21ST CENTURY JOSEPH


AUTHOR: DAVID ROPO LAWALE 08034944471


Publishing House:
American Book Publishing
http://www.american-book.com



Editor: Abbie Redmon










Dedication

I dedicate this book to the more than 6.5 billion people in the world who break out of tradition and religion by coming into such a deep and intimate fellowship with God that their spouses get positively jealous.

Preface

This book includes stories of people that God used in the Bible. However, some Christians have become too religious and traditional (Mark 7:13) with the way they have treated the Word of God, making it very difficult for contemporary society to accept the Word.
Before I gave my life to Jesus Christ, I found it difficult to relate with born-again folks. Boy, they had so many ideas about being the “right” kind of Christian, or should I say believer, because I have found that there is a difference between the two terms. Many people love to stay Christian and watch things happen, but I have chosen to be a believer, the type that Jesus said would make things happen.
For it is written concerning believers that they shall raise the dead, they shall lay hands on the sick and the sick shall be well, they shall cast out demons in Jesus’ name, and if by any chance they do swallow any poisonous substance, they would not be affected.
Did I hear you say impossible? Well, readers, if you don’t believe me, ask Paul; he was bitten by a snake (Acts 28:3–6), but he had the blood of Jesus flowing through his body, so the poison died in him.
Still doubting? Look in the book of Luke 13:10–13. Yes, I know it was Jesus Christ Himself that healed, but I’m happy to tell you that He was a believer, too, for He believed in the One who sent Him.
There are so many people who are like the me of old. What do I mean by this? Well, the truth is, the devil, Satan, Lucifer, Louis Cipher, or whatever you want to call him is happy to keep the veil of ignorance in front of so many people’s faces (Christians inclusive) that it takes the powerful and awesome name of my homie, love, and friend, Jesus, to get such a veil off. Luke 8:10 speaks of such a veil.
This story is written with simplicity to draw you closer to the Word of God. With a little bit of creative thinking, this is what the Biblical story of Joseph and the multicolored coat would be like if it had happened today. However, as emphasized once again, this is not the scripture, but a guide to understanding God’s Word and how you can relate it to yourself. Many scenarios used here were birthed out of a little bit of creative thinking. All places and events in the Biblical story were kept and used even if those places are not present in the twenty-first century world. This helps to preserve the originality of the story itself.
I don’t know how many people like me are out there, but I do know that some of you can relate to this, and it might help show you that God is not what many have painted Him to be. He is who you have discovered Him to be in your life.
Understand this: God will accept you the way you are, but He will never leave you as He found you.



David Ropo Lawale


Prayer:

Father, I ask that you enlighten me through your Word. Let this book not be merely a form of entertainment, but let it ignite a passion for your Word.
Touch my ears, Lord. In any way this book is read to my hearing, let it have a permanent effect on the traditional beliefs I have developed. Destroy all forms of religious mindsets that limit your voice in my life. Help me discover how to build my foundation that I may long for deeper insight in your Word.
Thank you for answered prayers, because your promises toward me are yea and amen, in Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.

“And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor amongst, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake…” (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13)


Note: This book in no way tries to overemphasize men and women of God. We appreciate what you do, and we’ll keep celebrating the Holy Spirit in you. Thank you for being a blessing.



21ST CENTURY JOSEPH

The point of living as an optimist is being foolish enough to believe that the best is yet to come.

Thomas Edison was a dreamer. Just like Joseph, his dreams seemed to have failed, but he never gave up. History records that Edison was partially deaf—that’s probably why he hardly ever listened to critics.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the light.”
People asked him, "What do you mean by that? We know you and we were there when you were born.”
(He didn’t allow them to disturb or change his speech.)
Jesus also said, “Before Abraham, I am.”
The people around him hollered, “You’re not even forty!”
(He didn’t listen.)

Wisdom Key: You have to turn a deaf ear on negative thinkers.










Chapter One (only)



God gave you a passion for what you do, so you have to put a guard on what you do.

