6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away
to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he
gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of
Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to
Padan Aram. 8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his
father Isaac.
Esau’s watching.
Esau saw, Esau heard, Esau knew.
Esau was watching as the Lord, through Isaac, passed the
torch, the blessing of Abraham, to Jacob.
He was listening as Isaac told Jacob to go to his mother’s
brother; his uncle Laban, and find a wife.
Esau knew his brother Jacob was no saint, he had just
deceived him and his father. Yet, he couldn’t deny that his heel grabbing
brother, was the one chosen by God to receive the blessing of Abraham; and
that his trickster twin pleased his father and mother, by obeying
them.
He also knew, that his lifestyle choices, and the wives he’d
chosen, did not please them.
Esaus are watching. The world is watching the Church.
They’re listening to what we say, watching if we obey; to see if we practice
what we preach. And down inside they know, the lifestyle they’ve chosen, does
not please the Father.
Heart check:
Are we like Esau?
Hebrews 12:16, warns us not to be like perverse, profane,
godless Esau.
So, let’s check our hearts, to be sure we’re not. If so,
let’s repent and remedy that here and now.
How do we respond when our brother is blessed?
Are we happy for them, like we should be? Or, are we jealous,
hateful, vengeful, like Esau?
Do we rejoice with them, or do we act like Esau, and try to one-up
them?
9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter
of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition
to the wives he had.
Esau’s seeking.
Abraham was Esau’s grandpa and alive for the first 15 years
of his life. The name and the stories and the blessing of Abraham, were
probably at least somewhat familiar to Esau. He would’ve been told about Yahweh,
the God of Abraham who called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to this land of
Promise.
Yet, instead of following Abraham’s God, Yahweh, he went his
own way and chose for himself a lifestyle amongst the wild women of the land.
But now, he saw and heard and learned that what he’d been
doing wasn’t pleasing. And it cost him dearly.
However, Jacob, even with all his faults, kept climbing the
ladder.
So, Jacob’s going to uncle Laban to find a wife. I’ll do one
even better. I’ll go to uncle Ishmael and find a wife.
Uncle Laban is grandpa Abe’s great nephew.
But Ishmael’s way better, he’s grandpa Abe’s son. Dad’s
brother. Surely, that’ll get me back into the blessing.
Bottom line is, Esau is seeking to please Isaac, his father.
Now go deeper than that. Pause and peak into the spirit
realm. Esau runs to Ishmael in an effort to please his father.
Ishmael is the patriarch of Islam. The religion with an absentee dad. They are forever trying to please a god that can never be pleased because he doesn’t exist, so they try harder and harder, until they are killing, and stealing and destroying, trying to please him. They even kill themselves for him, thinking he will be pleased and reward them.
But he has no reward to give. When the curtain of eternity
is pulled back, they’ll see no almighty allah, but only a heel grabbing
deceiving demon.
Dear Esau, dear Ishmael, dear muslims; please know you have
a Father who loves you. He is a Father to the fatherless. He longs to adopt you
into His family; filled with more Love and joy and peace than you could ever
know. Forever.
As Jacob dreamed, we pray you do too. That the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would reveal Himself to you. That you come to know
Him as the One who Loves you so much, that He became a man, to die for you. And
yet, He lives. Death could never hold the Origin of Life.
He loves you, and wants to be your Father and God, and you
to be His ever so loved sons and daughters.
You can have a Father like that; you need only accept His
invitation.
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward
Haran.
Jacob flees.
The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous
are bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1.
We’re not saying Jacob is wicked, but he walked like it,
talked like it, wore wicked clothes. He just deceived his dad and brother, and
now he’s on the run like a bandit.
In hindsight, you and I know Jacob is the one God chose to
carry the covenant, but at the moment, he’s got a long way to go.
God’s not done with Jacob, nor us. We too have a long way to
go.
11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there
all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that
place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to
sleep.
Jacob’s headed toward Haran, but now, he’s somewhere, not
sure where, a certain place.
You know, that place, somewhere between where you’re
from and where you’re going. You can’t go back, don’t want to back, but at the
moment you can’t go forward either.
This place you’re in isn’t so great, there isn’t a Holiday
Inn in sight, and nothing but a stone for a pillow; but it’s too dark and
you’re too tired to take another step forward.
So, you just have to wait.
How’d I get here anyway? Back in the day I had it made. Why
didn’t I just stay the course, wait on God? Instead of chasing my best laid
plans and wild schemes.
So now, I’m stuck here, somewhere between a rock and hard
place.
The way of the transgressor is hard. Proverbs 13:15.
12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on
the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were
ascending and descending on it.
Are you like Jacob? He’s all alone in the dark in a place he
doesn’t know.
But God knows exactly who he is and where he’s at; just
as He knows you right here, right now, and exactly where you are.
While he’s sleeping, in the middle of his journey, at a certain
place somewhere between where’s he’s from and where he’s going, God shows
up. He gives a call, a dream, a vision that extends from that place
where he’s at all the way to heaven.
Today is somewhere in the middle of your journey, you’re at a
certain place; perhaps that place, where God shows up.
Are ready for God to show up and give you a call, a dream, a
vision?
I’m too old. It’s too late. Jacob was 77. Abraham was 75.
Isaac was probably that old or older.
It’s not too late until you breathe your last breath, and
even then, it’s not too late, you can plant Seeds, that’ll last long after
you’re gone.
