In order to spare the details about this story I included a web link that goes into detail.
With today being Saturday I made myself a cup of coffee and headed for the porch. With this being the end of May, the weather was simply delightful. I began thinking about a dream I had last night. This was one of those spiritual dreams; once awoken, I did some soul searching. I have had a few of them and each one has been rather impacting. As I began reflecting, I started thinking about the story of Joseph and how jealous his brothers were of him. Jealousy can be very destructive and yet it can be very common. Usually jealousy occurs when someone has something you want such as: possessions, attributes, and connections. The emotion and behavior of jealousy may stem from comparisons, feelings of injustice, or desires. Whatever the case may be; I would venture to say, that everyone has had to deal with jealousy to some degree.
 |
| http://s3.amazonaws.com/churchplantmedia-cms/centrepoint_church_bathgate/coat-of-many-colors.jpg |
Joseph had favor and his brothers despised him for it. They despised him so much that they were seething with jealousy. This jealousy was like a cancer, eating away at their soul, and forcing them to take action. One day, after deliberate consideration, they tossed their brother into a pit. If you would like to read all the details about the life of Joseph you can go to Genesis, chapters 37-50. I think you would really enjoy reading all the details of this story. Joseph was thrown into a pit, falsely accused of sexual immorality, sent to prison, and later became Egypt's ruler.
 |
| Add captionhttp://stepintothestory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/joseph_egypt.jpeg |
So how does this tie in with my son's story of the rapper and the curse? It provoked an investigation into this idea of "curses & blessings". I began thinking about Joseph's favor. Where did it come from? This prompted me to look at Deuteronomy 28. In this portion of the Bible we learn about where Joseph's favor originated. If you continue to read beyond the blessing, you will discover the curses.
Last week I was doing research into different theories concerning intelligence. Throughout my research I discovered some important information concerning the Jews living in America.
Jews only make up about 2-3% of the American population and yet they make up 50% of the top 200 intellectuals, 40% of the Nobel prize winners in Science and Economics, 20% of the professors at the top universities, 40% of the partners in the top New York and DC law-firms, 59% of the writers, directors, and producers of the 50 top grossing movies, 37% of the winners of the national medal of science, and 50% of the world's chess champions.
This information was retrieved from a Youtube video at this link:
I began thinking about Joseph's favor, "the blessing" and how you still see the results of "the blessing" operating in Joseph's decedents, the Jews. You know what else I started thinking about? Those who receive "the blessing" which comes by faith, the gentiles. Who are the gentiles? Anyone who isn't Jewish. The same "spirit of faith" that Abraham had (which resulted in an honorable standing with God, simply by believing God), has become available to those who put their faith in Jesus's death & resurrection. Those who believe in Jesus as their eternal savior make the same transaction with God that Abraham made. Faith is exchanged for righteousness (right standing with God). Did you know that those gentiles who put their faith in Jesus are actually considered by God to be Abraham's children. That same "spirit of faith" that Abraham had is granted to those who by faith, follow Christ. A new location and exchange takes place. From darkness to light, unrighteous to righteous, the head and not the tail, at the top rather than bottom.
Galatians 3:6-9
In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
 |
| https://mattanslow.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/abraham-leaves.jpgcaption |
