Freedom from slavery

Joseph learned many things whilst working as a slave in the house of Potiphar.  He had come from his father’s house which was a place of great favour.   Jacob had given him the coat of many colours to show everyone he was his father’s favourite.  That coat and his father’s favour had been stripped away by the brothers and now he was a slave in the house of an Egyptian far away from his family.

Joseph may have been made a slave but the way he worked for Potiphar showed his heart was not enslaved.  People that are slaves inside and out behave like slaves.

• They have no passion, no vision and no personal direction. 
• They have no rights.
• Everything is done out of a fear of the consequences.
• They live under obligation
• They are always fulfilling other people’s purposes.
• They have little sense of personal destiny.
• They have no freedom of any sort; personal, financial.
• They have little ability to choose
• Their owner has to provide for them. 

Joseph was not like this at all.  Genesis 39: 1 – 6 says ‘The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.  When his master saw that God was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that Potiphar had both in the house and in the field.  So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had, with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.’

Joseph could have gone off to Egypt full of grudges, grievances, rejection and unforgiveness for what the brothers had done to him.  His attitude could have been that he would do the minimum required to get by because it was not his fault he was a slave.  If he had, he would have been a slave forever.  Instead he rose above the things that sought to enslave him (past hurts, rejections and mistreatment by others) and learned some essential life skills necessary to fulfil God’s destiny for his life.  He did not know God had planned for him to be second over Egypt and to save his family.  He only knew God’s hand was on his life and that if God was going to raise him to greatness, as his dreams suggested, then he must do the best he could in the situation he was in.

Are you enslaved today by your past and what other people have done to you?  No matter what your situation you can be free in your heart.  Free from hurt, free from rejection, free from grudges and grievances, free from unforgiveness.  God is with you and if you make the best of your circumstances and serve with the best attitude you can, God’s blessing will not just be on you but on all those around you.  Serving is done by choice, slavery is forced upon you.  Be a blessing, serve today and walk in freedom from your past into the great plans God has for your future.