Prosper Against the Odds: How Your Faith Transforms Your Trials into Triumphs

You’ve got to walk in faith and believe God is with you even when circumstances make it look like that’s not true.

If you believe and faint not, in due season, you will reap (Gal. 6:9). But if you faint along the way—if you get discouraged because things aren’t working out the way you hoped they would—you’ll never see God’s will come to pass. That doesn’t mean God didn’t have a purpose for you, but there is a part for you to play. You’ve got to stand in faith.

Joseph was standing in faith. And everything he did, God made it prosper in his hands. In the same way, I believe that regardless of what I do, whatever I set my hand unto is going to prosper (Deut. 28:12). I don’t believe that because I’m so great. I believe it because of the favor of God on me.

Many years ago, I got into a situation where I owed my landlord some money. I told him I didn’t have the money, and he said I could work off the debt. He owned a photography studio and was about to lose his business because he was over- extended. He had some people quit their jobs, and he couldn’t do all the work, So, I got in there, and I just started praying and believing God. Because of that, I was able to prosper, and this man saw the blessing of God on my life. As a matter of fact, he offered me 50 percent of his business only two months after I started.

When I left there and prepared to move to Pritchett, Colorado, the owner of that photography studio asked me if I would train my replacement. So, this guy came in, I told him all the things I knew, and he just blurted out, “How do you do this?” He panicked because he didn’t really know how I did everything so well. Finally, I just had to tell him.

I said, “I pray in tongues and God tells me how to adjust and what each picture needs to be developed, and that’s how I do it.” And again, this guy just panicked. He said “Well, I don’t pray in tongues!” I said, “I can tell you how to pray in tongues. I can pray with you so you can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” I couldn’t explain it any better because it was through prayer and believing God’s Word that I was successful. I had no ability to develop photographs on my own. God’s favor was on me.

I’m not just saying these things because I’m special. I’m saying that I have been in situations where I had to go do something that I had no ability to do, but I prayed over it. Because God was with me, I prospered. Everything I put my hand to is blessed.

This is what happened to Joseph. He had a vision. He knew that he wasn’t going to be a slave forever. And because of that, he was still believing God.

Have an Excellent Spirit

And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured (Genesis 39:4–6)

Notice he served the man who bought him. There are many people who, if they were taken and made a slave, would just sit down and suck their thumb and talk about how bad their situation was. They’d be depressed, discouraged, and just give up and say, “What’s the use?”

Joseph could have complained. He could have been discouraged. He could have quit, and he would’ve never seen any of his dreams come to pass. But even though Joseph was a slave, he was going to be the best slave that Potiphar ever had. Here was Joseph, serving his master with such excellence, that Potiphar made him “overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand” (Gen. 37:4).

Again, this didn’t just happen automatically. God didn’t sovereignly promote Joseph in Potiphar’s house. This happened because Joseph was still holding on to God’s vision for his life, and he was serving this man with excellence. He was not sitting down, griping and complaining. Joseph was giving it all that he had—as a slave! And because of that, God not only blessed Joseph, but he also blessed his master’s house.

Potiphar didn’t even pay any attention to his financial or business dealings because he trusted Joseph so much. I guarantee, someone in a position of authority like Potiphar is not going to trust a person who’s bitter. They’re not going to give responsibility to a person who’s just given up—someone who’s just going along to get along. Joseph was a person who had excellence, and here he was as a slave still serving God. He still believed his current situation was not going to be the end of his life. He was holding on to those visions God gave him.

We should quit praying, “God, change my circumstances,” but instead pray, “God, change me so I can rise up to the occasion when opportunity comes and have the character to be able to handle it.” That’s really important.

Have you given up? Are you depressed, thinking about all of the things that have gone wrong in your life, or do you have a vision? Are you pressing on toward that vision regardless of what happens? In my life, God has spoken to me through Joseph so many times. There were times I felt like quitting. There were things that I was seeing in the natural that didn’t match the vision I had on the inside of me. And yet, I didn’t know how to do it any differently. I just kept doing what I knew to do and kept serving the Lord the best I knew how.

There are some of you who have given up and are discouraged. But you just need to build yourself up. You need to encourage yourself (1 Sam. 30:6). You need to stir yourself up or you’re going to sink to the bottom. You need to have a vision. You need to get yourself up and say, “I don’t care what this day is like, I’m going to give it all I have! I’m going to bless somebody! I’m going to go in and make my employer prosper!” Even if you feel like you are not receiving enough in return from others, that doesn’t matter. You go ahead and do what’s right because God will bless you!

Be a Blessing

I had a man come to me one time who was complaining about his job. He had been working for a man for many years and he was the first—and, for a time, only—employee this guy had. As the business prospered, the owner hired other people, promoted them, and put them in positions above his first employee. So, this guy who came to me was still the lowest-paid person in the entire company but had been there longer than anybody else.

He was just griping and complaining as he was telling me about his situation. I could tell he was bitter. He was ready to give up and quit. But I told this man his own attitude was the real problem. I said, “You aren’t serving that guy with excellence. You’re bitter. You are just working there to get the money, but you aren’t doing it with the right attitude.”

I told this man he needed to pray and change this attitude. I said, “You need to forgive your boss. You need to serve him. You need to make him prosperous.” So, when he went back to work, he changed his attitude and started working hard at his job.

A few weeks later, that same man came to me and said, “You’re never going to believe what happened.” His boss came through his workplace one day and said something that would have normally angered him. But instead of reacting in bitterness, this man just said, “I forgive you,” and went back to his work.

His boss walked away, but then came back to ask, “What do you forgive me for? What do I have to be forgiven of?” And his employee just told him, but he didn’t do it out of bitterness. The man said, “I’m your oldest employee, and yet I’m the least paid. You’ve promoted all these other people, and I had a bad attitude about it. But I’ve repented, and I’m going to serve you. I’m going to give you everything I’ve got.”

As it turned out, this man’s boss was having marital problems. He had this man pray with him and helped him. The man who had come to me bitter and complaining about his boss ended up being promoted over all the other employees—and his salary was nearly doubled! It was all because he changed his attitude.

You may be in a bad situation, but you don’t have to become bitter and complain. That is not what Joseph did. Joseph was serving his master with his whole heart. And because of it, the blessing of God was evident and manifest in his life. His master promoted him to the degree that Potiphar didn’t even know anything that was going on in his house. That’s how much he trusted Joseph. He was promoted because he wasn’t griping. He wasn’t bitter. He was serving. I believe Joseph had a good attitude.

If you’ve allowed yourself to become bitter, lost your vision, given up, and you’re just drifting with the tide, that’s not the way to live. Any dead fish can float downstream. But you need to turn around and start swimming upstream. You need to have a goal and a vision for your life, and you need to start moving toward what God called you to do.

I take tremendous encouragement from Joseph. Here’s a man who was in a situation worse than I’ve ever been in. I’ve never been sold into slavery. I’ve never had my brother try and kill me. I’ve never had any of the things that happened to Joseph happen to me. And if Joseph could be faithful—if he could be positive and still operate in excellence in a situation that is worse than anything you or I might face—then certainly born-again, Spirit-baptized believers should be able to endure the problems we face with a positive attitude. This should encourage you!