This week Gabe continued with part 2 of our series ‘Joseph – The Promotable Life’, by showing us how Joseph stood out from the rest of the prisoners, which is what made him promotable.
We continued to read from Genesis 41:37-40 about how Joseph had no idea what God was doing behind the scenes, yet he continued to trust in His timing for his vindication. We see that what made Joseph different and set apart, was that he was obviously filled with the Spirit of God, and Pharoah could see that by the wise, strategic solution he offered in response to his dream, thereby promoting him from prisoner to Prime Minister.
Being filled with the Spirit of God is the game-changer that makes us uniquely different from everyone else. It has always been God’s plan right from the first verse in Genesis, where His Spirit hovered and came upon the sea, to want to fill empty and dark things with His Spirit. Not dark as in the time of day, but dark as being void of the light of God.
GOD’S SPIRIT IS THE GAME-CHANGER
It is not about being presentable or moral enough that differentiates us from the world and gives us access to places and people, but it is the power found and experienced when we are filled with His Spirit. We will need this kind of power to face the Pharaohs of our day and to save our nation, with the ability to think outside the box to come up with ideas and strategies just as Joseph did.
From the ‘boom, to the womb, to the tomb, to the upper room’, we see this pattern of God being played out to fill empty things with His Spirit. It is His Spirit that gives us power and declares to the world that we are His children. Being filled with His Spirit is a ‘when’ moment and not an ‘if’, for it is offered as a gift to ALL followers of Christ. In Ephesians 5:18, we are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That ‘be filled’ is a present continuous verb which implies that we need to allow God to keep on pouring His Spirit into us so we can make Him our source for continuously pouring out to others. As we pour out, God will keep on pouring in, but we need to be empty enough to receive it.
EMPTY YOURSELF OF OTHER STUFF, SO GOD CAN FILL YOU
It is obvious to others when someone is functioning from a different power source. We need to unplug from the world’s system of power and plug into the generator of the Holy Spirit, which never runs out of power.
It is time to stop being a second-class economy Christian when you can be flying first class with the power, ease, and royalty of God’s Holy Spirit. When you were saved, you received the seal of His Spirit as the guarantee of your salvation, but if you have never asked God to fill you with His Spirit, there is no better time than now. As a gift of God’s grace, all you need to do is empty yourself of all that does not belong to God, ask for it, and receive Him, the third person of God’s trinity, so He can live with you daily, to give you the power to overcome the desires of your flesh.
Before God fills buildings, He always fills people, so revival starts with you. Are you filled with God’s Spirit and living with the power to operate as an effective Christian?