Fruitful in Affliction (Genesis 41:52)

For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.
– Genesis 41:52

Oh, this is one of my favorite verses in the Book of Genesis. As Joseph is naming his two sons and the second one, he names Ephraim. And this is what his name means, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Isn’t that a great thing to pray as we’re walking through affliction in our own lives? As we’re walking with others through affliction in their lives?

Genesis 41:52 pictures God’s purpose in our suffering.

God, please make this affliction fruitful. Which we know is God’s desire… In a Romans 8:28 way. For God to work all things together, including the hardest things… For the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. His promise to do that, to make the land of our affliction fruitful.

And think of all the different ways it can be fruitful in our own lives. As James 1 talks about. 1 Peter 1 also talks about it. All over Scripture, we see how God uses trials to conform us more to the image of Jesus. To lead us to deeper trust in God, to deeper experience of the goodness of God. Romans 5, we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who he’s given us. All of those things are fruitful things, character, perseverance, hope, and the love of God being poured out into our hearts.

And so we pray. God, we want all that fruit in the land of our affliction. So we pray for this in our own lives. God, for any of us who are walking through affliction in any way right now, trials, suffering, challenges. God, we pray, please make this affliction fruitful in our own lives and in others’ lives.

Genesis 41:52 shows how God uses affliction to produce good fruit.

Lord, we pray that you would use the affliction we are experiencing to point others to who you are, to point others to your love and your grace and your peace that passes all understanding and your joy that transcends all suffering. God, we pray for fruit in our lives and in others’ lives flowing from days of affliction. And God, we pray this over others, friends of ours, family members, and church members who are experiencing affliction right now.

And God, we pray for fruit. For good fruit in their lives and in others’ lives as they walk through affliction. Oh God, we praise you for your power to bring fruit through affliction. Jesus, we praise you for the gospel, for the life that you bring through your death and your suffering that leads to our eternal salvation. God, we enjoy every day the fruit of the afflictions of Jesus. And so we trust in you that you can and will take the land of our affliction and make it fruitful.

Prayer for the Kodaga People

And God, we pray specifically today for the Kodaga people of India, 128,000 strong, who are unreached by the gospel. God, we know that Kodaga men, women, and children, experience affliction in this fallen world. Lord, we pray for the good news of your grace and your mercy and love to meet them in their affliction. God, we pray for those who are working to get the gospel to the Kodaga people of India, knowing they will experience affliction on the way.

Lord, we pray that you would make their affliction fruitful for the spread of the gospel to the Kodaga people. God, we pray that they would hear and receive the good news that Jesus has died on the cross, been afflicted, and crucified for their salvation, that they might experience eternal life because of his death, his suffering, his affliction, and his resurrection from the grave. Oh God, we praise you for the gospel, we praise you for your power to turn our affliction into good fruit. May it be so we pray, in Jesus’ name, according to Genesis 41:52. Amen.