Speak the Promises as a Blessing | Sep. 13, 2026 | Ps. Raph

The Promises as a Blessing

Remembering the promises of God.

Fasting periods are an excellent opportunity to reflect on God's promises in our lives. 

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)

Fasting helps us detach from distractions that can divert us from God's calling.

Hold to the Promises

Anchor your life in God's Word and His unchanging promises. 

It is easy to let temporary hardships dictate our ultimate reality.

We stare at concerning lab results, check our shrinking bank accounts, or receive devastating personal news, convinced that the story is over. However, we are called to live by what God has spoken rather than what our eyes can see.

Jacob received the crushing news of his beloved son Joseph's death. Do you remember how that story unfolds in Genesis 37?

Driven by bitter envy over their father’s favoritism, Joseph’s older brothers sold him to passing merchants as a slave. 

They covered the truth from Jacob. Taking Joseph's famous colored robe, they drenched it in goat’s blood and carried it back to Jacob.

Jacob had all the facts, so he concluded: My son is dead.

It was factual. All the evidence pointed to that conclusion. However, it was not the truth. But because all he could see were the facts, a lie became the grievous reality for Jacob. 

Genesis 37:34-35 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

This very sad scene I have experienced myself through my personal experience of losing a son. Unfortunately, I have also been present to comfort families such as mine. It's a devastatingly sad moment.

In Jacob’s case, however, there was no real death. But he accepted the only evidence he had as the final truth. That was the only news Jacob had. 

A lie that became Jacob’s permanent truth. 

Jacob believed Joseph was dead for 22 years.

Are you doing the same now with the last news you received from your doctor? Is the report from your family permanent, devastating news? 

Maybe you have been hovering over the loss of that broken relationship for years. But these facts are not meant to be your final truth.

In the story, the same sons who had brought false news of Joseph's death years earlier returned from Egypt to tell Jacob that Joseph was still alive.

Jacob was so accustomed to living with the undeniable pain of loss that he could not believe it.

Genesis 45:26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. The good news of Joseph being alive has always been the real truth. 

But Jacob got so used to the pain and grief that when the good news was revealed, his heart was numb.

Perhaps you are like Jacob now, with a numb heart from positive and hopeful words. You no longer believe, exhausted from confessing, praying, and declaring for that miracle. Maybe you are close to giving up.

You have spent weeks, months, or maybe even years trying, feeding your faith, saying the right words, and forcing a breakthrough through your own spiritual willpower. 

You are exhausted.

Genesis 45:27-28 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

It is time to believe God's old promises again.

To beleive He is able and willing to do far more abundantly than all that you can ask or think.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20)

Only when Jacob saw the wagons that Joseph had sent did his heart revive again.

Today, God will open your eyes, and you will see his promises afresh.

(2 Corinthians 5:7) "for we walk by faith, not by sight."

Do not give up yet. Hold on to God’s promises. He knows how to turn our devastation into a miracle story.

An entrepreneur spent over a year working late nights in a cramped apartment, building an online business with zero traction.

Exhausted by mounting debt and dead-end analytics, he decided to quit, hovering their mouse over the button to shut down the server and delete the store forever.

What he couldn't see was that a major industry influencer had just featured their product as a hidden gem, and thousands of orders were already quietly queued up to hit their site the very next morning.

(Hebrews 10:23) "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

If you were considering giving up, today is another opportunity to try again. The strength you need doesn’t come from your own motivation; it comes from God's promises.

(2 Corinthians 1:20) For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Genesis 46:30 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.”

Jacob did not die. 

The truth revealed, the promise unfolded, the real good news sustained the old Jacob alive for more than 17 years.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.God's promises can accelerate the multiplication of His grace in your life.

Genesis 48:3-4 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’

That promise did not fully come to pass with Abraham. It did not fully happen with Isaac either. Jacob reminded God of the promises. He was passing on the promise not as a hopeful desire, but as a blessing.

For Jacob, after he learned that even after the facts of death and hopelessness, God is faithful and will fulfill his promises, he declared the promise as a blessing. 

Genesis 48:15-16 15 And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,

16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Learn to declare the promises of God as an inevitable reality upon your children and upon your business and ministry.

(1 Thessalonians 5:24)"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

The Grace Adoption

Jacob called Joseph's sons to his side to impart his blessing. What a father spoke over his children in his final days carried immense weight and would affect them for the rest of their lives.

