Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thank you for tuning into Power Walk with Reverend Paul Cannings. Reverend Cannings is the senior pastor of Living Word Fellowship Church in Houston, Texas, and the founder of the Power Walk Ministries broadcast. Today, he begins a new series titled "Brokenness."

We have all experienced brokenness at some level and to various degrees. Teaching us through the life of Joseph in the Bible, Dr. Cannings urges us to perceive our trials in a new light, moving our fixation on self and the problem to fixing our trust and hope in God, no matter what. Here he is now.

Dr. Paul Cannings: What do you do when faith is blind? Actually, from a theological perspective, faith cannot be blind. Why do I say that? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith is a concrete thing. Faith is something that you read and get to know, but you just cannot see how God can do it. Since you do not see how God can do it but we trust God, we still do what He says He is going to do even though we do not see how it is going to work. That is technically the meaning of faith.

So, faith technically cannot be blind, but faith can be blind. What do I mean by that? There are times in your life when you are doing what God is calling for us to do, but God is not doing what you are calling Him to do. He keeps telling you to be that person that He wants you to be, whether it is a husband, a wife, an employee, or an employer. Whether it is how we function relative to other people in the office area or how we function when our health does not hold up and stand up, He is still telling us to do this and to do that.

We do not see the end results of any of it. It is just a continual direction but no resolution. You are constantly being told to do what He is telling us to do while trouble seems to get taller and stronger and more oppressive sometimes. Yet we keep having this demand to do His will. That is blind faith, even though technically and theologically, it is an oxymoron.

We are going to look at Joseph. I want you to come from a human standpoint to Joseph. We tend to come from the guy with the multi-colored coat that his father loved and how he came through jail being falsely accused and all this other thing. First, think of Joseph from a human standpoint because sometimes we get so biblical we forget human. Joseph was in that well, begging his brothers from his soul to not leave him.

Every time his brothers showed up, he did not just cry; he wept. It broke his heart what they did to him, and his heart could not be mended from it. Joseph had to deal with that pain, and that pain did not go away even though God is saying to do this and do that. Think about it now. You just came from having servants, a very colored coat, loved by your father, and now you are in a slave market. You cannot Instagram; you cannot Twitter; you cannot do anything. You are just gone.

There is no connection that is easy anywhere, and you are there. Potiphar picks you, takes you to his house. You have to serve in this man's house, doing whatever he says when you had servants in your house. Joseph continued on. Then, Potiphar gives you the best of the best of his house. Do whatever you want, be whatever you want to be. Sure enough, Potiphar's wife says you tried to violate her, so Potiphar locked Joseph up.

Now he is in jail. Jail is not like our jails. They are down in a dungeon. They are not in a nice jail getting food and all this other things. They are in a dungeon, so it is dark all day long. There is no getting out of jail. Potiphar has to come to release you. If Potiphar forgets about you, you die there. There is no lawyer, there is nothing. He is just in jail.

In the midst of all this things, listen to how Joseph has faith that is blind. Let's face it now. If this happened to us, would we still believe in God? That is why I say Christians can become agnostics where they believe in God but do not believe God is really concerned about anything. Look at my life. I am broke. I am having all these problems. I am praying my heart out and God is doing nothing.

Could you imagine Joseph? His life went like this for 12 years. Then the people you have to help are the same people that betrayed you. How do you follow God when nothing is working and sometimes you cannot even find a verse? That is where we are when we look at the story of Joseph.

There are two things when faith gets blind. God wants to reveal where our faith really is. A lot of times when life is what we think because of education, experience, background, where we live, what we drive, and the level of our health, we think we have got it. God has a way when Joseph thinks he has got his dad's favor, wearing a multi-colored coat, going to tell his brothers what to do because he is not in there serving any sheep. It is not like Joseph was serving the sheep; he is going to tell them what to do.

When you are faced with this, many times God tries to show you that you are not much of what you think. The issue is going to be that I am going to expose the level of your faith. The depth of our trial exposes the level of our faith. Here is the second reason why that works. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Technically, we do not work on ourselves; He works on us.

