Dr. Siohvaughn Funches continues with the Let Go and Let God series, where she discusses God’s unfailing love for us and His gift of righteousness, which He lavishes on us. What have we to fear when we are secured in God’s Love? No one can change God’s love for us, and there is no condemnation in Christ. In today’s episode, let us take a look at how God helped Joseph through the accusations and the life-threatening situations he went through. God remained faithful to Joseph till the end of his days. In the same way, God also remains faithful with us! We can rest in peace and joy because of God’s faithfulness.
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Let Go And Let God (Part 6)
We’re going to be continuing with our series titled Let Go and Let God. Before we get into what God has for us, we’re going to take a moment and recap like we always do. We’re also going to take a moment and acknowledge God. I thank you, heavenly father, that you the God of our Lord Jesus Christ has given to each and every one of us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. I thank you that the eyes of our understanding are being enlightened. That we may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power.
I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you will expound on the scriptures to us about the things concerning yourself. I thank you that you’re opening the eyes of our understanding that we might comprehend the scriptures, Lord. I thank you, Jesus, that you will cause us to feast and to feed on you the bread of life. I thank you, God, that every benefit, blessing, and promise that is made by you to your children when we get at the feet of your Son, Jesus, and we hear Him will manifest in an effortless way in every area of our life. I thank you that every need is being supplied.
I thank you, God, that instead of worry, you’re shalom peace is coming in and supplanting that worry. I thank you, God, that we’re entering into deeper levels of risk. I thank you that you’re causing us to possess our possessions. I thank you for the rest and the refreshing that’s coming over us. I thank you for the joy that is springing up on the inside of us. I thank you that where people were heavy, there’s a lightness, heavenly father, in Jesus’ name. I thank you, God, ahead of time for the celebrations and the rejoice that are breaking forth and breaking out as your people are breaking through why they simply get at the feet of Jesus and hear His Word.
I thank you, God, that you are planting this Word in us. I prophesize, decree and declare that these words will bear much fruit that remains and you, God, will be glorified and you, Jesus, will glorify the father and the son. I thank you, God, that even before we open our mouth to speak, you will have answered us. I thank you that things are springing forth speedily in our life. I thank you for supernatural turnarounds where this needed, God. I thank you for supernatural supply is flowing unabated in our life, heavenly father. I thank you, Jesus, that you are bringing back to us the head of every Goliath that try to come against us.
I thank you, God, that we have no need to fight. Our only fight is to fight the good fight of faith and we do that by feeding on Christ. I thank you, Lord Jesus, for your substance that is in you. I thank you that you are life, health and wholeness. You are the answer. You are wisdom. You are everything we could ever need, want and desire, God. I thank you, Jesus, you’ve given us more than enough of yourself. I thank you, Lord Jesus, that these words won’t come back to you void or empty, but everything you release in this particular episode and every one of them, even if we listen in times past or we listen in times to come, God. I thank you, Lord, that you will cause those words to bear much fruit in our life in an effortless manner. In Jesus’ name, we pray.
I thank you all for joining me. This is one of my favorite series because I sincerely believe that all of us, no matter how long we’ve walked with God, what we’ve overcome, what adversities and challenges we’ve faced, and God has caused us to triumph, we can always at least on a weekly basis be reminded that we can let go and let God. One of the enemy’s number one agenda is to get people to carry the cares and worries that Jesus said to cast upon Him. He wants us full of worry. He wants us full of care instead of the peace that surpasses all understanding because it is an inhibitor. It blocks the blessings.
God Is Glorified When We Bear Much Fruit
That’s his job because he hates for God to be glorified. God is glorified when your prayers are answered. Jesus said that in John 15, “We bear much fruit and in that, God is glorified.” Him giving us what we request and what we desire, our fruit-bearing brings God glory. Jesus didn’t just say, “Bear much fruit,” Not only that but He said, “Fruit that remains.” This is much fruit that remains and I absolutely love it. That’s the heart of God. That’s the truth about Jesus and that’s what He wants. That’s what He died for in order to give every single one of us. Let’s access this by faith, through grace, and let’s receive everything because it’s a blessing to us, we’re able to be a blessing to others, and God is glorified.
