Discovering Destiny (Part 30): Move On A Word, Not A Wound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oefKPbFhsA

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 felt the weight of words. We stood at Gilead and heard the vow Jacob could never take back, and we stood at Rachel’s bedside and watched Jacob refuse to connect pain to the promise, renaming Ben-Oni to Benjamin. Today I want to back up to the moment before Jacob ever loaded a camel, because if the wrong words can wound a future, the right words can launch one. The whole move started with a voice, and I do not want you to miss whose voice it was.

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 31:3 NLT“Then the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.'”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 31:13 NLT“I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.”

Genesis 28:15 NLT“What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

Genesis 31:7-9 NLT“But he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm. For if he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the whole flock began to produce speckled young. And when he changed his mind and said, ‘The striped animals will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped young. In this way, God has taken away your father’s animals and given them to me.”

Genesis 31:42 NLT“If the God of my father had not been on my side… you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen your abuse and my hard work.”

Isaiah 30:21 NLT“Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or to the left.”

Romans 12:19 NLT“Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the LORD.”

1 Peter 5:6 AMPC“Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you.”

Philippians 1:6 TPT“I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Setting the Stage:

Before Laban ever saddled a camel to chase Jacob, a decision was made, and it was a critical one. Laban’s sons were grumbling, calling a miracle a robbery, and Laban’s face was not the same. Jacob felt the atmosphere shift, but notice what he did not do. He did not fire back at the grumbling. He did not make one move.

Then heaven spoke. Genesis 31:3 NLT: “Then the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.'” One sentence, and the season officially changed. Jacob had 20 years in that house, and wow, he could sense the season was shifting, he did not take a single step until God told him to move.

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

1. Let God’s Voice, Not Your Hurt, Lead Your Decision-Making.

Here is the part I do not want you to miss. Jacob heard the grumbling, he felt the cold shoulder, and he could visibly see that Laban’s countenance towards him had changed. However, Jacob did not pack a single bag until God spoke. Genesis 31:3: “Then the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.'” The atmosphere told Jacob something was changing. Only God could tell him what to do about it. Jacob moved on a word, not a wound. That one sentence will protect you from decades of bad decisions.

How this applies to you:

— The jealousy did not send him home. The cold shoulder did not send him home. The voice of God sent him home.

— Yesterday, you saw what the wrong voice can do. At Gilead, a pressure-filled situation led Jacob to speak death over his wife without realizing it. At Ephrath, Rachel spoke out of PAIN as she attempted to name her son Ben-Oni, son of my sorrow. Today you see the other side of it: when you allow God’s Spirit and His voice to lead you, you will be focused on the WORD and not your WOUND.

— Never allow your hurt/pain to cause you to make a decision in the flesh.

— The atmosphere is INFORMATION, but God’s voice is REVELATION. Do not confuse the two.

— Some of you are about to make a permanent move based on a temporary feeling. Before you do, let me ask you some questions. Have you prayed about it? Have you spent time in God’s presence waiting for an answer? Has the Holy Spirit spoken? Before you launch out in the flesh, please wait for God to speak. We are not called to live by feelings. We are called to live by faith, and faith requires a word. Faith begins where the will of God is known. 

— Isaiah 30:21 NLT says, “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go.'” God is not hiding the next step from you. He is a speaking God, and He knows your address.

— Hurt knows how to make you leave, but only God knows where you are supposed to go.

— If God said it, you can step out on it, even if it means leaving 20 years behind. Whatever you give up when God tells you to leave becomes a seed, and He will ensure you reap a harvest. 

2. Before God Moved Him Forward, He Took Him Back To Bethel.

Now watch how God introduced the instruction. In Genesis 31:13, He did not just say, “Leave.” He said, “I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me.” Go back 20 years. Jacob was a runaway with a rock for a pillow, and heaven opened over him right there. God did not open with the assignment. He opened with the encounter. The God giving the new instruction was the same God who made the old promise. Many times, God has to take you back to move you forward. 

