The Blessings of Goodbye – by Apostle Paul Oduneye

Genesis 13:14
“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:”
One of the hardest words to hear in this world is the word goodbye. In some instances, goodbye can be a good word, it sounds sweet, but most of the time, it’s the kind of word that brings or causes a feeling of hurt.
It feels easy on the ears hearing “Hello”, “How are you?” or “You are welcome”, but when it comes to goodbye’s, you get a certain feeling, an angst we call it, a kind of prick that some one is going to be missed, that someone is going to miss somebody. This is the feeling a person has when one is departing or leaving.

Every good thing or every new beginning of life usually starts with goodbye. If there is no goodbye, there is no new beginning. Whenever God is about to do something new at times, God will allow something to come to an end. It doesn’t matter how it comes to an end, somehow it could end in a hurting way. That you may not like to happen but God allows it in order for new things to commence in your life. To move forward in life (to start a new life that is) usually starts with a “goodbye.” Though saying goodbye hurts or pains and we don’t like it one bit, it happens.
However, in every goodbye, there are blessings. The blessings of good things God is preparing for you.

As a Christian, never be sad when people separate from you. When they do, they are not part of your future to begin with. No matter what you try to do to make them stay, you are working contrary against God’s purpose for you. Though it’s easy, it hurts. When someone you love, someone in your ministry, someone in your business, when they’re cut off from you, it hurts but that’s not the end of you.
You need to understand, accept and allow these people to go, because if they were there, you may not be able to see what God wants to do in your life.

If you observed in our text message, God didn’t communicate with Abraham before Lot separated from him. Abraham and Lot we’re having misunderstandings, they were quarreling, they were fighting each other. Abraham was facing a challenge with Lot that time. God never said anything, neither did He say a word. The moment Lot separated from or parted ways with Abraham, there was intervention of God. There are times God does not intervene until you hear the word goodbye. Sometimes, there are new revelations, some guidance, some light that God wants to shine in your life, but will never be released until the word goodbye comes.

Applying to your situation, you may have experienced loss of a loved one, feeling you cannot move on with life, relationship has been very long it’s hard to let go. God allows that departing for better things to come in your life. You will never miss the real purpose of God. There is a blessing in the word goodbye.
Probably, you were kicked out of the company and felt sorry for that job loss. It made you ponder on how you started working with them, stood by them through thick and thin, and then when new management took over, you were already unemployed. But that’s not the end of your corporate life story. It means, God is taking you to the next level in your career. For a new things to happen, holding on must end. And presumably when the “holding on” ends, goodbye is expected. But when you hear the word goodbye, it’s not the end of it all.

I remember in the early days of my ministry, I had a conversation with a contemporary and her husband. I was starting then and I saw them growing and getting big in the work of the Lord. On one occasion the couple and I were attending, a certain woman approach the man and both exchanged pleasantries. Obviously, the man who was with his wife that time was somehow surprised by that woman’s presence because she was his ex-girlfriend who refused him many many years ago. The great woman of God, the wife, stretched forth her hand to acknowledge acquaintance. It could have been an awkwardly uncomfortable meet up.

The wife could have just acted out but instead, she thanked the woman because had they been together still, there wasn’t any chance that they could meet. The great woman further said that had the two been married, she couldn’t have met him and they wouldn’t have been the happy ministering couple that they are now.
The truth is, if that woman didn’t say goodbye, the man wouldn’t be able to meet that woman who stood with him to the end. Sometimes, your first boyfriend, the one you love very much, your wife, your husband, your relative or your friend, they might have severed from you, it was just time for you to hear the word goodbye from them. You have to come to terms with it, because it’s not the end of you.

Take heart, do not lose hope because of that. Remember, even the greatest people under went the same one time in their life. But as they made the decision to start again, their goodbyes of yesterday have become their blessings of tomorrow. You may have experienced this, God is preparing for your tomorrow. God is a good God. God is preparing some good and new things behind the scene, beyond what you can see physically.
You may have had severance in the not so remote past, frustrations were real, you were told you were not already needed nor wanted, let me tell you, “God is just preparing you for a great tomorrow!”

