now he had to send his youngest beloved son away. But Jacob forgot, he forgot to look at the character of God, of whom he knows Him to be. The God who keeps His promises. He will soon be reminded once again that God is the faithful, compassionate God. Let US never forget!

Promise 96 Gen. 42:28

Gen. 42:28 - "Then he said to his brothers, 'My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.' and their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, 'What is this that God has done to us?'" How often do we think God is punishing us for something? More often than we would like to admit I'm sure. Sadly, many many people actually believe that every time something tragic happens, its God's wrath pouring down. It is simply not so, we get to see the full picture of what is going on in Joseph's brother's lives because through God's word He is allowing us to see what He sees. We get to see that it was Joseph who put the money back into their bags and that this story has a good ending because it is God who is orchestrating the events that happen. I believe that if we open our eyes and ears more, then we can see more of the bigger picture of what is going on around us than what we think. We already know the outcome of our lives, we already know that God loves us, we know that He desires to give us a future of hope and not of calamity. So attribute the things of God within that framework and look for other things He is doing that is according to His character and not out of it.

Promise 95 Gen. 41:52

Gen. 41:52 - "He named the second Ephraim, 'For' he said, 'God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.'" Now Joseph remembers his recent pain, being locked up for years as an innocent man. But he doesn't name his son to be a scar of his pain, but as a memory stone of God's presence and provision during the difficult times, and through how God brought him out of that. God does show us blessings even in the midst of difficult times. We need to either write those down or have something symbolic that will remind us of His presence during those times. I have various rocks that I've picked up at pivotal God encounter times to remind me of what He said or of what He's done. If we don't keep things to remind us that God is good all the time, then we so quickly forget when life gets so incredibly difficult and we don't see Him immediately in front of us. So go gather some memory stones today, because He is with you, look for the blessings.

Promise 94 Gen. 41:51

Gen. 41:51 - "Joseph named the first born Manasseh, 'For' he said, 'God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.'" Joseph could have named his 1st born based on God's deliverance or work in something more recent like getting him out of prison or granting him favour in the eyes of Pharaoh but he didn't. His 1st born has a name that address' the long, deep wounds and pain of his past. Joseph felt it was from God that he has forgotten his family. But the very fact that he is naming his son on the rememberance of the forgotten shows that the family isn't really forgotten but the healing has begun and he is no longer affected by the pain of his family. God brings healing to deep wounds, deep pain. He can take away the feelings that the perpetrator owes something or needs to make their wrongs right, God can redeem time lost to sorrow and can restore joy. He can and He will!

Promise 93 Gen. 41:16

Gen. 41:16 - "Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.'" When Joseph speaks to Pharaoh there is no indication of any doubt or begging of God to come through for him. There is no worry that he'll misinterpret the dream, then be put back in jail. Joseph is confident in who he knows his God to be. He had full confidence that God would interpret the dream. He knew His God. When Joseph heard the dream he didn't take time to analyse the words, he spoke the exact words that God gave him to speak, not only the interpretation but the solution to the problem as well. Have you spent enough time with your God to know that you can be confident in the presence, confident in hearing His voice and seeing where He is working? Do you trust your God, trust that He will give you the words and wisdom you will need at the right moment? We should all know our God that well.