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Gen. 30:23 Joseph, “God has taken away my reproach.”

Leah says, “The Lord will add.”  Joseph represents the never-ending blessing of our spiritual heritage.  So often we think our life is an end in itself, but the Bible reminds us of the transgenerational transfer of blessing that endures throughout the ages.  Joseph is the gift that keeps giving.  He adds, not only to the present situation, but he is launched forward into history and sent to prepare a place for God’s people.

Joseph is the child of destiny like “an arrow in the hand of a warrior.” (Psalm 127:4) When we send out our heritage from our house and ministry, we are giving to the generations yet to come and reaching across the ages to establish peace on the earth.

In The Joseph Factor, we explore early the significance of a transgenerational vision.  By now in your ministry, you ought to be thinking about replication and ways your work will continue when you are done.  Joseph is the adding factor that allow the Kingdom of God to continually increase on the earth when we are far gone.

Am I being conscience of the effect I desire to leave on the next generation?  Am I actively sowing into my children and the future leaders of my ministry?  Is the children’s ministry an afterthought? Is documenting the minutes a burden? Strategic plan on the constant to do list?  If so, we are not thinking of adding.

If you do not take time to give to these now, the time will never come.  God will short-circuit a ministry that does not think of the next generation.  When we are only consumed with day to day living, we neglect saving, storing away, discipling our next leader, and taking time to record our insights for years to come.

Joseph is eventually carried away from the entire family so that the process of preparation could take place to prepare the ground in Egypt.  God added to Jacob not be prospering his place of comfort, but by removing him.

Jerusalem experienced the same removal and persecution in order to get out of their insular mentality.  China, India, Argentina, Communist Russia all became difficult places to live and, in the process, created exponential growth for the church.

If America cannot pass these lessons to the generation to come, we will find our children exported and enslaved to a culture that forces their faith grow under the auspices of persecution and difficulty.   Joseph adds to the tribe by undergoing the trials to preserve his people.

Gen. 30:20 Zebulun, “God has given me a good gift.”

“Now my husband will dwell with me,” says Leah after giving Jacob his sixth son by her and the eleventh in the family line.  This child given towards the end of her life represents the deeper desires of a mother and the recognition or our most rewarding gift—dwelling together.

As you overcome challenges and temptations, as you receive rewards and accolades, these will gradually pale in comparison to the value of simply dwelling in God’s presence.

I have noticed that I say less and less in prayer now than before.  I am still and listening, because there is really just one answer that I desire.  I no longer wait or seek a word.  I am not anxious about getting the daily bread or resources I need to survive.  I am even less concerned about my sins which need to be forgiven as I have seen again and again His willingness to restore, forgive, and repeatedly deliver me from temptations which were too great for me to endure.

Instead, the pursuit of my prayer now is His presence.  I am not happy with an answer or a simple acknowledgement of His hearing me.  The gift I desire is Him dwelling with me.

“This one thing I desire,” says David in Psalm 27:4, “That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.”  Nothing else satisfies.  Nothing else is needed.

If you have ever tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, been enlightened by His heavenly presence and captured by His love, you are now officially ruined.  No drug, pleasure, gossip or temporal victory compares.  Laurels and earthly accolades are just fleeting gestures.

Instead, I am asking God later in my life to turn up the glory of His presence.  I am hungry for more, and the initial feelings and goose bumps of the Holy Spirit are no longer sufficient.  Says David, “I will be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.”

When the Lord withdraws His presence, we pray, “My God, My God. Why are you so far from the words of my groanings? In the night season, I am not silent, and in the daytime, my prayer shall come before you.” (Ps. 22)

When He withdraws Himself from me, my yearning only increases.  I think in heaven we will be on a perpetual chase falling ever and ever deeper into the depths of His love.  An endless fall into grace.

Gen. 30:13 Asher, “Happy am I.”

Leah said, “I am happy because the daughters will call me blessed.” As we move through different seasons of prayer and ministry, we eventually come to a place of happy contentment when we enjoy the rewards of our labor.  Often Christians wear a sour frown instead of reflecting the blessings that God has bestowed here and above.

A happy, peaceful season of blessing is to be expected as we labor with the Lord.  Particularly in the ministry of prayer, an oil of gladness begins to flow upon our heads as we practice seasons of extended prayer and praise in God’s presence.  The reason this gladness and joy abound is because God’s very nature is to be happy, glad, and have “pleasures forevermore at His right hand.”  Psalm 16.  God is not a sourpuss or a killjoy, but rather delights to give His children the desires of their heart.

The happiness of the kingdom, however, is a different feeling than worldly pleasures that come from indulging our flesh.  Sinful pleasures are degrading and manipulating to others.  They always rob some of the joy, health, and freedom that God means for us to enjoy.  As opposed. “if one would love live and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.” (1 Peter 3:10-11) Turning away from evil thoughts and actions, seeking peace, and speaking life are actually the activities that make us happy.

When we develop this hunger for righteousness, we begin to understand the Beatitudes of Jesus. “Happy are the poor in spirit.  Happy are those who mourn.  Happy are the meet, those who hunger, the merciful, and the pure in heart.”  (Matt. 5:3-8) A lifetime and lifestyle of prayer reorients our emotions with the affections and appetites of the Kingdom.

Instead of seeking happiness through the accumulation of goods and power, the praying and mature Christian finds happiness is the distribution of our resources and power in exchange for a taste of the Kingdom of God.  We experience a higher reality, and eternal one, and then everything on earth pales in comparison.

Allow yourself to be happy.  But be happy in the knowledge of God and the eternal kingdom free from suffering and pain that He is establishing.  This heavenly happiness is the result of a life spent seeking His Kingdom, and it is a peace that the world could never give nor ever take away.

As you endure wrestling and weeping for the night, joy will come in the morning as God makes us joyful in His house of prayer.