Today was a good workout day for me. I was at the fitness center in the morning and then returned in the afternoon for a pool workout. Today was the opening session of the legislative session, so I monitored the opening activities on TV.<\/p>\n
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…<\/strong> “Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, meaning, \u201cGod has made me forget all my hardship in my father\u2019s house.\u201d<\/span><\/em> And the second son he named Ephraim, meaning, \u201cGod has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.\u201d<\/em> Genesis 41:51,52 HCSB<\/span><\/p>\n As Joseph was elevated to second in power in Egypt his life began to change. He was given an Egyptian name Zaphenath-paneah<\/span>. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but some have suggested the meaning, “reveler of secrets” or \u201cthe god speaks and he lives.” However, when Joseph has two sons their names are specific and tied to Joseph’s experience.<\/p>\n Manasseh – “God has made me forget all my hardship in my father’s house.”\u00a0<\/em>We realize that this was not just a memory issue, it was a heart issue. This is revealed after Jacob died and Joseph’s brothers were concerned about revenge. Joseph’s well known response to their concern was,\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?\u00a0<\/span>You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result\u2014the survival of many people.\u00a0<\/span>Therefore don\u2019t be afraid…”<\/span><\/em> (Genesis 50:19-21 HCSB)<\/p>\n I believe the success of Joseph was possible because he was able to overcome resentment and the haunting memory of his sufferings. The key to this is found in the words, “God<\/strong> made me forget…” <\/em>It was not in Joseph’s ability, it was not a function of time. (e.g. “time heals all wounds.”) It was for Joseph and is for us, only possible to overcome the pain of hardship with God’s help. He can give us the power to forgive and He can allow our lives to overcome the effects of the mistreatment of others and circumstances.<\/p>\n Ephraim means, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”\u00a0<\/em>The place of slavery and punishment for Joseph turned into a place of position, power and success. Talk about “bloom where you are planted!” Talk about a turn around in your circumstances, talk about “…in all things God works for the God of those called according to His purpose…”<\/em> (Romans 8:28) Again, it was God<\/strong> who was at work. Our hope for the future and our optimism in life is found in knowing that “God is for us…and with us.”<\/p>\n What is interesting is that we see in scripture Manasseh and Ephraim are always mentioned together in scripture. It seems like they are twins. This is certainly true when it comes to the application of the meaning of their names. To be fruitful in life, you need to deal effectively with the pain and hardships of life. <\/span><\/p>\n I have observed that people who hold on to grudges and resentment, never make great strides and progress in life. They often move from job to job or church to church and they carry their hurts and offenses and grudges with them. They continue to be unhappy and unsatisfied and they blame it on their past or view themselves as victims.<\/p>\n Paul assured the Roman’s that in persecution, hardship, unjust treatment, “… in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”<\/em> (Romans 8:37 NIV) As we overcome the challenges of life, it paves the way to being fruitful and being a source of blessing to others. Forgetting and fruitfulness they are not only important aspects of our life, they are intricately tied together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today was a good workout day for me. I was at the fitness center in the morning and then returned in the afternoon for a pool workout. Today was the opening session of the legislative session, so I monitored the opening activities on TV. BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, meaning, \u201cGod […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2744,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}