God is a good God, He is doing great things which you cannot see now physically, beyond what you can imagine.
Joseph, the man in the Bible characterizes the life of success in the land of strangers because he changed the course of life including the very existence of a nation where he was in. Joseph and his life there were full of pain and hurt, thorns of goodbye included.

In Genesis 37, Joseph was depicted to be the man in the land where he had dreams and great tomorrows. Those dreams he shared with his siblings, dreams of him envisioning a lot of things, like the sun, the moon, and the stars which all bowed down to him.

The Bible said, they (Joseph’s brothers) hated him for it, (vs 26-27). Despite the fact that they hated him, they still stayed together with him. They still looked at him as their younger brother. But there came a certain day, the siblings gathered together and plotted something against Joseph.
v27) Come and let us sell him (Joseph) to the Ishmaelite and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers were content.

For the brethren, seeing Joseph everyday is torture. It is a problem to them, especially when he was sharing great dreams that they themselves could not endure, visions that they believed should not come to pass. Then they decided to kill him at first, and then finally decided to sell him for a small amount of money.
(V28) Then there passed the Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Joseph’s brothers started advertising him in order to sell him. As great as the destiny of Joseph, and yours, it doesn’t matter what the enemy say about you but God has a better plan for you.
The brethren told Joseph that he has been sold, that he’ll be with them and Joseph looked at the strangers (he hasn’t seen before) got looked at his family and thought of his family._______
If you use in Joseph’s stance, what would you feel at that moment?

It was a sad situation for Joseph, so sad that he would be with strangers, so sad that it reminded him of his mother. So bad that it made him wonder where to find his mother, or any relative who can help him. Everyday was never insignificant to help him… that goodbye is not the end of you. God has a plan and His plans shall bot go unfulfilled in your life.

Back to v28, just after a few hour, Joseph was already with the Ishmaelites whom he was sold to. Following that, he had different difficulties like he didn’t know their language, and him moving to another land, he didn’t know what will happen. Either he’d be killed or he’d be done evil to.

Joseph would see his brother going home, say goodbye to him or waving goodbye to his dreams.
Learn from this: Anybody who says you are finished and you’ve been knocked down by them, that is the WORK of the devil, as if saying your dreams are not going to come to realization, that you are insignificant, unwanted and you are better off away and that you can NEVER make it. But God has the final say.
(V36) And the Midianites (who bought Joseph from his brothers) sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an Officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.

Joseph became sort of a product, when people push you here and there and say bye-bye here, you walk there, they don’t understand you, and they say bye-bye, you try to please them, and don’t understand you and they leave you alone, it simply means you are a precious product. It means there’s something important about you that’s why Satan is pushing you here and there. But that is not the end of you.

Listen to this message: They pushed Joseph to another group of people. They saw it for themselves.
Now imagine, they thought they have done evil to Joseph. They thought they were making things difficult for him in that place, from Midianites to the Egyptian. They sold him to the man in Egypt. So Joseph, after hearing words of goodbye from his people, had to hear it again from the Midianites so he can be able to go to Egypt where the purpose of his life will come to pass.

As for you, you may have had so many incalculable farewells, how many relationship you have been into and cried over, you suffered so much but I want to tell you God knows what He is doing. He is taking you somewhere. You will never miss the purpose of God in the precious name of Jesus. That’s part of the message of blessings of goodbyes. It’s a hard word. It hurts, but never forget (to understand) that God is ever faithful. Hallelujah!
Joseph was sold to slavery in Egypt and it was the beginning of the fulfillment of his dream. The problem that is pushing you now, it’s not for your destruction. The challenges, the places of your rejection, they are not for your destruction. God is taking you somewhere. The person that bode you goodbye, has moved out of your life. Yes!
They may not be part of the fulfillment of your destiny. It is so difficult they move out of your life because you love them so much. Hard to accept but you need to in order to receive the blessings of goodbye. Hallelujah!

