Story of Joseph - Alive in 2025
Did you know that if God has prepared something for us, no person and no devil will be able to keep us from it, as long as we remain faithful and trust Him. Sometimes the things God has for us are delayed or take longer than what we were prepared for and that can be difficult and feel defeating. But don’t lose hope! God will work all things out, when we let go and learn to trust Him with all of our ways and all of our days. So, stir up your faith and believe, nothing is impossible when God is involved!! Come on!! Join the conversation and the journey today!
Diana’s Notes
Alive in 2025
Greetings all you beautiful peeps out there!! LOL! I am your host Diana, and welcome to today’s episode of Joseph: Scene 1. God wants you to be ALL He created you to be and to do that, we have to know we are loved and adored by our Creator God, our God Who can move mountains - El Shaddi. Do you have any mountains, any obstacles, anybody, anything that stands between you and God’s promises for your life?? Sure, I bet you do, because we all have something , some mountain that we just can’t seem to get around. But thankfully we don’t have to do it alone! In fact, we were never meant to do life without El Shaddi, because He already knew every obstacle that would come against us-
This week, as we begin our conversation about Joseph and his family and all the crazy experiences and difficulties that Joseph had to face and overcome before God positions him into the place that was already prepared for him, we will hopefully discover that no matter who or what comes against us, if God has prepared something for us, no person and no devil will keep you from it. Sometimes the things God has for us are delayed or take longer than what we were prepared for, and it might be that God has something He needs to shape us for, mold us into, develop our skills, or soften our hearts, or maybe just allow us time to mature so that we can have compassion and empathy for others as He transforms us into the masterpiece He created us to be. Oftentimes we will learn with God, that there is rarely a promotion without preparation first. The things God planted within our hearts, those visions and dreams and goals cannot be fulfilled and accomplished if we are not prepared to handle the weight of the responsibility. It is easy to dream about being a rich CEO of a major company without taking into account all the layers of responsibility that are all part of the job description and all the people’s lives we might be responsible for by the decisions we make on a day to day basis. We don’t necessarily like the fine print of life, we just want the good stuff.
Last week we touched on the beginning of the story of Joseph. And how his father loved him so much that Jacob at one point, gave him a coat of many colors to signify how much he adored and loved his son.
Now Jacob had many sons from his secondary wives. Why in the world all these Bible times men had all these wives and concubines is beyond my understanding. They were just begging for trouble ! LOL It is not by God’s design, God made one man for one woman, but we as people can choose things that only complicate our lives and God says okay -I created you to have free will - but this ain’t gonna make you happier - God never brings bad things into our lives or fills them with complications and problems. Nope, us humans do a mighty fine job of that all on our own. God patiently and lovingly waits and keeps His eye on us, until hopefully one day, we figure out that we are not god, He is -and life with all its twists and turns is more of an adventure than a hardship when we let Him lead.
God’s Word tells us in Psalm 32 in the New Living Translation that He will teach us and guide us on the best path but we must follow Him
Psalm 32:8: The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
But, do we let Him guide us, or do we try to drag Him along on our plan?
When our true heart's desire is to learn to follow then… if we get ourselves into a mess, or if like Joseph, others come and do harm to us, He will make all things right - BUT!!! Our job, our responsibility is to learn to follow Him and trust in Him knowing that God always finishes what He starts. He created you, so trust Him to complete the missing pieces. When we begin to follow, many times we find that we became a mess, because He is our missing piece . We must Trust Him. Joseph’s brothers believed that they were not good enough because they looked to their father Jacob, who had his own past, and his own mess to deal with. We forget that our parents, our spouses, our siblings, that other people are as wounded and broken as we are and that is why they lash out, we lash out. But when we learn to let God finish what He starts, then as the time is right, a new step is revealed, a new understanding, a deeper level of trust grows. As we say around here, it is all about the journey. Are we trusting God to lead us on our journey?
Nothing escapes God’s attention
The Contemporary English Version states it pretty simple in
Proverbs 15:3: The Lord sees everything, whether good or bad.
Joseph’s brothers thought they could hide the truth from their father, but they forgot about God - Who sees EVERYTHING - do not be mistaken. He sees it all!
