Discovering Destiny (Part 26): The Power of Switching Systems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM--H9l7-kI

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

For the last two days, in our “Discovering Destiny” series, we stayed with Leah. Today we shift our attention back to Jacob, and I am going to introduce you to something I have taught for years. There are two systems operating in the earth, and most believers are trying to reach a God-sized destiny on a man-sized system. Jacob spent twenty years finding that out.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture(s) we will study today:

Genesis 30:30 ERV“When I came, you had little. Now you have much, much more. Every time I did something for you, the LORD blessed you. Now it is time for me to work for myself. It is time to do things for my family.”

Genesis 31:41 NLT“Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for fourteen years earning your two daughters, and then six more years for your flock. And you changed my wages ten times!”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 30:27 NLT“‘Please listen to me,’ Laban replied. ‘I have become wealthy, for the LORD has blessed me because of you.'”

Genesis 30:31-32 NLT“‘Don’t give me anything,’ Jacob replied. ‘Just do this one thing, and I’ll continue to tend and watch over your flocks. Let me inspect your flocks today and remove all the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the black sheep. Give them to me as my wages.'”

Genesis 31:11-12 NLT“Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’ The angel said, ‘Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you.'”

Genesis 30:43 NLT“As a result, Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants, and many camels and donkeys.”

Genesis 13:2 NKJV“Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.”

Genesis 26:12 NLT“When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him.”

Deuteronomy 8:18 NLT“Remember the LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”

Galatians 3:29 NLT“And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.”

Setting the Stage:

Let me remind you how Jacob got here. He ran from home with nothing but a staff. He slept on a rock, and heaven opened over him at Bethel. He showed up at his uncle Laban’s house with empty hands and started working.

And he worked for that man for 20 years. 14 years for the two daughters, and six more years for the flock. Genesis 31:41 is Jacob’s own accounting, and he does not soften it: “Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! And you changed my wages ten times!”

Ten times. Every time Jacob started getting ahead, Laban rewrote the terms. Twenty years of labor, and Jacob still did not own a field, a herd, or a house.

Now watch what happens. Genesis 30:27, Laban admits out loud, “I have become wealthy, for the LORD has blessed me because of you.” The blessing was on Jacob. The increase was landing in Laban’s account. And then Jacob opens his mouth and says one sentence that changes his entire life. Today I am only going to introduce this to you. Next week, we are going to build it out, because there is a lot here.

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. 20 Years Of Labor Under A System With A Ceiling On It.

I want you to see the math before you see the miracle. 20 years. 10 wage changes. At the end of it, Jacob had wives, children, and a whole lot of experience, but he did not own anything. He was blessed and broke at the same time. Read that again, because some of you are living it. The problem was never Jacob’s work ethic. The problem was the system he was working inside of.

How this applies to you:

— Laban was not confused about where his wealth came from. Genesis 30:27 NLT, he says it out loud: “I have become wealthy, for the LORD has blessed me because of you.” He knew, and he still changed the wages 10 times.

— A blessed man in the wrong system will make somebody else rich. The blessing was on Jacob, but the increase was going into Laban’s account.

— Understand what a wage is. A wage is a ceiling somebody else sets, and they can move it whenever they want. Laban moved it 10 times.

— A ceiling is not always over your head. Sometimes it is over the system you are operating in.

— Some of you have been faithful for years, and you are frustrated. Check the system you are working in before you question the blessing on your life.

— You can work hard for 20 years inside a system that was never designed to take you where God is taking you.

— Our ultimate purpose is lived out in times and seasons, levels and stages. We must have the discernment to know when it’s time to switch. At certain key moments in our life, the Holy Spirit may lead us to switch systems. 

2. The Day Jacob Said, “It Is Time To Work For Myself.”

Here is the key moment of the story. Genesis 30:30 ERV: “When I came, you had little. Now you have much, much more. Every time I did something for you, the LORD blessed you. Now it is time for me to work for myself. It is time to do things for my family.” That is not rebellion. That is not ingratitude. That is a man who is maturing. 20 years of anointing poured into a house with somebody else’s name on the door, and he finally said, “It is time.”

How this applies to you:

— Notice what triggered it. Joseph had just been born. A new son showed up, and Jacob’s mind went straight to his own house. Sometimes, God will use a new responsibility to activate an old assignment.

