BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

“You can’t do that,” I said. “You’ll split the church. It’ll hurt the people.” He did it anyway, and it didn’t go well. After a lot of heartache and financial problems, he left town. Neither of the two churches he pastored exist today. Both were destroyed. Yes, he had ambition, but he didn’t have vision. What’s the difference? Vision guides, ambition drives. One is God-ordained, the other is man-designed, and only one is effective in the long run. Vision Has Purpose In Genesis 37:5, Joseph dreamed about the leadership role he would play in his family. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him because, as the youngest, his leadership wasn’t obvious. Joseph didn’t learn his lesson about keeping the vision quiet. In verse 8, his brothers reacted to his dreams: “And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.” Because Joseph’s vision was from God, it came to pass despite his brothers’ concerns. The Bible records how Joseph was sold into slavery, imprisoned, and eventually released and elevated to the second in command of Egypt. When a famine hit the region, he was in a position to save his entire family from starvation. In Genesis 45:1-2, he came face to face with the brothers who had sold him into slavery. “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.” In verses 5-7, he said to his brothers, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” There was a threefold purpose for Joseph’s dream and vision. The first purpose was to preserve life. The second was to preserve a remnant. The third was to “save your lives by a great deliverance.” In verse 10, Joseph told his father, his brothers and their families that they would live in “the land of Goshen.” It was a special place where everything prospered. Their cattle prospered. They prospered. They were where they were supposed to be, all because Joseph fulfilled the vision…a vision of purpose. Am I in the Place of God? Later, Joseph told his family: “Fear not: for am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19). Joseph knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Some people interpret Joseph’s life erroneously. They take the statement Joseph made in the next verse and twist it: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (verse 20). They read it like this: “You thought evil against me; but God meant the evil unto good.” That interpretation is out of line with God’s DNA. He has no evil in Him, and He doesn’t use the devil to bring you anywhere. God spoke to me about this verse. He said, 'You want to understand this correctly? Define IT, and it’ll all work.' So let’s look at IT correctly: “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it—the vision—unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” God didn’t have anything to do with evil. He didn’t have anything to do with them selling Joseph. God didn’t have anything to do with Potiphar’s house and Potiphar’s wife trying to rape Joseph. He didn’t have anything to do with him going to prison. God meant the dream—the vision—for good. What’s Your Vision? So let me ask you: Do you have a vision from God? A vision that orients the activity in your life? A vision that moves you? If so, then it has the distinct purpose to preserve life and change things for the better. It’s sure to be bigger than you are, and that’s OK. The vision will always be for His glory, and whatever vision He has given you will come with the power to do it. You must do it! V Happy Caldwell is founder and pastor emeritus of Agape Church in Little Rock, Ark. He is also president and founder, along with his wife, Jeanne, of the Victory Television Network® in Little Rock. For ministry materials or more information, go to vtntv.com. BVOV : 11

• Cover