forget and fruitful…

the story of joseph shows us characteristics of great managers of dreams. 

-great managers choose to serve.  genesis 41.57 (niv), all the countries came to egypt to buy grain from joseph because the famine was severe in all the world. 

if you think walmart is busy during CHRISTmas time, imagine egypt, imagine all the countries and joseph was there finding ways to serve all those people.  he not only saved egypt, he not only saved israel, he saved many – all – the countries of the world. 

we look at famine today and think, “i’ve got to do something!”  joseph did do something.  he served a world that was hungry.  that’s what you do if you’re a dream manager.  you don’t kick back and think, “now everybody gets to serve me because i’ve got the dream.”  no, you choose to serve.

-dream managers remember who owns the dream.  one of the ways you see this very clearly is through the two sons of joseph.  note what he named those two sons. 

he had a son named manasseh and one named ephraim.  manasseh means “GOD has caused me to forget.”  that was the meaning of that name.  “caused me to forget the heartache that i had with my family, the heartache of coming down to egypt.  GOD has caused me to forget.”

then a son named ephraim “GOD has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”  GOD has caused me…  what you named your children then, said a lot about who you were.  i’m not sure it says a lot about who we are – we just thumb through those books.  in that day it said a lot about who they were.  it said a lot about their heart.  if you were in a depressing time, you named the child a depressing kind of name.  

here is joseph naming his sons, “GOD has caused…” to forget and to be fruitful.

the question for you and i is this, if your dream were fulfilled, whose victory would it be?  sometimes when the dream is fulfilled – ministry, marriage, family, whatever the dream is – even if we’ve prayed for it, after that dream is fulfilled a subtle change of ownership starts to happen.  instead of it being GOD’s dream, it’s my dream.  watch out for that.  don’t be a victim of victory. 

solomon, the wisest man who ever lived at the end of his life ends up being an idolater, worshipping other gods.  why?  because israel was in its golden age.  it was more successful than it had ever been.  that success caused him to relax his faith.  don’t be a victim of GOD’s victory in your life. 

just a thought from the front porch…