Power of a Positive NO

Sometimes saying a strong and determined NO will influence and impact your life much more than saying YES. Firmly closing a door will determine your direction and destiny more than any door opening. 

In Genesis 39, when Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph, his emphatic and consistent NO had a much greater impact on his future than he could ever have realised at the time. Even though his NO initially caused significant problems, ultimately it kept him under the favor and blessing of God and positioned him for promotion and prosperity in the future. God could trust him with greater leadership and influence after his character had been tested. Similarly today, God will only entrust greater authority and responsibility to those whom He knows can handle the temptations and tests that a more visible platform brings.  Every NO you say to something that’s not from God, even though it may look attractive and appealing, opens up the possibility of a YES to something so much greater.

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Genesis 39:6-23

“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house....

....She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’ s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”