How to turn goodbyes into blessings? There are five important points:

1.LOOK UP.
Genesis 13:14 is about the severance of Abraham and Lot.
“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward…”

Let us paraphrase the verse.
Now, Lot has cheated Abraham, he has taken all the lands his uncle had tirelessly worked to acquire. Lot has separated from him in bad faith.

Now, you, like Abraham, have been knocked down, crying badly. Do not let the situation blow you down. As Abraham did, lift up your eyes and see something.
Look up! Many people at the point of goodbye in life, are being swallowed by their problem, because their problem totally hit them black and blue. They thought everything is done and gone hopeless.
Everytime people say goodbye to you, every time situations render you separated or cut off from those you love and care for, look unto God.

The Bible says, look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher, the Beginning and the End of destiny. So if you want to avoid getting swallowed by the quicksand of goodbyes, never remove your eyes from Jesus.
Isaiah 45:22
When you keep on looking unto the people who said goodbye to you, you will always continue to see problems. You will always be affected emotionally. When you keep remembering all things, all days you will never see the good Lord in action. The beginning of the blessings of goodbye is removing your attention from the people who disappointed you and looking up unto Jesus instead.

When you look unto Him, you will see Him in action. ~APSO

He will surprise you. Listen! Look unto God as He will arrange some people, important ones, who can help in the fulfillment of your destiny. More important than those who moved away from you, than those who shunned you away from themselves. The moment you look unto Jesus, He will know how to arrange everything.
From the house of Potiphar, where Joseph was enjoying his life, the devil targeted Joseph and released the third streak of goodbye to him. Where did he go? Where was he going? To the prison.

As he was on the way to prison, his hope remained in God only. At that moment, God was too detailed arranging the people working in the palace of Pharaoh to become a prisoner. In the prison, where Joseph met them, they became connections to the throne where Joseph is going.
God is also doing the same thing to you these days. He is getting more important people ready than those who left you, than those who forsook you who said goodbye to you. He is arranging better connection for your fulfillment. You won’t miss it in the precious name of Jesus.

In converting your goodbye to blessing, remember number 1: to look unto God.
Look unto Him through prayer, through having relationship with Him, you look unto Him by hearing His word, reading the Bible and Christian literature and also by having praises and worship time with Him.
Have intimacy with your God. Your destiny will be secured in the precious name of Jesus.

2.SEE BETTER THINGS AHEAD.
See better days in the front. When people are hurting with goodbyes, like being told to go away, that they’re unwanted, that they are done with you or they can’t be with you anymore, it is actually an emotional attack that blindfolds to prevent you from seeing a bright tomorrow. The feeling leads people to cry and be saddened everyday to the extent they no longer see the silver lining, the better horizon. This is a dangerous state of a person. Genesis 13:14, when God talked with our father Abraham, He said “Now that Lot had departed from you, look up, see the south, see the north, see the west and see the east. Everywhere you set your eyes on, I will give it to you.”
What do you see after people say goodbye to you? Do you see that hope was lost? Do you see the end of your journey? No!!!

You need to allow your vision to go father, make your eyes see farther. There’s no way you can see all points at the same time with your physical eyes either. Abraham allowed his inner mind to see greater things coming in order for him to attain greater things from God.
Same goes with you. Never be hind-sighted or blindfolded by the challenge caused by those who betrayed you or separated from you. Never be blinded by those who cast you away. Their bye-bye word won’t be the end of you.
See better tomorrow, even if your marriage was lost, that is not the end of you. God has prepared another better comfort for you. God is preparing you to be a great person who will be employing people in the near future. No matter what the situation is, life may have become unpleasant and inconvenient of late or sickness may have dragged you down, opt to see a better tomorrow, I declare God will get you there.

