Group Bible Study

God planned to raise up a man, Joseph, to a high level of prominence in the government of Egypt to save his family, but for Joseph to be raised up, the way God planned was the way down. Don't you think that by the time Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison for an alleged rape that he began to wonder where God was? He could not see what was ahead and perhaps could not see that his stewardship in the house of Potiphar, his master, and also his stewardship inside the jail, was just the preparation of God to teach him to manage all of Egypt during the upcoming famine. After becoming the second in command of the whole nation of Egypt, his brothers came down to Egypt to buy food. It was when they bowed before Joseph that he remembered his dream. 16 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food;  17 and he sent a man before them—Joseph, sold as a slave.  18 They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons,  19 till what he for...

God gave Joseph a dream concerning his future, but the problem was that Joseph did not have the character base to accomplish the dream. His character had to be refined to stand up under the pressures and responsibilities that the Egyptian pharaoh would place on him. When he came through the test, he was exalted to second in command of all Egypt: 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.  6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:  7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."  8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said (Genesis 37:5-8). What's your dream? What do you want to accomplish with your life? You are becoming today what you will be tomorrow. I like to think tha...

31 "Simon, Simon,  Satan has asked to sift you   as wheat .   32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32). What was Satan asking God for and why did he have to ask? Satan wanted to shake Simon Peter's faith, but because Peter was a believer, he had to ask permission from God to sift and shake the apostle's life. God allowed the test to come to Simon Peter because he would be a stronger disciple after his strong will was broken at his failure to testify for Christ. What kind of test was he given? There in the courtyard of the High Priest, Peter was asked three times if he had been with Christ. Each time Peter responded that he didn't know Him. His heart was broken with remorse and repentance when the cock crowed, and he remembered Jesus' words that before the cock crowed, he would deny three times that he even knew Christ. Peter was much too self-confident...

In our meditations in the last few days, we have been thinking about the fact that God tests those that are His to build character. God is outside of time and has seen the end from the beginning. He knows every one of us, and has prepared ahead of time not only to work in those who are His but after your character has become more in tune with His, He has planned ahead of time to work through you:  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,  which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10 Emphasis mine). Sometimes the things that God has prepared in advance for us to do can be hindered by a lack of godly character. “ Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character” (Heraclitus). God has to work on or in us before He can work through us. The purpose in all of this is not just so that we can perform good works, whate...

The next important lesson that we can learn in becoming a disciple is how God molds, shapes and trains us to be all that He wants us to be. It is a clear revelation in the Scriptures that God allows and sometimes initiates times of testing to open our eyes to see that our character is not yet at the place where God wants us to be. Our Father is the Gardener and prunes the dead wood of old fleshly habits in our lives, so that fresh life and fruit may come forth (John 15:2). Not all mishaps in life are God's doing, however. The Lord often gets the blame for such things as earthquakes, tornados and other difficulties that humankind faces. Some things are natural tragedies, while other things happen to us as a result of personal choices as well as choices that our nation or culture has made. Then there are situations we go through that are attacks of the enemy to try to keep you asleep and no threat to his world system. We cannot explain all things this side of heaven, but let's...

“God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart” (2 Chronicles 32:31). There are times of testing that God sometimes initiates and allows. Not all that happens to us is God started, though. Job's test was undertaken by Satan, for instance, but God allowed it for His glory and purposes (Job 1:9-12). Then there was the time when Abraham was tested to see how far he had come in his walk with God: Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied (Genesis 22:1).  God knows our hearts; but we often don't know ourselves what's in our hearts. The Lord says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, (Jeremiah 17:9). The test of God is designed for us to see ourselves, how far short we fall from His standard—Jesus Christ. I see at least two purposes that God has in the testing of your faith. If you are a Christian, God is at work in you to sanctify you and make you more like Jesus in your character. ...

In our meditations today, we begin to look at some passages in the Scriptures about the way God transforms us. Sometimes our lives are full of burdens, and it seems as if God is nowhere to be found. In fact, it looks as if He is letting men ride over our heads and lay burdens on our backs. Why would God allow these things to go on in the lives of His children? If you are a Christian, God views our testing as the refining of our character. Just as a metal sword made for combat was put through the fire, refined and hammered on the anvil, in the same way, God allows for trials and difficulties to come to our lives so that we may grow spiritually through them. 10 For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.  11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.  12 You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:10-12). See, I have refined you, though not as silver;   I have t...