How this applies to you:

— God anchored the next step to the previous altar. He would not give Jacob a new direction until He reminded him of an old encounter. Sometimes we have to be reminded of what God said to us in the past. Every word God has ever spoken of us is still good. 

— The God who met you at your rock bottom is the same God speaking to you now.

— Look at what God promised at Bethel 20 years earlier. Genesis 28:15 NLT: “One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” The instruction to return was not new information; it was an old promise with a current due date.

— God never gives you a new word that breaks an old promise. This is a critical point. God is completely congruent. Everything you believe He is speaking to you today has to align with everything He has ever spoken over your life, because the Spirit of God will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. And when I say “word” here, I mean even the words that God has spoken to you outside of the Bible. 

— Notice the promise attached to the Word: “and I will be with you.” When God says move, He does not send you out alone. His presence travels with His instruction.

— Some of you are asking God for a new word while the last word He gave you is still standing. Remind yourself of what God has said in the past, because that reminder is often what we need to get prepared for the future. 

— Philippians 1:6 TPT says the One who began this gracious work in you “will faithfully continue the process.” God finishes what He starts.

3. God Kept The Books The Whole Time.

When Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field to explain the move, he gave them a 20-year accounting. I want you to read Genesis 31:4-13 from th ERV. This give you the context.

Genesis 31:4-13 ERV

So Jacob told Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where he kept his flocks of sheep and goats. He said to them, “I have noticed that your father is not as friendly with me as he used to be. But the God of my father has been with me. You both know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father. But he cheated me. He has changed my pay ten times. But during all this time, God protected me from all of Laban’s tricks.

“At one time Laban said, ‘You can keep all the goats with spots. This will be your pay.’ After he said this, all the animals gave birth to spotted goats, so they were all mine. But then Laban said, ‘I will keep the spotted goats. You can have all the striped goats. That will be your pay.’ After he said this, all the animals gave birth to striped goats. So God has taken the animals away from your father and has given them to me.

“I had a dream during the time when the animals were mating. I saw that the only male goats that were mating were the ones with stripes and spots. The angel of God spoke to me in that dream. The angel said, ‘Jacob!’

“I answered, ‘Yes!’

“The angel said, ‘Look, only the striped and spotted goats are mating. I am causing this to happen. I have seen all the wrong things Laban has been doing to you. I am doing this so that you can have all the new baby goats. I am the God who came to you at Bethel, and there you made an altar, poured olive oil on it, and made a promise to me. Now I want you to be ready to go back to the country where you were born.'”

Laban had 20 years of schemes. God had 20 years of records. And when the angel finally spoke, he said, “I have seen how Laban has treated you.” This is the audit of heaven: God saw every wage change, and He settled the account.

How this applies to you:

— Ten wage changes could not stop God’s blessing.

— God’s is paying attention to how people treat you. Every scheme, every broken promise, every year you were overlooked, God saw it all. The angel said, “I have seen how Laban has treated you.”

— Jacob said it himself in Genesis 31:42: without God, “you would have sent me away empty-handed.” The wages left him empty, but God’s system left him wealthy.

— Jacob never stole an animal, and he never attempted to sabotage his father-in-law. He just kept serving while God kept score.

— Revenge and vindication are not your job. God will handle that.

— Romans 12:19 NLT says, “Never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.” You do not have to fight your Laban.

— What man withholds from you, God knows how to transfer to you.

— Do not judge your story by the middle of it.

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I move on Your word, not on my wounds!

I will not let hurt make a decision that only You should make!

The atmosphere is information, but Your voice is revelation!

Where You send me, Your presence goes with me!

The God who met me at my Bethel is the God leading me now!

You have kept the books, and nothing I have sown is lost!

Vindication is not my job; it is Yours!

You are the God of justice and recompense. 

You can see to it that I receive everything that you have planned for me to receive. 

What man withheld from me, You know how to transfer to me!

So I refuse to move on a wound. I will always move on Your Word. 

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I follow Your voice, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

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

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