I refuse to be stressed by my struggles.
I refuse to be controlled by my circumstances.
I know that God is preparing me for greatness.
Grace and peace to you all in Jesus' mighty name.
Welcome to another edition of 'Take Care of Your Heart'.
Today, I want to emphasize such an important
principle for us as Christians -
the understanding that as a believer,
your situation serves a purpose.
The fear of your situation
loses its grip in your life
when you understand that
situation serves a Divine purpose.
Be blessed right now
as you open your heart to receive His Word,
in Jesus' mighty name.
By Divine design, you have a good destiny.
Look, God never created anyone to be a failure.
I don't care what lies
satan may have whispered in your ear
or what society may have told you -
that you're not good enough, you're not smart enough.
you're not beautiful enough
you're not 'this' enough. No!
You have been given a good destiny
by divine design.
That incredible photograph
of tomorrow has been planted within you
by the Holy Spirit.
In fact, you are a work of art.
But to become God's person,
you must follow His process - just like Joseph did.
You see, at the time Joseph
saw this dream, this vision of his future,
he was too young to appreciate the glory that lay ahead of him
and he was too inexperienced
to handle the position that God prepared for him.
So in his journey to the throne,
God prepared three stopovers, transit points.
Number one - the dry pit
where he was cruelly thrown by his envious brothers.
Number two - Potiphar's house
where he was wrongly sold into slavery.
Number three - the prison where he was sent
after being falsely accused by Potiphar's wife.
Now, to the carnally minded person,
all of these stopovers looked like foolish things,
but these were God's way
of preserving Joseph for the glory ahead
and preparing Joseph for the assignment ahead.
I repeat once again, people of God
as a Christian, the challenges you are facing today
are simply a transit point
to connect you to your destiny.
Don't get stuck in a stopover.
What's the first lesson we're going to take from the life of Joseph today?
If you consider what happened to Joseph,
you will see that the situation he encountered
was in direct conflict with his dream,
with his destiny.
In fact, we can clearly say
through the case of Joseph that God's providence
often seems to contradict His purpose.
What do I mean?
His divine wisdom often seems to contradict
the course of natural events.
What Joseph faced was opposite
to what his dream suggested.
He was destined to be head, to be at the top
but he found himself at the bottom of the dry pit.
He was destined to be a leader,
and he found himself in slavery and servitude.
He was destined to become a source
of freedom for his people
but he found himself in the prison cell.
Perhaps you can relate.
Perhaps you, too, can identify.
Many of us here today, the situation we are facing
seems to contradict
the promise of God for our lives.
What we are facing does not agree.
It doesn't seem to guarantee
the fulfillment of God's promise
and purpose in our lives.
I've had so many people come and say,
'I don't understand. Why am I sick when God has promised me good health?
Why am I in debt when God has promised me abundance?
Why am I barren when God has promised me fruitfulness?'
I remember a young brother came to meet me in the church
one day after service, and he said,
'Brother, I just want to ask you a question.
I recently became a Christian,
and one thing I don't understand - I have been watching Emmanuel TV
and see people giving testimony of breakthrough and blessing
but after I became a Christian, my challenges became worse.
Since I became a Christian, it's the like attack increased.
What's going on?'
He was confused.
Little did he know that the tougher the challenges, the greater the glory.
He was only being prepared for greatness.
Challenges are part and parcel of greatness.
But in such circumstances, in such situations,
it's so easy for us to begin to look at God in a bad light.
Why is this happening to me?
To begin to compare ourselves with others.
To begin to fight human enemies and
create imaginary enemies that don't even exist
to try and point the finger towards someone
because of the situation we're facing.
It's so easy for us to lose focus and abandon our post.
And by so doing, many people today get stuck in their stopover.
Look at Joseph. If it would have been easy for Joseph to say,
'Where is God?
God revealed to me my destiny and here I am at the bottom of this dry pit.'
But instead of asking, 'Where is God?'
Joseph simply asked this question 'Where is my dream?'
In other words, I don't belong here.
I know where I belong.
I know where I'm going.
My destiny does not agree with this.
My dream does not suggest this.
This is just a stopover in my journey.
This is just a stage in my journey.
This is not to impair me.
This is to improve me.
I refuse to be stressed by my struggles.
I refuse to be controlled by my circumstances.
I know that God is preparing me for greatness.
In the face of your storm today,
how many of us have said this?
How many of you have talked to yourself saying,
'This is not where I belong.
I know where I'm going.
I know where I belong.
This is not where I belong.
I'm not going to give in to the trap of the devil.
I'm not going to give in and start grumbling.
I'm not going to give in and start complaining.
I'm not going to give in and start lamenting. No!
I know that God who took me to this trial will see me through this trial.
It would have been very easy,
if you put yourself in the position of Joseph,
it would have been very easy for him to begin to nurse self-pity.
Why me? What is happening?
God, are You really there?
It would have been easy for him to begin to compare himself with his brothers.
Look at Reuben.
Look at Gad.
Look at Simeon.
