The Joseph-Daniel Calling
THE JOSEPH–DANIEL CALLING
Facilitating the Release of the Wealth of the Wicked
© Morris E. Ruddick
Excerpt from
THE JOSEPH-DANIEL CALLING
God’s call on my life has been shaped by a Word the Lord spoke to me in the mid-seventies, early in my walk with Him:
Just as in the days of Joseph and Daniel, God will bring out mighty works at your hand. As you are led into the midst of the world, kings, leaders, rulers will be converted and humbled. You will work beside them and be given authority; and your counsel will be heeded for their good.
Having left a military career in mid-stream to prepare myself in Bible School for service for the Lord, I was puzzled as the Lord clearly led me into the business world. Then roughly a decade after the Lord spoke this word to me I took a couple of weeks to get alone with the Lord to fast and pray. Spiritually-speaking, I was a bit battered and confused. First, I had experienced the folding of a once very successful business I knew the Lord had led me to start. Then, despite all my efforts to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness – the position in the corporate world, that had opened after clearly praying and seeking Him had also seemingly cratered.
High on my priorities of issues brought before the Lord during this time alone with Him was “what am I doing and where is this all going?” And the Lord in His faithfulness, spoke a word to me that gave me understanding for that time. But that word, over the years, has also progressively served to provide release and understanding, not only for my own calling, but for that of others who have been called as I have. What the Lord told me was that I would be serving Him in:
“An interlinking between secular enterprises with overriding ministry objectives.”
Then more than another decade later, while in prayer early one morning, I felt very strongly that I was supposed to be addressing the big mission conference held every three years known as the GCOWE conference. The Global Conference on World Evangelization attracts between 5,000 to 6,000 mission strategists and practitioners from over 150 nations around the globe. I shared that thought with one person, my friend Pete Holzmann, who suggested I contact Gunnar Olson, and I was soon making reservations for my flight to South Africa to speak at that conference.
It was a message that had been burning in my heart since the Lord spoke that word to me in the mid-70s that so strongly shaped my calling. I prepared in my prayer closet. It was a talk based on the prototype I had been gleaning from the life of Joseph over the years. I entitled it the Joseph Calling.
I had been strongly drawn to the life of Joseph since the time I was in Bible school. The unusual life of this patriarch seemed to provide clues to the unorthodox steps I so strongly felt drawn to take as I sought God’s higher plan for my own life.
The presence of the Lord I sensed as I presented this talk at the Business Executives venue at GCOWE was very strong. But I never expected the type of reception I received after the talk. A number shared that I had defined how God had been leading them for the last ten to twenty years. One man said he thought he had been all alone in being called in this way. Another just grabbed me and hugged me as he repeated the words thank you over and over.
For each who came up after my talk, it appeared the message was a release for them. My calling as a Joseph and a Daniel for this day was one shared by a number of other marketplace believers from around the world. Those who had been led and prepared in some very similar ways. It was a calling that would serve a number of strategic marketplace functions. It was an encouragement to these modern-day Josephs, that their steps of obedience indeed had a purpose.
For me, this talk at the GCOWE conference was one of those defining moments in which my time of walking by faith and not by sight, began having clearer relevance. There was no question that the Lord had used me as a catalyst in releasing those with this unique marketplace calling. And I began recognizing that my own calling – an interlinking of business and ministry – was one that was a part of a something much bigger that the Lord was quietly preparing. I couldn’t get away from the thought reflected by the words of Mordecai to Queen Esther: “who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
The Joseph Calling speaking engagements and the writings produced from my time spent with the Lord and the intercession ministry I led, began connecting me to many others involved in this calling into the marketplace. For most, the principles I was sharing were serving as a confirmation and a release to move forward in their own Joseph-Daniel callings. For many, it has let them know that they are not alone in what they’ve been pursuing in this unique calling. For others, it has provided an understanding to God’s leading that they previously did not understand.
