Are You A Channel Or A Dam?

Joseph was a man that had a dream from God to one day lead and rule over people. He had no idea how this dream was going to come to pass, but he believed that God was well able to make it happen. Shortly after God gave Joseph the dream several unfortunate circumstances befell Joseph: he was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, he was wrongly accused of trying to rape his master’s wife and then was put in prison. I am sure Joseph struggled with understanding why he went through all these events and what purpose they could possibly have in his life. But deep on the inside, he learned to trust God by faith regardless of what things looked like in the natural. Then all of a sudden, the king of Egypt had a dream from God, but could not interpret it. He asked for all his wise men to interpret the dream, but none could. Then the butler remembered that Joseph had interpreted his dream correctly when the butler was in prison and he told the king that Joseph could reveal the meaning of his dream. The king called for Joseph and shared his dream with him. Joseph, by the divine hand of God, revealed the meaning of the king’s dream and was instantly promoted to second in command of all of Egypt and went on to save Egypt and his own family from a horrible famine.

Joseph used his God-given talents, spiritual gifts and abilities to help encourage the butler while he was in prison. He did not let his difficult circumstances keep him from being a blessing wherever he found himself. In other words, he was an open channel that God could use to bring blessing to someone in need. Many times, instead of being an open channel for God to flow through, we let the difficulties of life, offenses, failure, and disappointments clog our channel and we become a dam stopping God’s ability to work through us. Joseph had an opportunity to get bitter, but instead, he allowed God to build character in his life through those challenges and trusted God to vindicate him at the end of the day. This trust kept his channel open to hear from God and dispense God’s love and goodness to people. Just think, Joseph’s one act of kindness caused the butler to remember Joseph when the king of Egypt could not comprehend his own dream and ultimately helped Joseph fulfill God’s divine destiny for his life!

Within the last year, I heard about a pastor in Haiti that had believed God for 13 years to build a church building for his congregation so that they could really minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the Les Cayes community. I was so moved and inspired by his story that I wanted to do something to help him fulfill his God-given dream! Unfortunately, I had been experiencing the worst financial difficulty of my life and did not see how I could possibly help this man. None the less, I kept sensing the stirring of the Holy Spirit to take on this challenge. With no previous international missions experience and with no money, I began to lead a team from Envision Life Center to help make this pastor’s dream come true. We asked everyday people to partner with us and they responded with open arms. Enough money was raised for the first phase of the construction project and it was completed this past July. Even though I was facing my own financial struggles, God was asking me to trust Him to meet my needs and allow Him to use me as a channel to help fulfill someone else’s dream. I know that there will be a day when I need people to help me fulfill what God has put in my heart and God was asking me to sow good seed in the ground.

Is there something obstructing you from being a channel of God’s love and mercy or putting wings on someone else's dreams? I encourage you to step out in faith and allow God to flow through you. You never know where that one act of kindness might lead.