Part 1 – Flexibility Training – Reading
Remember those dreams that Joseph had as a boy, those dreams that ticked off his brother enough to sell him into slavery? Now we find out, God has also given Joseph the ability to interpret dreams. But as you read these two chapters of Genesis, pay attention to the way Joseph responds to those who ask if he can help them with their dreams. It is quite different from how he spoke as a child.
Read Genesis 40-41:
Even before Pharaoh, a polytheist who proclaimed himself the son of the Sun-god Ra, Joseph was quick to say, “I cannot interpret your dream, but God will give you your answer.” And immediately after hearing the dreams, he did have an answer from God. Quite a difference from the young man he was in his father’s house. In the book of Acts, Stephen says that God gave Joseph wisdom. Joseph used that wisdom to help him with every job he had been given along the way. And now with his promotion to second-in-command, he prepared Egypt for the devastating famine that was to come.
PART 2 – Strength Training – Memory & Thinking
Joseph did not write this Psalm, but he very well could have written something like it. Add this verse to the list of those you have memorized. And keep reviewing all those you have learned before.
Psalms 66:17-20 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
2 Timothy 2:22 (NASB) Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
James 2:8-9 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
Psalm 34:17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Here is some additional information the book of Acts gives us about Joseph and how God helped him through the troubles into his promotion to second-in-command of the kingdom.
Acts 7:9-10 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
Part 3 – Cardio Training – Prayer
Joseph worked hard in every job he had. For a time, being faithful in his job landed him in jail. But even when those around him thought he had attempted to rape Mrs. Potiphar, he knew God was his ultimate boss, that it was God he wanted most to please.
Father, help us to remember that, as Colossians 3:23 says, we work for with all our hearts, not for men, but for You. Help us remember this even when those around us fail to see our good and faithful work.
Part 4 – Endurance Training
Joseph endured some crazy hard times – sold by his brothers to his cousins, slavery in a foreign land, thrown in prison for something he didn’t do. That was thirteen years of hard times before he was finally pardoned and promoted by Pharaoh. That is a long time to endure hardship. But he came out of that time a man of great faith.
Keep enduring and leaning into the God Who stays with His people.
An Extra Lap
What sort of man do you think Joseph had become? He started out a possible tattle-tailor, favorite son of an older father. After years as a slave, he could have had a comfortable and profitable affair with Mrs. Potiphar, but he refused, saying it would be an affront to God. And again in the prison before the two men of Pharaoh’s court, he noticed they were upset, and when told about the dreams responded, “Can’t God interpret dream? Tell me.” Then in front of Pharaoh, he dared to say he could do nothing, but his God, the True God, could do everything. But when he saw an opportunity to quit his slavery and prison sentence, he did not hesitate. His comment to Pharaoh about finding a man to oversee the collection of the excess grain could very well have been his application for the job.
What do all these comments by Joseph tell us about him as a man?
Faith Gym 