Amanda Cheatwood
In The Rise of Joseph, Apostle Leon Benjamin reveals why the most powerful position in the room often sits right beside the throne
Everybody wants the first seat. Apostle Archbishop Leon Benjamin has watched people fight for it his whole life, in church houses and boardrooms, in the halls of government and around family dinner tables. Meanwhile, the seat that carries the power to save nations sits right beside it, and almost nobody is praying for that one.
He calls it the power of the second seat, and his new book, The Rise of Joseph: The Power of the Second Seat, is a rich, Scripture-soaked journey through the life of the man who lived it best.
Joseph never sat on Egypt’s throne. Pharaoh kept his crown from the first chapter of the story to the last. What Joseph received was the seat beside it, and from there he fed a starving world, preserved his father’s house, and kept alive the family line that would one day bring forth the Messiah.
“The man in the first seat had the title. The man in the second seat had the interpretation.”
A Journey Every Dreamer Will Recognize
Benjamin walks readers through Joseph’s story one hard-won stage at a time: the dream that made his brothers hate him, the pit, the slave market, the false accusation, the prison, the two silent years, and the morning the king sent for him in a hurry.
What makes this book so powerful is how personal he makes it. Benjamin writes as a pastor who has lived the pattern himself. He remembers sharing what God had shown him with people he expected to celebrate, only to watch their faces fall. He knows the sting of being sold out by people who called themselves close.
“I thought they would be happy for me.”
And he brings readers to a truth that reframes every painful chapter of their own story. The brothers’ hatred carried Joseph to Egypt, the one nation on earth where his dream was scheduled to come true.
“The enemy paid for the transportation and God set the destination.”
Serving Your Way to the Seat
At the heart of the book is a principle Benjamin returns to again and again: every place Joseph went, he served. He served in his father’s house, in Potiphar’s house, and in the prison house, and in each one he ended up in the same position, running the place from second chair for the benefit of the man in first. By the time he stood before Pharaoh, serving had become his nature, which is exactly why the seat fit him when he finally sat down.
Benjamin asks readers the same question he asks the men on his weekday national prayer call: What is your track record? Who have you served?
For anyone building another person’s vision while their own dream waits, his word lands like a trumpet. You are in the rehearsal hall.
“The gift makes the room, but the serving makes the man.”
The First Seat Has the Dream, the Second Seat Has the Meaning
The book’s most striking teaching comes in the throne room. God gave the dream to Pharaoh and the interpretation to a Hebrew prisoner, and neither man could do anything with his half alone. Benjamin calls this the deepest lesson in the entire story: the throne needed the dungeon.
For every executive pastor, chief of staff, advisor, administrator, and spouse who has felt invisible in a supporting role, this chapter is a revelation. Benjamin shows how a true Joseph completes the leader beside him and fills the room with capable people, because his security was settled long before the promotion arrived.
He also captures the moment that proved Joseph’s character had been fully formed. Standing before the most powerful man alive, after thirteen years of suffering for his gift, Joseph’s first words were “It is not in me.”
“The credit you refuse to take has a way of following you home.”
A Word for This Hour
Benjamin also brings Joseph’s story into the present. In a chapter on storing up during the years of plenty, he shares his prophetic conviction that America is living in a Joseph season, a window to strengthen our families, churches, finances, and faith before leaner days arrive. He offers it the way a seasoned pastor should, as a word to be tested against Scripture, and he anchors his charge in the most important storehouse of all: the Word of God, hidden in our hearts and in our children while it is still easy to do.
The Grammar of Forgiveness
The book builds to the scene Benjamin has been driving toward from the first page: the day Joseph’s brothers walk into the storehouse and bow before the brother they sold. Joseph empties the room so their shame has no audience, then speaks three words that carry the whole weight of the story: “I am Joseph.”
Benjamin’s teaching on forgiveness here is some of the most practical and healing writing in the book. He defines it as releasing a person from the injury you are holding against them, up to a higher level of mercy, and he shows why that kind of forgiveness becomes possible once God has seated you.
“If your forgiveness needs witnesses, check whether it is forgiveness at all.”
Each chapter closes with a prayer, so the book reads as both teaching and ministry. It is ideal for personal devotion, men’s and women’s groups, leadership teams, and anyone walking through a season of betrayal, delay, or waiting on a promise.
A Foreword from General Michael T. Flynn
Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, U.S. Army (Ret.), opens the book with a foreword drawn from a lifetime of leadership in combat, government, and business. He writes that the most important person in the room is often the one sitting beside the head of the table, and he calls the book a must-read reminder that God does His deepest work in us before the public ever sees the result.
About the Author
Apostle Archbishop Leon Benjamin is a Richmond, Virginia, native, a Gulf War veteran, and the senior pastor of New Life Harvest Church, which he founded and leads alongside his wife, Pastor Maria Benjamin. Ordained by Bishop T.D. Jakes, he founded Harvest Bible College and the Real Remnant Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and leads the World Federation Council of Churches. He has served as a contributor on Fox News and leads a national prayer call every weekday morning, gathering intercessors from across America and around the world.
Your Season of Promotion
The Rise of Joseph is written for every dreamer who has been rejected, misunderstood, overlooked, or forgotten, and for every faithful servant who wonders whether the waiting will ever end. Benjamin ’s answer rings through every chapter: the seat God appointed for you is yours, and nobody can take it from you.
“Get up. Take this meat. Your journey is just getting started.”
Order The Rise of Joseph today →
The Rise of Joseph: The Power of the Second Seat by Apostle Archbishop Leon Benjamin is published by Revival House Publishing. For bulk orders for your church, ministry, or leadership team, contact publisher@revivalmagazine.global. To join the national prayer call, Monday through Friday at 8:00 a.m. ET, visit coalitionofleadersunited.org.