We thank God for doing that through us and our whole house in Jesus’ name. We started this series meditating and talking about the heart of God for us because in God telling us to let go and let Him is to release our worries. It is to cast our cares upon Him. It is to let God fight and bring a resolution for us. The healing and the restoration that are needed, the life where things are dead. When there’s bland water in a marriage, Jesus is turning it into the best wine. We’re allowing God to do what only He can do because if we do it, Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” That’s first and foremost.
If it’s not Him doing it in and through us, then that leaves either Satan doing it or the flesh doing it. Jesus said, “The devil only came for three things, to kill, steal and destroy.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a thief building my house because he can likely try to steal everything in it. No, thanks. We then have the flesh and Jesus said, He and God are one, “In the flesh, no good thing dwells.” Let’s think about roots and fruits. If the root of it is an orange tree, it’s going to bear oranges. That’s going to be the fruit of it. In the flesh, if nothing good is in it, whatever it produces, whatever fruit it makes is going to be nothing good.
God does talk about the fruit that the flesh bears. It’s like you don’t even need a devil. With that alone, this world would still be in the same condition. It gets real. We don’t want to do anything or produce anything out of our flesh. Trust me when I tell you that it’s not God. If we have and it’s done now, it’s never too late with God. Jesus have mercy on me. Cover me. Let the blood of Jesus be against the fruit of that, God. Take what was done in evil and work it together for good in Jesus’ name. Just pray because it’s never too late with God, and God’s mercy is new every morning. We don’t want to get sick in order to know that God is merciful and will heal.
It is better to walk in divine wholeness than it is to go from one healing to the next because we’re playing a game of Russian Roulette of sorts with our health and our life. God have mercy on us and continue to even protect us from our own flesh, in Jesus’ name. That’s the truth. Sometimes, we ban the devil. If we’re honest, we would have said, “I ban myself. That was me.” That’s honest. It doesn’t take anything but being human for that to happen. Praise be to God for the blood of Jesus that washed us clean, and praise be to God for His mercy that’s new every single morning. Thank you, Jesus, once again for that.
God was telling us about His love, reminding us that His love for us is unconditional. It never ends and it never fades away. There’s nothing that you can do to diminish the love of God. God is love. It’s not only that He gives love, expresses love, and pours out love. The Bible says He sheds love in our heart, but He is love. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, so God is unchanging. He is love. His love is unchanging. When we make mistakes or even when we do things intentionally wrong, it doesn’t change who God is. We can’t change God. Praise be to Jesus for that.
There Is No Condemnation In Christ
There are many things to praise God for. Not only that, God discussed with us when He loved us. The Bible says while we were still in sin, Christ died for us. God did the best, the greatest demonstration of love that could ever be demonstrated, God did so when we were at our worse and that is not being brought up to condemn anyone. If you’re in Christ, there is no condemnation. No one can condemn you, not even yourself. That’s the truth. Your case is closed. God’s the only judge. If He said not guilty and declared you righteous, that case is closed. You can’t even get in that courtroom. It doesn’t even exist anymore. That’s over and done. Praise be to God for that.
It’s important to know when He loved us because the devil tries to eat condemnation on us. Even those who are born again, even those who have a revelation that all of our sins are forgiven, he’s still going to try you. He can’t get you to full-blown prostitute yourself. He’ll try to get you to feel guilty. He’ll try to do that. He’ll try to eat you from the inside out with something like guilt or condemnation and have you thinking all about yourself and what you did and becoming your own judge, “How bad was it? How long should I suffer for it? What should be the punishment?” Sitting in a place that only God sits. There’s only one righteous judge and we are not it.
