"So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it...Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt."(Genesis 37:23,24,28)
I have been privileged to be part of the beginnings of a few vision given by God. An example is when the CityLight Church had its first service. It was a beautiful and colorful event attended by many well-wishers. Not much different from Joseph's coat of many colors. Beautiful, a manifestation of the favor and approval of the Father. We left that first service excited that big things were awaiting us. We wore our coat of many joyfully and proudly. It was going to be beautiful from now on. However, we had the shocker of our lives when on the second service of the church, only a few people showed up. We felt we had been stripped of a coat of many colors. Little did we know that that was only the beginning of a process of several years before the vision could speak.
Carrying out a vision may start out beautiful but an inevitable process will surely follow. It is that season when the initial beauty dies so that the vision may eventually be realized. It is that time that we get stripped, sunk and sold. We are stripped of our pride and self sufficiency, sunk in the pit of isolation and have our labors sold out in the market as we become slaves to the vision, working without adequate compensation. Joseph went through the same. He was stripped of his robe of pride, sunk in the pit and then sold as a slave to strangers.
If your vision is going to be a reality, you will have to go through this process. You come in with a believe that you can carry the vision out with much speed, but soon that confidence get stripped of you and you come to the conclusion that you can't possibly accomplish it, then and only then will God begin to show you how you can do it through Him.
You will find yourself in the pit. Where you feel left alone by all. You labor is seemingly abandoned in a pit of loneliness. You feel like everyone is on top of the world while you are stuck in a hole.
Then you go through a time when your labor brings little or no returns. You feel like a slave laboring for strangers. You are doing everything with little returning back to you. You are like Joseph laboring uncompensated.
When you pass through this season, don't quit. It is a path all vision bearers must tread. It is the purification season when your commitment to your vision is tested. Will you quit when it is tough or will you stand until the season changes? Is your vision more real than the current challenges?
If you don't quit, I can assure you that you are on a caravan to Egypt. You may still have to stop at Potiphar's house which is even better that the prison that will follow. However you are on the road that leads to the palace and the fulfillment of you vision. People may think you are going down but in God's eyes you are going up. So get ready to be stripped, sunk and sold. It is your path to destiny.
Decision of the Day
I will not despair if I find myself stripped, abandoned in the pit and sold. I will trust God in all situations and I'll keep moving on, knowing that my path leads to the realization of my vision.
No comments:
Post a Comment