Have you ever been to Canaan? Well, I have. I went there last week for a holiday. Nice place, I must say, and the Prime Minister was quite friendly, too.
What actually struck me in the land of Canaan was the fifty-foot statue of a man named Joseph with both an Israeli and an Egyptian flag stuck in his hands. I stared at the well-polished statue and looked at the glass inscription at its feet and the two pictures beside it. The first picture read, “Israeli-Born Egyptian president—The Pride of Israel,” and the second picture read, “Young Joseph at the age of 17—The seed of greatness many didn’t know.”
“I remember him at that age,” said an old lady standing behind my escort, breaking my gaze from the inscription. I had traveled to Canaan on a holiday and hired a tour guide to help me get acquainted with the city.
“Really!’ I exclaimed. “You knew Egypt’s vice president when he was young?”
“Yes, I did. I’m really happy for him and what he has done for Egypt. He’s matured over the years. I remember when I first met him. I thought he was a girl…he sounded so soft and cute when I heard him speak from a distance. Of course, he was actually a well-built seventeen-year-old boy with a face that could model for Giorgio Armani, but,” the old woman continued, a smile breaking across her face, “the actual purchase might be of the model himself, not the clothing.”

I sense a smile on a female reader’s face.

You might be wondering why the old lady thought Joseph was a girl at first. She couldn’t see his body because he was surrounded by a crowd of friends. One thing she was certain of is that his voice hadn’t cracked yet. Wow! Talk about late maturity. The old lady told my escort and I that she met Joseph when he was a young man, after he had just completed six years of high school at Graceland High School and was waiting for his letter of admission into Metropolitan University.
Now, according to what I was told by this cheerful old lady, Joseph’s father was what we would call these days a modern herdsman. He was a “paid up” one, too. Jacob often sent Joseph to check on his brothers, who tended the flocks, and he almost always brought back an ill report about them, so they hated him for it.
Joseph’s dad, Jacob, loved him very much, and as a sign of his love for him, he gave Joseph an Italian-style Salvatore Ferragamo suit (it had funky colors). Whenever Joseph wasn’t in need of anything specific, his father gave him whatever he felt someone his age would need. This “pissed” his brothers off even more. They felt he was stubborn because he never listened to what they had to say, but many old friends of the family said that he was a chip off the old block. When Jacob was a young boy, he always got into fights with his elder brother Esau. Though Esau was older than Jacob, the two never got along, and the younger refused to give the older the respect he deserved. They argued over meals, fought over new clothes, and were always back-biting one another in front of their parents. First-time visitors to their home always thought that the two boys hated each other because of the way they acted, but closer relatives understood that it wasn’t hatred, it was just the only way they related.
As the years rolled by, Jacob stopped exchanging words with Esau and refused to get into any more fights with him. Jacob had matured mentally, but Esau had not. Esau still settled scores with his fists, whereas Jacob settled scores by outsmarting his opponent. For example, one night, Jacob got himself into trouble at a bar called Alexandra. He was arguing with a customer in a red hat over a game of poker Jacob had won, but his opponent felt that he had been cheated. A heated argument began that caught the attention of the whole bar. The place was known for bets, gambling, and harsh words, but it certainly caught everyone’s attention when Jacob’s large, burly poker opponent grabbed a beer bottle and swung it at Jacob’s head. Jacob ducked and ran out of the bar. Everyone screamed “SISSY, SISSY!” But Jacob, being of a fairly slender frame, didn’t pay much attention as he ran out the door and slid behind a tree fifty meters away.
The man in the red hat announced to everyone that Jacob had cheated him. Hearing this, the crowd encouraged him to go after Jacob.
“Don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere,” the man said, pointing at Jacob’s abandoned car keys on the table. Everyone followed him out of the bar to the open space outside.
“Foy, don’t do it!” a young lady screamed as she tried to weave through the crowd.
Foy looked back and saw his girlfriend making her way toward him.
“Go on!” others yelled as they closed in on the lady and hid her from sight.
“COME OUT!” Foy yelled. “I'm going to change your looks!” he screamed.
Jacob, who had hidden behind a tree, removed his fez cap and picked up a smooth rock he had been staring at on the ground. An idea occurred to him. He placed the smooth, flat stone on his head and readjusted his fez cap.
“I don’t want to fight,” Jacob said as he came out of his hiding place. The crowd booed him and hollered, “CHICKEN, CHICKEN!”
“I’m not a chicken,” Jacob responded. “I run away from fights because I know what happens to people I fight with.” Seeing the bottle in Foy’s hands, he looked at the crowd of people that had gathered and said, “Can’t you at least make it a fair fight by giving me a bottle as well?” Someone in the crowd poured his remaining drink out on the ground and tossed the bottle at Jacob, who caught it and smiled.
“Final warning, young man, just go home,” Jacob tried to threaten.
When he saw that Foy was unrelenting, Jacob raised the bottle up and smashed it against his own head, aiming at the stone he had placed on his head, covered by his cap. The bottle broke, and the crowd was startled. Foy’s intense grip on his own bottle loosened a bit. The anger in the crowd instantly died down. Jacob saw the impact of what he had done and toughened up all the more. With a frown, he turned his back on Foy and walked away.
Jacob continued this lifestyle of being a crafty individual and was able to marry two women and acquire a lot of wealth. These two women were Leah and Rachel. Leah was mother to Reuben, Jacob’s first child; Simeon; Levi; Judah, a very hot-tempered person; Issachar; and Zebulun.
Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Apart from these women, Jacob had two affairs out of his marriages, one of which resulted in two sons from a young lady called Bilhah. These two sons were Dan, a young man who loved to stand up for others, and Naphtali. The other mistress was Zilpah, who gave birth to Gad and Asher. All together, Jacob had twelve children from four different women. Two of the women were legally married to him, whereas the other two were affairs he had out of marriage but were supported by his two wives at the time because they couldn’t give him any children.
Of all twelve children, Jacob fancied Joseph and Benjamin the most. They were two naughty kids who always played tricks on their father. Jacob always wanted them close to him. He loved to watch them argue while eating. They were the set of kids that Jacob never scolded when they were younger. Joseph’s brothers knew the only way they could get things quickly from their dad was to psych up Joseph and make him feel he also wanted what they wanted. They never really used Benjamin to get money from their dad since he was young. They knew that Jacob would give a seventeen-year-old boy like Joseph money since he was mature enough to request the cash and not tell anyone what he planned to use it for.