God is good for demonstrating His love for us then because we know that if God loves us like the most He ever could when we were at the worst we ever were, how much greater will the blessings of God manifest now that we’ve been washed in His own blood? If the blood of Jesus has washed you, you are utterly clean. A combination of all our sins together cumulatively wouldn’t undo one iota of what Jesus did. None of us has that power. That’s just honest. Praise you, Jesus. I’m glad that’s the truth. How about you? We talked about various people who trust this with God, because if someone’s going to tell you, “Let go and let me take over. Let me help, restore, bless, defend, vindicate, prosper and supply your need,” you got to know who you’re trusting.
Jesus, take the wheel. It’s like, “Let me see your license. How long have you been driving? Have you been into many accidents?” We shouldn’t do Jesus like that, but honest to God, that’s what we do when we worry. It’s funny, but it’s not funny when you’re in the thick of it. Trust me because I’ve been in the thick of it. That’s right. I get in the thick of it like nail-biting and all. It’s ridiculous. Somebody replay this when the devil tries me.
I thank God that He has different people in His word that we can learn from. We can glean from them and see that these people were faced with serious challenges. I’m talking about when we looked at Esther, what we saw was a matter of life and death. We went over that. You can go back to that and get ahold of what this woman was facing, and then we began to even look at the life of Jacob. It’s one of my favorite stories in the Bible because Jacob reveals about his son, Joseph. Joseph is a clear depiction of Jesus Christ. It’s absolutely obvious. Once the spirit opens your eyes and opens your eyes more, we can’t see it or knew it without Him. It’s one of the ones that when the Holy Spirit pointed out to you or He uses anointed teachers to do so, you can see it.
The Story Of Jacob And How He Loved Joseph
Some stuff, you got to go a little bit deeper. It’s like an onion, you got to peel back a few layers where you’re like, “When God said that, what He was showing was when Christ was on the cross.” I get it, but this one to me seems to be more of the one where it’s not as hidden as the other ones in the Old Testament, so I absolutely love it. We saw in that episode about the life of Jacob and how he went through a lot in order to be with his wife, Rachel, and how she was barren. God bless them to finally have children. It was a big deal. He had other children, but there’s no wife he loved like this woman. If you go back and look at his life, he served for years even to be able to marry her.
He was madly in love with her. If I’m remembering correctly, it’s love at first sight. This man is like, “God, help me. I have to. Please bless me with this woman.” He finally, after all those trials, overcoming things, tests, waiting, patience, enduring and all of it, he gets to be with this woman. She’s a good wife. He loves her and she loves him, but her womb was closed and she was barren. Unfortunately, they couldn’t have children for quite some time. God did a miracle. He opened up this barren womb and finally, they can have children, but not quite. Life happened. Giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, she passed. That was already enough.
Probably a lot of people may know someone at least or maybe even themselves have experienced the loss of someone they love or care for. It’s serious. It’s nothing quite like it, which is why God said, “Death is an enemy.” I agree with God. Real talk, that’s not God. That clearly wasn’t God’s idea. You can tell by the magnitude of pain it has brought people, including me. I wanted to do what God was saying. Slow down and get the backdrop of these things. When you see these people letting go and letting God, you know that this wasn’t just something like, “Of course he let go and let God. All he had to trust God with was the following, but I have to trust God with this and this is serious.”
God has given us serious examples, a matter of life and death. If it’s something like someone’s parenting and their child is going, that’s serious. If a parent is dead and not here, you can’t even be there to pray for them or guide them the right way or correct them. A matter of life and death is serious and Esther was dealing with that, and then with Jacob, God was showing us how he loved this woman. He lost her. In getting the answer to one prayer, he lost the love of his life in that process. That’s a hard hit right there. For lesser things, there have been people who’ve struggled to recover.
He finally does and he’s in love with his sons, Joseph and Benjamin. These are the sons of his old age who he had with Rachel, who he madly loved. Joseph was his favorite. Joseph is a depiction. He is a shadow of Jesus, the substance. Our Heavenly Father loves Jesus. He was his favorite. Jacob had other children with other wives. The other brothers of Joseph were jealous. To the point that the Bible says they hated him. They went as far as to say, “Let’s murder Joseph.” God had given Joseph two dreams and in those dreams, God was demonstrating to Joseph that he would rise to great power and be a leader, even over his brother and his parents. This is getting serious. This is getting real.
