In Isaiah 41, He says this. He said: don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed, for I am with you. It doesn't matter what you're going through, no matter what distress, what contrary circumstances. God says: I AM with you, whether you feel it or not. You notice this, that when you're going through temptation, you can't feel the presence of God at all? Not at all, when you're facing a temptation, temptation to sin, you don't feel God at all. Does that mean He's gone? No. It feels like He's gone. That's why it requires faith, to hold onto the promise of God. God - You said You would never leave me, You'll never forsake me, You'll never abandon me. I will hold onto You, and I won't let go. Number one lesson, learn to hold onto God, remain faithful to Him in spite of what it feels like, and what circumstance.
Here's the second thing that Joseph did. Joseph learned how to operate in the gifts of the spirit in prison. That's an amazing thing. Even though he's in prison, he's able to interpret dreams. He's able to flow in a gift of God. He's able to sense when people have a need, to reach out to them; and in spite of the fact of him being in need, him being in prison, him being treated unjustly, he's able to reach out to others in the middle of it, and flow in the gifts of the spirit. You say it's hard to flow in the gifts of the spirit? No it isn't, it's easy. Why on earth did you think it was hard? What caused you to think that? Who told you it was hard? Where did you learn that?
We've run seminar after seminar on flowing in the gifts of the spirit, and how to move in the spirit. It's very, very easy to do it. It's not hard at all. If it was hard, then only a few could do it.
No, it's not hard. The issue is, whether you can stir yourself up, and trust God, and begin to hear from Him and flow with Him. That's the issue, and you have to learn to do that. Well, I just love to do it, when we've got a lovely feeling, lovely atmosphere. No, no, you need to learn to listen to God, and stir your gifts, even when it's difficult.
In 2 Timothy 1:6, Timothy's going through a hard time. You know what the hard time was? He was young guy, everyone's putting him down, everyone's speaking against him, older people saying he's too young to be a bishop, how come - how come you're doing this? In the midst of it, he became intimidated. When you're intimidated, and when you're affected by the attitudes of people, and shut down inside, your gift stops flowing. You CAN flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You've just got to make a decision to STIR UP YOUR SPIRIT! See? You wait for God to do it? Ha ha! What are you dreaming? You're dreaming. You're thinking something crazy. God is not going to stir your spirit.
Paul wrote to Timothy: stir up the gift of God that's inside you, by the laying on of hands. Fire it up, man of God - don't forget who you are. I don't care who's putting you down, who's speaking against you. Fire up the gift of God! How do you do it? Get praying strongly in tongues. You start to pray in tongues, your spirit is praying. You become energised in your spirit man, your head clears, and you start to hear the voice of God. See, you can't wait for someone to do that for you. You've got to do that for yourself. I don't feel like it. Enjoy your prison then. See?
We need to learn how to stir the gifts of God, so wherever we are, we can start to feel the presence of God activate. You've got the Holy Ghost inside you, you can stir up the gift of God any time you wish. You see the problem is that we tend to live under the feelings, impressions, the sensations, the imprisonment; and we don't actually live from our spirit, where the life of God is. The life of God is in your spirit.