Jeshophat, a servant leader

2 Chronicles 20:1-30. Jehoshaphat is a great example of a leader in God’s kingdom. The first description that comes to my mind to describe him is “servant leader.” I don’t want the word servant to connote weakness, because it should not. Instead it should give insight to the fact that Jehoshaphat was more concerned with the greatness of Judah and the people of Judah following God than his glory. He served God who had given him authority over God’s people in Judah and he was committed to God’s glory being shown in Judah more than to his own personal glory. This can easily be seen when contrasted with the lives of the Kings Ahab and Ahaziah, who led Israel during his reign over Judah. So Jehoshaphat serves God, but he is a strong leader. Therefore, he is a servant leader.
In chapter 20, there are several examples of this type of leadership.
When he heard of the impending attack by an army much more powerful than his what was his response? First he was afraid for the lives of his people because he knew that this foe was much stronger than his forces. So he went to God in prayer. What is more he led the entire nation in prayer and fasting. He is leading the people in serving God and trusting God. He goes to the temple to pray. Why? Because the temple in Jerusalem is the only place on earth where the presence of God dwells. He goes before God’s presence. He comes to God in trust, acknowledging his authority, power, promise to Israel, and asking what he should do as the King.
Immediately I see application to my own life here. How can I come before God’s presence with petition for needs? At the time the temple was the only place where God’s presence dwelt, today God’s presence dwells in the soul of every believer. For me to come before God’s presence is to turn my soul to his seeking his face in prayer. It is to fall to my knees in prayer.
After leading the entire nation in prayer. God answers Jehoshaphat’s prayer with the words of his prophet. God says to him go and you will not even need to fight because you will see the salvation of God. Wow. This verse excites me because this is a foreshadowing of what Christ has done. In my life, sin and the wages of sin are the insurmountable foe about to attack that I am not able to overcome. But as I have turned and prayed to God, trusting in him, he has said to me, “Don’t be afraid my child, your faith has saved you, and you will need even need to fight this foe for Christ already has. Go. See the salvation that is from the Lord.”
When Jehoshaphat hears this what is his response? He bowed before God and led the entire nation in praise. He worshipped God. He did not get up and go out and fight immediately. His heart was glad and relieved and happy in the Lord and it caused him to worship God and praise God. This should be my response daily as I acknowledge how God has brought salvation to me. Even more specifically as things I pray for God answers, I should fall on my face thanking him and praising him because he is God, and he alone is worthy.
I love the admonition that he gives his men as they leave to find the enemy. He says, “Believe in the Lord your God and you will be established, believe in his prophets and you will succeed.” Oh, how I want this to be the motto of my life. The battle cry of my soul. “Believe in God and you will be established, believe in his word and you will succeed.” What a great promise to claim for my life, and for yours. Let us listen to the leadership of Jehoshaphat today and trust in God alone for our salvation, and praise him for he is worthy

Kiawah

Catherine and I are leaving the LP tomorrow, Thursday, to spend a few days in Charleston before heading to Kiawah for a week with the Keith family. We won't be able to update the blog for a few days and wanted to let everyone know. Please be in prayer for our students at the LP. There are amazing things happening in their lives. There are a few students who really seem to be doing well. I can't tell you how encouraged I have been over the past few weeks by the guys I am discipling in my room as well as the men and women from Western. Pray for Josh from Western who is really dealing with some personal issues that I can't share. But pray for clarity and understanding from the Lord. We hope all is well. God bless.

Genesis 50:15-22

This passage is at that close of Israel's life and at the height of Joseph's power and influence. In this passage his brothers fear his power and influence. They know that Joseph could treat them harshly and leave them for dead if he still harbored anger towards them for their betrayal. They invoke his forgiveness saying that their father wanted him to forgive them. It seems easy for Joseph to forgive his brothers for their intentions. He said "you meant it for evil but God meant it for good." This quote reminds me of Romans 8:28, "all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purposes." It was God's hand that put Joseph into slavery in Egypt and it was the same hand that brought him to prison and to power. Joseph realized that to hate his brothers for what they did would be to hate God, because his brothers were unknowingly carrying out the plans of God for Joseph's life. There is a great principle for application here. How can I blame others for the circumstances surrounding my life, when it is God who is responsible for directing my life. As I think back on studying Joseph this week, I ask myself..."where does his life speak into mine?" I am challenged by his perspective on life and his faith in God. He endured much more pain and anguish than I ever have at this point in my life. He had great highs and great lows. In all them he trusted God to continue to fulfill his promise to Abraham through his life. In the highs and the lows he walked with God and sought his counsel. I see a relationship with Joseph and the Lord that allows him to forgive, causes him to despise sin and unholiness, and it drives him to pursuing excellence. These three manifestations of walking with God challenge me. Do I forgive others readily? Do I flee from sinful thoughts and attitudes? Do I love excellence because God does? I want to answer yes to all of these questions. But they are not characteristics of my life continually and consistently. I tend to waver in and out of them, but I want to live in them and be known by them because it is God working them in and through my life. It is really interesting to me to think that Joseph believed that God was working in his life to fulfill the promise and now I am here today as a result of that promise. The promise God gave to Abraham, was that your offspring will become a great nation that will bless the entire earth. Paul says that Abraham's physical offspring did become this blessing by providing Christ in his lineage. But Paul also says that Abraham is the father to all those who possess faith in God and we are all united in the promise. So the promise of faith that Joseph perserved with his life of faith is now bearing fruit in my life by faith just as it is all over the world.

