Don't Miss Rehearsal

August 23, 2026

Imagine auditioning for the role of a lifetime. You stepped on that stage, completely ate, and left no crumbs. 

The Director is so blown away that He offers you the part on the spot. You get the call! 

But getting cast doesn't mean you get to walk straight onto the main stage. You still have to go through a process called rehearsal.

Rehearsal is where you master the role you’ve been chosen for. 

Nobody likes to talk about the awkward space between being chosen and being ready. We love the headline but hate the process behind the scenes.

But when you understand that everything you’ve gone through in your life has been a rehearsal for what you’ve been chosen to do, it shifts your perspective.  

Just because you have the assignment doesn't mean you have the capacity—and if the Director puts you on stage prematurely, you'll end up embarrassing yourself and the One who called you. 

Rehearsal demands development. 

You aren't waiting because God changed His mind; you’re waiting because He requires a version of you that you haven't even been introduced to yet. 

The promise can still be yours while the preparation is happening.

If there’s anyone in the Bible who can speak on the tension between the process and the promise, it’s Joseph. Look at what’s said about him in Psalms: 

“Until the time that his word came: The word of the LORD tried him.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭105‬:‭19‬ (‭KJV)‬‬

In this chapter, the psalmist is doing a whole recap of Israel’s history—remembering the processes of their forefathers. When he gets to Joseph in verse 19, he isn't celebrating Joseph’s authority—he’s recalling Joseph’s process before the palace.

Joseph had a dream he didn't even ask for, rocked a custom coat from his dad, and suddenly his brothers became his ops. Pure jealousy. Why? Because people always get triggered when they realize you're receiving something from the Father that they aren't.

So they tore his coat, threw him in a pit, and sold him into slavery. He ended up in Potiphar's house. Then came false allegations, prison, and betrayal. All for a dream he didn't even ask for! 

There are seasons when you'll find yourself paying a price for a promise you didn't even ask for. But God isn't punishing you in the pit—He’s building the capacity you’ll need to stand in the palace.

Now Joseph could’ve crashed out—most of us probably would have. But God was orchestrating everything with intention. 

“He sent a man before them, Even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: He was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: The word of the LORD tried him. The king sent and loosed him; Even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭105‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

What we see hidden in these verses is the divine order of the chosen:

•  Sent (Destiny)

•  Suffering (Process)

•  Tested (Development)

•  Released (Manifestation)

You cannot jump straight to Verse 20 without enduring Verse 19. Somewhere between "God said" and "God did," there is a heavy, uncomfortable word: until.

“Destiny has a waiting room.” —MGLewisJr 

“For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭36‬ (‭NKJV‬‬)

That waiting room is where we sit in the tension of until. 

Sometimes we handle a hard "No" better than a "Not yet," because a "No" gives closure, but "Not yet" demands patience. “Not yet”  forces you to keep believing even when zero visible progress is happening. 

Look at Joseph—God gave him a promise early on, and yet there were years between that revelation and the realization of it. 

“And Joseph dreamed a dream…” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37‬:‭5‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

We’re not responsible for the dream—the promise from God. Like Joseph, we’ve received a dream—a word from God, a promise. But many of us are stuck between revelation and the realization. Stuck in that until.

The real question in your until isn't "God, when?" It's "Who have I become (or who am I becoming) while I wait?" 

Think back on the waiting seasons of your life: how did you behave? How did you manage your money, your time? Did you worship? Did you serve? How was your attitude?

Your behavior in the waiting room reveals whether you're actually ready for what you’re waiting for.

“Manifestation requires you to kill old habits.” —MGLewisJr 

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” ‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ (‭NKJV)‬‬

Paul basically says, just because you're grown enough and bad enough to do something doesn't mean it aligns with where you're going. 

Some things aren't explicit sin, but they're just too expensive. They will cost you your time, your focus, and your future. Everything you can do, you can't afford to do.

“When your destiny is on the line, some things are just too costly.” —MGLewisJr 

When you realize where you’re going, you have to start evaluating what can’t go with you--including behavior.

Now saints, if we’ll be honest, we have spiritualized our dysfunction. We claim, "That's just my personality, that's who I am." And God is saying, "No, that’s just how you’ve been.” 

