It's Time To Write A New Chapter

Genesis 37:3-24; 41:41-44

Anyone who has ever read the story of Joseph has to come to three undeniable conclusions.

       1.       Joseph was anointed by God

2.       Joseph was favored by his earthly father 

3.       Joseph had a God given destiny over his life.

But the truth is that this same man who was so anointed and had so many things in his favor also had some bad chapters in his life.

1.       Joseph was hated by his brothers

2.       He was rejected and betrayed by his brothers.

3.       He was sold into bondage

This was a bad chapter, a sad chapter in the life of Joseph, and he probably shed some tears in that chapter.  Someone reading this right now might feel a lot like Joseph. You've been lied on, rejected, stripped, betrayed, hurt, abused, beat down, beat up, knocked down, and thrown into a pit and left to die.

I have word for you today: you're going to disappoint some people, you're not going to die in the pit.  In fact the Holy Spirit wants me to tell you that today can be a “New chapter.”  What looked like and felt like a sad end is just making room for a new chapter.  I don't know who that’s for but you know.  

Some chapters in a book are long and some are short, some are happy and some are sad, and some make you laugh and some make you cry.  But whether it's long or short, happy or sad, all chapters of a book have one thing in common: they all eventually come to an end.

God told me this morning to get up and tell someone who has had a bad chapter in your life, “it's not over, your story is bigger than one bad chapter and the best is yet to come!”

I want to say something to everyone reading this: Never judge a person by a bad chapter in their life.  My last chapter may have been long, it may have been disgusting to watch, and it may have been sad, but don't try to finish my story based on a bad chapter.

If you read the chapter of Joseph in the pit, Daniel in the lion's den, Jonah in the belly of the whale, or the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace you may have thought their story ended there, but that was just a bad chapter in their lives.

I want to remind someone: Joseph went to the pit but he went from the pit to the palace, Daniel came out of the lion’s Den with all his fingers and toes, the three Hebrew boys came out of the fiery furnace and were promoted, and Jonah came out of the belly of the whale and preached a revival and 120,000 people got saved.

Don't judge me by a bad chapter in my life.

I want to tell someone today who has had a bad chapter in your life: you've felt like Joseph in the pit, you’ve felt the fire, you’ve felt the hot breath of the lions on your neck, you've heard them growling as they stalked you day and night, or maybe you’ve felt like Jonah in the belly of the whale like God was a million miles away. 

Maybe for you it's been a long chapter like the woman with the issue of blood who suffered for twelve long years. Maybe it’s been one of those extended chapters that seem like it will never end like the man at the pool Bethesda who suffered for thirty-eight years.  I don't know how long it’s been for you, but I know this, God said to tell you a new chapter is about to begin!

The devil wants to kill the dreamer in you. He knows that if he can kill the dreamer in you, you’ll be no threat to him. But God gave me an assignment today, He told me to wake up the dreamer in you, to speak to the Destiny God put in you, and to speak to the anointing in your belly. God told me to stir the embers and fan the flame.

I rebuke and bind the spirit of hopelessness, discouragement, and despair in the lives of God’s children. I speak against and cast out fear and disappointment and disillusionment.

I believe I'm talking to someone who has a great need to hear this right now, something in your belly is waking up. Like Joseph you may have been stripped of your coat of many colors. You may have lost your job, you may have gone through a bad divorce, you may have lost your house, or you may have lost your health and your peace and joy.  Maybe you even lost your faith for a while, you may have been places and done things that you knew were wrong, and you may have let anger and resentment fill your heart.

But that was the last chapter.

When you looked at me in my last chapter I was broken, I was humiliated, I was miserable, I was lame, I was angry, I was hurt, I was disappointed, I was lonely, I was crying.

But that was my last chapter.

I want to remind you that today’s dreamer is tomorrow's deliver.

You may have seen me in the pit, in my last chapter but that was then and this is now!  God has delivered me and given me a new chapter and He can do the same for you if you keep on dreaming!

The Bible says Joseph dreamed again.

Someone is coming out of the pit today!  Someone is coming out of the fire today!  Somebody is coming out of the lion’s den today!  Let me make it a little clearer to you: you’re coming out of depression, you’re coming out of darkness, out of disappointment, and you’re coming out of anger and unforgiveness!

It wasn’t Joseph's coat of many colors that brought him out of the pit, it wasn't even his dreams that brought him out of the pit and I know this will come as a surprise, but it wasn't even his anointing that brought him out of the pit.

It was Judah, Judah means praise:

Isaiah 61:3

“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

And l remind that Paul and Silas in the midnight hour, both of them beaten black and blue! They had been thrown into prison, and their hands and feet were chained yet the Word of God says that they prayed and sang praises to God and God shook the prison off of its foundations and the doors off of their hinges and every prisoners chains were loosed.

There's power in your praise. God told me to prophesy to you a new chapter!  He said to tell you: this is your season of restitution and restoration.  He said this is your season for a new anointing.  And this anointing is going to take you out of the pit, to shake the foundations of your prison and to break whatever has you in its chains.

He said this new level of anointing is not going to come on everyone.  It’s not coming on the moaners and the groaners, it’s not coming on the critical and judgmental, it’s not coming on the religious and self-righteous, it’s not coming on the condescending, it’s not coming on the hypocritical and it’s not coming on the lazy and the indifferent.

But this new anointing for a new chapter is coming on the hungry and thirsty!  It's coming on those who love God and hate sin!  It's coming on the passionate! It's coming on those who praise!

Just like Judah brought Joseph up out of the pit, Praise is going to take you into your new chapter.  Praise is the introduction to your new chapter. 

God said if you'll praise him he will start a new chapter in your life today.  He said if you'll praise him like you're already there he will turn things around for you.  If you'll give him a palace praise from the pit, He'll take you to the palace.  There's a prophecy hidden in your praise.

Your praise is dressing you for what God is going to do next: when the pharaoh called for Joseph he was still in the prison but he changed his clothes and he shaved himself and he got himself ready for the next level.  Your praise is dressing for your new chapter!

Your praise is dressing for where you're going next.  If you want to know what's coming next in my life just look at my praise.  If you want to know where I'm going next in my life just listen to my praise.  Praise God!  There's a prophecy hidden in my praise.

My friend let me ask you, is your praise preparing for more prison time or are you dressing yourself for the palace?  Does your praise tell God you’re ready for an appointment with the King?

Lift your voice wherever you are right now and praise God for a new chapter in your life!