When I was a child, I experienced seeing wild animals which are common in Africa where I lived. Aside from beasts (and we are aware of their presence), we encounter snakes, the ones we meet while we had an enjoyable walk in our village. Snakes coming up here, passing by there, they are almost everywhere. In those days, as a child, when I got to pass somewhere and I’d see snakes coming, you will never see me go and pass that place again. No way! Why? The mentality stayed with me, passing there one more time, the snake is going to come out again there. I always had that feeling. It got stuck in my head.

Many people in this world when passing through the alleys of goodbyes and it is so painful to bear, they are incapacitated to see good or better things coming. It is because they dwell in the past, they always think and are fixated that the snake is coming again. When somebody, at one point in your life, disappointed you and you were victimized because of what the person did doesn’t mean it will always be like that in your life forever.
It is time to RESET your mind to see new things in life. If you failed in one job before doesn’t mean you will fizzle forever. Because you flanked in the examination before, doesn’t mean you will fail forever.

Listen! God still has a plan for you it is not everywhere you will find a snake. Not every person that comes your way will become a betrayer again. God still has better people to the fulfillment of your destiny, that He arranged to become your destiny helper, to guide them to your ways.
If you want or decide to close your eyes because of yesterday’s goodbye, when new things become visible, your eyes will still be close. Open your eyes again!

You have lost a great deal of amount months back, that’s not the end of you. Open your eyes to the certainty that God will bless you afresh. He is able to restore the capital of your business. He’s able to restore back what the enemy has taken away from you. The good life you have lost before, it is not impossible for God to bring into restoration. Just don’t allow your eyes to be blindfolded by your past. See, and whatever you set your eyes on, God is committed to give you. Let your inner mind see a better tomorrow. See that better marriage, the better ministry, see that more progress or better business restore, that better (good) health. Forget about what you had been seeing, or what you saw yesterday, or what the devil made you see or revealed to you. Look forward. God has prepared something better for you. You shall never miss it, in the name of Jesus! Hallelujah!

3.MOVE ON TO ALLOW THE MOVE OF GOD.
When people in your circle bid you goodbye, it is natural to feel lonely or feel alone in the company of yourself. Immobile. Smashed down. Tearful. Pushed back to the walls of bad memories. Backward. Stagnant. Get this logic. If you don’t move an inch, God Himself will not make a move. In order for Him to make a move then do new things in your existence, make a move, take a step. Go beyond where the devil has quarantined you. Be ready to move on and God will be committed to start the engine for new things.
The Bible has mentioned a great man from the family of Abraham named Isaac, one of the covenant fathers in the Bible. Genesis 26:21-22 is loaded with great blessings to be learned in life.
(v21) And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of Sitnah.
Isaac was in a strange land and he dug a well to have a successful family. As we know the story from previous readings, the men came as oppositions. The men of the land came and fought with him and claimed what was duly his. It seemed the end of what Isaac had. But Isaac was blessed and was wise enough to make a move.

(v22) And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For no the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

He removed himself from where he was, meaning he moved forward. He moved a notch unto the next level.
God is about to send or get you to the next level, but if you remain heartbroken and stagnant dwelling in your past, the enemy will be rejoicing over what you are doing.
(Your family background even has nothing to do with it.) Never let the devil put you back to the ground. Get up! Make a move, there is a sea of blessings before you. God has something new He wants to gift you with.
The man Isaac moved and dug another well. This time, for that they strove not: (Praise God!!!)
After Isaac made a move, God moved with him and silenced all of Isaac’s enemies.
Remember, every adversary or opposition of his life never reappeared!
This is letting you know not to be afraid of those who used to betray you. Your detractors cannot stop the purpose of God in your life.
Make a move again. God will move ahead to stop and silence every opposition of your destiny in the precious name of Jesus!
The Bible continued saying, “Isaac called the name of the place Rehoboth” and said, “from now, the land has many rooms for us and we shall be fruitful in the land”. Hallelujah!
Someone hearing or reading this message now, I see you enter your Rehoboth in life in the name of Jesus.
There’s a place where God is taking you to a new level. He sees where you should be rightfully placed where you can remember those who said goodbye to you, who didn’t finish you, but instead helped catapult you to move forward.
They helped Isaac move into Rehoboth and the Bible said, “They will be fruitful.” God is bringing you to your fruitfulness! He is moving you forward from glory to glory in the name of Jesus!
An instance of goodbye is just an opportunity for you to get into the next level of success.