The Lord indeed is raising up many, many modern-day Josephs and Daniels. The Josephs and Daniels are certainly not the only ones called to the marketplace. But it was certainly what the Lord had been preparing me for in this interlinking of business and ministry – of secular enterprises with overriding ministry objectives. A calling whereby men and women of God served uniquely and strategically as instruments of God’s purpose – in secular positions of influence within the seats of power of this world. Strategically, I believe this move of God in penetrating the marketplace will come to parallel the rise of the parachurch ministry movement of the early fifties.
There is much overlap in the callings between the Josephs and Daniels. They each work alongside high-level officials who are gatekeepers into the world’s systems. Perspectives on specifics vary, but most consider the Josephs as being more business-centered, while the Daniels are more governmental or politically-focused. In most instances, the Josephs are in charge – made responsible for resources; while the Daniels serve as coordinators and networkers with government controlled resources. Both operate in function and anointing that is primarily princely or kingly; as opposed to priestly. However, this princely or kingly function or anointing will typically incorporate a strong operation of prophetic and apostolic gifts of the Spirit.
It is for these men and women of God – called as modern-day Josephs and Daniels, that this book has been prepared. And to each one, I salute you in the Name of the Lord. May the words of this book provide the release you need to fulfill what the Lord has called you to for this hour.
Excerpt Chapter
A CALLING FOR THE SEASON
For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons. Daniel 2
We live in one of the most awesome periods of change this world has ever seen.
Major paradigm shifts are challenging assumptions driving the nature and order of the business of nations and enterprise. The role of business in world affairs, as well as within the work of the ministry, is increasing in its significance. For the first time in history, there are economies without borders. Unusual strategic alliances are being formed that will change the course of history, and raise God’s standard.
The Spirit of the Lord is on the move. Globally, prayer is being mobilized like never before. Around the globe, the Lord is pouring out His Spirit, touching lives and impacting entire nations, with startling results. Simultaneously, because of Internet technology, satellite communications and cell phones, believers around the globe are better connected, better informed and able to support and work together as a Body with much greater effectiveness.
Yet, at the same time, we face increases in global concerns over economic, transportation, communication and energy disruptions; terrorism and border conflicts; as well as power struggles and major instabilities in relationships between ethnic groups and nations around the world.
In early 1996 I wrote:
“A time is coming soon when there will be changes in the infrastructures of the world’s systems that will create reversals resulting in discontinuities and shortages such as the world has never seen. In the same manner that Joseph the patriarch was sent ahead to prepare for what was coming to the earth, God is today sending individuals ahead to prepare for a time of great change that will precede the greatest harvest of all times. These will be individuals who clearly hear God’s voice and who possess a unique understanding of the times, who will be thrust into positions of influence within the economic, governmental and business infrastructures that guide the course of world events. And much as in the days of Joseph, the needs of the Body and the funding of the coming harvest will be met in unusual ways, as God taps the Body into His unlimited resources and unites us in a common singular vision”
Then in early 1998 I wrote:
“We have been experiencing some unusual transitions in the heavenlies. Not the least of these transitions is a time before us in which we will begin seeing manifestations of the Scripture in Proverbs 13:22 — that the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. The dynamic emerging is a transfer of wealth. But it should be explained that this is happening on a very strategic level. It will not be an across the board phenomenon. Likewise, there will be a subtlety associated with the way it takes place. It’s going to involve the Josephs and Daniels of our day. These modern-day Josephs and Daniels are persons who have been uniquely prepared and raised up to meet the unusual Kingdom needs of the era we have entered. These men and women of God are anointed business and government leaders who possess significant character; a clear maturity in the Lord; and a distinct understanding of their calling. Persons, like Joseph and Daniel of old, who will be recognized and respected by the people of the world they work with. They will operate with unusual wisdom and authority; a wisdom and authority recognized and respected by the gatekeepers of the world they work alongside.”
The paradigm has shifted. September 11, 2001 set in motion ripples of change that have yet to be fully realized. The time requires radical reassessments of our mode of doing things as individuals and as a Body. It was a wake-up call, a wake-up call directed to the Body. We are at war. We can no longer respond effectively, while operating within the frameworks of the past.