God showed him that. The brothers hated him already because their father favored him all the more and loved him the most. At that point, it was exceeding hate. They plot it one day to kill him. One of the older brothers, Reuben, was like, “That’s way too far. Let’s not kill him.” The brothers had another idea. A caravan was coming through with some Midianites, and then they were like, “Let’s sell him and make some money off of him.” That sounds familiar in Judas with Jesus and the shekels of silver. They gave up Joseph for a few shekels of silver. The Midianites took Joseph. He’s kidnapped at this point.
The brothers go a step further and tell their father, “It looks like your son is dead. Do you know that coat you bought him and didn’t buy any one of us, that coat that shows that he’s your favorite son? We’ve got that coat. We’ve got proof that he’s dead.” They dipped it in the animal blood and faked his death, but they arranged his kidnapping for some silver and concealed it. Their father’s heart was shattered at that point. He had Joseph in his old age, so he’s already an older man. To tell a young parent that devastating news like that could rock their world, but to tell an elderly man something like that, who were you trying to kill Joseph or your dad? I’m going to aim out and say that it was your dad you want to kill if you did that to him.
They were consumed with jealousy, hate and envy that it didn’t even matter to them their dad’s heart not being broken but being shattered. That’s a tiny fragmented piece at that point. They left him like that. He was bereaved. He mourned and could not be comforted. He refuses to be comforted. He mourned for a long time. We’ll go through this because I felt from God to do it. It highlights and brings out the fact that we can trust God. We can let go and let God. Meanwhile, even though Jacob is thinking that his son is dead, the Bible says he thought he was torn to pieces by an animal. We know what Joseph was going through, but he was not dead and he was not torn to pieces.
The Bible says that the Midianites sold Joseph to a man named Potiphar who was a high official in Egypt at that time working under the Pharaoh of that day. The Bible says that the Lord was with Joseph. I love it. He had nothing. Look at what his own flesh and blood did for him. He’s a victim of kidnapping and betrayal amongst other things and now a slave in a foreign country. I don’t know if you have ever heard that, but I’ve heard it said before. If you’re going to go to jail, it should not be in a foreign country, especially some foreign countries in particular. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to go there.
He ends up in jail in a foreign country. Imagine it, he doesn’t even speak their language. That’s terrifying. Joseph was only about seventeen years old when this happened to him. He’s a child, a teenager. That is beyond horrifying. Let’s thank God he didn’t have a heart attack and die. Aside from the animal or the fact that they were going to kill him, the heart attack could have done it. God kept him, preserved him, and was with him and the Lord was for him. It shows you the power of God when He is with you. God is not with us like in the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit will come upon people and go. God abides in us. His Holy Spirit dwells in us. God is with us everywhere we go. He never leaves us and forsakes us.
The Lord Was With Joseph
If you take the time and read through this, the Bible starts talking about the Lord being with him in Chapter 39. Although we know the Lord had to be with him because his brothers were going to kill him, no one and nothing was there to stop them except for the Lord. We know that the Lord was with him, but God didn’t mention it then until Chapter 39. It’s obvious that the Lord had to be with him. He protected him and fought for his life. We see that. If you read Chapter 39, it’s wonderful. You’ll see the different times in the Bible that says that the Lord is with Joseph. He’s in Potiphar’s house and because the Lord is with him, God starts turning this bad situation into something good. Praise be to God.
He finds favor with Potiphar because the Lord is with him. The Bible says that the Lord cause everything Joseph did to prosper. Potiphar noticed that the Lord has to be with Joseph because everything he’s doing is prospering. This is great. This is amazing. Potiphar put him in charge of everything, his whole house. He’s running the show. Joseph went from this slave guy that no one knew and couldn’t speak this language to a guy that’s running one of the highest officials in Egypt’s house, land and business. God is with him for sure and for him. All those circumstances I named couldn’t keep him down. Potiphar’s wife then saw Joseph. The Bible says, “Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.”
