01/31/2025
WINTERFAST 2025 – DAY SEVEN
FAITHFUL TO BE A FRUITFUL BOUGH
Scripture reading for the day: “Joseph is a fruitful bough (a main branch of the vine), a fruitful bough by a spring (a well, a fountain); its branches run over the wall [influencing others].” – Genesis 49:22 (Amp)
A careful study of the scriptures reveals that people who were chosen by God to fulfill groundbreaking, divine purposes on the earth exhibited an uncanny character of dogged faithfulness to God, themselves, their purposes, and to their circles of influence, from their childhood to adulthood despite extremely challenging situations that befell them in the pursuit of their destinies. Examples include Moses, Samuel, David, Esther, Jeremiah, Mary, and Jesus Christ.
Hundreds of years before he was conceived, a word of God came to Joseph’s great grandfather, Abraham, regarding the latter’s descendants, a chosen group of people in Gen. 15:13-14 that says, “Then He (God) said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” A divine plan known to God from eternity needed an extraordinarily faithful man to bring it to fruition. In the fullness of time, a young lad was chosen called Joseph, who went through unimaginable atrocities, including betrayal by his own siblings, sold into slavery, accused of attempted r**e, and imprisoned in a dark dungeon; however, in all these situations, his faith and faithfulness to the call of God remained steadfast. Unbeknownst to him of God’s plans at the time of his enslavement in Egypt, the Psalmist made known the grand agenda of God in Psalm 105:17-19 that says, “He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord TESTED him.” He passed all the tests of faithfulness – to God, self, purpose, and his godly relationships – with flying colors.
As a reward for his remarkable faithfulness, not only did God promote him to a highly exalted position in Egypt, but the following was declared and prophesized about him by his father, Jacob, “Joseph is a fruitful bough (a main branch of the vine), a fruitful bough by a spring (a well, a fountain); its branches run over the wall [influencing others].” Indeed, faithfulness to God, self, purpose, and godly relationships is ALWAYS rewarded and results in progressive and great promotions. Not only did he become a fruitful bough or a major branch of the True Vine (revealed later as the Lord Jesus Christ in John 15:1), but his branches run over the wall, influencing and blessing others. What a wonderful revelation of a life well-lived, fulfilling his divine purpose and becoming a blessing to an untold number of people and generations!
The Preacher revealed the ultimate purpose of every man and woman who is graced with life on the earth in Eccl. 12:13 (AMPC) that says, “All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.”
Congratulations, dearest Oasis family, on a highly fruitful “Winterfast 2025.” By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, and the intimate relationship and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, may we all be fully yielded and faithful to God, ourselves, purposes, and godly relationships in the Oasis in particular and the entire household of faith in general, so that at the end, like Joseph, the following will also be said about us, “[insert your name…] is a fruitful bough (a main branch of the vine), a fruitful bough by a spring (a well, a fountain); its branches run over the wall [influencing others].” You are a divine Oasis of fruitfulness.
© 2025 Apostle Dr. Isaac Paintsil,
Sr. Apostle, Christ’s Oasis Ministries International.