And the dream gets better…
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am
the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on
which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.
Not only does God know Jacob and where he’s at, He wants
Jacob to know Him, and where He’s at. So, He introduces Himself.
Hi, I AM the Lord God of Abraham your father and
the God of Isaac...
Wait, isn’t Abraham his grandpa? And Isaac his dad?
Yes. Good catch. But God never makes a mistake.
Not only does He know you and where you’re at, He also wants
you to know Him and where He’s at; so, He includes you, in the introduction,
because you too have Abraham as your father.
If you are
Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the Promise.
Galatians 3:29.
I give you and your descendants this land. God owns
the universe. The land, all land, is His to give. He is the ultimate, Land
Lord.
This promise has been repeated. He first said it to Abraham,
then to Isaac, now to Jacob.
The land of Israel, belonged to Israel, 2,500 years before
Islam was ever invented.
To ask Israel to divide their land, is completely contrary
to God’s Divine Design and plan for His land.
Unfortunately, Israel has willingly, peacefully, (perhaps
foolishly) given up most of their land.
God’s promise to Abraham covered about 300,000 square miles.
Today they exist on a mere 8,000 square miles. Small enough to fit inside the
Florid panhandle, or inside Lake Michigan.
The promise doesn’t only include land, but people, lots of
them…
14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the
earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the
south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be
blessed.
Multitudes of descendants, which includes One Seed, that
will bless all families of the earth. Christ Jesus.
Notice God also said, “in you and in your seed…” Jesus,
of course is the greatest blessing of all. However, that’s not all,
proportionally, the Jewish people have blessed the world above any other
nation.
There have been just over 900 Nobel prizewinners. Jews are
only 0.2 percent of the global population; so, proportionally, they should have
won less than two. They’ve won 214.
That’s 40 percent of the economics prizes, 30 percent of the
medicine, 25 percent of the physics, 20 percent of the chemistry, 15 percent of
the literature and 10 percent of the peace prizes.
In you, and in your seed all
families of the earth shall be blessed.
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you
go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have
done what I have spoken to you.”
Look at Jacob, lying there, sleeping on a rock. You’re
looking at Israel. His name will be changed by God to Israel. The twelve tribes
of Israel—they are his sons.
Man might see Jacob as the heel grabber, schemer, conniver,
liar… God sees the father of a nation to bless all nations.
When God looks at you, He sees His Divine Eternal Purpose in
You, not your heel grabbing short falls.
He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ; Philippians 1:6.
That dream, that vision, that Divine Eternal Purpose, God
planted in you; it’s not dead.
Can you see God standing there with gloves and a shovel,
saying, “Whenever you’re ready, let’s get started.”
Trouble is, first thing He wants to do is pull some weeds.
OUCH, they’ve got thistles. Besides, we like our weed…
What’ll it take until we’re ready? Flat on our back with
nothing but a stone for a pillow?
God’s ready, God’s waiting. Perhaps here, perhaps now, is
your certain place, where God shows up with a dream, a vision, just for
you.
Will you wake up, rise up?
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the
Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Jacob awoke. That’s what happens when God shows up. We wake
up. The devil’s counterfeit is to go woke.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
When we wake up, we tune in and realize He’s been right here
within our reach, all the time.
The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. Romans 10:8.
He’s near. Present to heal. His Word is here; to receive
with our heart, speak with our mouth, believe with all our soul.
Dear Church, it’s time to wake up, and we know it.
17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this
place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of
heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning,
Because when you hear from Jesus, you not only wake up, you
rise up.
…and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it
up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
The stone started as a sad reminder of his bad choices and
lot in life.
But one Word from God turns that pillow into a pillar, a
marvelous memorial of his meeting with God Almighty.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the
name of that city had been Luz previously.
Bethel: House of God.
So, that certain place, that place with no name, now becomes
a powerful pillar of a place; the House of God.
One definition of Luz, is almond tree. Another is: to be
growing.
Isaac may be 77, but he’s going through a growth spurt.
No better place to grow than in Bethel, the House of God.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying,
God made a vow, now Jacob makes one too.
“If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I
am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come
back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.
Jacob’s ready to commit.
22 And this stone
which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You
give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Tithe, means a tenth. We see it mentioned
here, and before when Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek. Genesis 14:20.
This is before the Law.
Serving the Lord is not about, mint and anise and cummin,
not about dollars and cents, and money. The Kingdom of heaven is not meat and
drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17.
It’s about putting Him first.
Jesus says it like this: Seek first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33.
That’s what we try to do every day, in all ways. On the first
Sunday of each month, we make it a point to put the Lord first, by
putting up a pillar. We pause in Bethel, the House of God, and we settle around
the Lord’s table, with reverence, and thanksgiving, in remembrance of His shed
blood and broken body; so, we can call Him, Father.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, how great Thou art. Thank You for Your
great Love, that cares enough to come near, to give us Your dream, Your plan,
Your vision.
Lord, You know, where we’re from and where we’re going; sometimes
we don’t even know where we’re at. But we trust You. Thank You for leading us,
from here, all the way to heaven. And as we go, we pray You’ll use us to lead
others to You, so that none of those You’ve given us, are left behind.
Thank You, we love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
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Email: pray4measap@aol.com
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Acts 5:12-16
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5:12-16
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you to
sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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