Romans 8:28: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Joseph’s brothers had a cause - a cause to harm - God causes all things, even the bad things to work out in our favor….. When we forgive, when we do not retaliate out of our own vengeance and we trust God to set the scales of justice right.
Biblical justice in scripture says -
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you -Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion), And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]
That is Micah 6:8 in the Amp bible
How do we have a good walk with God - love what He loves - people - we are to have kindness, mercy, compassion, to be humble.No, God does not want you to be a doormat, to be abused or taken advantage of. But that is an entirely different conversation.
Last week we read the story of Joseph and his brothers and how they came to be jealous and envious of their younger half brother. Joseph received a long tunic of many colors and long sleeves. His robe was a symbol of nobility, royalty. But the brothers most likely wore much shorter robes that had no sleeves so they could do more manual labor - tend to the sheep, muck stalls, hard, manual work.
Joseph’s robe distinguished him above his brothers so of course there was going to be rivalry, jealousy, anger. The real issue was not Joseph or his robe, it was hurt. It was feeling rejected and unnoticed by their same father, Jacob, that caused his brothers to grow hatred towards him.
I think we can all relate to feeling invisible and getting an attitude towards someone because we felt they were getting attention that we longed for within our own hearts. All people have feelings no matter their social station in life, their annual income, age, gender. People of every race, religion, creed, we all come packaged with feelings and emotions and personalities all unique to us, but we have them. Oftentimes when we lash out and hurt another person by word or by deed, it generally stems from a hurt, a wound within our soul.
Joseph’s brothers did some really bad stuff, but… perhaps…. If their father had given them all the same love, maybe things could have been different at home. Regardless, God can take our worst days and turn them around into becoming some of our best days when we learn to trust Him.
Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors, but God gives each one of us who believe a multi-colored “robe’ of gifts - grace gifts - to serve one another
1 Peter 4:10: God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.( NLT)
God’s heart for us is that we learn to serve one another. Most people want to be served not to serve, but that is not God’s heart. Jesus Himself came to serve, not be served
Matthew 20:25-28: But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28For even the Son of Man (Who is Jesus) came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Someone will always have to be in charge, there will always have to be entry level workers, mid-level workers, janitors and CEO’s, bank tellers and Chief Financial Officers, there will always be different levels of pay and responsibility. It is just life and has nothing to do with a person’s individual worth. What you do for a living to pay bills does not define how important you are - not in God’s economy. We need supervisors, bosses, Leaders, ….. In order to have order. But, no person is above any other person as far as value or worth as a human being. Pastor Eric tells us at our staff meetings all the time that no one here on VFC staff is a big deal. There is only ONE BIG Deal - God. Everything we do is to bring Him glory. Not glory to ourselves. And God created each and everyone one of us with a unique gift that no one else on earth has. Joseph received a multi-colored robe from his father as a sign of his place within the family. God our heavenly Father has also given us a coat of many colors to show others that we are from His household. He gifted us with robes of grace, mercy, kindness, joy, peace, generosity.
Now if anyone should have had grace and love and understood the pain of conflict within a family, it should have been Jacob. You can find the story of Jacob and his twin brother Esau in the book of Genesis. Esau and Jacob were twins with Esau being born first which gave him the birthright blessing in those days, but Esau sold his birthright to his twin Jacob for a meal. And then Jacob’s mom Rebekah who favored her son Jacob, helped him trick their dad into giving Jacob the family blessing as well. This led to a lifelong conflict between the two boys.
Isn’t it amazing that thousands of years later, people still have dysfunctional families and rivalry and deception and hurt and trauma. You would think we would figure it out. But! Let it encourage you to know that if you come from a dysfunctional family… it ain’t nothing new to God.
Jacob could have broken the generational cycle of favoritism that he knew from personal experience. Favoritism only leads to frustration and anger and resentment among family, But, instead of interrupting it, he kept it going within his own family. I think a whole lot of what we learn is breaking those generational curses that haunt our families. Will you allow God to help you break the chains off of your family??