4.WATCH CAREFULLY THE COMING OPPORTUNITIES.
Because of the devil’s tricks, as you get out of goodbye and move into the new (or next) level of life, there are things that you should be careful when they come. As I always emphasized not all that glitters is gold.
There are fakes or counterfeits even when things look like gold. These are problems in disguise. There are also things called false opportunity. They may appear like an advantage or exactly like what the pastor has talked about. Never rush as you are making a move, be on the alert and be watchful! There is always a grain of truth in what the Bible says, “Watch and Pray.”
Genesis 39:7-9
(v7) And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
(v8) 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;
(V9) There is none greater in this house than I; neither that he kept back any things from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
There came a first opportunity in order to take away the real destiny of Joseph, Satan entered into the woman and said, “Joseph, you know this work you have here, people see you as a slave. I can help you from this. You just need to agree to become my secret boyfriend and commit sin with me in this house. I promise you, the food that I’m giving to your boss (Potiphar) before will also be given you. Everybody will show you respect in this place as you are the next boss, I will make sure that you will enjoy all the perks in this house.”
Quite a tempting offer, but thank God for Joseph, he allowed the wisdom of God to decide, not giving in to the opportunity from the devil. There are different kinds of opportunity sources, it could be from Satan, it could be from God. So you need to watch out. Not everything that comes to you is from God, you can say, “He has disappointed me, I don’t know if, I can have another man to marry me again.” And suddenly when you opened your facebook, you read a message saying, “I love you, can you be my girlfriend?”

Before you know it, you started chatting with the person, communicating with a perfect stranger. Seeing his profile picture, he appears as a white man but later you discovered he is a black man. You discovered that the person you are in touch with is a scammer. Watch out!

Don’t fall into the opportunity laid by Satan, you will surely have regrets and sob. If a person said bye-bye to you and you cried a river, don’t allow the devil a chance to make you fall and again.
Be wise! God allowed your past situation to give you a lesson, to teach you to be wise in life.
After Lot parted ways with Abraham, God expected Abraham not to act foolishly again. The same thing with you and me. Satan presented to Joseph saying, “I have the whole house for you, this whole compound will be yours, you will enjoy everything. Just agree with Madam (Potiphar’s wife).”

But Joseph was indeed wise to picture in his mind that it was not his dream, it wasn’t the opportunity from God. His dream was the whole country of Egypt, to be a ruler over that nation, not the house of Potiphar.
Satan knew to offer the house to take the whole country from somebody, don’t sell it off. Don’t just rush into every opportunity. If you want to convert you’re goodbye to blessings, move step by step according to the guidance of God because He is the only one who can see your future, who can guide you rightly. But if you will trust in your way and knowledge, you are doomed to fall and fall into greater trap. Never let the devil take advantage of you.

Do not quickly embrace every opportunity that comes to you. Ask God, if it’s His will, shall you do it? Should you follow this way? Or not? You can even communicate with your pastor. It’s not easy for Satan to deceive two people at a time. If the devil tries to deceive you, he may not be able to deceive your pastor.
Don’t live your life depending on your own wisdom. You thought you already know everything, nobody can advise you. You don’t follow instruction nor listen to anyone, you just believe in yourself alone. Beware, you have a leaning to fall and fall and fall into the trap of the devil. Watch out!

For you to turn your goodbyes into blessing, be wise for every opportunity that comes your way. Have a discerning spirit to know if it is from God or from the devil. Be wise, don’t just see every opportunity as something to misbehave with. If you don’t apply God’s wisdom, the enemy may knock you down so hard you may not be able to rise. The only reason why Joseph was able to rise from prison to palace was that he rejected the opportunity offered by the devil and God stood with him. When you don’t dance to the tune of the devil, God will always be with you and convert your bye-bye to blessings.