(Genesis 48:5) "And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are."

Jacob surprised everyone in the family, saying, 

"Joseph, I am adopting Manasseh and Ephraim as my own sons. They will receive the exact same inheritance as my other children." 

The boys’ mother was Egyptian. That means her family did not know or serve Jehovah; they were idol worshipers.

You might think you are disqualified from God's blessings because you come from a family with a terrible history. Maybe you are the first to beleive in Christ, and all the others are still in false religions or atheism. You may have many reasons why you feel you do not deserve His goodness.

God adopted us into His own family. 

"Despite your past, despite your mistakes, and regardless of what your family has done, I am adopting you as My own son, as My own daughter."

Be free from every fear of generational curse. 

God chose you to begin a blessed generation. He is establishing a generational blessing through you.

We believe that even from a young age, children can understand important values. 

Recently, a brother shared that his partner received a call from his 4-year-old child while he was working. The child was proudly showing off himself riding his new bicycle. The dad told him, “I love you, son." The son replied, “I love you too, Dad, but I love Jesus more." 

When asked if he attends church regularly, the partner said, "Not often, but my son is a student at Vine Christian Academy. And man, They really teach these kids to know Jesus." 

You will positively affect all your descendants.

Accelerated blessings

When Jacob surprised the entire family, he ignored the boy's mother's heritage. But also, as grandsons, these boys naturally would have had to wait an entire generation to receive what Jacob was giving them.

Normally, the blessing would flow first to their father, and then Joseph would pass that inheritance down to them much later. Instead, these boys received an inheritance way earlier in life.

Breakthroughs that would normally take years of human effort to accomplish can come quickly. It can take years to get out of debt, years to break free from an addiction, and years to establish a new standard of living. If you believe, God will do for you exactly what He did for those two boys: He will propel you years ahead of schedule.

You will see things happening much faster than you could ever imagine, because you have honored God. Because you have declared, 

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," 

things will accelerate in your life. 

What might normally take a lifetime to achieve through striving will happen in a fraction of the time by His grace.

When Joseph's brothers saw his sons receiving the exact same blessing they were receiving, they certainly did not understand it. From a human perspective, it did not seem fair. These were mere grandsons receiving the blessing of the sons.

Grace is never fair.

Because of the favor of God resting upon your life, expect persecution. Some will say it is just luck, but we know it is the favor of the Lord.

Grace bypasses human scorecards, and when God favors you with blessings you didn't earn, you don't need to apologize for it or waste time trying to win over the critics who refuse to understand it.

Romans 4:4-5 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

You do not need to convince people to like you. Some people simply cannot accept your success. If they walk away from you, it is because they are not part of your God-given calling.

Do not waste your time trying to appease people who refuse to celebrate the Lord's victories in your life. Never apologize for the favor you have received. You didn’t earn it; God simply chose you to display His goodness.

When God Crosses His Arms

Joseph serves as one of the most vivid types of Jesus Christ in the entire Old Testament.

He was the beloved son, rejected by his brothers, sold for silver, descending into humiliation/prison, counted as dead, ultimately elevated to save both his own people and the Gentile world.

In that symbolic parallel, Jacob points to God the Father, and Joseph points to Jesus Christ.

In that case, you and I are related to Manasseh and Ephraim.

We were born far off, in the Egypt of this world’s system, strangers to the covenants of promise, with no natural claim on the household of God, but because we were brought by “our Joseph,” the Father looks at us and says, “They are Mine.”

But even among the two sons of Jacob, there is an elevated blessing that one received, and the other did not receive.

That speaks of the increased measure of grace for those who believe. of God

In Christ, God’s grace crossed cultural and ethnic lines and granted us an inheritance we never could have achieved.

Genesis 48:15-16 “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, 16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Or

Genesis 48:16 … let them be like fish for multitude

That speaks of you and me. 

"And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.'" (Matthew 4:19)

We will experience the Father’s multiplications in Jesus.

But here comes another twist.

During that blessing moment, Jacob summoned his grandchildren, Manasseh and Ephraim, once more, astonishing everyone.

In biblical tradition, the eldest son traditionally received a double share as the "son of the right hand."

Joseph positioned his firstborn, Manasseh, at Jacob's right hand, and Ephraim at his left.

Jacob crossed his arms. 

When Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48), he deliberately crossed his hands, putting his right hand on the younger brother (Ephraim) rather than the older (Manasseh), declaring that Ephraim would become a "multitude of nations" (melo ha-goyim, literally "the fullness of the Gentiles”).

