The Joseph Effect

The life of Joseph provides several life lessons to be applied to our life's journey. For me, the account of Joseph is probably the closest experience to compare with my life. I believe as you read this book, you will find this to be the case in your life as well. I find it very interesting that prior to any written form of instructions or commandments, Joseph knew what it meant to conduct his affairs in a way that I consider to be supernatural. Although he found himself in very difficult situations, Joseph possessed an ability to find the solution to his problems by listening to voice of God through his dreams and the dreams of others. As believers, we recognize Joseph's experiences as divine favor. We recognize and acknowledge Joseph's experiences to be as being part of the unmerited favor and grace of God. It is obvious that Joseph recognized and effectively walked in this divine favor by exercising his trust in God to fulfill His promises. Although the Holy Spirit did not indwell man at the time of Joseph's era, the gift to interpret dreams performed the same operational affect as one of the gifts of the Spirit given to the believer today. I believe that gift to be the word of wisdom. Today, believers can operate in this gift when interpreting dreams and visions. There are several examples in Scripture before and after the resurrection of Messiah where dreams and visions were interpreted before fulfillment. In the late Dr. Lester Sumrall's book, The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit, he identifies several great men of God in the Old Testament who exercised the gift of the word of wisdom. It was Dr. Sumrall who held the position that several of the prophets of old were endowed with the gift of a word of wisdom. Dr. Sumrall made the following statement about Joseph, "The Holy Spirit can convey the word of wisdom in many ways. To Joseph it was the interpreting of a dream of the future. When Joseph was seventeen years old, God showed him the course of his whole life the fact that he would be a great leader and how even his own brothers would bow down before him." "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brothers: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, what is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to you to the earth?" (Genesis 37:9-10, KJV). I cannot claim that Joseph's parents did not believe his dream, but it does appear they found his dream difficult to accept. It is interesting to note that the parents knew the interpretation of the dream without Joseph explaining it to them. This tells me that this practice of lessoning and interpreting one's dreams was indeed the practice of children of Israel. As time passed, Joseph's was fulfilled. The Scripture declares that God does not change. I believe that He has not changed this method of communication. Although there are different ways that God speaks to His children (primarily through His written word), the method of dreams and the interpretation of dream often provides what I like to describe as the Joseph effect.