They're enjoying with my father but here I am in the prison for doing nothing wrong.
I did good; they repaid me with evil.
But I want you to take note of a valuable truth.
When Joseph was in the prison,
if he had been so busy lamenting,
grumbling, moody, depressed, sad, overcast,
overwhelmed by his challenges,
he would not have had the time to listen
to the complaints of his co inmates,
let alone interpreting their dream.
But the interpretation of the dream
of the cup bearer of the king
was the link that finally took him to the throne.
If he were so busy licking his own wounds,
nursing grudges towards his brothers,
seeing God in a bad light,
he would have missed the opportunity
to help and interpret the dream of the cup bearer,
which finally became the link,
the connecting point, the stepping stone
that took him to the throne.
To illustrate this, I want to share with you a true story.
This happened to me several years ago.
I was on a journey flying from South Africa to Greece
and I had a transit, stopover in the Dubai airport.
And when I looked at the time, I had 3 hours in between flights
between arriving in Dubai
and the flight leaving off to Greece.
I looked at the situation, that I had three hours.
I was quite tired after not sleeping much the night before.
I said, 'Let me just sit down a little bit and relax.'
And in this airport, there were some dangerously comfortable seats -
seats that are too comfortable for an airport.
They're not supposed to be that comfortable.
I sat down in this seat.
It's one of those seats where when you sit down,
your legs go up and your head goes down.
I said, 'Jesus Christ! Thank You, Lord.'
And I looked at the time and said, 'Let me just rest for 10,15, 20 minutes.'
I closed my eyes.
As I opened my eyes, do you know what I heard?
'This is the final call for flight X13 to Greece. You are about to leave now.'
Ahh! I began running like a headless chicken.
I ran so far and then realised I left my luggage at the seat.
I ran back to collect it - running up and down.
Where is the gate? I'm going to miss the flight.
Not knowing the gate is at the far end of the airport, the furthest possible point.
By the time I finally reached there, sweating, looking dishevelled, dismayed,
the lady kindly said to me, 'I'm very sorry, sir. Your flight has just left.'
She now said to me,
'But sir, we called your name and no one came.'
Let my experience serve as a lesson to you.
Because I got caught up in the transit,
I got stuck in a stopover.
I missed my flight.
And when they called my name, I didn't hear.
Do you know that many people here today
have missed their flights to freedom
because they were so busy
dealing with the troubles of transit?
Many people today have missed their flight.
We have been so caught up in our sickness
that we missed our flight to good health.
We've been so busy worrying about our poverty
that we missed our flight to prosperity.
We've been so busy battling our barriers
that we've missed our flight to breakthrough.
We've been so busy stressing out about our struggles
that we missed our flight to success.
And God is calling you.
My son, it is time for your flight.
My daughter, it is time for your flight.
But you were so busy that you didn't hear His voice
and you got stuck in your stopover.
You were too busy worrying, too busy grumbling,
too busy thinking about the challenges,
thinking about the circumstance,
thinking about the situation
whereas it is just a transit point.
It's not your destination.
It's not your final landing point.
It's just a stopover.
It's just a stepping stone.
It's just a stopping interval.
Why are we so consumed by our trouble
when it's simply a stepping stone to our breakthrough?
Tell your neighbour,
"Don't get stuck in a stopover."
Don't get stuck in a stopover and miss your flight to freedom.
Hallelujah.
Thank You, Jesus Christ.
Glory be to God Almighty.
Listening to that sermon again,
I remembered a Christian song that I often used to listen to.
And the lyrics of this song are so simple -
God is God and I am not
for I can only see a part of the picture that He is painting.
And I love that understanding, people of God,
because so often we get consumed,
overwhelmed, caught up by the moment,
the issue on the ground, the worry,
the agitation, the fear, the tension,
the pressure of that moment, that situation
that we miss the bigger picture
and the bigger picture
is that this is bigger than us.
It's bigger than us because we serve a big God -
bigger than our concerns.
Bigger than your worries.
Bigger than your fears.
Bigger than your anxieties.
We serve an awesome God
who can use foolish things
to achieve His Divine purpose for our lives.
1 Corinthians 1:27
What an awesome God - He is Sovereign; He is Supreme.
He is the owner of your destiny,
the author of your future.
He holds your life in His mighty hands.
Why worry?
Why fear?
Why compare yourself with others?
Or measure your Christian life by your situation?
No, people of God.
We serve an awesome God.
And do you know that
God can even sometimes
allow us to encounter evil?
Not that we should submit to it,
but that we may overcome it.
And His name will be glorified
in the midst of that situation.
Perhaps right now as you are watching this,
you are passing through your own moment of transit,
you are in your time of transit right now -
let the Word of God encourage your heart right now.
As a Christian, even when the present signs, the current situation
tends to suggest there is no hope, no way, no future,
when God is supporting your position,
the best is always yet to come.
So take heart and take hope, people of God.
Thank You, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for joining me for this edition of 'Take Care Of Your Heart'.
And remember - continue to seek God's hearts to see life clearly,
in Jesus' mighty name.