Genesis 45:1-18

I love this chapter in Joseph’s lfe. This is the chapter that reveals the meaning of the dream of his youth, where he is over his father and brothers. It is a very unusual way for this to have happened though. But Joseph himself after revealing his identity to his brothers says, “it was not you who sent me here, but God.” Why did God send Joseph into slavery in Egypt? Why did this thing happen? Verse 6 and 7 answers these questions when Joseph says, “For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” God brought all these things about in Joseph’s life to uphold the promise made to Abraham. He brought Joseph here to use him in a position of leadership so that before the famine came, he could oversee a whole nation’s agriculture and store up grain and food for the years of famine. If he was only tending his family’s flocks and grains in Canaan, he would not have been able to store up enough food for 7 years of famine. So God brought him to Egypt and to Pharaoh so that he could oversee the storing up of food from the most powerful nation in the world to preserve people’s lives. Specifically to preserve the life of Israel and his sons and their sons. Joseph is here to deliver them from famine and he could not have done this anywhere else. This makes me marvel at God and his glory. That he orchestrated all this and put into effect and then stayed with Joseph and developed him into a leader for just this moment. All the things God was doing in Joseph’s life was to use him in maintaining his promise to Joseph’s great grandfather, Abraham. This reminds me of Romans 11:33-36, “Who knows the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselour…but all things are from him, and through him, and to him.”

Genesis chapter 39

Who is the Joseph we see in this chapter? God gives him success and Potiphar places him over all his estate and then again Joseph’s life is brought low despite his integrity. Again from the depths of the prison God gives him success so that he becomes the facilitator of the prison, when he himself is innocent.
Joseph is the fourth generation after the promise to Abraham. Abraham had Isaac, who bore Jacob, who is Joseph’s father. His great grandfather was Abraham. Since the Pentateuch had obviously not been written, how did Joseph know about God or relate to him? Abraham walked with God and Isaac learned how to trust God just like his father. Jacob saw his father walking with God and Joseph had seen him walk with God. So now that he is thrown into a land where he knew no one and he is a slave, who does he have to trust except the God of his fathers? As he walks with God in Egypt, the Lord gives him success in his endeavors. The result is that he earns Potiphar’s trust. This was what probably frustrated Potiphar the most when he believed that Joseph slept with his wife, the betrayal of that trust.
It can be inferred that Joseph is a very disciplined person for this success to be placed upon him by the Lord. I don’t think that he was lazy and as a result the Lord just gave him success. I think he was disciplined in his trusting the Lord, everyday seeking the Lord’s face. Also I think he valued excellence and holiness because this is what God values. Therefore, when it came to overseeing business transactions he acted honorable and excellently. This is probably why people wanted to do business with him and why Potiphar’s estate grew. This challenges me personally to pursue excellence in holiness in all I do. Not necessarily to make myself great, but because God is excellence and holiness.
Since Joseph held holiness as a life principle, the thought of sleeping with his master’s wife was offensive to him. It was a sin against his God and it was wicked. Here is one verse that gives us a glimpse into the wickedness of adultery. Joseph’s integrity however, did not keep him out of trouble. The wife ensnared him and he wound up in prison, stripped of all his power and having lost the trust of Potiphar. The first thing I see is that when someone is trusting God and acting uprightly that does not guarantee success. In fact, just the opposite happens here. Joseph’s walking with God, his pursuit of excellence, holiness, and integrity lands him in prison. But at least he has his righteousness.
I love the fact that he does not turn away from God and say, “Who are you, God? I follow you. I trust you. What do I get? Prison? Thanks a lot. If that’s who you are, then I am out!” Instead he continues to trust God. His reason for trusting God is not his own gain, it is because God has made a promise to his fathers and he believes in God and trusts that promise in his own life. His reason for trusting God is because God is worthy to be trusted. When his circumstances go from good to bad, he doesn’t blame God. This is probably the lowest point for Joseph. The “gut check.” It is the defining time in his relationship to God. All his father’s line had defining moments in their faith in God. This is his defining moment, and God is using it to develop their relationship. God has a relational agenda with Joseph. Do I have this perspective in my own life?
One other point in this passage I love is how Joseph literally ran away from the temptation in verse 12. We need more people like Joseph today, who when confronted with an opportunity to sin against God, they flee from it. They get as far away as possible. Do I run from all sinful temptations in my life? This is challenging to me personally.