Isn’t that what we do??? We carry our hurt baggage from one relationship into another, from one generation to another. We do not want to admit that the brokenness within our own hearts and emotions and thinking only brings ragged edges and sharp pieces into all the other areas of our life. That is why we can’t hide from hurt or pain like I tried to. It never goes away, it only roots itself into other forms of pain and continues to sprout out jealousy, insecurities, frustrations, deep sadness and failure.
That is not God’s plan for you. God has a good plan for your life
Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (AMP)
If there are general issues, scars, hurts, attitudes and behaviors that have been in your family cycle for generations, you may be the one God is looking to break the curse. Alcoholism, drug abuse, physical abuse, gambling, adultery, pornography, depression, anxiety, panic, fear… the list could go on and on. But these things do not bring life into our lives, they actually are stealing life from us and it is God’s desire that we are free from anything that binds us and prevents us from His kind of life - full, abundant, life.
Jacob showed partiality to Joseph, but God does not love one of us more than any other. No matter who our parents are, no matter how well we behave, no matter if we even love Him. God, first loved us so that we could learn to love
Romans 2:11 says it pretty plainly: For God does not show favoritism.
Joseph’s brothers became so filled with hate towards their brother that they talked about killing him, but instead threw him into a cistern ( a well or pit where water was stored but this one was dry ) , and then sold him for a few bucks. Took that fancy coat of his and drenched it in goat blood to convince their dad, Joseph was dead.
It is easy to make really bad decisions when our emotions are in control. Have you ever made a decision while in an emotional state of distress only to regret your actions later??? I know I have! It is humbling to look back and think why did I ever do that?! How foolish! It is easy to harbor a grudge or be jealous toward a sibling or friend or other people in general when we do not know how valuable and loved we are already. Our feelings will trick us into believing we are “less than” because maybe we didn’t receive the same treatment, favor, gifts, attention - as someone else
But we are always on God’s mind
Listen to how beautiful the comforting words of Psalm 139 are -
Psalm 139: 1-18:
O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
2You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, LORD.
5You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
7I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,a you are there.
9If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
17How precious are your thoughts about me,b O God.
They cannot be numbered!
18I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
God sees each and every single one of us. We do not have to take drastic measures to rid ourselves of the people who make us feel badly or unimportant or invisible.
When we learn to forgive others, whether or not they deserve it, we will be released from the chains that bind us in depression, fear, anger, resentment. Forgiveness is in us because God sees us, knows us, loves us. He gives us a seed of forgiveness when we become His child. But we have to practice it because it does not come naturally or easily at times. That is why Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit - to be our Helper
But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.
John 14:26 (AMP)
We can all fall short of living a life that brings glory and honor to God when we take matters into our own hands.
Verse - For all have fallen short
Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
That means that everyone has sinned in God's sight and failed to live up to his perfect standard.
God offers justification by His grace through the redemption that is in the atoning Blood of Christ Jesus. To receive this gift, one must acknowledge one's sinfulness and trust in Christ's as our Savior.
We are human beings and God did not abandon us to have to deal with the struggles of life alone, or ill-equipped; God rose Jesus from the grave with His Spirit and that SAME Spirit, Jesus leaves for those of us who believe on His Name, we make Him Lord of our life and He gives us a Helper, A Strengthener, A Teacher, Rabbi, Instructor, Coach, and He will help us to remember what we need as we learn and grow. Plus, The Holy Spirit is always on Stand-by, just in case..
Joyce Meyer had a quote on her YouTube channel that says:
Our thoughts turn into words and our words turn into action.
Joseph’s brothers first had bad thoughts about their brother, then they discussed their feelings and that led them to take some pretty serious actions against their brother.
We are cautioned to be aware of our thoughts because thoughts lead to action.
God is not against us, and He does not want us living against one another. But rather God desires that we trust Him with all the injustice so that we don’t play the blame game but we are free to focus on who He wants to shape and form and prepare us to be.
God sees each of us. Drastic measures are not needed to throw people into pits, call them names, hurl insults and jabs at one another. When we quickly forgive a person for how their thoughtless words or actions made us feel and instead we remember how Jesus Himself forgave the very people who cried crucify Him
When we trust everything to God and we focus on our mission, our purpose our reason to be here, to spread the Good News, then satan loses another stronghold over us. We gain wisdom and understanding and insight and discernment so we make better choices, we gain confidence that God will be there, He will take care of us even when others meant to harm us.