The days we have entered are perilous days. Days requiring new mind-sets, approaches and strategies challenging the traditions of men. A time for the Body to pursue and embrace unity and come into the full knowledge of the Lord.
Perilous times. But what is unfolding is being met with anticipatory responses by the Lord. It is a time in which we can expect the Body to undergo a mobilization. It will be a mobilization bringing transformation. A mobilization of resources and God’s people is underway. People of God called as modern-day Josephs and Daniels. This is a mobilization of new venues and infrastructures being released to impact the course of world events.
Unique and subtle agendas, are being released from God’s Throne Room, serving the accomplishment of His purposes for the times we are entering. Just as in the days of Joseph, there will be unusual strategic alliances with gatekeepers of the world’s systems. There will be amazing ways the Lord provides during the interim, while setting in motion His long-term redemptive purposes.
One of the extraordinary divine responses for these days will be the wealth transfer referenced in Proverbs 13:22. This transfer of wealth is going to play out in unusual ways. Non-traditional ways. In many instances, it will run counter to what the world is striving for; yet will also utilize the world’s systems in its execution.
Like in the days of Joseph, there is already underway a divine orchestration and alignment of pivotal people and the keys to these resources. Yet, even with the coming of the Josephs and the manifestation of the wealth transfer, we typically will only see in part. Most of those called as Josephs and Daniels will participate at a level reflected by clearly-defined, compartmentalized segments of the big picture. But there is a mosaic, a tapestry being woven. A mosaic and pattern that will require new mind-sets to discern and to grasp changes, strategies and opportunities that the Lord is unfolding.
Shaking off the constraints and bondages of our worldviews and mind-sets, is not unlike what Jesus said needed to be done in order to understand the times and the seasons. Jesus constantly sought to shake the religious leaders of His day out of the blindness of their perception of the times, due to their “traditional” mind-sets. In Luke 12:54-56 He underscored the importance of understanding the times when He said: “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’ and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?”
It’s really just that basic. We need to step out of the ruts of our traditional mind-sets and the momentum of our agendas, and proactively listen to what the Spirit of the Lord is saying.
The shocks and rumblings we’re experiencing in the natural reflect the tremors caused by what is underway in the spiritual realm. It is a time marked by the Lord raising His banner. While we have entered a time of wars and rumors of wars, it is also a rallying time for the Body. It is a time in which the Lord is releasing His power in some fresh new ways, along with His forerunner to undertake new initiatives.
Isaiah 13: 2-4 admonishes us to: “Lift up a standard on the bare hill, raise your voice to them – enter the doors of the nobles; I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors. The Lord is mustering His army for battle.”
In the midst of this divine mobilization, is God’s strategic move into the marketplace and seats of power across the earth. This incorporates those called as modern-day Josephs and Daniels and what is referred to as the “wealth transfer”. To better grasp the significance of the Throne Room agendas of the Joseph-Daniel calling and the wealth transfer, we introduce the concepts of the “Kingdom perspective” and “God’s economy.”
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
1. A CALLING FOR THE SEASON
2. THE KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE AND GOD’S ECONOMY
3. THE JOSEPH-DANIEL CALLING
4. THE JOSEPH CALLING AND AUTHORITY
5. THE JOSEPH KINGDOM ROLE
6. JOSEPHS IN TIMES OF CHANGE
7. PARADIGM SHIFTS AND THRONE ROOM AGENDAS
8. NEW MIND-SETS
9. ISAIAH 58 AND THE WEALTH TRANSFER
10 THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND THE WEALTH TRANSFER
11. THE CHURCH STANDING WITH ISRAEL AND THE WEALTH TRANSFER
12. THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL AND THE TRANSFER OF THE WORLD’S WEALTH
13. THE COUNTERFEITS AND THE WEALTH TRANSFER
14. THE MARK OF GOD’S KINGDOM AMBASSADORS
15. THE RELEASE OF THE JOSEPHS AND DANIELS
