Tag Archive | Jacob

Genesis 28

Oct25

Good Morning y’all. Happy Saturday :).
Today we in chapter 28 of Genesis. Here, Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry canaanite women. Sent him away to his brother in law and asked him to marry one of his daughters. On his way Jacob encountered God.

I pray like Jacob, we too will have an encounter with God today as we study his word.

Be blessed 🙂

Isaac sent Jacob to his brother in-law Laban and he commanded Jacob not to take a canaanite wife but marry one of Laban daughters. Esau over heard the command and realised his father didn’t like canaanite women so he went to his uncle Ishmael and married his daughter Mahalath. Esau was hoping to win his father’s favour again. He wanted to please his father so bad. Perhaps his father will change his mind and bless him.

Esau’s problems started the day he carelessly handled the gift of God in his life (trading his birth right for a meal). He made a bad choice that came back to haunt him. Now he wants so bad to please his father. He wants so bad to win his father’s favor.

We need to be careful how we handle the gift of God in our lives. When we abuse them and repent, God will forgive us but that doesnt mean there wont be consequences for our actions. In Esaus’ case he lost the blessing and now he is trying to please and do things his father’s way but it was too late for him. I pray it won’t be too late for us. Whatever it is that we are involved in that is not pleasing to God, I pray the Holyspirit will give us the grace to walk away from them and God will have mercy and restore us back.

Jacob started on his journey to Labans house. On his way he stopped to sleep and he had a dream where God appeared to him and made promises to him. The promise are the same as He told Abraham and Isaac. God promised He will give them the land and their descendants will be as a many as the dusts of the earth and all the families of the earth will be blessed through him and his descendants.

Then we get to verse 15 which I must say is my favorite verse in the chapter :), this verse is so powerful and amazing. I want us to disect the verse one by one and I pray the truth of the words in the verse will settle in our hearts and fill us to overflow with Gods peace and assurance of his love for us. Amen

I am with you and will protect you everywhere you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15 NCV

1) I am with you – this tells me that God is always there. I am is a present tense. It’s a fact that’s always true in the present. Its not in the past but today. Which means even when we don’t feel it or think so, God is always with us!. He is everywhere at all times. That’s why we say He is the Omnipresent God. He is Emmanuel; God with us. Whatever it is you are going through today no matter how bad, I want to assure you God is with you. It might not look like it but that’s the truth. Be encouraged :).

2) I will protect you – this tells me God is our protector. To protect according to the dictionary means to ‘defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insults, etc’. God does all of that for us. So why should we fear…If God is on our side. He has promised He will protect us. Today hold on to this word. Whatever it is, God is able and will protect you and defend you. One man in the bible who understood what it meant to be protected by God is King David- he had loads of enemies during his lifetime but He knew not to worry about them cos He knew who was backing him – God. In the psalms you see a trend where he is constantly asking God to protect him or declaring that God is his shield and defence. One of my favorite is psalm 18.

I love you, Lord . You are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my protection, my Savior. My God is my rock. I can run to him for safety. He is my shield and my saving strength, my defender. Psalms 18:1-2 NCV

3) ….everywhere you go – that is there is no where we can go that God can’t reach us. He is everywhere and so can protect and shield us wherever we are. So if you are in a situation like Jacob that you are having to leave your comfort zone for the unknown, take comfort in Gods promise this morning, He will protect you everywhere you go. Be encouraged 🙂

4) I will not leave you – (wow! are you excited already. I’m pumped up ready to get up and shout till the world hears me – God said he will not leave me!!! I just want to chant it everywhere 🙂 ). Again God is reminding us that not only is He always with us, not only will He protect us, but He will also not leave us.
The key words here are ‘will’ and ‘not’. Now let’s look at the definition/usage of each one.
a) ‘Will’ is used to express futurity. What I realised here is God said 1st of all to Jacob, I am with you…that’s the present. Now he said I will not leave you, that is the future. That is, for today I am with you and know that cos I will not leave you, you will also have me tomorrow. I am overwhelmed at this point at God’s great love for us.

b) ‘Not’ is used to negate something that is positive. In this case I will leave you is positive but once you insert the word not, it negates the possibility of leaving. That is, God is saying leaving us is something that will never happen at any time!. (Are you excited or what :). At this point, pls indulge me as I ask you to pause and give God some praise, just worship him from the depths of your heart for his love towards you. This God is too much. There is no searching of His power, no question of His greatness…words are failing me to express how i truly feel about my God)

5) ….until I have done what I have promised you –  (Wow I’m done. I’m just too excited! Don’t know if I can take anymore without bursting 🙂 ) here, God is saying every single promise I made to you will come to pass. I am going to be around to make sure those promises come through. Friends, God is not a man that He will lie. Honestly He is faithful to the end. He is reminding us this morning that no matter what, we need to remember He is going to stand with us till what He promised comes to pass. He will hold our hands through it all.

