“font-family: Verdana;”>His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>(Genesis 37:11)
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>One night I had a dream that I was in the process of taking a test for a promotion. I had all the written material I needed to pass the test. The test consisted of an oral interview with questions from the written material.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When it was time for me to interview, I was escorted to a long stairwell that led up to a door. As I was on my way up for the interview, I asked the person that was escorting me, “
“mso-bidi-font-style: italic;”>What does ascension mean?” said to me, “It means jealousy and strife.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>So many people do not understand why others are not happy for them when they are promoted. If we are not careful, we can find ourselves fighting in our flesh to get a position that we already have.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In James 3:14-16 it says, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual and devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>We want to be on another level, but most of us can’t pass the test of being offended because of jealousy and strife. If you allow your heart to become bitter because of other’s negative behavior, then you will not be able to enjoy that level of success nor go to the next level.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>There’s a story in the book of Genesis starting in chapter 37. There’s a guy by the name of Joseph who had to deal with this very issue. His brothers were so jealous of him that they couldn’t say anything nice to him.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Joseph had a dream that he would one day rule over his brothers, and he shared the dream with them and they plotted to kill Joseph, but God had a plan. The plan included getting Joseph away from his negative brothers and taking him to a place that was out of his comfort zone.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Eventually God raised Joseph to a very prominent position which included taking care of his brothers, the very ones that tried to kill him. Instead of Joseph being offended, he replied,
“mso-bidi-font-style: italic;”>“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 “mso-bidi-font-style: italic;”>(Genesis 50:20).
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Promotion is coming. You must prepare yourself to be able to handle the jealousy and strife that comes along with it by reading the written material which is the Word of God. So that when the test comes to fall into the temptation of anger or bitterness with your family, friends or coworkers because of their reaction to your promotion, you will pass the test and go higher.
