pointpg07

                God's prosperity and blessings are applicable to everyone, but His timing is different for everyone. David and Joseph are excellent examples of this. They both experienced God's abundant blessings, but not before they both had experienced God's point of desperation.

                {I have heard it taught that it was Joseph's fault that he was sold into slavery by his brothers because he should never had shared the dreams that caused his brothers' resentment against him. I tend to disagree for two reasons: 1) There is no indication in scripture that supports this. And 2) Joseph himself testifies that it was God who sent him ahead of his brothers in Genesis 45:5-7. Also in Genesis 50:20 Joseph says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."}

                In Hebrews 12:7-11, we are told:

                "Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

                "Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.

                "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

                All throughout the new testament, we are told that we will face tough times for the kingdom of God. In the first letter of Peter 1:7 we are told that "These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold...may be proved genuine..."

                Also in Daniel 11:35, we are told that in the end times, "Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made spotless."

                It is this refining process that we are primarily speaking about in this manual. The bible is full of references where God says that He will refine His people. When coming to the point of desperation, we will often times be pruned of things that we could not let go of during our times of comfort.

                Since we now have this knowledge, a strong word of caution must be placed here:

                Every one of us has different levels of tolerance for different situations. God is working differently in each one of us. We must be careful not to judge someone outside of the revelation given by the Holy Spirit.

                Job is an excellent example of this. When Job lost everything and then was afflicted in his body as well, his friends came to comfort him. Instead, they ended up accusing Job of having sin in his life and therefore assumed that was why God had afflicted him. After Job argued with them for some time, God finally appeared on the scene and (after correcting Job for some things he had said); God then rebuked the friends for speaking wickedly about Job.