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I think we all remember and know the story of Joseph the patriarch, son of Jacob and Rachel (Gen. 35:22), and how he came to occupy privileged places outside of his kinship in Egypt after being sold by his brothers and given by died to his father; so much so that only the pharaoh had more power than he in Egypt.
Relevant part in its history is the interpretation of the Dream of the Pharaoh, on the 7 skinny cows, that illustrates us about our behavior in many aspects of our life.
Genesis 41: 17-21 "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph," In my dream it seemed to me that I was on the bank of the river; 18 And out of the river came up seven cows with thick flesh and beautiful appearance, and they grazed in the meadow. And that other seven cows came up after them, skinny and very ugly looking; so exhausted, that I have not seen other similar ones in ugliness in all the land of Egypt. And the lean and ugly cows devoured the first seven fat cows; and these entered into his bowels, but it was not known that they had entered, because the appearance of the skinny was still bad, as at the beginning. And I woke up. "
Genesis 41: 25-32 "Then Joseph answered Pharaoh: Pharaoh's dream is oneself; God has shown Pharaoh what he is going to do. The seven beautiful cows seven years are; and the beautiful ears are seven years of prosperity: the dream is oneself. Also the seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them, are seven years; and the seven small and withered ears of the east wind, seven years will be of hunger. This is what I answer to Pharaoh. What God is going to do, he has shown to Pharaoh. Behold, seven years of great abundance come in all the land of Egypt. And after them will follow seven years of hunger; and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and famine will consume the land. And that abundance will not be seen, because of the next hunger which will be very serious. And if the dream happens to Pharaoh twice, it means that the thing is firm from God, and that God hastens to do it. "
The crisis of scarcity, is not only economic, there is also shortage when we are not productive and also occurs in the spiritual area. The shortage usually comes after a bonanza or abundance. If we have money, we spend it and stay the same as before; if we have a good development of ministries, we get off note and we get discouraged; If the bonanza and growth at work comes, we stop and easily settle. We see that Joseph was anonymous for more than two years and only then, does God bring him to light to be used. But even in the middle of the prison Joseph came to possess spiritual abundance, since he says the word that Jehovah was with him. "The prison chief did not need to attend to anything that was under Joseph's care, because Jehovah was with Joseph and what he did, Jehovah prospered him "(Gen 39:23). This is a clear example of a simple and humble man, who could break the schemes and move from one stage of abundance to another of more abundance and live in over abundance.
Today we are going to see those skinny cows that rob you of prosperity and that prevent you from seeing economic miracles, at work, in the ministry and make you live the same thing every day without any growth.
Not having vision
José began his deal and his trial through a dream, he had a vision, He made a longing in his heart and this desire to be great led him to be a productive man in all areas of his life; and for this, by receiving the favor of God.
Anyone who does not have a vision is the one who takes money and instead spends it; anyone who does not have a vision works for a day because they see him, to show what he does but he does not project a ministry that will last and shape him. He is the one who is saying tomorrow will begin ..., the next semester will end, next month, next year, and always for him there are only mornings but without concrete and real objectives.
Not having a Leader mentality
To have leaders' mentality, it is necessary to prepare and receive a good influence from someone. To have the leader mentality and to have credibility, it is necessary to prepare and receive from a greater leader in order to maintain and produce. A person who does not have the mentality of a leader is the one who is always complaining about his leader to the one who follows, he is the one who looks at what can be achieved momentarily but never concludes what starts. This generates the loss of constant productivity.
Bad influences
A third skinny cow, are the bad influences. Rubén was on José's side in this period of crisis, but even though Rubén was a good influence, he let himself be infected by the bad influence of others.
Ruben was the eldest, he had to answer for Jose in front of his father, but to cover up a mistake, he let his brothers spread a bad influence and for this he brought a curse to his house. He had the authority to stop everything but he did not have enough character, why? Because he was infected by the bad influence of his brothers who were thirsty for power and a privileged place in front of his father was also full of envy.
Splurge in times of plenty
Usually this is associated with money. But you not only manage money, you also manage time, work, even the cupboard. Not managing things even time steals your prosperity. Who works more than the account and arrives late at home, his family does not prosper because he is never in the house for them to grow up. Who leaves before work, will not earn enough; who from time to time eats meat and sows five kilos, if you eat a kilo per day, you will not have it for next week. It is necessary to know how to administer.
The "I do what I want, or what I think is good"
Knowing God's will for our lives is one of the most important things we must know if we want to have joy and live the way we were born to do it. Although His Word reveals all we need to know, it does not tell us things that, in our ignorance, we can believe (and sometimes believe) that are more important. "Am I moving to a new house? Is this business going to work? What will happen tomorrow?"
"What I do, I do not understand, because I do not do what I want, but what I detest, I do." (Romans 7.14)
It is about that constant tendency to think, desire and proceed against what God has established. To try to overcome the impulses of the flesh, and create a gulf between what pleases and displeases God in our life, the first thing we have to do is a deep analysis of our life. As we all know, the first step to recovery is to recognize that there is a problem.
God wants you to walk in faith and to fulfill his will, because faith glorifies Him. Faith says "God is great, good and wonderful, and has everything under control" and that is true!
Do not save provision (save)
It is important to define what the word save according to the dictionary means:
Save: Reserve some part of the ordinary expense. Postpone an expense today, to do it in the future.
We live in a cultural environment where you do not look at the future, where you want everything instantaneously and these are elements that conspire against saving. The wise Solomon exalts the behavior of the ant, an animal so small that in the eyes of men it is so harmless but with tremendous wisdom. In the light of the Word of God, man can become a wise person or someone foolish or foolish, in terms of how to behave with their goods.
It is important to keep in mind that in every economy there are cycles (short, medium and long term) that mark growth and stagnation of the economy. The seven years of great harvest was a virtuous circle that José took advantage of very well. The seven years of scarcity was a cycle of negative growth (recession). We must keep this reality in mind and act as Joseph did.
So, what to do? First of all, correct the hand of our beloved Father, each of the previous points. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, then you are a child of God. And because you are his son, you are automatically an heir, co-heir with Christ of all the riches of the Father!