He knows what we can bear and what we cannot bear. A lot of times, when we are going through trials, God is exposing not just the level of our faith but exposing to us what we can handle and what we cannot handle. That is why it becomes a learning lesson. Joseph proved that he can handle it, so that is why his situation got worse before it got better.

Many times God allows everything to fall apart, not just to expose our faith, not just to show the work He is actually doing in us, but to teach us who He is. We will literally function with God within our culture and within our structure, not within His ability. Moses thought he was all that. He was going to deliver these people. He had been listening to his mama. He was a deliverer. He had just become like a Pharaoh. He was going to kill these people, and it would be over.

God says, "You think you are that? I am going to let you fulfill everything you think you could do, but I am going to let the situation hit you smack in the face that you created for yourself." Moses takes off. When Moses comes back, he learns to depend on God so much that he would take a stick and put it over water. What did Moses learn? The ability of God, because God drove him when He finished doing the work in him to show him his level of faith and who God is.

When God wants to do something great, He has to empty us of ourselves. We must demonstrate our trust in God by our commitment to remain faithful. You will know the level of a person's faith when everything is going wrong and they are still trying to follow Jesus. It does not make any sense. The situation is dark, frustrating, and stressful, and the person is just saying, "What does God want me to do?"

In chapter 40, verse 8, it says, "Then they said to him, 'We have a dream,'" this is the butler and the cupbearer, "'and there is no one to interpret it.'" Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please." Joseph says, "God made me an interpreter of dreams, so I am going to do what God has given me the gift and ability to do. It does not really matter what it does for me or does not do for me; it matters most how it exposes God."

It does not matter if I get out of jail. It does not matter if this does not change my circumstances. It does not matter if I get any better. What matters is that I can show these people that God is the interpreter, so I am going to expose God. Period. God lets me interpret dreams. He has done it faithfully. This is what God has given me to do. Since God has blessed me this way, tell me your dream so I can expose to you who God is. That is it. I do not get anything for this.

That is why sometimes we give up on God. We come to God saying we just want to love You, but technically, if He does not give us anything in 10 days, we stop. Romans chapter 8, verse 28 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." If you love God, you do exactly what He says.

He works it out for those who keep His commandments. He does not just work it out because we are saved. We tend to go like, "God is going to work it out for my good." Hold up. Slow down. Slow your roll. He is saying He will work it out for the good of those who keep His word. He does not just do it because I am saved. Nothing will separate me from the love of God, but the thing that works out for my benefit and is advantageous to my life is when I keep doing what He says, no matter how dark the situation is.

I just believe that God is able, so I am going to go and do it. Think about the people we call great in the Bible. Walking around the wall of Jericho blowing a trumpet. How does that bring a wall down? Think about how dumb that looks. You are walking around this thing every day. Go dip in the Jordan. Sometimes this is why the Bible says, "Do not grow weary." In the Bible, it does not mean you are not weary. Weary in the Bible means do not faint, do not pass out. Do not pass out before your fruit and your season. Do not just quit. Keep going even though it does not make any sense. Just keep trusting God and do not pass out.

Guest (Male): Friends, how do you follow God when your heart is broken? We urge you today to return to Him if you've lost perspective because of your hardships. God loves you, and all His purposes toward you are for good. Now, if you'd like to obtain this message series, then please visit us at powerwalkministries.org. While you're there, be sure to browse through our other message series and books by Dr. Cannings.

Maybe you're struggling with questions about putting your faith in God or in the Bible, then please give us a call at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I praise God that this ministry has blessed many lives. It encourages us to keep going. So pray, folks, that you would partner with this ministry by encouraging others to come and listen to us, by getting on our website making purchases, and by supporting our ministry. I guarantee you it will go to the better use of God's kingdom resources to touch lives. That is our heart, because of who we felt God was calling us to be, is to touch lives. Share the word, pass it on, and pray for us regularly.

Guest (Male): And if you live in the Houston area and you don't have a church home, then we want to extend a warm welcome to you to join us at 7350 West TC Jester in Houston. Now remember, no matter how dire our situation, when we trust in God and love Him as Joseph did, God promises to work it out for our good and for His glory.