5.ENJOY THE BETTER END.
For everything there is an end and your expectation shall never be cut off. When you are moving on the way to convert your bye-bye to blessings, the road may appear rough and may not exactly be as you expect it, but take heart, that is not the end. When the time of God, His appointed time arrives, it’s going to be a great breakthrough for you. You will forget your sorrow. You will look back remembering those who said goodbye to you and will praise God for them saying it to you. When Joseph got there, even his brothers, upon seeing him, started blaming one another. They started thinking about what they did. Yet Joseph said to stop blaming themselves.
“You thought you hurt me, you didn’t do it for me for evil, you people planned evil for me but God converted (meant it) for good.

God is a converter. It doesn’t matter what had been planned for you, He will alter the course of things for your good at the end. As a result, you will enjoy a better life, a better home, a better business, a better ministry or a better success. That can only be achieved if you will follow all these spiritual guidelines.

Job 42:12 substantiated this truth, “The end of Job became good and better than the beginning.”

Everytime people follow the guidelines of God, the end thereof will be enjoyment. Maybe you are crying now for whatever reasons, that is not the end of you. Maybe you’re having some troubles from different aspects of your life now, that is not the end of you. The best decision you can make is to bid good riddance to your present vision and move forward to the next level.

Decide on letting go of friends that lead or influence you to sin, cut off affiliation with them, face your life with God. Surely, great success is what you will end up being. Worked for me.
I can never forget the day I said bye bye to my old friends. Back home, we always traveled every weekend for nightclub, drinking beers, engaging in evil lifestyle. When I said bye-bye to them, they looked at me as if I was foolish. But today, I am far, far better than all of them. I know what I’m talking about, they have never been to half the level where God has taken me. I haven’t reached there yet, I keep moving higher.

If you are hearing me right now, don’t be afraid to say bye-bye to those who are misleading your life, misguiding you, making you commit sin and disobeying God.
Move away from them. Move forward, trust God, you will turn out well and you end would be great. Your circle of friends will remember and congratulate you. You will never miss it in the name of Jesus!

This message about blessings of goodbye is best wrapped up with Isaiah 49:20 which says,
“The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.”

There are things you lost before that said goodbye to your life. After that, the right time and the thing (that’s right for you) that you will have, arrived. Amd they “shall say again in thine ears…this place is too strait… give place” simply indicates that God will expand your coast and will make you great and great.
(v21) Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Now, you will be thinking, in amazement who has given you these blessings? Are you that one who before didn’t have anybody? Who before had very few church members? How come and how did you get to have this kind of breakthrough? That will be your testimony soon!

You may still wonder if you were the one before who always walked without a car? Who always struggled to have money to even pay for a bike to ride?
The Lord says the time will come you will look at yourself, at your properties, at what God has done for you and you yourself will wonder about who has brought all those things for you?

Isaiah 49 is about God’s people in exile moving from one place to another, experiencing suffering upon suffering. I don’t know how many times YOU have been moved out of your growth, moved from where you thought things would work. You tried and tried, failed once then failed again. There is an end, I want to tell you, soon and very soon, you will enjoy success, breakthrough, blessing of that bye-bye.

How did it come about that they flocked, honored me, became a blessing? Where have they been before? I have been left alone before without money, now I have millions of blessings. Who has made these possible for me? You may be asking those to yourself. Your testimony will soon manifest. God is about to do it, very soon in the mighty name of Jesus!

Even the King will take care of you. The queen will be your nursing woman. You will enjoy favor upon favor. That’s the better end God is planning for you. Don’t be hurt because of the bye-bye. Maybe that man or woman passed away, left you alone and hopeless, I have this good news for you! You will have a better end, keep yourself keyed up, follow all these spiritual guidelines. Everything you have lost, God is able to bring it back with bigger joy, to give you a reason to or make you laugh again in the name of Jesus! Amen!