Gen 39:2+3, And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Last time, we considered some of the patriarchs of the Old Testament in terms of the promise of God’s presence upon their entire lives. As this passage reminds us, Joseph knew the blessing of God’s presence in spite of all the wrong that he had suffered in his life. He was sold into slavery by his very own brothers in their anger and jealousy against him. Then, he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into jail for many years. Yet, in spite of all this ill treatment, Joseph knew the Hand of God going before him and blessing him in all his endeavors. Even in that prison, the chief jailor knew that all that Joseph did was blessed with success and that all that was put into Joseph’s charge was handled correctly and properly and with integrity.
We then read several passages concerning Samuel and David and Hezekiah in the manner in which those who dealt with each one knew that they were blessed by God in all that they said and did. There was a complete knowledge and understanding that these men had the operating Hand of the Almighty upon them. They were considered in the light of a prophet who spoke that which was honored by God and as kings whom God installed upon the throne of His people. 
	In their lives, the mighty presence of God guided, directed and manifested His pleasure and His power and His glory as the core desire of all with which they concerned themselves on this earth. This is the heart that we each need to seek to have instilled into us, as we beseech God to make Himself known ever more clearly and dearly into our lives on this earth. As we stated, we do not want to know God for the sake of His blessing us, but fully for the pleasure that He will derive as His heart’s desire and plan and purpose become our course of walk on this earth. All that we do, we do because we want to bless God, not so that He will bless us. 
	This is something that we grow into as we live before God on this earth. As children, we seek for those things that will make our lives easier, more pleasant, more prosperous, and more fulfilling. We focus on what will work to be effectively honoring to God while at the same time including us and our wants and our needs in the equation. However, as we mature in our walk before God, there should come that time and that manifest reality that will be instilled into us that all that we desire, with all our hearts, is that God is blessed. We will seek to please Him, Alone, no matter what the road we must travel, no matter what the cost to us, no matter how many trials and tribulations we must bear.
	This is the point at which we will gain a little understanding as to what the presence of God in our lives entails for the benefit of God’s glory Alone. No longer will we couch our prayers with those hidden desires after wealth and glory and fame and success unto ourselves. We will no longer be the viewpoint of either good or bad, but simply seek for the Lord to be blessed and pleased in the manner in which He lives forth His life from us unto His testimony on this earth. It will no longer be us doing our best to chase the enemy and to secure some place of safety and sanity by force of intellectual argument and logical dissemination and rebuttal. Our hearts will be so attuned to the heart of God, that as we respond to our accusers and to the nay-sayers and even to those loved ones who do not understand our utter reliance upon God as the source of all that comes our way, all that will proceed forth from our mouths will be what the Holy Spirit gives us to say. We will absolutely rely upon Him as our everything. 
	Our Lord, Himself, promised us this very gift of being the One to speak forth in all these situations as we read in Matt 10:18-20, and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. "But when they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak. "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 
	We will so know the very presence of God that even our words will not be our own, but will be His as we speak in accordance with all that He gives us in every time of need. Not only does His presence make us the conduits of all that He would speak forth in every place that He puts us, but He will make Himself our confidence and our assurance and our boldness to proclaim Him Alive now and evermore. 
Consider this as we read concerning the members of the early church in all their gathering together in the name of Jesus Christ. Acts 4:31-33, And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness. And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. 
…abundant grace was upon them all. Here again, we come back to the fact that as God was with them, His grace was covering them for the sake of God’s own testimony on this earth. The reason that the early church continued to grow and to expand from Jerusalem to all the known world was that God was with them in the manner in which they presented the good news of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He was boldly proclaimed, not just in word, but in power, and in the daily reality of life on this earth. Those in the sphere of influence of the members of the Church saw something that was different and unique and powerful as the Lord was present. He was the living witness of the difference that Christ makes in the lives of people.
