2016 Youth Convention at the Redeemed Christian Church of God was a power packed program I had never imagined. It’s my first time attending Youth Convention at RCCG and I enjoyed it to the fullest.
On one of the afternoons, I took time to pray and give praises to Jehovah God for His marvelous deeds, suddenly I received an unusual insigth and it’s about the Characteristics of Jesus and Joseph. At first,I thought it was just some usual drops of imagination but it kept coming and I think it’s worth sharing “How To Start Living A Successful Life ( A Case Study Of The 8 Wonders Of Jesus And Joseph)”.
NOTE: No Human or mere Mortal can be compared to Jesus who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. These Characteristics or should I call them similarities in both of their lives is really a wonder.
In this article , I will want us to examine these lines of actions in the life of one of the founding father of Israel and the founder of Christianity who is ultimately the number one citizen and ruler in the Universe, we will be relating this topic to any area of our lives and see how as a Christian family we can live a successful lives. So let’s get started.
- Unusual Parental Love : In the book of Matthew 3:17b, the bible record how God open the Heaven and declared “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Jesus is so much loved by the Father that He opened the Heaven to speak to Him. He’s well pleased with the life Jesus is living on the earth. In Job 1:6 , the bible record how the sons of God came to present themselves to God, but it’s amazing how Jesus is the only begotten son that God loved most. Joseph on the other hand receives so much love from Jacob that his brothers envied him, in the book of Genesis 37:3, the book of life says “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his Children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors”. Joseph did not only enjoy so much love from Jacob, He was distinct and separated by love. That being said, I will like to relate this to how we cater for our Children. Parental love is essential if we want them to go far in life. No magic will happen when getting parenting tips or advice and you don’t supernaturally love your Children. Jesus and Joseph received supernatural love from their fathers. In order to build a successful Christian home or live a fabulous life, you have to endow your Children with the gifts of the Supernatural. In the book of Proverb 22:6, the bible says “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it”. Loving our Children naturally is not just enough, embed in them the way to life and they will give you rest when you need that rest. It’s evident in the life of Joseph that Jacob gave him the right gift, which is the fear of the Lord. Joseph so much fears God that he won’t sleep with his master’s wife, even though nobody will find out, but because he fears God in Heaven and he surely knows God will find out, he fled for his dear life. Another thing I want to say is Children are from God and like Samuel’s mother; we should give them back to God who is “LOVE” and the father of all.
- Ruling In Foreign Kingdom: You and I both know the story of Joseph, how he was sold into slavery, works in the house of Potiphar, went to prison and finally to the palace. He ruled in Egypt as the prime minister, the only person above him was Pharaoh the king. We can find this in the book of Genesis 41. Joseph was set over the whole land of Egypt. Before Joseph was sold into slavery, he lives as a king in his father’s house, from my own imagination, I think Joseph will be the second in command in his father’s house, he’s not allow to do all the hard work that his brothers always do, but because God wanted him to rule in a foreign land, he went through all that he went through. Jesus came to this envious and resentful World because of the Supernatural love that exists between Him and His father. He lives as a king in Heaven before coming to this World. Jesus reign as a king as was foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament and He’s still ruling on this foreign land, ruling in the Heavens and all over the universe, He’s the number one till now and will rule as number one So let’s us live in this present world as a king. We are wonderfully and fearfully made by God. No Christian living a genuine Christian life is expected to be just an ordinary person. We are meant to rule and subdue this planet earth. In the book of Deuteronomy 15:4 “except when there may be no poor among you; for the LORD will greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance”. This bible verse which Moses the prophet spoke to the Children of Israel was written to us as Christians. You may be asking, but the same bible said that poor shall never cease from the land. Yes we can see that in evidence in the World today but we can also see the supernatural wonders the same God is doing in His kingdom. Larger percentages of most of the inventions in this world are made by Christians. Most of the successful people in the World are Christians. We are meant to rule and reign in this foreign land called “Earth” so that we can rule in Heaven also. The book of Revelation 5:10 says “You let them become kings and serve God as priests, and they will rule on earth”. After all things, remember that This World is a marketplace, so get the best deal and rule your World.
- Solution Providers: Both Jesus and Joseph were solutions to their Worlds. God systematically placed Joseph in the prison to save the people of Egypt from dying when the famine that was seven years away hit them. He also created and developed Joseph in the gift of interpreting dreams, Joseph used this gift to the fullest and the gift made him a ruler. Our Lord Jesus Christ on the other hand came to this World with all the gifts you can ever think of. He’s all in all; the bible told us how Jesus of Nazareth went about healing the sick and those who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him. This makes Him a solution and a wonder to all generations. It’s not a surprise that Jesus who is the creator of all gifts should possess all the gifts. The bible says He’s the wisdom of God and you can see both Him and Joseph using that wisdom to the fullest. Joseph interpreted the dreams and still go ahead to tell Pharaoh to look for someone to be in charge of the solution, Pharaoh said who can do it better than you. Being a solution provider is not what we should view just anyhow. God has embedded various gifts inside of us and He strategically placed us in that place that we are to be a solution there. That is the reason you will see some people that will travel abroad and someone at home will still be the one sending money and aids for him to survive. You are a solution provider; no matter where you are currently, just discover that great thing God had placed inside of you. If we want to relate to the parable Jesus spoke about gifts and talents, God gave to everyone according to his/her own ability. There’s no ungifted or untalented creature of God, just go out there and discover how you can be a solution to the masses or the community around you.
