Discovering Destiny (Part 27): You Become What You Behold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnIA22Lv5vE

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.

On Friday, in our “Discovering Destiny” series, I introduced you to the two systems, and we watched Jacob walk away from a wage and ask for a herd. Today I want to show you HOW God multiplied that herd. The strategy involved some peeled sticks and a watering trough, and buried in there is something I have taught for years.

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 30:37-39 NLT“Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks on them. Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated. And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 31:10-12 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.'”

2 Corinthians 3:18 AMPC“And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.”

Proverbs 4:23 ERV“Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.”

Philippians 4:8 NLT“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Ephesians 6:8 NLT“Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.”

Luke 16:12 NLT“And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

Setting the Stage:

On Friday we left Jacob while he was in negotiations with his father-in-law. After 20 years and 10 wage changes, he told Laban, “I don’t want a paycheck anymore. Give me the streaked, the speckled, the spotted, and the black ones.” Laban agreed, because there were not many of those, and he figured he had just won again.

Then Jacob did something strange. He cut fresh branches, peeled white streaks into the bark, and set those branches in the watering troughs, right where the flocks came to drink and to mate. And the babies started coming out streaked, speckled, and spotted. The flocks reproduced what they were looking at. I want you to meditate on this, because what happened to those animals at that trough is happening to you every single day.

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

1. God’s Strategy Will Not Make Sense To The People Around You.

Picture the other shepherds watching Jacob do what he was doing. He was a grown man, standing at a watering trough, peeling bark off of sticks. There had to be somebody standing there thinking, “20 years in this man’s house, and Jacob has finally lost his mind.” But Jacob was not crazy, and he was not experimenting. Genesis 31:10-12 tells us the strategy came from God in a dream. The angel said, “Look up.” Jacob was not working a human theory. He was obeying the revelation he received from God. And here is what I want you to see. Jacob did not wait until the sticks made sense to him. He heard from God, and then he went and cut the branches, even when he did not understand what he was doing.

How this applies to you:

— A God-given strategy does not need to make natural sense, or align with human logic, for it to work.

— God will tell you to do things that make no sense at all. God is not sensual; He is spiritual. Walking with God requires FAITH, not reason.

— Laban signed off on the deal because the odds looked terrible for Jacob. Laban was looking at the natural. Jacob was obeying the spiritual. If you are going to experience God’s best, you must be willing to do what He leads you to do, in faith, without a doubt, without wavering, even at the risk of looking foolish!

— The way God led Jacob is a common pattern in the Bible. Abraham had to launch out for a destination while he had no idea where he was going. Noah built a boat before anybody had seen rain. Moses stretched a stick over the Red Sea. Joshua marched around a wall for a week in silence. God’s instructions often look foolish right up until the breakthrough shows up, and it takes true faith to obey God’s instructions (especially when doing so will make you look ridiculous to others).

— If your plan makes perfect sense to everybody, it did not require faith.

— Some of you are waiting for a strategy that makes sense before you obey. That is backward. In God’s system, the obedience comes first, and the understanding usually shows up with the harvest.

— Uncommon instructions require uncommon faith, and they produce uncommon results.

2. The Flocks Gave Birth To What They Kept Looking At.

Now watch the mechanics of the miracle. Genesis 30:39 NLT says, “when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.” Go ask a scientist or a genetic researcher to explain that one. Peeled sticks do not produce spotted sheep. But God does. And God buried a principle in this story that I have been teaching for years: you become what you behold. What was in front of those flocks got into their seed, and what got into them came out of them. You will reproduce what you keep looking at.

How this applies to you:

— Whatever you give your attention to eventually gets INSIDE of you, and whatever is inside of you is what your life eventually produces.

— You become what you behold, and you reproduce what you keep looking at.

— This is not just an Old Testament farm story. 2 Corinthians 3:18 AMPC says as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are “constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another.” This is in the Bible. This is not a poem. This is a process. If you do not like what you are becoming, take an honest look at what you have been beholding.

— Whatever you allow through your EYE gates and your EAR gates gets down in your heart, and what gets IN you will eventually come OUT OF YOU!

— God used this principle with Abraham too. When it was time to stretch Abraham’s faith to have children, God took him outside in the middle of the day and said, “Look down at the sand. That is how many children you are going to have.” At night, God said, “Look up at the stars. That is how many children you are going to have.” When it came time for Abraham to believe God for land, God said, “Look as far as you can see, because everything you see, I am going to give to you.” The point is that God had to ENLARGE Abraham on the INSIDE before He could manifest the blessing on the OUTSIDE.

— If you can’t see it, you can’t have it. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. Your legs will never take you where your soul has never been.

— Whatever has your attention has influence over your future.

