Before Joseph entered into the fulfillment of his dreams, he had to go through a long period of time (12 years or more) of suffering, trials, and imprisonment. It seemed as if everything around him was not working together for his dreams to be fulfilled, but Joseph was still strong in faith and spoke his vision.
If we seek the Lord and He gives us the heavenly visions of the all-inclusive Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the church, the Body of Christ, the divine life, the growth in life, the glorious church life, and the New Jerusalem, we may not enter into the fulfillment of these visions right away.
Rather, we may be put into a “dungeon”; there may be many sufferings along the way and we may be depreciated, betrayed, defamed, and devalued. Still, we need to stay under the visions He has given us even while in these situations, and we must exercise to speak these visions and bring others also into the fulfillment of their dreams.
We shouldn’t “dash for the throne” but rather learn to take things as they come, knowing that all things work together to prepare us for the throne.
We need to realize that the pathway to enthronement is confinement, and the way to the throne is the dungeon. To the Lord our faith is most precious, and this faith is being tried and proved precious through many trials and tribulations.
On the one hand, we have the heavenly vision, and on the other, suffering comes and we’re in the “dungeon”; sometimes we may not even know how would we get out of a particular troubling situation….but when we turn to our spirit, the vision is there, and we are strengthened.
While we are going through sufferings and trials it is particularly difficult to speak the vision we have seen, but it is there and then that we need to exercise to speak boldly and in faith what the Lord has shown us. We should speak not according to what we feel or what our situation is – we should speak according to the absoluteness of the truth in God’s economy!
And as we speak the truth according to the vision God gave us, our faith will be sustained and strengthened, our preparation for the throne is advanced, and we will eventually speak our way into release and enthronement! Hallelujah!
May we be those speaking the heavenly vision even while in the “dungeon” arranged by God on our pathway to the throne!
The Way to the Throne is through the Dungeon; Don’t be a Dungeon Dropout!
Young people, no matter how long your trial may be, do not be disappointed. You need to recognize that your trial is of God. No one can be enthroned without being tried and tested. (W. Lee, Life-study of Genesis)
In applying the life and experience of Joseph to our Christian life we realize that the way to enthronement is confinement, and the pathway to the throne is the dungeon.
This doesn’t mean we should “look for the dungeon”; rather, God is the One who first gives us the heavenly visions, and then He brings us through things and situations which we may consider as a “dungeon” for an extended period of time, with the result of preparing and qualifying us to reign with Him on the throne.
Every young person needs first of all to see the heavenly vision of Christ, the church, the Triune God, God’s economy, the Spirit, life, the Body of Christ, the believers, the kingdom of God, and the New Jerusalem.
Then, every young brother and sister needs a period of confinement, depreciation, being betrayed, defamed, and devalued – things similar to what Joseph experienced when he was imprisoned.
The Lord is faithful to arrange all things, persons, and situations to work together for good, but this means that He will place us in confinement for a period of time. We shouldn’t desire to “ascend to the throne” or “be somebody”; rather, we should learn to cooperate with the Lord as He sends us to the “dungeon”.
We may think that “we’re ready for the throne”, but after the Lord gives us visions and revelation, He brings us to the dungeon, confinement, and restrictions, so that all that He showed us would be wrought into us.
It’s not about what we know of the Bible or even what we see of the heavenly vision, as precious as all these things are; it’s all about how much of the heavenly vision and the living word of God has been constituted and wrought into our being.
What God is after is a person who is constituted with Christ and has the heavenly vision wrought into him subjectively. Therefore, we should not be disappointed when we are in a test or a trial, and we should not be a “dungeon dropout”.
Don’t try to manoeuvre things to “break out of the dungeon” or try to escape the sufferings and trials; rather, stay there with the Lord’s presence, His prosperity, and His blessing, and while you’re there you should continue speaking the dream, the vision!
We need to come to the Lord to give us patience and endurance to stay in the dungeon, allowing the Lord to work into our being the vision He has shown us, and realizing that without the dungeon there’s no throne and without the suffering there’s no reigning.
May the Lord strengthen all His seeking ones to “remain in the dungeon” until we all graduate and receive the crown!
Lord Jesus, give us patience and endurance to remain in the dungeon You arranged for us so that the visions You showed us would be wrought into us. Lord, save us from being “dungeon dropouts”. Keep us enjoying You even in the sufferings and trials, and gain what You are after in us. Lord, we open our entire being to You: prepare us and qualify us for the throne. Keep us speaking the visions You have shown us until we speak our way into release and to the throne!
