...a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God."

As I have been preparing to share a message on the value of a spirit controlled life in our Sunday fellowship time I was really challenged by the life of Joseph. I focused on the early part of his life from Genesis 39:1 - 41:38. With 41:38 being a key verse as it really summed up the character of Joseph. You may be saying "hold on" the Spirit didn't indwell people in the Old Testament, you would be right but God did allow His Holy Spirit to work in and through people even if it was temporary, and if you read Genesis 41:38 you will see that even Pharaoh recognized the Spirit of God in Joseph. "Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God." (NLT) This wasn't just, God was with Joseph and God was causing everything Joseph did to prosper, I believe Pharaoh saw something inside of Joseph that he had not seen before; a man yielded to the Holy Spirit, a man who had a spirit controlled life. The part that was so challenging to me is that Pharaoh, an unbeliever was able to discern a "spirit-filled" laborer. Do the people I work with and those whom I rub shoulders with every day see something in me as Pharaoh saw in Joseph; a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God?

We already have all of Him, everything to live a life of godliness is at our disposal if we will just yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

Charles Swindoll said this about Joseph; “You see, the Lord God remained first in Joseph’s life; He (God) was the focus of his life. The lens of God’s will stood between Joseph and his circumstances, enabling Joseph to see God in them, to read God in them – enabling God to use him in them.”