We love to say, “God knows my heart." And He does. But we can’t keep saying that while refusing to let Him change our behavior. 

The future you're praying for demands a total transformation.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

You can't transform without a renewed mind. 

“The word of God doesn’t just help you discover who you are, it sometimes requires you to kill who you’ve been.” —MGLewisJr 

Ecclesiastes reminds us that you can be in the right season but it still might not be your time. 

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

If you force your way onto a stage you haven't been prepared for, the platform will destroy you. 

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” ‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

“If God appointed it, I don’t have to manipulate it.” —MGLewisJr 

Rehearsal takes time. Stop trying to control the clock and just focus on preparing for the moment. 

You are responsible for how you navigate this next season. Don't let impatience make impulse decisions that your future has to pay for. 

“Hurry has introduced people to trauma that healing would have protected them from.” —MGLewisJr

When Pharaoh finally called for Joseph in Genesis 41, Joseph was instantly ready.

“Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭41‬:‭14‬ ‭(KJV)‬‬

While he was stuck in Potiphar’s house and in the dungeon, Joseph didn't sit around pouting. He studied servanthood. He learned administrative leadership in the dark so he could execute it in the light. 

You may not be ready because you’re not serving. When was the last time God promoted you based on how well you served in obscurity?

If we jump back to our original text in Psalm 105, we see that God’s word was on the move! Verse 19 says, “Until the time that his word came…” 

God’s word wasn’t still. It found Joseph where he was—serving, waiting. Can the word find you? 

“What God has said has a destination.” —MGLewisJr 

You don’t have to chase what God said, it will find you.  Isaiah 55:11 promises that God’s Word will not return void. 

“so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭11‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

“Everything God said about you can’t go back because He didn’t send it with a return address.” —MGLewisJr

Just because He’s been silent doesn't mean He’s canceled the order. Joseph went years with zero new dreams, living through the pit, the prison, chains, and accusations, but the original promise over his life was still fully alive.

God’s original word over your life is still alive, no matter what you’ve been through! 

However, God’s word requires your cooperation. A prophetic word is not a permission slip to be lazy. James 2:17 makes it plain: faith without works is dead. 

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” ‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭‭17‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

Prophecy isn’t a license to be passive either. If you don’t cooperate with what God said, you won’t see the manifestation of it. 

“Don’t shout over a prophecy you refuse to prepare for.” —MGLewisJr

We can’t use a promise as a crutch to avoid character work. The word didn’t just promise Joseph, it tested him. 

You want God to speak to you? Just know that if the word you receive doesn’t examine you, develop you, refine you, or provoke you, it probably isn’t from God.  

“For thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭66‬:‭10‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

“knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

If you know, you know: faith isn’t always easy. But everything you’re going through is rehearsal. If you’re going to be the person God called you to be, you have to go through the process. 

The word doesn’t just come to change your circumstances, it comes to change you first.

“Before the Word performs something around you, it has to perform something in you.” —MGLewisJr

Look at the Israelites. They didn’t even have to be in the wilderness for as long as they were, but they just wouldn’t learn.

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭8‬:‭2‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

If you don't learn the curriculum in this season, you will change your location and still repeat the exact same lesson.  A new season with an old mindset will eventually become the same season.

Stop praying "God, get me out of this," and start praying "God, deliver me from whatever keeps bringing me back here."

We have to want destiny more than we want comfort. 

Look at how Joseph’s story ends in Genesis 50: 

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭50‬:‭20‬ (‭KJV‬‬)

He reaches the palace, faces the very brothers who ruined his youth, and says, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good."

The real miracle wasn't just that Joseph became powerful; it was that he became powerful without becoming poisonous. He didn’t deny what they did, but he didn’t let it become poisonous to his promise. That is healed authority. 

“Healing is when what they did to you no longer dictates what comes out of you.” —MGLewisJr

You can’t allow what you’ve experienced with others to poison your heart—you’ve got a role to get ready for. Every unhealed, petty moment is just proof of a skipped rehearsal. 

Refuse to let who you’ve been—or what you’ve been through—sabotage who God called you to be. God’s assignment for your life is the role of a lifetime.

Let your until build the version of you that your future actually requires.