Gen. 50:20 - "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." 
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• Evil From A Family Member

Can you remember a time in your life when someone lied about you? Or they planned to do some other type of hurtful thing to you? 

It might have been done by a person who you considered your friend, a teammate, a co-worker, or a family member. They deliberately tried to get you into trouble.

In the above text, Joseph is saying these words to his brothers.

What can be worse than having your flesh and blood do something evil to you? 
 
Joseph's brothers had sold him to the Ishmaelites (Gen.37:27) who in turn would sell him to the Egyptians. 

• Family Lies

The brothers would return to Jacob, their father, and purposefully deceive him.  Yes, some people will indeed do some very mean, wicked, and cruel things not only to their siblings but to people they work with or people who are considered friends. 

How can one handle this type of treatment by family members or so-called friends?
 
I think the answer comes right after Joseph tells his brothers "…you meant evil against me, BUT God meant it for good." 

• God Can Change Evil

God used Joseph to be sold into slavery for the good. Whatever evil someone has planned against us we need to keep in mind that God can use this for something good. 
 
That doesn't mean it will be beautiful for us to endure. It most likely will have times of extreme pain and mental anguish, BUT God can take the ugliness that is done to us and turn it into a masterpiece.

All we have to do is stay faithful and keep believing God can bring beauty out of something that is considered hurtful. This is a challenge that God is letting you experience because He has faith in you. He believes you will become a person of greater integrity after this trial.

So the real question here is this: Can you hang in there while God turns the negative into something positive?

When you read the story of Joseph it gets worse for him before it gets better. He is going to be wrongfully accused by his boss' wife. She said he was trying to seduce her. When the truth was he was running away from her advances. He will be thrown in jail because of the lies she told about him.
 
In the passage below read what Joseph endured and how he was in return blessed by God.

Ps.105:17 - He sent a man before them, 
        Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 
              18 They afflicted his feet with fetters, 
       He himself was laid in irons; 
              19 Until the time that his word came to pass, 
       The word of the Lord tested him. 
              20 The king sent and released him, 
       The ruler of peoples, and set him free. 
              21 He made him lord of his house 
       And ruler over all his possessions, 
 
God sees the evil that we are faced with every day. That is why He has given us His Word and the Holy Spirit to help us overcome some of the injustices of life we all face at one time or another.

Ps. 25:2-3 says, "O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed."  

The challenge for us today is to become more like Joseph and strengthen our TRUST in the LORD.
 
Think About These:

When things get rough, remember: It is the rubbing that brings out the shine.

The best way out of difficulty is through it.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

Jere. 26:8-11 - When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, "You must die!" Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD saying, 'This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant'…. Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, "A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing."  NASU 
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• Obedience To God's Will Can Sometimes Be Painful 

I'm not quite sure where the teaching came from that says once you become a servant of God everything in your life was going to be a piece of cake, all of your prayers would be answered the way you wanted, and tough times would now be a thing of the past.
 
I can say without a doubt that Jeremiah was a man of God and he discovered that serving God brought with it some very painful situations.
 
He was a Prophet of God, called to be a prophet before he was even born. Jere. 1:4-5 -Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." NASU
 
I can guarantee you that he didn't believe his life was a piece of cake because he was a servant of God. 

• Obedience To God Can Be Confusing 

Having read the book of Jeremiah the constant thought that crossed my mind was this, "I would not want to be a prophet of God." This was one of the most thankless jobs on the face of the earth. 
 
You obey God and the end result is suffering for you. This is what happened in Jeremiah's life.
 
The very people Jeremiah was sent to help were the ones that wanted him dead.
 
The people the prophets were sent to help would be the ones who either made their life very miserable or they killed them.
 
Here is a conversation Jesus had with the scribes and Pharisees about killing the prophets sent by God - (Mt 23:30-31 - 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' "So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets." NASU)
 
Jeremiah was obedient to God, and it caused him a lot of grief.
 
You may be a servant of God today and have lots of grief. If you do, don't let your thoughts get you to doubt your calling. Don't be led down the path that God must not care about you or He certainly would not allow this suffering in your life.
 
He called Jeremiah and told him exactly what to preach and who to preach this message too. Jeremiah did exactly as he was told and he was hated by the priests and the false prophets. Their hatred was so great they wanted him to be killed. 

• Do You Have Any Enemies? 

Now I don't mean people who won't talk to you any more, or won't invite you to their parties.
 
I mean do you have any enemies like Jeremiah? They want you dead and have a plan to end your life. The answer to that question for most of us would be "No".
 
When I read what Jeremiah was going through I laugh now at what I had to endure in the ministry. I had people lie about me, misquote me, and God forbid the false accusations about my motives.
 
Hello!
 
Could you imagine me sitting down with Jeremiah and telling him how hard my ministry was?
 
I can actually see this person who I visualize as Jeremiah rolling on the ground laughing. When he stops laughing he says to me, "Really, that is all that was done to you? They didn't try to kill you at anytime?
 
Jere. 38:10 - Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies." NASU
 
They were literally trying to kill this man of God. Why? He was doing what God had asked him to do. 

• Life Lesson 

If you're suffering in life and it is because you are doing what God's Word has asked you to do accept your suffering as graciously as possible?
 
You may not receive any rewards here on earth, but the rewards God promises us in heaven will make us forget about all the suffering we have endured while here on earth.
 
Think On This:
 
As long as your conscience is your friend, don't be concerned about your enemies.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

John 15:1-2 - I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  NASU 
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• Some Suffering May Be Good 

Jesus is using the analogy of how a Christ-follower is like a branch of a vine.
 
God, the Father, is the vinedresser. He has the responsibility to help the vine produce the best fruit possible. He does this in two ways. The first is by removing the branch from the vine if it is not producing fruit and that branch will be thrown into the fire later.
 
Secondly, the method of pruning is used to help the branch that is producing fruit to produce even more fruit on the vine.
 
When you prune something you cut if back for the branch to produce even more fruit. Pruning may hurt at first but it will guarantee the branch will produce more and better fruit during the next harvest.
 
The novice vinedresser may find this hard to believe that by pruning back the branches he will be helping to enlarge his crop and produce tastier fruit. When you prune away sucker branches as they are called it allows the sap to feed the good branches.
 
I used this principle on my dad's lemon tree in AZ a few years back. The next season dad's lemons were larger and tastier, but my dad told me he thought I might have initially killed his tree.
 
Where there is pruning there is a certain amount of temporary pain and suffering. 

• Trust In The Vinedresser 

When the Heavenly Father takes certain things in our life away from us we may not be happy at first, but when we trust God, the Vinedresser, things will work out best for us.
 
God knows what we need and don't need in our life. He knows better than we do what is best for us. I am sure as parents we have at one time or another believed we knew what was best for our children. It isn't any different with God except He is right every time.  

• What Should Be Pruned From Your Life? 

Jesus informs us that as fruit-bearing branches we are going to go through a pruning season when He said this: "…every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."
 
You will notice it is the branch that is bearing fruit that goes through the pruning process.

So let me ask you, "What should be pruned from your life?"
 
Think About This:
 
Adversity is never pleasant, but sometimes it is the only way we will learn.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word
Go To  www.SeragosPumpUps.com