Be encouraged this morning. Invite Jesus into the situation. Let him take it over for you. He never intended for you to have to carry the burden, that’s why he is there – to carry them for you. 1Peter 5:7 says cast your cares to the lord for he cares for you. Give it all to Jesus, let him heal, restore and comfort you. His love for you is unconditional. Jeremiah 31:3(NCV) says “I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness.”

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you so much for today, we are so grateful for your word this morning. Words are not enough to express our gratitude to you. You are just too much, in a class of your own, God all by yourself! Who is like unto you or who can we compare you to. Thank you so much for your love and for reminding us this morning that you are always with us, that you will protect us, that you will never leave us until you bring to pass all you have promised us. Wow God it’s too much for us :). We pray you help us believe today and that the truth of those words will wash over us, settle in our hearts and fill us with your peace till we overflow. Oh Lord we love you so much. May you always be the object of our affection. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Thanks for joining. I have faith that you have been blessed today 🙂

GO FORTH TODAY WITH BOLDNESS AND CONFIDENCE KNOWING THAT YOUR GOD IS ALWAYS WITH YOU, HE WILL PROTECT YOU, HE WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE! 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Genesis 27

Oct24

Good Morning y’all. Thank God it’s Friday 🙂
Today we in chapter 27 of Genesis. I am honored to have one of my good friends write today’s blog. I pray you are blessed 🙂

Genesis 27 by Amara Okoloekwe

Good morning everyone! It is my utmost prayer for God to open our eyes to see wonderful things in his word and our hearts to understand them all in Jesus name.

This chapter tells a strange story of greed, deception, hatred and lack of faith in God. Isaac felt that because of his blindness he was nearing death. He must have given up on life hence his confinement to bed and preparation for ‘a handover’. However, his death wish didn’t tamper with his appetite. Even though he mistook spiced up goat meat for hunted game.

Observations:

1.      The disobedience of Isaac to the revealed will of God as to who should receive the blessing.
2.      Lack of communication in the family. My goodness!! This family operates strictly under secrecy and conspiracy. Isaac planned to hold a secret handover ceremony 43yrs before his actual death to transfer the birthright to Esau. Instead of blessing Esau (his favorite) he put him under a curse because he ordained that whoever cursed Jacob should be cursed, and Esau planned to kill Jacob vs 29. Esau who had willingly sold his birthright (first son status) to Jacob for a mere bowl of porridge (Gen 25:31-34) now intends to reclaim it. Obviously, this right belong to Jacob now. Rebekah (this woman), she couldn’t trust God enough and conspired to commit identity fraud and finally, Jacob impersonated his brother and told lies repeatedly (vs 19,20,23,24 &27).
3.      Another thing is that faith doesn’t have to be perfect. Bible talks about the mustard seed size of faith. Isaac didn’t have a pure motive for his actions. But in the end he believed God, and he accepted that Jacob was the one who was going to be blessed with regard to things to come.

What happened to telling the truth and trusting God at all times? I wonder what would have happened if Esau had told their father that he actually sold his right to Jacob and sealed it with an oath or if Isaac was opened in telling his wife his plans. Rebekah must have thought that her actions were backed by God after all she was told in Gen 25:23 ‘the older will serve the younger’. And Jacob (a man past 70yrs) should have rebuked his mother for her deception but not at all, his only fear was that the plan might bounce back on them. God doesn’t need us to sin in other to fulfil his promises. Matt 6:1 warns us that there is no reward for doing good things for the wrong reasons. God is not concerned with our outward appearance. ‘For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings’. (Hosea 6:6ASV)

‘You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life.’ (Gal 6:7-8 MSG)

We cannot say why God chose Jacob over Esau Rom 9:10-13. One thing is clear that God is all-knowing and no one is born by his own choice, so we shouldn’t lay claim to any title. Isaac pronounced the blessing on Jacob and later makes it irrevocable.

This chapter is full of intrigues. We can also see a strange example of faith. Isaac in faith spoke about the future of his family. ‘By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau’ (Heb. 11:20 MSG). Gen 27 vs 33, Isaac realized late that he had been fighting with God and had lost. He started to tremble, shaking violently and eventually accepted the will of God.

Whatever Isaac meant in vs 40, Esau intended to make it sooner than later vs 41. Yet we still see Rebekah scheming again vs 46. Nevertheless, she paid the high prize, lost both of her sons, and spent her last years emotionally detached from her husband. Jacob after receiving the blessing, fled for his life and became a servant of Laban. Esau moved to Edom, alienated himself from God and his promise to the descendants of Abraham.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for your word. We ask that you strengthen us and help us walk in faith and not in fear. Help us to trust you completely even when we don’t know or understand what you are doing. Give us your grace today to build up our faith by reading your word and acting on it in Jesus Name. Amen. Thank you.

Thanks for joining today.

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Have a blessed Friday walking in Faith and not fear 🙂

***With God all things are possible***