Quite often, Joseph had dreams that kept him smiling to himself long after he woke up. Sitting on his bed after coming out of a dream, his blank stare and broad smile were verbal enough for his brothers to know he had dreamt of something silly again. On a certain day, Joseph had a dream which made him run out to the street right in front of their house where his brothers had been “gisting” all morning. In his excitement, he called out for their attention without greeting any of them.
“Guess what, ‘guys.’”
“What is it, ‘twerp’? What’s so important it makes you barge into men’s conversation?” Simeon asked rhetorically.
“Talk to the fingers, Simeon, you sure ain’t worth the hand. I don’t know why you are always against me,” Joseph replied.
“Let the kid talk and go,” Reuben pushed.
“Ehmmm…khmm,” Joseph cleared his throat and began: “I had a dream last night, a very peculiar one, I must say. In the dream, we were all gathering sheaves of grain in the field when all of a sudden, my sheaf came up high and stood upright in posture while your sheaves surrounded mine and bowed down to it. After that—”
“Would you shut up?” barked his brothers all at once. “What are you trying to say?” “Who do you think you are?” “Are you implying that you are more important than us?”
“I consider that statement detrimental and injurious to my person and reputation,” Judah said with a strong voice.
“Oh, please! Daddy said you should never use that tone of voice with me…or do you want him to know what you just said? I have a big mouth, you know. At least, that’s what you guys tell me.”
Judah pounced on Joseph, but he was outnumbered by his other brothers. They all cautioned him to stay calm, because friends of theirs were strolling toward them.
“You better not dare touch me, this ain’t the oldies. We are in the twenty-first century. I’ve got rights, you know. I could even have you put away for assault; there would definitely be no battery because you throw punches like a wimp.”
“Who is this guy?” Looking at Joseph, Reuben asked again, “Who are you?”
“Just a young lad with a dream and a vision. Something some of you ought to have,” Joseph said sarcastically.