— This is why the enemy fights so hard for your eyes. Your eye gate and your ear gate feed your soul. Satan knows he cannot remove the blessing that is on your life, so he works overtime to control what you look at. If he can keep the wrong images in front of you, he can keep the wrong harvest coming out of you. Therefore, to protect your destiny, you must protect your EYE and EAR gates!

— Jacob’s flocks needed streaked branches at the trough. You need the promises of God in front of your eyes. Keep the Word of God before you every day. If you feed yourself a steady diet of the Word of God, the Word will produce a continual harvest.

3. Be Careful What You Put In Front Of Your Eyes.

If the flock reproduces what it beholds, then I have to ask you a very practical question: what is at your trough? A trough is where you drink daily. It is your phone in the morning, the news at night, the conversations you sit in, the accounts you scroll. Some of you have been beholding lack, beholding drama, beholding everything that is wrong with the world, and then wondering why fear and frustration keep showing up in your life. The problem is not your blessing. The problem is what you are beholding. You cannot feed your soul the wrong things and still expect your soul to produce the right things.

How this applies to you:

— Proverbs 4:23 ERV says, “Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.” Your eyes are a gate to your heart, and whatever gets into your heart affects everything you are.

— You cannot behold lack all day and expect to reproduce increase.

— Philippians 4:8 NLT is not a suggestion; it is a strategy: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.” Paul is telling you what to put at your trough.

— Take an honest inventory this week. Write down what you look at in the first 30 minutes of your morning and the last 30 minutes of your night. Whatever you are feeding is what you will reproduce.

— If you change what you’re giving your attention to and what you constantly focus on, you will, as a result, change what your life is producing.

— Hebrews 12:2 tells us to live “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Beholding Jesus is not a religious exercise. It is how you get transformed.

— Some of you keep replaying your past failure like it is on a loop. Stop staring at what God already forgave you for. You cannot walk into your future while nursing and rehashing the failures of your past.

— Your mouth is telling on you. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Your mouth is broadcasting to everybody what is going on in your heart. I can tell what you are meditating on just by listening to what you are saying.

— Faith has a language, and so do fear, doubt, and unbelief. If you don’t like what is coming out of your mouth, change what is going into your heart.

4. What You Make Happen For Another Man, God Will Make Happen For You.

Do not miss WHERE this miracle happened. It happened at the watering troughs, the exact place where Jacob had faithfully watered another man’s flocks for 20 years. The same troughs where he served Laban’s herd became the birthplace of his own. And even after the deal was struck, Genesis 30:31 shows Jacob saying, “I’ll continue to tend and watch over your flocks.”

Jacob kept tending Laban’s flock while God was building his own. This is a principle I have taught for years, and Jacob is standing right here proving it: what you make happen for another man, God will make happen for you. Jacob proved it at Laban’s trough. Years later, his own son Joseph would prove it again in Potiphar’s house.

How this applies to you:

— Ephesians 6:8 NLT says, “the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do…” Heaven keeps records that your employer forgets.

— Jesus taught the same principle in Luke 16:12 NKJV: “And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” How you handle another man’s stuff is the test you pass before God hands you your own.

— Serving another man’s vision is not wasted time. It is seed.

— I have served the vision of other men for decades: in the military, in ministry, and in business. And now God sends people to me. Isabella and I have been good sons and daughters, and now we have sons and daughters. What I make happen for others, God makes happen for me.

— Jacob did not sabotage Laban’s flock after the deal was made. He kept tending everything with integrity.

— How you leave one season determines how you enter the next one.

— In God’s system, nothing you did in faithfulness is ever lost. It becomes a seed that will produce a harvest.

— Every skill Jacob used to build his own herd, he learned while building Laban’s.

— The season that frustrated him was the same season that trained him.

— God does not waste any season (it could be a week, a month, a year, or a decade). God makes use of them all, even the hard ones.

— Sitting in the Dominican Republic on our missions trip, I realized we were reaping what we had sown. When you are faithful over that which is another man’s, God makes sure you are taken care of too.

— Do not despise the house you are serving in right now. Serve it well, sow into it, and make things happen for somebody else. The seeds you are sowing today will lead to the harvest God will use to build your own.

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that Your strategies work even when they make no sense!

I will obey Your instructions, even when they look strange!

I become what I behold, so I fix my eyes on You!

I behold Your glory, and I am changed from glory to glory!

I refuse to stare at lack, loss, or fear!

I put Your Word in front of my eyes every single day!

I meditate and medicate on Your Word day and night!

I reproduce what I keep looking at, so I look at Your promises!

What I make happen for others, You will make happen for me!

My faithfulness is seed, and my harvest is on the way!

I have been faithful over sowing seed, and this is my season of reaping!

I will reap a harvest on every seed sown!

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I behold my God, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

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

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