As Seers of God’s Economy, we should Speak According to the Absoluteness of the Truth
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures trial, because when he has become approved by testing, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him.
The hardest thing to do when you’re in trials and suffering is to speak the visions and revelations God gave you, since the sufferings tend to take away our boldness and strength. But it is here, while we’re tested in multiple ways, that we need to speak the absolute truth of God’s economy, and this speaking will ultimately release us.
We shouldn’t speak according to our feelings but according to the heavenly vision. We are visionaries, seers of God’s eternal economy, and so we should speak according to the absoluteness of the truth in His economy (Acts 26:16-19) and not according to our feelings, experience, or current situation.
A victorious and overcoming Christian will always be a dreamer, one who receives the heavenly dreams from God and who helps others interpret their dream. As visionaries, we must do everything according to the vision – even when we see that this vision is not yet fulfilled.
The visions we see from God such as the vision of Christ, the church, the Lord’s recovery, God’s economy, consecration, etc – these visions are sustaining our faith and governing our life, just as Joseph was both controlled by his dreams and sustained by them.
Just like Joseph, we are important and invaluable to the Lord, and so the time of our testing cannot be shortened. We wish that the testing would be for one day, a week, or maybe a month, but the visions we see at the end of this age and we ourselves are so important and invaluable to the Lord that the time of our suffering and testing cannot be cut short.
In Joseph’s case, he was almost the only man God had in the known earth at that time that was qualified to be the savior of the world, the supplier of food, and the revealer of secrets.
Joseph was the only one who could have kept the world alive (since a great famine was coming), and, more importantly, he could keep God’s people alive and help them be built up as a collective people for God’s economy! For this reason, his testing could not be shortened.
At the end of this age, the Lord wants to obtain a group of overcomers who not only see the heavenly vision but have it wrought into their being, those who are the proper persons in God’s economy qualified to reign for Him and with Him.
For this, the testing of our faith cannot be shortened, and the longer our testing is, the more valuable we are to the Lord (James 1:12; Phil. 3:8).
As we are going through the period of testing and suffering, we should exercise to speak the heavenly vision. No matter how we feel, we should speak and declare to others concerning the riches of the all-inclusive Christ, the bountiful supply in the compound life-giving Spirit, the dispensing of the Triune God, God’s economy, the Lord’s desire and need to recover His people back to the enjoyment of God Himself, the supremacy of Christ, the proper ground of the church, the oneness of the Body of Christ, the need for the building up of the organic Body of Christ, the kingdom of God, the preparation of the bride of Christ, and the glorious city of New Jerusalem.
We need to be those speaking the heavenly vision even as we are in the dungeon on our way to the throne. As we speak the heavenly visions while we’re going through sufferings and trials, Christ is being constituted into us, the visions are wrought into our being, and our faith is being strengthened and sustained.
Lord Jesus, keep us speaking the heavenly visions You have shown us even as we go through sufferings and trials as the testing of our faith! May the visions You give us govern us and strengthen us as we are “in the dungeon” to be prepared to reign with You. Lord, save us from speaking according to our feeling or what we see that our situation is; may we exercise our spirit to speak according to the absoluteness of the truth of God’s economy. Make us the visionaries of today, those who live under the heavenly dream and help others enter into the fulfillment of the dream. Lord, may the proving of our faith be precious in Your sight, and may we be those valuable to You as we receive and speak the visions as we are passing through sufferings and trials!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minor Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 114), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 8 / msg 8, Joseph – The Reigning Aspect of the Mature Life.
- Photo credit for James 1:12 and more spiritual quotes on this topic via, Christian Pictures Blog.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Am I a person of life? / Do I experience life? / Does my living bear the issues of life? / Good trees bear good fruit; / Healthy plant, healthy root; / Oh Lord! The ground in my heart! / We know that life’s seed is growing indeed / When fruits of life are expressed / Such as virtues of joy, peace, faithfulness, love. / Does my daily life pass the test? (Song on Being a Person of Life)
# Thus we die, and dying live / In the heavenlies with the Lord; / Thus we serve, and pray, and give, / Christ Himself our great Reward. (Hymns #907)
# In Christ as Spirit You dispense all to me, / Making me a steward in Your economy. / Ever faithful to the measure I have received / To impart You to others, life conceived. (Song on Speaking the Truth)
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