- SOLD: We all know how Joseph brothers sold him; we also know how Judas sold Jesus. As for us, we were sold by our fore fathers Adam and Eve but there’s a solution, Joseph was sold into slavery and triumph at the end of the day. Jesus was also sold and condemned to death but triumph and reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords forever and forever. How then can we come out of the ancient slavery that we were sold to? , it’s by accepting Jesus as our only saviour. Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, there’s no other way. In the book of John 3:16, the bible says “For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. God love humanity, that’s why He placed us in a garden that is full of riches and splendours but our fore fathers, disobeyed God and made God angry and you know it’s a terrible thing when God gets angry. God still loves us and He wants us out of slavery. That’s the reason He had to send His only begotten son to die and get us out of the slavery of the dark World. The book of life says, if the Son set you free, then you are free indeed. If you are not training your son or daughter in the way of the Lord or you and your family haven’t surrender your lives to Jesus, then you guys need to get out of the ancient slavery humanity was sold to, its better you do so now so that you can be liberated.
- Deep Love for Parents: Jesus so much loved the father that He did not commit any sin while He was living on this planet, He so much love His father’s business that He prefers it to food. Joseph loved his father so much that he will not let his brother ruin their father’s business; he will always report everything his brothers are doing on the field. When He became the prime minister in Egypt and revealed himself to his brothers, he was such in a hurry that he wanted to set his eye on the old man again. As parents that want our Children to take care of us, we should love our parent with undiluted love. We should always express that deep love to them at all time especially in their old age, that’s the time they need us the most. Some people in this part of the World will leave their parents to suffer at old age and when such parent die; they will spend millions upon millions to bury the same father or mother that they never paid attention to. Another thing is parents need to sow the seed of kindness and wisdom in the lives of our Children when they are still young so they can give us rest when we need them at old age. As Jesus and Joseph possessed deep love for their individual fathers, let’s show deep love for our parent and love them for being our driver to this present plane.
- Temptation: Jesus was tempted by the devil after He finishes 40 days and 40 nights fast. Joseph was also tempted, Potiphar’s wife disturbing him day and night to sleep with him. While Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, the temptation of Joseph led him straight into prison. When Jesus came out of the wilderness, He started doing great miracles and wonders. When Joseph came out of prison, he came straight into palace. We should not view temptation as something that we cannot handle. God had given us the spirit of wisdom and sound mind to beat all the wiles of the devil. There is another thing I want us to know about temptation, we can flee from temptation. As mortal being, we can be weak but there is always a way out. When you know someone is seducing you, you can run away like the way Joseph flees from Potiphar’s wife but get wisdom, don’t get into a position someone will shout on you that you rape him/her. And the renewing of our minds can go a long way in dealing with temptations. Jesus knows everything written about Him and He used that to deal with the temptation of the devil. To live a successful life, we need to study hard. When you know and understand what’s written in the book of life, your destiny can never be written off by the enemies and the temptations of life.
- Many Fathers: Jesus’s father is the Almighty God. The bible also calls him the son of David and David the son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So we can say Jesus is the begotten son of the Almighty God, the son of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Joseph which happens to be the husband of His mother “Mary”. Joseph on the other hand is the son of Jacob, but we can also say he’s the son of Potiphar, Pharaoh and ultimately son of God. Pharaoh even gave Joseph a wife from Potiphar’s clan, a daughter of Potiphar’s clan. It’s not only our fathers and mothers that are meant to be respected by us. Our elders sometime can be termed as our fathers and mothers and we should give them the respect we give to our parents.
- Body Travel: Jesus ascends {travels} from this foreign land into His permanent Kingdom “Heaven” after rising up from the dead. Joseph‘s body was carried along {travels} with the Children of Israel into the permanent land “Canaan land” that God promised the Children of Israel. As Jesus’s body ascends into the Heaven, that’s the semi to the land stage that His body will have anything to do with this present World. His body has gone through so many things before He was given the power to ascend into the Heaven. As fleshly spirit, let’s endure hard times and hope and trust in God for our ultimate ascension into our Glorious time and season. Let our body work, it’s that same body that work that will enjoy when that Glorious season’s come.
I wish you good luck as you build a successful Christian home and family, bringing up our Children in Godly parenting ways, and living all round successful life. What is the point you think is missing in this article, you can share in the comment below, I will be very glad to have a conversation going. Until I come your way again with another inspiration and lifestyle, I remain Dayss Olasunkanmi. stay blessed.