The Bible says that she casts longing eyes on him. Because the Bible does say that he was handsome in form and appearance, she thought it was fine. She wanted to climb that tree. Joseph was a man who the Lord was with and he was also a man of integrity. That shows that. He was not this bitter man. He wasn’t a man angry at God and casting off all restraint to think things are going bad for him. He knew that God was with him and for him. He didn’t let the bad on the outside or the bad that was flowing through people get on the inside of him, which is miraculous. That’s almost miracle number one. He denied her and he refused to sleep with her, and she got angry.
She staged a rape. She’s like, “He tried to rape me.” It’s like, “That’s not what happened. You wanted to rape him.” People believed her. After all, who is Joseph except a foreign slave? It was going good for a minute, but whatever. This lady is Potiphar’s wife so they roll with her and took her side of the story. There was no Innocence Project then. That corrupt system with corrupted Potiphar. Supposing that the penalty would have been death if he tried to rape his wife, but instead, Potiphar put him in jail. God saves Joseph’s life again.
That tells me that Potiphar probably thought, “Sure, he drew up the rape.” He probably knew something about his wife, that she was slightly looser than what she needed to be. Maybe he knew Joseph well-enough to know that he is a man of integrity. I’m seeing this guy. This is all happening because of the Lord. I doubt he cast off all restraint all of a sudden and wanted you like that. God, first and foremost, didn’t have him killed and He had him put in jail. Things went from bad to worse, but it was God. He allowed Joseph to go to jail. Joseph goes to jail and he ends up interpreting two of Pharaoh’s employees’ dreams who went to jail.
Pharaoh put them in jail, a baker and a butler. Joseph ends up interpreting their dreams one night and he interprets them accurately. He tells them that in three days, one of them was going to die and the other one, Pharaoh was going to put back in his position and get him out of jail. They both got out of jail in three days. One of them, Pharaoh impaled on a pole and had him killed. The other one was restored to his position as Joseph said. Joseph had begged the guy like, “Please, remember me. Tell Pharaoh I’m in this place. I’m not even supposed to be here. I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m a victim of kidnapping. I wouldn’t have even been here to be accused of raping this woman hadn’t my brothers did this.”
The guy forgets all about Joseph and he leaves him there. One day, God gives Pharaoh a dream. God is so good because if that lady wouldn’t have accused him of rape, how will he be in jail with those two people? That one guy who forgot him, suddenly, God brought him back to his mind and caused him to remember Joseph. Pharaoh had two dreams that greatly disturbed him for a reason and no one could interpret them. He remembered Joseph and he tells Pharaoh, “There’s a Hebrew slave in jail.” He’s like, “Now I remember my fault. I was supposed to tell you about him years ago. My bad.” That’s why we got to put all our faith and hope in God. He will save you. Don’t look for people to save you. This guy couldn’t even remember him 24 hours after getting out of jail. That was terrible.
God remembered Joseph. He had Joseph delivered out of jail and he interprets Pharaoh’s both dreams, which meant one of the same things, that a severe famine was coming but prior to that, there will be seven years of planning. God gave Joseph the wisdom to say, “Let’s store up the seven years of planning in preparation for the seven years of famine so that the land of Egypt and the world is not depleted because that’s the severity of that famine that’s going to come on the heels of that prosperity.” God is good and saw that coming. I told you all that because God wanted me to highlight for you that while Jacob was somewhere bereaved, mourning, grieved, it’s over. Forget it. He won’t let anybody comfort him. Not even Benjamin. He’s like, “Nothing and no one can make me feel better about this.” He was done. He was undone.
God Saved The Jews Through Esther
God all the while was working behind the scenes. This is relevant not because of us looking at Jacob’s life. It’s not that God would do something like this specific for Jacob. God is not a respecter for a person. This is important and relevant for us in our life because God changes not. What God did for Jacob, God is doing for us. When things are hell-bent on being hail in somebody’s life, we have to know that God works behind the scenes. He did it with Esther. He worked behind the scenes. His first wife had gotten cast out, which kicked off with a divorce, unfortunately for her, but it was fortunate for us because those Jewish people were saved.