— Jacob did not curse Laban and storm out. He told the truth about what he had built, and then he said, “It is time.” You can tell the truth and maintain your character.

— You can be faithful in a system (in practice) and still be finished with it (in your heart). That’s when you know it is time to change.

— Faithfulness in another man’s house is a season, not a sentence. This is why discernment is so critical. When you sense the Holy Spirit is leading you to make a change, it’s time for you to change. If the season is over, and you stay anyway, faithfulness (at that point) turns into a prison.

— Some of you have been waiting for permission to be who God called you to be. Jacob did not get permission. He got a revelation, and then he got moving. That is faith. That is obedience to God.

— There comes a day when you have to stop building somebody else’s house long enough to build your own.

3. There Are Two Systems, And You Have To Choose One.

Now let me introduce the concept, and next week we will break it down. There are two systems operating on the earth. There is the world’s system, and there is God’s system. The world’s system runs on labor, on buying and selling, on your ability, and on a paycheck somebody else controls. God’s system runs on favor, on sowing and reaping, on His ability, and on a supply nobody else can touch. Jacob had spent 20 years in the first one. Then God gave him a dream about some strange and rare animals, and he had a decision to make.

How this applies to you:

— Look at what he asked for in Genesis 30:31-32 NLT. He did not ask for a raise. He asked for ownership. Give me the speckled, the spotted, and the black ones. Jacob stopped negotiating for a wage and started negotiating for a herd.

— Understand how crazy that looked. He walked away from a guaranteed paycheck and put everything he had on the strangest, rarest animals in the flock. In the world’s system, that is a terrible business decision. In God’s system, it was obedience (and faith).

— Genesis 31:11-12 NLT shows you where the idea came from. The angel of God said, “Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you.” God gave him the strategy in a dream.

— Here is the result. Genesis 30:43 NLT: “Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants, and many camels and donkeys.” He made more in that final stretch than he made in 20 years of working for a wage.

— When you switch systems, your total reliance moves off of your ability and onto God’s ability. And God’s ability has no ceiling on it.

— Deuteronomy 8:18 NLT says God “is the one who gives you power to be successful.” That is covenant, not company policy. It does not stay behind when you leave.

— The richest man to ever live, Solomon, said this in Proverbs 10:22: “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

— The secret to your success is not more trying. The secret to your success is more dying. When you die to self, and you die to relying on this world system, you open your heart to God and everything He has for you. You will discover that once He is your total source, you will never lack a thing. 

4. Jacob Was Not The First One In His Family To Switch.

This is not a one-time story about one man and some spotted goats. This is a family pattern, and it is the pattern God is still using. His grandfather did it. His father did it. He did it. And years later his own son Joseph would stand in front of a king who did it too.

How this applies to you:

— Abraham switched systems. He was 75 years old, living among idol worshippers, and an invisible God told him to go to a place he had never seen. He went. By Genesis 13:2 the Bible says he was “very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.”

— Isaac switched systems. There was a famine, nobody’s field was producing, and God told him to sow anyway. Genesis 26:12 NLT: “When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him.” He was not relying on the ground. He was relying on his God.

— Jacob switched systems. 20 years of a paycheck, and then one leap of faith into strange and rare animals.

— Pharaoh switched systems. His sorcerers and magicians could not interpret the dream, so he turned to Joseph and Joseph’s God, and Egypt became the richest nation in the world. We will get to him later in this series.

— Galatians 3:29 NLT says that if you belong to Christ, “you are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.” The same blessing that made Abraham rich, made Isaac reap in a famine, and made Jacob wealthy in one year is on your life right now.

— So let me ask you the question I have been asking for years. Have you switched systems? Not have you heard about it. Not do you agree with it. Have you actually moved?

— Please do not tell me you moved if I keep finding you at your old address.

That’s enough for today. 

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that You are my source and my supply!

I have been working under a ceiling, but You do not have a ceiling!

The blessing on my life is not going to keep producing for somebody else’s house!

It is time for me to work for what You gave me to build!

I stop relying on my ability, and I start relying on Your ability!

I move off of labor, and I move onto favor!

I move off of buying and selling, and I move onto sowing and reaping!

The secret to my success is not more trying, it is more dying!

Abraham switched, Isaac switched, Jacob switched, and today I am switching too!

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I am discovering that God’s system has no limit on it!

I have switched systems, I am blessed, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!