Discovering Destiny (Part 29): Your Words Matter More Than You Think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLTxmijuo0M

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.

Yesterday, in our “Discovering Destiny” series, we watched the atmosphere in Laban’s house go cold. Today, Jacob loads up his family and heads home. Laban chases him down, and in the middle of that confrontation, Jacob says one sentence he can never take back.

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 31:32 NIV“But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.

Genesis 35:16-19 NIV“Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, ‘Don’t despair, for you have another son.’ As she breathed her last, for she was dying, she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

Supporting scriptures:

Proverbs 18:21 AMPC“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].”

Matthew 12:36-37 NKJV“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Ecclesiastes 5:6 NKJV“Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?”

Mark 11:23 NKJV“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

Psalm 141:3 NKJV“Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Genesis 35:10 NKJV“And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ So He called his name Israel.”

Setting the Stage:

Jacob had finally had enough. After 20 years of serving Laban, and after watching Laban’s countenance change toward him, Jacob loaded up his wives, his children, and his herds, and he left without saying a word. He did not announce it. He did not say goodbye. He waited until Laban was three days away shearing sheep, and he slipped out with everything he had. What Jacob did not know was that Rachel took something on her way out: her father’s household idols.

Three days later, word reached Laban, and Laban was furious. This man gathered his relatives and chased Jacob for seven days, and he did not chase him down to hug him. He caught up to Jacob in the hill country of Gilead, and he came with enough force to do real damage. He said it himself: “I have the power to harm you.” The only reason he did not is that God stepped in. The night before Laban caught up, God came to him in a dream and warned him: “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” God had to calm a furious man down before he ever opened his mouth.

The confrontation came anyway. Laban unloaded on Jacob for sneaking off with his daughters and his grandchildren like captives of war, without even letting him kiss them goodbye. Then he got to the real accusation: “Why did you steal my gods?” Jacob was insulted because he would never worship idols. So he fired back a vow: “If you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live.” Then he told Laban to search everything.

So Laban did. He went tent to tent. Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, the tents of the two servants. Nothing. Finally, he entered Rachel’s tent, and this is where the story turns. Rachel had taken the idols and hidden them inside her camel’s saddle, and she was sitting on them. When her father came in, she said, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” Laban searched the whole tent and found nothing. The lie worked. The theft was never exposed. And Jacob walked away from Gilead certain he had been vindicated.

But the Bible gives us one of the most sobering sentences in Genesis: “Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.” The vow had already left his mouth, and the person he unknowingly sentenced was the wife he loved most. Years later, on the road to Ephrath, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.

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

1. Words Are Never Just Words.

Before we touch Jacob’s vow, I need you to understand the system you live in. God created the world with words. Jesus calmed a storm with words, and He healed a centurion’s servant from a distance with words. I have taught you this for years: faith is voice-activated. Proverbs 18:21 AMPC says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it.” Fruit means your words are seeds. You do not just say words. You plant them, and everything planted eventually comes up.

How this applies to you:

— Words are not sounds that disappear into the air. They are spiritual containers, and they carry either death or life.

— Good or bad, you will have what you say.

— Mark 11:23 says the one who believes and does not doubt “will have whatever he says.” Notice Jesus did not say whatever he thinks. He said whatever he SAYS.

— Your words are seed, and every seed comes up after its own kind.

— Jesus took words further than we are comfortable with. Matthew 12:36 says men will give account for “every idle word,” so even the careless and non-productive ones count.

— The same mouth that can move a mountain can bury a future. The power does not turn off when you get frustrated.

— If words did not matter, the enemy would not work so hard to fill your mouth.

2. Jacob Made A Declaration Over What He Could Not See.

Now watch the vow. Laban accused Jacob of stealing his gods, and Jacob was offended because he was innocent. So he answered out of pressure and pride: “If you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live.” He was defending his integrity, and he had no idea that the person he was sentencing was Rachel, sitting on those idols in her tent. The Bible makes sure we do not miss it: “Now Jacob did not know.” The most dangerous words you will ever speak are the words you speak under pressure about something you cannot fully see.