Readers, can I teach you a little bit?
A vision is something that will always make your friends and enemies watch out for you. It could come in the form of an idea, and the vessel used must handle it with care. Just like Kathryn Kuhlman (a mighty woman of God) who guarded her anointing, you have to guard your vision, just as Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:14, which says, “that good thing which was committed unto you, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwells in you.”
Where do dreams and visions begin?
What inspires a dream?
Now, you must know that God first dreamed the dream before you dreamt it. The idea came first to God, and He looked for a worthy vessel to birth it into. That’s right. God found you to be a worthy vessel for His idea. You had better rejoice in your heart because this reminds me of when an angel appeared to Daniel in the Bible and told him that he was highly esteemed by God.
Remember this: when God speaks to you through a dream, write it down. It’s a lot safer that way. Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge intelligently. Dr. Mike Murdock (founder of The Wisdom Centre in the United States) reminds us to use our minds for creativity, not for storage. Friends, I was as guilty as you in letting ideas and dreams pass me by, but I have since chosen to be wiser, and it has been working.
Now, let’s go back to Canaan land—the one with Joseph, not with Bishop David Oyedepo (pastor of Living Faith Ministries, which started in Nigeria—the ministry is also popularly called Canaan Land since it’s located at a place called Ota in Ogun state, Nigeria).

While Joseph and his brothers were still exchanging sarcastic remarks, some friends of the family came along and began exchanging greetings with Joseph’s brothers. “Woz up?” “Wetin dey?” “Howdy!” “Wots up?” “Hiya!” “How body?” “You dey alive!” Greetings filled the air. None of them bothered Joseph. He was all alone.

Have you ever been left alone? Have you ever been rejected? Then know you are on your path to greatness. God usually and oftentimes loves to communicate with you when He knows you are alone. Just you. Joseph’s brothers thought it was demeaning to associate with him, but I’ve got news for you. Bishop Nicholas Duncan Williams (a Ghanaian preacher based in the United States) once quoted, “God does not call the qualified, but He qualifies those He calls.” I believe those words. I know you have looked all around and you don’t see anything connecting you to Mr. President. That doesn’t matter at all because you look like good material for use in the Potter’s hands. He loves to take all the glory, not just some of it, and He deserves it. Doesn’t He?

In his loneliness, Joseph wandered over to the heap of sand steps leading up to the post office and sat down. His brothers were laughing loudly and joking with their friends, but Joseph soon realized that their voices were getting quieter, fading away. Soon he heard a voice telling him about his greatness, and how he looked like filth in his present state but would soon be an attraction to many. The voice spoke louder, drowning out the words of his friends and family in front of him. It told him to look up at the sun, which he did, but he buried his face in his hands faster than it took for him to look up. Listening to the voice within, he heard, “The eye hates the sun when it’s blazing. It would never want to look at it. But after a while, when the sun sets, the eye admires the beauty that the sun gives the atmosphere and how it makes the sky and the clouds look. So will your story be; people may not like to see you now, but I’ll cause you to be of such influence that the people around you will look good because of you. I have spoken, and my words are never idle.”
Joseph clapped his hands in joy and “scarbashed” immediately.

Why are you shocked? Yes, I understand there was no infilling of the Spirit then, but wake up! This is creative thinking. Besides, it’s a twenty-first century book, remember?

Everyone looked at Joseph and their moods changed. “What is this he speaks?” they wondered. Irritated by the prayer-language, they dispersed.

Well, I can relate to that. Light has nothing to do with darkness.

