When God promotes you, prepare to endure
Every time when God wants to promote you to a higher level, there must be a level of endurance practiced. Sometimes there will be pain before God can give you something precious. Therefore, it is important for you to prepare yourself for endurance. Endurance is very important for someone who is expecting much blessings from God. If you want blessings from God, you are going to have to endure and withstand all manner of challenges, insults, and persecutions.
In Genesis 37 from verse 10, we read about Joseph, when he told his father about his dream, his father became angry and said “What’s that supposed to mean? Are your mother and I and your brothers all going to come and bow down to you?” Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept wondering about the dream”.
You can imagine what it was like for Joseph, his brothers hated him because of this dream that he had. But his father loved him and cherished him, but the day that he shared the dream with the father, even the father was angry with him. Many would have given up on their dreams if they were in the position of Joseph, but Joseph endured, and held on to his dream.
Joseph never hated his brothers back. He continued to love them. This is why when his father sent him to his brothers in verse 15 & 17, he did not refuse. When he did not find his brothers in Sechem and was told that the brothers went to Dothan. Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan. But before he got to Dothan, the brothers saw him approaching and made plans to kill him.
So this shows that Dothan was a place of endurance for Joseph. This is the place where he would be sold by his own brothers that he loved so much. One may ask themselves, why did God allow Joseph go to Dothan if he was going to be betrayed and sold by his very own brothers? We all know that God loved Joseph, and if He loved Joseph and knew that Joseph would be persecuted in Dothan how could He allow him to go there?
This is because Joseph had to go through Dothan in order to arrive in Egypt and get to the throne of Potiphar. Yes, when God is about to bless you, be prepared for trials and tribulations that you will have to endure. Joseph had to endure the cruelty of his brothers and the dry pit in order to be promoted by God. Many of you also come across different changes in life. What you need to understand that as a child of God, that challenge means that you are about to be promoted by God and so you need to endure.
What I want you to understand today is that the challenges you may be going through in your life, God will use them to move you to a higher level in your life. If you do not encounter those challenges, you will not get to a higher level. In as much as they are difficult and painful, those challenges in your life are there for a reason and they are taking you to place where you need to be, so endure.
The Dothan of today is not a geographical place, but it’s a stage where you face your enemies and overcome them. Dothan can be a risk that you need to take in your business, it can be a divorce that you are going through, it can be unfair dismissal at work, or it can also be bareness. When God wants to promote you, you need to be prepared to go through Dothan, and you need to prepare for endurance. After your Dothan, you will have a testimony.
Many Christians are praying against Dothan, many even refuse to go to Dothan and chose different ways instead of facing their enemies and overcoming them. But I want to tell you that without Dothan you will not experience fresh beginnings in your life. You need to go to Dothan and you need to endure.
After Joseph endured Donath, he got to Potiphar’s house, and the Bibles says “Potiphar liked Joseph and made him his personal assistant, putting him in charge of his house and all his property”(Genesis 39:4). It does not matter if there are people who do not like you, but God will send you to people who will like and support you. Your own flesh and blood may hate you, but God will connect you with people who will love you. Your own family might not understand your dream, but God is able to send you to a family that will favour you. Although Joseph was brought in the house of Potiphar like a slave, he was like a son in the house.
The secret for Joseph to receive such favour from God was that he was separated from the people he loved. He was sold as a slave, but ended up in a great position of honour. Sometimes God wants to separate you from your family or those that you depend on. The problem with us is that when God orders us to leave our families and those we love, we still want to hang on to them. You will not be able to enjoy your blessings if you still want to be attached to the old. Sometimes God wants you to let go of the past, so that He can bless you. If God allows you to separate from those you claim to be your best friends or your families, you need to obey. Look at the lives of Abraham and Lot, God ordered them to separate from their families.
There are stages of endurance that you need to go through before you can have a testimony:
11. Your own family: It is when you are being hated by your own family. They are so envious of you that they are even devising plans to derail you from achieving your destiny or your purpose according to God’s will. When you overcome your family, you get to the next stage of endurance and closer to your testimony.
22. Potiphar’s house: This is where you notice that you are now arriving at your destiny, but “the wife of Potiphar” comes along to try to disrupt your journey to you destiny. Potiphar’s wife means human behaviour that is against you. It is not only about sexual temptations, but also about the schemes and evil that people device against you, to move you from your destiny. When you endure and over come this stage you got to the next level and become one step closer to your testimony.
33. Prison: This is the stage where people make false accusations against you. They start to gossip you and say all nasty things about you. You will feel trapped by all the lies and feel as if there is no way out, but even then you must endure. When you have endured upto that stage, you get to your destiny and you will testify.
These stages are painful for one to go through, but when you overcome them you will arrive at the palace, which is the place of your destiny. Look at yourself now and the challenges that you are going through, and answer me this, what stage are you at? No matter the stage, be prepared to endure, because your promotion is at closer than you know.
When promotion comes, it comes with storms and trials, but I want to tell you that you must remain unshaken. Do not be moved, know that you are at the edge of your promotion. When you are going through each of these stages, you must rejoice and most of all – endure. Your endurance will result in your testimony. You must endure each pain that comes with your persecution. Remember, as long as God is by your side – you are a victor.
In Luke 1: 18, Zechariah did not believe when the angel of God, Gabriel, told him that his wife, Elizabeth, will conceive and bear a boy child. He looked at their current physical state because they were now very old, and did not believe that what the angel of God is saying will come to pass. The angel of the Lord confirmed that these news will come to pass, but because Zechariah did not believe, so he was unable to speak until the baby was born.
There are people who are waiting to see your testimony. And when you have been told that you are blessed, you should not doubt. Do not look at your at your current situation of lack, limitation in progress or poverty. That is why God has silenced some of you, because you have doubts on what God says about you.
In James 1:12 says “God will bless you, if you don’t give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him. Don’t blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and He does not use evil to tempt others. When you pass your endurance, you are ready to receive your blessings.
In Revelation 3:10 the Bible says: “You obeyed my message and endured. So I will protect you from the time of testing everyone in all the world must go through”. When you endure, you obey, and when you have obeyed and endured, you will receive the protection of God. I pray that you be found to have obeyed and endured so that you can have a testimony.
May God bless His Word