Genesis 37

This chapter introduces Joseph to readers. This makes me ask who is the Joseph we see in Genesis 37? What are his character traits? What are the circumstances around his life? Joseph is 17, a teenager. He is the youngest of 12 sons. He has eleven older brothers and he is the favorite one. His dad loves him the most. He gives Joseph things he never gives the other sons. A very expensive robe made from many colors. This would be like giving your son a new BMW when the rest of your kids are driving Honda accords. Jacob favors Joseph. What effect does this have on Joseph? I wonder if he was arrogant. And his arrogance is really what drove his brothers against him. This makes sense as a product of his favoring and in the dreams. He is having these dreams about how his brothers and parents will one day bow down and serve him. What is more he even tells his brothers about these dreams. This fits with someone who is arrogant and prideful. From this chapter we can infer that Joseph was arrogant, and his brothers hated him for it (v.4). This hatred in their hearts led them to a desire to kill him (v.18). This is why Jesus said to hold hatred in your heart against another is the same as murder. Murder is the fruit of hatred. His brothers would have killed him, if Reuben did not have a conscience. Reuben in a sense, spared Joseph’s life. Instead of killing him, they seized him and threw him into a pit.
How humbling it must have been for Joseph to be thrown into this pit. He believes that one day he will lord over his brothers, and now he is stuck in a pit, while his brothers eat discussing what to do with him. This had to be a gut check for him. He probably feared for his life and felt hatred for his brothers. This is the bottom for Joseph.
Another interesting thing is where is God in all this? The God who of Jacob who has provided for him and walked with him. Where is he in this chapter? It doesn’t mention anything of Joseph being a devout follower of God. It does not mention that he walks with God like it does with other leaders in the OT. I think Joseph knows about God, through his father and the stories of his father wrestling with God and trusting God. But Joseph is not walking with God, himself. He is not trusting God. No, he trusts himself. He is arrogant. Where is God in this chapter? I think God is working behind the scenes to humble Joseph. God is breaking him to make Joseph turn to God for help.

Muddin in Myrtle

I wanted to pass these pics along to everyone to so that there would be no doubt we know how to have good clean fun here at the LP with Campus Outreach. I went 4-wheelin with some guys and girls Saturday evening and when we came upon a huge mud bog...well we couldn't resist getting out of the car and gettin in the mud. After an hour of throwin mud and rollin in the mud...we had to head to the beach to wash it all off. Notice the one guy who has covered his entire body in mud...I love that guy!

Kevin's midsummer evaluation

I (Kevin) wanted to give you a brief evaluation of my summer since we are at the halfway point of the Leadership Project. I am learning much about myself, sin is being revealed to me, and I see our students growing and being challenged. I will begin with myself. I came into the summer expecting the students to learn more about the gospel and themselves than myself. I have been on these types of projects before, even in a leadership position. But I am amazed at how much I am learning about myself this summer and hope that my students are learning as much about themselves as I am? Over the past few weeks our staff team has been learning about the need to be open and vulnerable. We discussed an article in staff training, which argued the essence of maturity in believers is defined by love and character. Love and character are grown from vulnerability. We looked at a continuum where love was opposed by defensiveness. The nature of defensiveness is to keep people away from being involved deeply in one’s life and this does not foster a relationship of love. Defensiveness deters maturity where as love promotes it. To apply this to our lives, our staff team implemented this idea of the “hot seat.” We met last week in small groups of staff men and women to try it out. The person in the hot seat is asked any question by the other members of the group and has to answer honestly. It is very challenging to answer hard questions and be totally honest with others, but it felt freeing.
Out of this hot seat and along with evaluating my life I have seen sin revealed to me. Mostly it has been unhealthily comparing myself to my other staff team because I want to be the best. The result of this comparison has either been pride or insecurity. Since, I became aware of this in my life I have sought to lead our students not just out of my strengths but also my weaknesses. Leading out of my weaknesses has meant letting the students I am discipling see my insecurities. This in turn has led to much openness from them and more spiritual growth. We have become more honest with one another, which has allowed me to speak more boldly into their lives. Needless to say this has been exciting.
I am also growing more aware of my “giftings” or strengths. This past week our staff took a test to determine our strengths and weaknesses. After taking the test, it was determined that I was a “Networker.” It was amazing how accurate a 20 minute test can be to determine what work environment I thrive in. It truly seemed a perfect description of my strengths and weaknesses. It said the following: “Naturally cooperates with others to get the job done. Prefers to lead by working with others, rather than by "taking charge." A naturally outgoing person who enjoys meeting strangers; enthusiastic and good at networking. Objective and not afraid to make difficult decisions; likes to move ahead at a fast pace. Spontaneous; prefers to operate flexibly and without a lot of details or restrictions. Adventurous, ambitious, and competitive; attracted by a challenge. Will use a mixture of abstract and concrete ideas to solve problems and initiate change. Well this is an update from me personally, hope this encourages you.