Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.

– Genesis 45:9 (NIV)

Have you ever felt like everyone is up against you?

That’s a lot like how Joseph probably felt in today’s Bible verse. When he was a teenager, he had a dream that one day his older brothers would bow down to him. His brothers got jealous and threw him in a pit. They then changed their minds and sold him into slavery. Can you imagine how that would make you feel? Your own family selling you to be a slave!

As a slave, he served his master and was eventually promoted. Then the master’s wife wanted him to sleep with her. Joseph refused, so she eventually lied and accused him of raping her. He then was thrown in prison.

While in prison, he was faithful and got promoted so he was running the prison. During this season, God helped Joseph interpret dreams. When the king of Egypt had a series of troubling dreams he asked if there was anyone who could interpret them. All his people could not. Then an ex-prisoner remembered about Joseph and that he could interpret dreams. Joseph was asked to come out of prison to interpret the king’s dream and he successfully did, the king promoted him to be the second in command of all of Egypt.

After many bad situations, Joseph was finally in the place that he had seen so many years before in his dream.

Throughout his life, Joseph showed faithfulness. Joseph could have had a bad attitude and given up on God and his dream. However, he didn’t give up on God or on his dream. Joseph stayed faithful and worked hard, regardless of his circumstances.

Joseph’s example teaches us faithfulness and consistency. God has probably spoken to you about your future and your dreams. They might seem like they are never going to come to pass.

However, instead of complaining and not giving your best today, decide like Joseph you’re going to stay faithful to God and to the dream, He’s put in your heart. Whether you see your dreams coming to pass soon or not, choose to serve God and work your best knowing that eventually, faithfulness will pay off.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. – Matthew 7:25 (NIV)

Life can be hard at times. Sometimes you’ll face a tough time in life and that hardship will cause you to question God. Some people, never are able to overcome the hardship and as a result question God.

The people who stand the test of time and remain in the faith are those who have built their lives on a solid foundation.

As Christians, our foundation is in God’s word. That means that His word is true regardless of what we see and feel in the world around us.

So today, if you’ve allowed doubt, circumstances, or your feelings cause you to doubt God’s word, determine to change moving forward. Let the Bible be the basis of your foundation and build your life trusting in Jesus.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” – 1 Cor 2:9 (NLT)

It can be easy to feel like there’s nothing good going on right now in your life. Maybe you feel like you don’t have good friends. Perhaps you’ve been through a really hard year, and you’re just ready for things to look up in your life.

When things aren’t going the way you’d like them to, it can be easy to want to yell at God. You wonder why are things so tough and full of problems.

Instead of yelling and being angry, one of the most productive things you can do is focus on the goodness of God. God loves you. The bad things that you’re facing aren’t God’s fault. They’re a part of sin and living in a fallen world. So instead of anger, decide to change your focus.

Focus on God’s love. Make that be larger in your mind than your problem. Determine to let God’s love become more real than your difficulty. As you focus on God, you’ll find that instead of anger, you’ll begin to experience peace. Realize that God loves you in a big way. He wants you to experience good things in your life!

Have you ever turned in a project for school, and when you got it back from your teacher, realized you forgot to do an important part of the assignment? It can be easy to get busy working on a project and forget to do all the things your teacher assigned for you.

In the same way, it can be easy to forget what makes the gospel special. Here’s what Acts 13 says about what Jesus did.

“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do. (Acts 13:38, 39 NLT)

That’s pretty amazing. Through Jesus, our sins are forgiven and when we believe in Jesus we are made right with God.

So don’t get too busy living your life, making friends, and doing homework that you miss the main point of the gospel. We’ve been made right with God. We can know the living God. That’s great news!

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. – Romans 13:1 (NIV)

We’ve been talking a lot in our devotions this week about honor. Yesterday, we talked about honoring our parents, but what about the other authority figures in our lives?

How can we honor our coaches, pastors, and teachers?

A lot of honoring comes down to developing respect for the position each of those people holds. For example, you may not love your coach’s decision to not start you in the game. But because that person is your coach, you choose to honor them.

That isn’t to say you agree 100% with their decision. It’s just saying that instead of yelling at them or quitting the team because you’re not starting the basketball game this Friday, that you’re going to choose to speak to them with respect.

There’s a big difference between agreeing with someone and still respecting them as a person. You might not understand why a decision was made. But you choose to respect that person because they’re your coach.

So today, if you’ve struggled with honoring your coaches, pastors, and teachers ask God for help. He can show you any heart adjustments you need to make to honor and respect those people in your life.

“Honor your father and mother”–which is the first commandment with a promise–Ephesians 6:2 (NIV)

Yesterday we talked about what honor is. Today we’re going to talk about one of the people that should be honored in your life, your parents. Now, I’m sure you could list a lot of reasons why your parents don’t deserve to be honored.

Maybe your mom isn’t serving God and lies, cheats, and steals. Or perhaps your dad left your family and you don’t feel like he is honorable at all.

If we’re honest, we could probably think of a long list of reasons why our parents don’t deserve to be honored. But God didn’t give us an out. He didn’t say honor your parents if they deserve it. He just told us to honor them.

If God told us to honor them, then it’s something we can do. We just have to determine to look past their imperfections and the things we’d like to change about them. Instead, we just honor the place they have in our lives.

Honor doesn’t mean you always agree but rather that you respect the place your parents have in your life.

So even if you have a bad mom or dad, they still are the reason you’re here today. And because of that, you’re to show them respect. That doesn’t mean that you have to agree with the things they do. It does mean that you treat them with respect in the middle of your disagreement.

If you want to lash out, choose to control your tongue and say your thoughts with respect. Honor the place they have in your life. As you do that, you’ll find that you’re a lot more at peace and things go better for you as a result.