Overcome Any Obstacle! 3 Ways to Rise Above Your Circumstances & Unlock Victory

But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper (Genesis 39:21–23).

When it didn’t look like Joseph was prosperous or that God was with him, the Scripture says, “the Lord was with him” (Gen. 39:3).

And because of it, he was promoted and became head over his master’s house. Then, Potiphar’s wife lied about Joseph, and he was put into prison. Most people understand that was even worse than being a slave. I can guarantee you; Joseph’s prison wasn’t like our prisons today where they have flat-screen TVs and all sorts of other luxuries. This was a bad situation.

Yet, Scripture says, “But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy.” Here again, he is a prosperous man even in prison. That’s awesome! It doesn’t matter what things look like on the outside; you have to trust what God has revealed to you in your heart. Everything that’s in the natural is subject to change.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17–18, the apostle Paul said,

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Notice Paul says, “the things which are seen are temporal.” That means they are temporary or subject to change. But the things that are not seen are eternal. Most people look at their life and evaluate things based on what they look like in the natural—what your doctor or bank account says. But you live your life by believing what God says instead.

My wife and I went through extreme poverty for ten years because of my own stupidity. There were times when Jamie was eight months pregnant, and we went for two weeks with nothing but water to drink. That’s terrible. It was my fault because I thought that if I was called to the ministry I was sinning against God if I went and got a job. That was wrong, but that’s the way I thought. My heart was right, and my head was wrong, but we never were poor in our hearts.

Even though we went through that poverty, we never talked or thought poor. We never saw that as the way our whole life was going to be. I never planned on staying in that situation. I still believed that God was for me, and I was going to prosper. It doesn’t matter what your circumstances are like; it matters what you see in your heart, and I saw myself prospering. I wasn’t prospering on the outside, but I was prospering on the inside.

There’ve been times that I’ve seen myself well when my body looked sick. I had a vision of me being healed. Proverbs 23:7 says, as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” If you can see yourself prosperous, regardless of what circumstances say, you will eventually be prosperous. If you can see yourself healed, you will eventually be healed. If you can see it on the inside— as you think in your heart—that’s the way your life is going to be. Those are strong statements, but I learned to believe that from studying Joseph’s life in the Bible.

The Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, even though in the natural, nobody would believe that. After God gave Joseph those two dreams (Gen. 37:5–11), everything in his life seemed to go in the wrong direction. His brothers rejected him, tried to kill him, and eventually sold him into slavery (Gen. 37:18–28). As a slave, his master’s wife lied about him and had him thrown into prison (Gen. 39:13–20).

Every step Joseph took seemed to be headed downward, not upward. But those visions showed Joseph that someday he was going to be exalted, and his brothers would actually come and bow down to him.

Stay Encouraged

Some people might be able to last through a few negative things, but after years of things getting worse instead of better, most people would quit. Joseph maintained his integrity and his vision. When he was in prison, he wasn’t complaining, he wasn’t bitter, he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t depressed, and he wasn’t giving up. He was still functioning—hitting on all cylinders— trusting God and believing that those visions were coming to pass.

Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and that everything he did prospered. That doesn’t happen to people who are bitter, angry, and operating in unforgiveness—people who have just given up and are depressed. No, Joseph was still believing God. He was still a man of integrity even though everything in his life looked like it was going wrong. And because he maintained a good attitude, the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners.

It doesn’t say this specifically about the Egyptians, but when the Romans came along during the time of the New Testament (Acts 16: 23–24 and 27), if prisoners escaped, the jailer was put to death for letting them go. That means the keeper was totally responsible for what happened to those prisoners. I suspect the same thing applied in Egypt. But the keeper of the prison, regardless of the consequences, had so much trust in Joseph that he didn’t even pay attention to what happened. He was basically just goofing off and enjoying him- self because he trusted Joseph would do the right thing.

That is quite a statement about Joseph. There he was in prison, and yet Joseph was still seeking, trusting, and believing God. It was so evident that people saw it. And the keeper of the prison—at the hazard of his own life—was willing to just turn over all his responsibilities to Joseph.

At the time of this writing, I’ve got more than 1,100 people who work for me. The vast majority of them are just awesome, but we have a few people who are just depressed, discouraged, and have a bad attitude. I don’t promote people like that. I wouldn’t put them in charge of things. And I can guarantee you, it wasn’t any different 4,000 years ago. For this jailer to put that kind of responsibility on Joseph is quite a testimony about the attitude Joseph had.

Joseph had not given up. He had not run up a white flag and thought, What’s the use? Serving God hasn’t gotten me anywhere. Joseph was still holding on to God even though every step he took looked like it was going in reverse instead of forward.

Serve with Excellence

And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward (Genesis 40:1–4).

This is providence that God put these two people in the same place Joseph was. God doesn’t just force us into doing his will, but there is providence that works behind the scenes. If Joseph hadn’t been sold into slavery and hadn’t been put into prison, and if this baker and butler hadn’t been put into prison, their connection would have never been made. Joseph would have never become the ruler over Egypt. I believe in the same way God is working on our behalf, even behind the scenes, when we don’t even recognize it.

The person who ran the prison charged Joseph with the care of the butler and baker. They had been rejected by Pharaoh and put in prison. They came into the place where Joseph was a prisoner, and he was looking after them. Notice it says, “he served them.” Here’s Joseph in prison, operating in integrity, thinking of others and not just himself.

Most people in a similar situation would just sit in a corner, licking their wounds. They would be bitter and unforgiving. Most people would look at the butler and baker and think, Well, who cares about them? Look at my situation! But Joseph was serving people.

While imprisoned, Joseph ministered to people who were written off. They were prisoners, just like him, and they prob- ably would have been thinking about themselves and their problems. But Joseph was serving them and ministering to them. As it turned out, the butler was his ticket out of prison.

Maybe you’re in a situation right now where you have coworkers in need and you’re only thinking about yourself and what’s going on in your life. Yet, one of the quickest ways for you to get out of your problems is to minister to other people.

I’m saying this in love, but you might be bypassing the solution to your problems because you aren’t thinking about anybody else but you. You may be sitting there, licking your wounds, and there are people God is bringing across your path who could transform your life. But you’re missing opportunities because you’re just looking at yourself.

I’m not condemning you. I want to encourage you. Look at what Joseph did! He was serving people in a situation where people should have been serving him. Somebody should have come and helped Joseph, and yet here he was just serving other people.