Night fell, and at home, Joseph was snoring in his sleep. This irritated his brothers “big time.” Alas! There was nothing they could do about it, for Joseph slept right beside Jacob. Everyone had fallen asleep in the living room after they had all watched a late night movie together. The living room was filled with animal skin and fur that their interior designer had used for their furnishings. The rug was made out of the fur of bears. The settee was made of leopard skin and fur. The digital wall clock was also made out of animal skin. Jacob displayed his love for animals, which made the living room a comfortable place for people to sleep, neglecting their bedrooms. Joseph snored loudly with his head on Jacob’s belly. They knew he was probably dreaming again since he had a faint smile on his face as he slept. Only dawn knew what was in store for them.

“Brothers, gather round.” It was morning and Joseph was feeling very cheerful. “Daddy, you too need to hear this. I had a strange dream.”
“Here we go again, Father. Please make him shut up!” cried Simeon.
“That’s okay, let’s give him a chance. Let’s hear him out.” Turning to Joseph, Jacob encouraged, “All right, kid, what was your dream about? Don’t tell me you saw yourself in the Matrix; Keanu Roves would be ‘pissed.’” Jacob chuckled to himself and looked around at his sons.
“Dad, take it easy. You’re too old for all these things. His name is Keanu Reeves, not Keanu Roves. You need to stay in the days of doing the ‘twist,’” Judah lashed out.
“That was quite rude, Judah. I don’t think papa found that funny,” Joseph protested.
Judah looked at his father and knew he had hurt his feelings.
“I’m sorry, dad.”
“Judah, I have taught you all how to correct one another. You need to learn how to correct in love. That is the best way to pass your remarks. They will do less damage. The only people that may not react positively to love are fools and mockers. God says, correct a mocker and incur insults on yourself,” Jacob explained.
“Preach, preacher!” Joseph shouted.
“God is love, and each time you correct with love you acknowledge that as He is above, He is on earth through you. For He said to Himself (God the Son and God the Holy Spirit), let us make man in our own image and likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and everything that creeps on the earth. This tells us something: God does not have rights over the earth. He gave the earth to man. That means no spirit entity can function on this earth without the help of the flesh. God can only show love to you through vessels. The devil can only hate and attack through vessels, too. So Judah, choose whom you will allow to dominate and use you,” Jacob concluded.
There was silence. No one spoke—the words had sunk deep. Jacob broke the silence, “Joseph, we are listening, tell us your dream.”
Joseph narrated his dream of how the sun, moon, and eleven stars paid obeisance to him. Jacob was shocked; he rebuked and cautioned Joseph. To Jacob, it was absurd for him, his wife, and children to bow and pay respects to Joseph. Nevertheless, he opened his heart to it and buried the treasure there, for Jacob was humble; he trusted the Lord and he trusted the power of dreams. On the other hand, Joseph’s brothers refused to accept such insulting words. They gossiped in whispers amongst themselves and decided to give Joseph a mass beating. They understood he was a loud-mouth but didn’t know he would go so far as to involve their parents in one of his absurd dreams.

It was a Sunday morning, and Joseph was in a building he cherished—an all-glass three-story building with six thousand people, listening to one man speak. This man held the attention of the people, whose eyes were focused on him and who nodded in agreement with what he said.
House on the Rock Ministry’s satellite church was in the heart of the city, and people traveled from different parts of the town to worship at this place. Luckily for Joseph, the church was a ten-minute drive from his house. His father’s personal chauffeur was always available to take him to church and bring him home. He wasn’t allowed to take cabs like other people his age did, even though he had grown up to be a trustworthy seventeen-year-old man. Joseph didn’t go out much apart from fellowship meetings and his usual basketball game with friends at church.
At church, Joseph sat at the back of the auditorium listening to his preacher. He threw his fists comically into the air as a sign of excitement, but he was careful not to miss the in-depth rhema (the spiritual meaning revealed by God to him) of the Word. He always cautioned himself not to be overexcited, jumping off his seat in response to the Word preached, without having an understanding of what the preacher had said.