1 Peter 2:1: So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.
Last week we mentioned that Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit like a captured wild animal and they ended up selling him as a slave and Joseph had to endure a long period of time in his young life under some pretty hard times and experiences. But during those years, God developed wisdom in Joseph and eventually placed him in a position where he was able to come face to face with his brothers. Hmmm, does Joseph get even???
So what happened to Joseph as a slave? How long did God let Joseph learn by experience to trust that all things do work for the good?
Next week, I will be at a staff retreat and there will be no new episode so we will pick up with how God began showing His favor upon Joseph the week after that. If we can learn to take our eyes off ourselves, our circumstances, and place them on the ONE Who is el shaddi - The God Who moves mountains. Then nothing is impossible!
I have put a link to Pastor Eric’s message from this past Sunday -Formed: - on the notes for this week.
You can find the link of the message on -
Heartfeltconversations.com -https://www.heartfeltconversations.com/Remember, we are learning to transform our minds so that we re-learn to have the mind of Christ.
Continue Learning How to Walk in the Light! God bless and I will see ya next Time!
And a few other links as well
Steven Furtick: Triggered Taking Back Your Mind in the Age of Anxiety
JimmyEvans: The time is Now to Change Your Attitude
https://endtimes.substack.com/p/the-time-is-now-to-change-your-attitude
Beth Jones: Getting a Grip on the Basics is a great resource to help you get the basics of how vital you are to God and how good He desires to be to you
https://www.thebasicsuniversity.com
Songs to inspire you
Chris Tomlin - How Great Is Our God (Live In Nashville 2022) ft. Hillsong UNITED
Who You Say I Am - Hillsong Worship
So Will I (100 Billion X) - Hillsong Worship
Foundation Verse
Romans 8:11
The Spirit of God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Chrisr Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living in you. “
Additional Resources
Steven Furtick: Triggered Taking Back Your Mind in the Age of Anxiety
JimmyEvans: The time is Now to Change Your Attitude
https://endtimes.substack.com/p/the-time-is-now-to-change-your-attitude
Beth Jones: Getting a Grip on the Basics is a great resource to help you get the basics of how vital you are to God and how good He desires to be to you
https://www.thebasicsuniversity.com
Joyce Meyer: The Mind is a Battlefield - https://joycemeyer.org
Prayer of Salvation
Jesus has given salvation, healing, and countless benefits to all who call upon His name. These benefits can be yours if you receive Him into your heart by saying this prayer:
Heavenly Father, I come to You admitting that I am a sinner. Right now, I choose to turn away from sin, and I ask You to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I believe that Jesus rose again from the dead so that I may be justified and made righteous through faith in Him. I call upon the name of Jesus Christ to be the Savior and Lord of my life. Jesus, I choose to follow You, and I ask that You fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit. I declare right now that I am a born again, child of God. I am free from sin and full of the righteousness of God. I am saved in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This prayer and the comment above, were taken out of the book:
Secrets to Powerful Prayer - Discovering the Languages of the Heart
By Lynne Hammond and Patsy Cameneti
If you have just received Jesus as your Savior, please write Lynne Hammond Ministries at:
PO Box 29469
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55429-2946
Or, email one of the ministries listed on the Additional Resources Tab and let them know that you are a brand new christian and need some direction on the next steps for your new life in Christ.
Or email us here at Heartfelt Conversations with Diana and we will pass along your information for you.
Congratulations if you are a brand new Christian or if you have Returned Home! Welcome!!! Get in God’s Word and get it into you!
Diana’s Home Church:
Valley Family Church - Pastor’s Eric and Alexa Jones
www.valleyfamilychurch.org
Other recommended Jesus-centered churches who teach the True Word of God:
Elevation Church - Steven Furtick
https://elevationchurch.org/
Joseph Prince Ministries - Joseph Prince
https://www.josephprince.org/
Joyce Meyer Ministries
https://joycemeyer.org/