It is just as Jesus promised His disciples and all of us in John 14:16-20, God made every provision to be with us forever and forever. "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 
Now, in this dispensation of grace, the Holy Spirit is our Promised Helper in every sense. As we are the living witnesses of Jesus Christ in our homes, in our communities, at our workplace, wherever God sends us, He guides, He directs, He keeps, and He blesses our every endeavor after His heart of Love. We know that we are never alone, no matter what the circumstance or situation. Not only does He become our every source of wisdom and strength and ability to endure, but He is our comfort, our joy, our peace, and our encouragement through it all. As we learn to more and more live in accordance to God’s will, the Holy Spirit makes His will our every course of action and desire in this realm. 
All that we do becomes an increasing exercise of the faith with which He blesses us. As the Apostle Paul so fully detailed in Eph 3:8-12, To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 
	The whole plan and purpose of God in the Church is revealed as the Holy Spirit makes known the great mystery of Jesus Christ in us, the hope of glory. The Church can only fulfill that mission as each member so presents him or herself to the working and majestic hand of God. He will bring forth, through His Church, that which will show to all rulers and authorities on earth and in heaven, the marvelous truth of Jesus Christ alive and glorified. This is far more than words spoken in church services. It far transcends revival meetings and church functions to attract new visitors. It is the matter of the daily walk of faith which manifests the power and the wisdom and the manifold Omnipresence of God in both the greatest and the smallest aspects of His Church’s walk on this earth. 
	We see this evidenced in the New Testament. Acts 11:20+21, But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. Note that God does not mention the names of these men who brought the gospel message to the Greeks. They are just identified as men of Cypress and Cyrene. 
What is often overlooked is that as a result of these men and their witness of the Good News, many Greeks became believers. The leaders in Jerusalem felt the necessity to send Barnabas to check it all out. He brought forth Saul, soon to be Paul, as witness to all that the Lord was doing among the Gentiles. Eventually, this culminated with the missionary travels of Paul and Barnabas in which the Church completely expanded to include both Jew and Gentile in the one Body of Jesus Christ. It was all at the direction and the obedience of those who were able to say that the Lord was with them in their ministry of hope and peace and life in Jesus Christ. 
	Soon, this truth would become the anthem of the Apostles in their encouragement of all in the name of Jesus Christ. As Paul so writes in 2 Cor 13:11, Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. What a support for those of us who daily walk amid the strife and the stress and the strain and the anxiety and the fear and the disdain of this present age! We do not have to concentrate on all those earthly stains of dishonor and dissension. We can find our solace and our refreshment and our source of energy and ability in the reality that God is with us at all times. We have rejoicing as our portion and completeness and comfort and peace as the love of God flows freely forth from us unto all those in such desperate and dire need.
	As well, the Apostle Paul makes known the fact that our peace and our security is fully set in God with us. It is not dependent upon us and our sense of worthiness and our efforts to try to deserve any of it. It is all ours in the abiding presence of God with us always. He is the God of peace. Since He is with us, so should our lives evidence that peace most especially for the sake of others. 2 Thess 3:16, Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! 
	It matters not the situations. It makes no difference the trial or the persecution or the prison or the dilemma. He is our peace and He is always with us. As was so true of Joseph, even in all those years of imprisonment in Egypt, The Lord was with him and prospered all that he did for the sake of God’s plan and purpose. The exact same is true of us as we take our eyes off our circumstances and look to Him and recognize that He is the Sovereign Lord of all creation! It is our privilege to see Him high and lifted up and glorified above all else!
	The Apostle John joins the chorus of the wonderful presence of God with us as we read in 2 John 1-3. The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 
Look at the descriptive language used to portray what is now true in you and in me and in all the members of the Church of God’s elect: truth, forever, grace, mercy, peace, and love. These are the splendid and awesome realities that are infused into the lives in whom God now lives! This is not a matter of someday in the future. Wherever God is, there is the observable and obvious revelation of His Character and Nature! It is this accurate and comprehensive indwelling that makes you and me and every member of the true Church the pleasing aroma and soothing fragrance of the glory that God Alone deserves and will have, now and evermore! So be it!
Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. Amen. 

	This morning’s benediction is Jer 10:6+7. There is none like Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might. Who would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Thy due! For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, There is none like Thee. Amen.