It’s Way More Than Fabric

 

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How well that you embrace change demonstrates how great the spirit is in your life to help you adjust.

Your environments may change…

Your support may change…

Your enemies may change…

Your circumstances that hinder you may change…

Yet the one thing that can be a constant is your faith for change.

Joseph not only adapted to the situation but evolved by faith to make the best of it. Just because he lost his coat did not mean he lost what the coat represented to him. He still wore favor by faith! It is way more than fabric, favor is worn by faith!

Genesis 37:1-4

[1] And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
[2] These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
[3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
[4] And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

In the history of Joseph we begin to see something of Christ, who was first humbled and then exalted. It also shows us as Christians who through many forms of tribulation are saved. As you are saved, God gives you (through the Holy Ghost) favor (or grace and kindness). This same favor will in-turn begin to produce opportunities to receive the spiritual word that leads you to a closer walk and blessings that are to come. And as the brothers looked on with envy, so does the devil look on at you with every intention to destroy you. God gave Joseph dreams of advancement to not only show what is ahead but to let this support and comfort him under his long and grievous season of trouble.

Genesis 37:5-11

[5] And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
[6] And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
[7] For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
[8] And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
[9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
[10] And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
[11] And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Notice he dreamed of his favor and not his trouble. Such as we are when we go out into the world: we think of nothing but prospering and never of trouble. And while the brothers (and our enemies) made an attempt to destroy it they in-turn become the instruments of accomplishing it. Thus the Jews understood what Jesus said of the Kingdom, that he should not reign over them, they consulted to put him to death and by his crucifixion made way for the exaltation they designed to prevent.

Genesis 37:12-22

[12] And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.
[13] And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
[14] And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
[15] And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
[16] And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
[17] And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
[18] And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
[19] And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
[20] Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
[21] And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
[22] And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

Joseph was a type of Christ: for though he was the beloved son of his father, and hated by a wicked world, yet the father sent out of his bosom to visit us in humility and love. He came from Heaven to earth to seek and save us; yet the malicious plots were laid against him. His own not only received him not, but crucified him. Thus he submitted to, as part of Gods design to redeem and save us!