One of the great things I learned at the God’s Media Army conference I recently went to in Arizona was that when God gives you an assignment, don’t get so caught up in the personal implications of the assignment that you lose sight of the mission. The assignment may be something that God decrees, but you yourself are dispensable. If you fail in your assignment, the Lord will raise up another.

This is good to know, because it protects us against spiritual narcissism. I think we charismatic types particularly have to be careful, because we can get all worked up about our “prophetic destiny” and what the Spirit is saying to us and the timing of this and the hidden meaning of that — and pretty soon the focus is entirely on us. We also get upset when we KNOW a prophecy for our lives is imminent yet the current circumstances seem completely the opposite. Look at Joseph: the young son tells his father and brothers that he dreams they will bow down to him and honor him. And you know what? That prophetic dream did indeed come to pass, but only many years later after Joseph is betrayed, exiled, enslaved, falsely accused, and abandoned — forgotten — in a prison cell in a foreign land.

Thankfully, Joseph remained faithful to God, learned much, grew much, and helped others before himself. Then God bestowed great favor, honor, and power upon him — so much so that his very presence in Egypt as a leader saved the tiny nation of Israel. He was given an assignment, and he carried it out to the end. I pray God I may do the same in my lifetime!