Separated By God
John Mark Pool
Baker Louisiana USA
www.wordtotheworldministries.org
December 6-8, 2007
“Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33) And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen." 34) "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." Genesis 30:32-34 NIV emphases added.
“Paid in Full,” is the stamp Jacob saw as he took his speckled and spotted animals and left the presence of shrewd Laban, his Father-in-Law. God will use whatever means necessary to transform our hearts from the backside of a desert to the presence of Moses and Aaron in the courts of Pharaoh if necessary. We often think we have God’s masterful plan figured out in the “process of becoming” His Word! He always reserves the last Word!
As Jacob found in the crushing of the man to fit God’s mantle in order to bear the chosen tribes namesake, Israel, he had to be “developed” God’s way over mans!
Only then did God begin to deal with Jacob to do the “right thing” even when it hurt or could mean injury or death! Facing the future for Jacob was as dangerous as going back to His father-in-law’s land. We must go forward to God’s plan!
Jacob was in a set up for his destiny to meet God in the middle of the raging battles of life. He now faced returning to Canaan and the dilemmas of his childhood versus succumbing to the tyranny of sowing more years into his in-laws indentured labor camp decoyed as wages. Jacob learned a valuable lesson, blessed or not, he could not serve the devil long enough to ever pay him off!
We must not get caught in that trap of satan to take us further than we should go, costing us far more than we could pay and keeping us longer than we should stay!
God gave Jacob a dream and said essentially, “That’s enough my son!” Go home and face the family!
However, Jacob on the return was not expecting the encounter he had with God “face to face!”
“ And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.” Genesis 32:29-31 KJV emphases added.
When we have heard from God, we can wrestle our name out of the heavenly host of heaven and win a blessing and a name change! Jacob became Israel because guilty and unrepentant cannot fight to the end! The fight in Jacob came after many years and tears of toil of God’s justice system. It was love, yet it was enough repayment to cause Jacob to get the name Israel out of God’s heart to give him strength to finish the assignment. Esau’s reconciliation was won during the fight with God for His new name!
New character from God was now associated with Jacob’s mantle that did not come easily for a trickster turned into Israel. We too must develop that fighting tenacity to stand up to the battle, to the devil, and yes even to God as the giver of all gifts and say, “Father, you promised me, if I obeyed I’d get repaid! Now is a good time to start!”
It is reaping time if you have the grit for it? God is separating the sheep from the goats, the speckled and spotted. The blemished on the outside seemed bad, but it was plenty from Jacob’s stand point to prove God is not into outer appearances as much as the purity of the heart! It’s fighting time to get what is yours and have it truly become your new name with a pure mantle that is one hundred percent Separated by God!
Always a Voice for Our Lord,
John Mark & Sandy Pool
www.wordtotheworldministries.org
Restoration Time
John Mark Pool
Baker, Louisiana USA
www.wordtotheworldministries.org
December 4-5, 2007
“Then, in the distance, Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. V3) Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother, he bowed low seven times before him.” Genesis 33:1,3 NLT emphases added.
Jacob the supplanter, or trickster had come full circle to humble himself for whatever Esau, the older brother would do to him as recompense for the wrong Jacob had committed. Jacob was changed before approaching Esau through the many years of repayment exacted by God’s justice system. Jacob had learned a lengthy and valuable lesson in cutting corners to get what was not legally his. Jacob bowing seven times was a widely attested sign of homage, fit for a king. Although his heart had changed, Jacob was taking no chances! Jacob was blessed by covenant law and could not be “unblessed.” Jacob, of all people knew that being blessed did not, however, exempt him from consequences of past deceitfulness.
However, Jacob could have been killed, locked up and never allowed to escape from His father-in-law, Laban. Even in his getaway from Laban, Jacob had proven the character transformation that had taken place within his heart as he agreed and settled the account justly at Mizpah. God gave us a history of the “Jacob-to-Israel” conversion by Jacob’s desire for settling the accounts with the in-laws leaving no “outlaws.” Laban and Jacob cut covenant and a sacrificial meal by a pile of stones at the treaty spot also known as “Witness Pile.” Jacob passed another test to prove going home was to be the right thing to do.
“They named it "Witness Pile," which is Jegar-sahadutha in Laban's language and Galeed in Jacob's. 48) "This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of our agreement," Laban said. 49) This place was also called Mizpah, for Laban said, "May the LORD keep watch between us to make sure that we keep this treaty when we are out of each other's sight.” Genesis 31:47-49 NLT
Peace was the backdrop of Jacob’s return to his homeland, Canaan. Many years and tears had been some of the various compensations for his past actions. When Jacob had said yes to God in his heart with a pure motives testing, then he encountered God at Peniel (Gen 32:30,31). It was at Peniel Jacob had fought through the night with a heavenly host to command a blessing along with a new name that could accompany God’s legacy of His chosen people forever.
2008 is a Year of Restoration—a season of New Names!
Israel was now ready for restoration with Esau. Even though Esau did not prove to have the character necessary to be the leader God had chosen to carry Israel’s namesake, Jacob indeed treated him unfairly in the beginning. God had never chosen Esau, yet that did not give Jacob and his mother the right to take providence in their hands. This seems paradoxical, however, God can make a limp turn into the same word for dance!
Just as Esau showed mercy unto his younger brother, Jacob, the fact came through that Jacob was able to pass God’s test to turn the past into the victory for the future of God’s chosen people. He was now Israel, which means, “he contends with God.”
The experience at Peniel prepared Jacob to go victoriously into the presence of Esau. He was no longer Jacob the "supplanter" and schemer (Genesis 27:36), but had the assurance from God of victory by faith. He had "prevailed" (Genesis 32:28) in that he had finally acquired that humble submission that God required, and he had come to see that victory must come from God alone.
Jacob’s new name "Israel" means, "he contends with God."
“Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him affectionately and kissed him. Both of them were in tears.” Genesis 33: 4 NLT emphases added.
2008 is our year to dance into new beginnings and a year of walking out our New Birth for a Move of God! Truly this is the year we can say is indeed God's RESTORATION TIME!
Always a Voice for Our Lord,
John Mark & Sandy Pool
www.wordtotheworldministries.org