How this applies to you:

— Jacob’s vow was not premeditated. It was pressured, and the most damaging words are often birthed in stressful situations. Nobody plans to speak death; they get provoked into it.

— Never make a declaration over a situation you cannot fully see.

— Jacob spoke from his integrity, but he did not speak from full information or revelation. You can be honest and still be reckless.

— Ecclesiastes 5:6 NKJV says, “Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin.” Solomon then asks why you would let your own voice “destroy the work of your hands.”

— Being right about your innocence does not make you right about your words.

— The enemy cannot curse what God has blessed, so he baits the blessed into cursing it themselves.

— Psalm 141:3 NKJV is a prayer for moments exactly like Gilead: “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Pray it before the confrontation, not after.

— Some words do not need to be taken back; they need never to be released.

3. The Word He Released Landed On The One He Loved.

Follow the story forward. In Genesis 35, on the road to Ephrath, Rachel went into a hard labor, and she died giving birth. Jewish teachers have connected Genesis 31:32 and Genesis 35:18 for centuries: the man said, “that person shall not live,” and the person was his beloved Rachel. Jacob forgot the vow. The vow did not forget. Here is what I want you to see: Jacob’s words did not land on his enemy. They landed on the woman he worked 14 years for. 

How this applies to you:

— Words do not expire just because you forgot you said them.

— You cannot control where a careless word lands after you release it.

— Jacob aimed at a thief and hit his wife. Think about that before you speak death over “whoever” did something. You do not know who “whoever” is.

— This is why I refuse to speak death over my wife, my children, my church, or my business, even as a joke. My words are too powerful to use carelessly, and so are yours.

— Watch what you say over your marriage, over your kids, and over yourself; even in frustration.

— Some of what you are fighting today is the harvest of words you released years ago. The good news of the Gospel is that a released word is not bigger than the blood of Jesus. Repent, renounce it, and reverse it with the Word of God.

— If death and life are in the power of the tongue, then the same mouth that released the problem can start declaring the promise.

4. Rachel Named Him Sorrow. Jacob Renamed Him Strength.

Do not miss what happened at Rachel’s bedside, because this is the redemption in the story. With her last breath, Rachel named her son Ben-Oni, which means “son of my sorrow.” She named the boy after her pain. Jacob, standing in the worst moment of his life, overruled it: “But his father named him Benjamin,” which means “son of my right hand.” Watch this: a few verses earlier, in Genesis 35:10, God had renamed Jacob himself, from Jacob to Israel. A man who had just received a new name refused to let his son carry a dead-end one. Pain has a voice, but pain does not get the final word.

How this applies to you:

— Never connect PAIN to God’s PROMISE. 

— Never give something a permanent [negative] name based on a temporary situation. 

— Rachel was not wrong for hurting. Her pain was real, and real pain speaks. If no one overrules what was said in PAIN, the declaration will stand, and the future can be tainted.

— Do not let your worst moment name your future.

— Every time someone called that boy Benjamin, they prophesied strength over him instead of sorrow. He grew up as the son of the right hand, and his tribe produced kings and an apostle.

— Some of you are still answering to a name your pain gave you. Failure, divorced, broke, addict. That was Ben-Oni, and God is not calling you that.

— What pain named, faith can rename.

— Jacob learned the weight of his words the hard way at Gilead, and at Ephrath he used that same weight on purpose. The mouth that released death released destiny.

— God renamed Abram, Sarai, Jacob, and Simon mid-story, and He will rename you too.

— The last word over your life belongs to your Father, not your pain.

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that death and life are in the power of my tongue!

I choose life with every word I speak!

My words are seed, and I plant only what I want to harvest!

I will not make declarations over what I cannot see!

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips!

I will not speak death over the people I love, not even in frustration!

Every careless word I have released, I renounce and reverse in Jesus’ name!

I answer to what God calls me, not to what pain named me!

What my pain named, my faith renames by the Word of God!

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I speak life, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

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

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