I have a certain friend that never gives me the right answer whenever I ask him a particular question. The question is one I ask when I miss a church service that he attended. The dialogue goes like this:

“I couldn’t make it to service last week, what did the pastor talk about?”
“Man, the service was awesome! You know the pastor and the way he makes us shout and jump.”
“So, what exactly did he say?” I ask.
My friend shrugs. “I can’t remember, but you know how the pastor is, don’t you?”

Quite a number of us are used to getting high. Some have left the world of drugs but still love to get high. Thus, they attend services for a temporary relief and a psychological good feeling. Another real-life example is a girl who left her church to attend another service elsewhere. The preacher was really into the Word he was preaching, so he got everyone screaming. In her struggle to jot down points (their church was the type that encouraged them to write down vital information the preacher passed across), she missed one, so she asked the person beside her—who had jumped up excitedly after the preacher made his point—what he had said. Check out this dialogue (I’m not joking; this story is true):
GIRL: I’m sorry but I didn’t get the last point he made. What did he say? (The girl asked the young man as she attempted to jot down more of what the preacher was teaching.)
CHURCH-GOER: I don’t know.
GIRL: Excuse me, but I saw you react to the point by jumping.
CHURCH-GOER: Oh, that! Everyone else was jumping, so I decided to join them.

The time came during the service when the preacher spoke and Joseph couldn’t hold back his conviction. He ran to the altar to sow a seed. He knew the sermon was meant for him. The preacher spoke on the power of vision mixed with a positive mindset. Joseph knew no one could kill his dreams. He wasn’t going to allow it. He kept reciting his dreams. He said them out loud. That was why he gathered his brothers together each time he had such dreams. The dreams were too big for him to hide; they had to be revealed. Then the preacher came to the close of his message: “Do not fear that you might make a mistake believing in your dream. Shiver at the thought that if you don’t do it: you might stand before God and He might tell you that you could have succeeded if you had believed in the God-part of you.” The message ended. There was no “whooping.” The preacher was somewhat emotional today, which was unusual since his messages were often characterized by vibrant gesticulations and active descriptions of whatever he says.
Jennifer; a nineteen-year-old student of the medical school close to the club house where Joseph played basketball, was in tears after the church service. Joseph had been introduced to her through a friend of his during their basketball practice. It was her fourth month as a member of the church, and ever since she joined the ministry, she had not missed a single service or prayer meeting. This particular Sunday service was another emotional one for her. Pastor Paul Adefarasin of the House on the Rock Church in Israel had hit her bones with the Word of God. She was “weak” from the sermon. Jennifer cried after all messages. At the end of a teaching, she cried; in a “whooping” session, she cried; during a prophecy, she cried; even when tithes and offerings were called for, she cried. Everyone was used to her. She was drop-dead gorgeous and a great admirer of Joseph. She always pushed to be close to him. There were times she looked like a “take-home-to-mama chick,” and there were times she simply looked like a cover girl for a magazine.
Occasionally, Joseph and Jennifer would go out to lunch at Zanzibar Restaurant after the church service on Sunday. The manager of the restaurant loved Sundays because he noticed that the greatest patronage came on that day from people who attended House on the Rock Church, which was across the street.
Joseph sat directly opposite Jennifer at the corner table of Zanzibar recapping Pastor Paul’s message for the day. As he spoke, he stole glances from different directions, avoiding her eyes and trying not to look at her. Her beauty captivated him. God often whispered in his ear, “Son, be careful, flee all appearances of fornication.” He wondered what the voice meant since he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was confident in his faith in God and his ability to rebuke the devil.
A certain day came when he was alone with Jennifer, and she felt like stroking his cheeks. He loved the sweet sensation; it made him lose control of himself. He rebuked the devil but nothing happened. It only got worse. He was perspiring. His temperature rose, his breathing increased. Something reacted in his body as if it had a mind of its own. Then, he remembered when Wisdom spoke to him, telling him to accept her (Wisdom), saying that for those that refuse her, she will laugh at their fall and mock when fear and destruction come. She added that in times of trouble, she would not answer when they called on her because they hated knowledge (Proverbs 1: 20–31). Remembering those words, Joseph took to his heels and never returned. He left Jennifer confused, wondering what she had done wrong.

