And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? (Gen.39:7-9)
A pastor and his wife had what appears to be an irreconcilable conflict, as a result of which had to leave home. In order to intervene, I had to visit their home and talk to the wife. On getting to the gate, it was the woman of God that opened the gate for me, which was quite surprising as they had children at home. When I came into the building, I discovered that she was the only person at home. I asked her about the children, she responded that they had been sent on errand and they would not be back soon. In other words, we were the only two inside the big house. It was that day I realized the importance of not going on visitation alone.
As we sat down in the living room, the way the woman was greeting and relating with me was seductive enough but I pretended as if I did not notice her. I felt so uneasy being there alone with her.
When I started talking to her on the subject of my visit, I noticed that she was not at all interested in what I was saying. At a stage, I made my observation known to her and she answered in the affirmative that my observation was right. She told me that she wasn’t interested at all in whatever I had to tell her about her husband. I then asked her what she would be interested in discussing with me. Her response was not surprising to me as I had been seeing the signs since my arrival, but it made me to quietly go into prayer that the Holy Spirit should help me.
The woman told me clearly that she was only interested in what I personally wanted to tell her about the two of us! I couldn’t respond for some time as I had to really ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. I finally responded by telling her that I fully understood what she was saying. I went further by telling her quite frankly that there is no man including myself that would not desire her because of her beauty. Sincerely speaking she was a very beautiful woman. I told her however, there was a problem. When I said that I could see that she was interested in what the problem was, but was quite disappointed when I told her.
Quite frankly, I told her that the problem was that when God called me, I knew I was no longer very young and I wanted to make sure that nothing prevented me from finishing strong in ministry. I therefore asked the Holy Spirit what would make me not to finish strong. The answer that got was: Women! There and then, I made a covenant with God that if I ever got myself involved with a woman outside my matrimonial home, He should deal with me.
I concluded by telling her that that was the problem. When I finished my story, she looked at me as the most stupid creature she had ever come across in life and dismissed me! I gladly left the place with thanksgiving because if God had not helped me to handle the situation, you and I know what would have happened.
I forgot about the incident until several months later when I got to the place of my weekly personal retreat. As I started appreciating God for the privilege of arriving there, I heard the Holy Spirit telling me to just be appreciating Him for the rest of the day. I did that for a long time and was told at a stage whether I knew the reason why I needed to thank God. Of course I didn’t. I was then told that Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt because he did not sleep with Potiphar’s wife. I was told that many ministers of God are not becoming prime ministers because, somewhere in the journey of ministry, they had slept with their own Potiphar’s wife. I was told further that I would become a prime minister because I did not sleep with her. With this new understanding, I continued to appreciate God that I did not fall for my own Potiphar’s wife..
Lessons Learnt
• Every minister of God has a Potiphar’s wife.
• Every minister of God has the potential to become a prime minister in the assignment given.
• Sleeping with your own Potiphar’s wife will prevent you from becoming a prime minister.
• Not sleeping with your own Potiphar’s wife does not mean that there won’t be another temptation.
Dr. Mike Oluniyi.