Genesis 48:19 19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

Why would Jacob do that?

(Hebrews 11:21) “By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ‘bowing in worship over the head of his staff.’”

He placed his right hand upon the second-born, Ephraim, and his left hand upon Manasseh, proceeding to speak the blessing over them.

When Joseph saw this, he objected, saying, "No, my father, Manasseh is my firstborn." Jacob responded, "I know what I am doing. Manasseh will be great, yet Ephraim will be greater. Multitudes of nations will come from him."

Ephraim was not next in line. He was not qualified, and he certainly did not earn the primary blessing. Nevertheless, God ignored any tradition just to teach us how grace works.

God delights in elevating those who are in the back.

He takes those who lack the proper position and those who feel entirely left out, moving them straight to the front. If that is you, you are a great candidate to beGod's showcase of favor.

God often chooses those the world considers unqualified, and I testify to that. 

As a missionary pastor in the United States, I've repeatedly heard colleagues say I would never be a full English-speaking pastor reaching nationals and native people, citing my heavy accent and my struggles with speaking and communication.

Do not believe the lies that hold you back. You may have made many mistakes, or you might feel you lack natural talent. Still, God loves to lavish His grace on people exactly like you.

God is crossing His arms and placing you in a position you could never earn. He will put you in a place you weren’t qualified for and weren’t next in line for.

You are about to experience unexpected favor, unexpected promotion, and unexpected breakthroughs.

You might think that where you are right now is where you will always be. You may feel you have already reached your limit. Well, if you consider your own strength, that might be true.

However, if you trust God's process, He will cross His arms and release favor over your life. Keep resting in Him, and He will open doors for you that you never even dreamed of.

If you think, "I do not have the training, the talents, the temperament, the connections, or the necessary confidence." Know that God decided to cross His arms and favor you. If you heard, "You will mount for nothing.", maybe that was true in the natural; nevertheless, God crossed His arms.

Jacob knew the economy of grace

I think one of the inspirations for Jacob to go that way of blessing was his very experience, as he was blessed by his father Isaac. Esau was Isaac's favorite. He was a good son, the firstborn, and the one who technically deserved the blessing. But God crossed His arms and blessed Jacob. How was Jacob portrayed in the Bible? He was the supplanter who deceived his own family many times.

And about David? His brothers were older, stronger, and more talented (1 Samuel 16). Yet God crossed His arms and favored the youngest, the smallest of them all. 

When Gideon was chosen (Judges 6), he acknowledged that his tribe was the weakest in Israel, his family the least in the tribe, and himself the least in his father's house. However, the Lord told him, "Go in this might of yours!" What looked like weakness to Gideon was his strength, simply because God crossed His arms.

When God crosses His arms, He takes you from the back of the line and places you in a position of leadership. From a place of obscurity, He grants you influence you never imagined.

You may have a thousand logical reasons why your dreams cannot be achieved or why there is no way out of your current problem. The Lord is telling you today that He is about to cross His arms. He will show you unexpected, overflowing, unmerited favor. You were not qualified, and you were not next in line. Yet, unexpectedly, God will show His favor by crossing His arms upon you.

Double Fruitfulness

Ephraim is a beautiful symbol of grace. In Hebrew, the name Ephraim literally means "doubly fruitful." 

When God crosses His arms and chooses you—the unlikely one—He releases a very special blessing. He will cause your fruitfulness to be doubled.

God doesn’t always bless the way we expect. Ephraim was not next in line. He wasn’t qualified, and he didn’t earn it. Nevertheless, God bypassed human tradition and did something extraordinary: He chose the second-born.

You may think that your current situation is your permanent destination because you have exhausted all your human effort.

That may be true in your own strength. However, a higher truth remains: God will cross His arms and release His favor upon your life. Rest in His finished work on the Cross, continue to honor Him, and He will open doors for you that you never dreamed were possible.

The children of grace are chosen

Now we have two sons. Ephraim and Manasseh point to the early church believers: Gentiles and Jews.

One came first, Manasseh, but is the youngest, the latter born, who receives the blessings, which speaks of the church. That speaks of us. The gentile church. The children of grace. 

How can you place yourself on the right hand of God? Be a child of grace. 

(Matthew 20:16)"So the last will be first, and the first last."

Hebrews 7:18-19 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Hebrews 8:13 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.