I remember those years when I had freshly stepped into God’s kingdom, I used to rebuke fornication. Let me tell you a story. There was a good-looking, light-complexioned ‘fella’ who was adored by the ladies. He was born-again, spirit-filled, demon-chasing, and tongue-talking. In summary, he made headlines in the kingdom of darkness because of the havoc his prayers caused. He was a very brilliant student who had been schooled at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. After lectures, most of the girls taking similar courses would rush down to his quarters for tutorials. For some reason, the girls liked his evening tutoring sessions. They often planned amongst themselves how to sleep with him. I can describe them as female soldiers with a plan. The only thing they didn’t do was draw up the plan on a chalkboard and highlight how it would be executed.
During the tutoring sessions, which always took place one after the other (he never suspected their motive of coming at different times), the girls would pretend to listen, but each of them had in mind what she wanted to accomplish. One of these girls kept looking at his face, probably dreaming about him being in her arms. Whenever he looked up, she adjusted herself and feigned attention to what he was saying. This girl tried different things to seduce him, like dropping her pen and picking it up with her rear facing him. Our brother had to compose himself. When she got up, she sat on his lap. He was so shocked by this action, he pushed her off violently and rebuked her. The girl left his room disappointed. Others came as usual, and he tutored them. A certain day came when he found himself rebuking a certain girl consistently, but she didn’t give up. Readers, the unrighteous freaky act happened, and it took a while for him to be able to forgive himself. After getting back on track, girls came again for tutorials, but wisdom taught him never to hang around his room. Each time he was caught unexpectedly in his room, he attended to his visitors at the door. What a guy! Tutoring at the entrance of his apartment, far away from his room.
Many of us are caught in similar encounters. Growing up in Christ, I remember being confronted by such situations, but I “goofed.” I’m trying to tell you that I may have “goofed” over the years, but I’ve discovered God’s Word on the matter. Nowhere is it written in scripture that we should rebuke fornication. I only acted religious for years, until I discovered the truth in God’s Word. Some believers want to rebuke and pray about everything. An understanding of God’s Word teaches us something different. Male readers, as long as your body is the type that responds emotionally to scintillating things from the opposite sex, please, flee fornication. Just “tint.” Don’t be bothered if people say, “You can’t function.” Your wife will find out later in life that you can.

Obstacles are things you see when you take your eyes off your goals. Joseph didn’t see any obstacles; all he saw was his dreams. However, not all dreams and visions are of God. Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo (pastor of a ministry called KICC, which started in the United Kingdom) said, “God gives dreams and visions, and He also speaks; the devil gives dreams, visions, and speaks, too; your flesh also gives dreams, visions, and speaks.” Hence, you need to take your dreams and visions to God in prayer.
You might also be wondering:
“How do I hear from God? How does God speak?”
God speaks. It’s important for us to know that. He speaks through His Word, His Spirit, and through what man has termed “conscience.”
God speaks to people all the time. An armed robber has a conscience. A voice speaks to him even when he goes on a raid. That soft, gentle voice tells him that what he is doing is not right. Another voice tells him to go for the loot and kill. Man has been given a free will, so the armed robber chooses. God constantly speaks, but the robber only deadens his conscience with his actions. His actions feed his flesh. When you feed your spirit with the Word, God’s voice will sound loud and clear in your spirit.
Joseph held on to his dream. It shows he fed his spirit instead of his flesh.

Note: In the book of John, a woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Jews decided they were going to stone her to death. I can deduce from here that those people never fed their spirit. If they did, they would have known that all flesh is like grass (1 Peter 1:24). Rather than condemn, they would have put her under Biblical reform.