They were going to be a part of a massacre and nothing less if the enemy of the Jews, Haman, would have had his way. God strategically put Esther into the kingdom. God allowed the other lady to be cast out right at the right time. He gave Mordecai a position within the king’s realm and within his kingdom. Mordecai overheard that plot about somebody trying to murder the king, so he reported it back to Esther. God held off on rewarding Mordecai for that. Delays with God are strategic. It’ll seem like a delay or seem like, “Why hasn’t it happened yet.” If you are a son and daughter of God, you are in the palm of God’s hand. God is in control of your life and your times are in his hand.
What seemed like a delay was divine wisdom from God because, at the right time after Haman reared his ugly head and exposed himself as a hater of the Jews, God had Esther in the kingdom keeping the secret that she was a Jew. Mordecai had done this great thing for the king and one night, that king couldn’t sleep. He asked to be read the history of the kingdom and sure enough, he heard what Mordecai did and thought right then and there, “It’s time to reward this man.” That moment, Haman was two seconds from saying he wanted to hang Mordecai in the gallows, and then shortly thereafter, kill every other Jew, even children. This man was going to murder babies.
Hell-bent on having hail in their life. Nothing less, but God was working behind the scenes. Esther was being ushered in. She’s a Jew. Mordecai hit that position as an official in there. He overheard the plot. All of that was happening behind the scenes where it looked like on the outside and to all those Jewish people, all they see is a bulletin put up everywhere saying, “On this day at this time, if you’re Jewish, you’re a dead man or woman and so are your children. It’s just that simple. We’re taking your things after you’re dead. Once your body hits the ground, we’ll be taking that house, all your possessions, your clothing, and your money from you.”
That was rough. God was strategic in working behind the scenes. Even though Jacob was mourning his son and grieving, it all looked dark and bad, and you couldn’t see anything good, the truth is, God is your father, but He’s also your God. Even if it looks like the worst has happened, God was working behind the scenes. The Bible says, “God hides in darkness,” and in the darkest hour like Jesus came walking on that water revealing himself, God came walking in revealing himself in Jacob’s life. I wanted to take a moment and do that. I felt from God to give the story of Joseph because it’s behind the scene, even though God was talking to us about Jacob.
God is the God who works behind the scenes. No matter how dark it looks in your life, no matter what the enemy tries to bring against you or me, the truth is God is always at work in our life. The enemy is blaring horns and flashing lights and he’s dressed in rainbow colors. He’s like, “Everybody, look at me.” He’s loud and belligerent. He’s coming in knocking over stuff. I know he’s subtle and he’s crafty. He’s a snake, but the things he does are visible on purpose. He tries to make sure you can hear it. He tries to make sure you can see it. He wants you to feel it. God is a spirit being and God is gentle. God is soft-spoken.
Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you. I’m gentle. I’m lowly.” God is smooth. God is cool. He’s God. He’s like, “I don’t need all of that announcement coming in.” If you have ever seen the movie Aladdin when the guy came in on this big elephant, he made a whole big scene coming to town. God is not doing that. The Bible said, “Jesus came here riding on a donkey.” When He chose His profession, He said, “I’m going to be a carpenter.” He didn’t go for anything like, “I want to be the doctor.” What can I tell you? His ways are not our ways. If we’re God and we’re coming on Earth, we’re going to joke like, “You got to know I’m King Jesus,” with chains hanging off and all that.
Jesus is not doing any of that. He was doing miracles and telling people, “Don’t tell anybody I did it.” He’s super secure. There’s no insecurity in Him and that’s obvious. We’ll pick up in the next episode and keep on beholden in Jesus. We’ll go a little bit deeper into this and whatever else God has for us. We’re going to take our time and do it. I love you all. God bless you and keep you, and continue to protect you and watch over you and His word, which will not come back void or empty. In Jesus’ name, we touch and agree and pray. Amen. Talk to you guys soon.
Important Links:
- Esther – Previous episode
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