Steven K. Scott - The Joseph Principles: Turning Adversity and Heartache into Miraculous Living

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Jesus Speaks

The Greatest Words Ever Spoken

The Richest Man Who Ever Lived

A Millionaires Notebook

The Joseph Principles

2022 Steven K. Scott

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ISBN 978-0-7852-9155-8 (audiobook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9154-1 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9152-7 (HC)

Epub Edition June 2022 9780785291541

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021950979

Printed in the United States of America

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To my best friend.

Lord Jesus, You fill my days with Your inexhaustible mercy

and grace. Every day I wake up astonished by Your words

and amazed by Your love. Though I have turned my back on

You so many times, You have never turned Your back on me.

You have never left me or forsaken me. You truly are a friend

who sticks closer than a brother. There is none like You!

So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Genesis 37:28

J oseph was only seventeen when his world came crashing down. His own brothers threw him into a well and left him for dead. Then they had a change of heart when they happened to see a caravan of merchants headed toward Egypt. They decided that instead of leaving him for dead, they would retrieve him from the well and sell him into slavery. In a matter of minutes, Joseph went from being the most cherished son of his father to becoming a slave transported to a foreign country. Everyone he loved was ripped from him in an instant. He lost all of his privileges and rights; he lost his beloved family, his friends, and everything he valued; all of his hopes and dreams were stolen. The only future he could see was that of being a slave.

Later, after becoming a trusted servant and manager of his owners estate, he was thrown into prison for refusing temptation and instead choosing to honor his owner and honor his God. Yet, despite his terrible circumstances, he became the most revered and highest-ranking individual in Pharaohs empire. His actions saved two nations from starvation.

How could this happen to someone whose whole life had been stolen and whose future had been trashed? The answer can be found in his intimate and unique relationship with God. As we look at his life, we discover twelve principles that governed his attitudes and actions. Yet his recorded words were so sparse, we do not receive any teaching from him that shows us how we can apply those principles to our lives. His story leaves us clueless about how we can experience the same miraculous transformations that he experienced.

Thats the bad news. The good news is that about sixteen hundred years later, Jesus Christ revealed the precise steps of action that would enable us to experience the miraculous transformation and unimaginable outcomes Joseph experiencedand an even greater level of intimacy with God. In the lives of both Joseph and Jesus, we see amazing revelations and specific steps we can quickly take to overcome our hurts, our past traumas, and even our most heartbreaking experienceswhether they happened today, yesterday, or even a lifetime ago.

Thats terrible!

How awful!

I am so sorry!

What a horrific accident.

How could he do that to you?

Cruel.

Hateful.

Just plain evil.

These are expressions we hear, say, or feel many times throughout our lives. They describe events and experiences that create sadness, discouragement, despair, and even desperation. They can rob us of all hope for recovery and happiness. They often erode or even destroy ones faith in God, raising the question, How could a loving God allow such a terrible thing to happen?

Changes in relationships can create heartaches that may range from unsettling and jarring to life altering or even life shattering. Losing a relationship to substance abuse, addiction, divorce, or death is so common that most of us have experienced some of these losses at one time or another. For many, it may seem like a day doesnt go by without hearing of someone we love going through a terrible trial. Even changes in our jobs or careers can cause frustration, fear, depression, despair, and of course anger and bitterness. The COVID-19 pandemic alone multiplied tragic situations by millions throughout the world. It wasnt just the millions who died or the hundreds of millions who were infected. The number of people who lost jobs, the businesses that failed, and the lives and families that were negatively affected or even shattered is incalculable. These people who thought they were sailing along on smooth seas with no storms in sight were capsized by this cruel and indiscriminate COVID-19 storm without a life jacket to save them from their perilous fate.