Discovering Destiny (Part 37): Your Destiny Was Never Just About You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcd3Xhu8rGw

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.

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 37:31-35 NLT“Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: ‘Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?’ Their father recognized it immediately. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!’ Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. ‘I will go to my grave mourning for my son,’ he would say, and then he would weep.”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 37:3-4 TPT“Now Israel’s love for Joseph surpassed that for his other sons because he was born to him in his old age. So Israel had made him a richly ornamented robe. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than he loved them, they hated him and would not speak a kind word to him.”

Genesis 27:15-16 ERV“Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob. She took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and on his neck.”

Genesis 42:36 NLT“Jacob exclaimed, ‘You are robbing me of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!'”

Genesis 45:26-28 AMPC“And they said to him, Joseph is still alive! And he is governor over all the land of Egypt! And Jacob’s heart began to stop beating and [he almost] fainted, for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived [and warmth and life returned]. And Israel said, It is enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Genesis 46:30 ERV“Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Now I can die in peace. I have seen your face, and I know that you are still alive.'”

Genesis 50:20 NLT“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”

Isaiah 46:10 TPT“I declare from the beginning how it will end and foretell from the start what has not yet happened. I decree that my purpose will stand, and I will fulfill my every plan.”

Romans 8:28 TPT“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.”

Setting the Stage:

Yesterday, we watched Esau and Jacob bury their father together, and we saw how much relationships matter to God. Today we move into Genesis 37. Jacob is settled in Canaan, and from this point on, Moses spends the rest of Genesis on Joseph. But I want you to read this chapter from inside Jacob’s tent. Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons, and he made him a robe that said so. His brothers hated him for it. They sold him to a caravan headed for Egypt, killed a goat, dipped the robe in the blood, and brought it to their father. Jacob looked at that robe and said, “A wild animal must have eaten him.” He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and refused to be comforted.

Here is what Jacob did not know. Joseph was alive. While Jacob was crying in his tent, Joseph was in Potiphar’s house, then in prison, then standing next to Pharaoh. Jacob mourned for 22 years over a son God was positioning to usher the family into Egypt. Think about that. Part of Jacob’s destiny was to get Joseph on the path to his. Our destinies are interwoven with the destinies of others.

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

1. Your Destiny Includes Breaking The Pattern You Were Raised In.

Genesis 37:3 TPT says Israel’s love for Joseph “surpassed that for his other sons,” and he made him a robe to prove it. Now go back and see where Jacob learned that. Genesis 25:28 tells us Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. That favoritism split the house, produced the goat-skin scheme, and sent Jacob running for 20 years. Jacob knew what a favored son costs a family. He was one. He became Israel, got a new name and a new nature, and then did the same thing to his own boys. I call this an inherited wound. Isabella and I just preached about this on Sunday, and then Isabella taught about it on Tuesday night in Bible study. Discovering your destiny includes discovering the patterns you brought with you, because you cannot walk in everything God has for you while you are repeating what hurt you.

How this applies to you:

— A new name does not automatically cancel an old pattern.

— Jacob grew up as the favored son of a divided house, and then he built a divided home too. What was done to you is what you are most likely to do, unless you let God deal with it.

— Favoritism ran in Jacob’s family, and “it runs in my family” is information, not a death sentence. Find out how it runs so you can stop it from running any longer.

— What is not healed in you is available to your children. Jacob never dealt with what Isaac’s favoritism did to him, so his sons inherited it.

— God let Jacob see the pattern in his own tent so it would stop with him. Later on, Jacob blessed both of Joseph’s sons with no scheme and no favorite (Genesis 48). He learned.

— Part of your destiny is being the one where the family pattern stops.

— On Sunday, Isabella and I talked about how some things should continue through us, and some things should stop with us. You must ask God for the discernment to know the difference. 

2. You Reap What You Sow, But It Does Not Cancel Your Destiny.

Genesis 27:16 ERV says Rebekah “took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and on his neck.” Jacob walked into his blind father’s tent wearing his brother’s clothes and a dead goat, and said, “I am Esau.” Now look at Genesis 37:31 NLT. His sons “killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood,” walked into their father’s tent, and said, “Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?” A goat and a garment. The same trick, one generation later, played on the man who came up with it. Galatians 6:7 TPT says, “What you plant will always be the very thing you harvest.” 

How this applies to you:

— Deception has a return address.

— What you plant in someone else’s tent has a way of showing up in yours.

— Live so that nothing you did in the dark has to be explained in the light.

— Hidden things grow. Exposed things die. Bring it into the light before it comes back around. 

— Deal with it now, before it comes back. 1 John 1:9 NLT says He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us,” and cleansed ground grows a different crop.

— Reaping what you sowed is not the end of your destiny. God still made Jacob the father of a nation. In other words, your mistakes do not cancel your destiny because God knew all the mistakes you would make before he destined you. 

3. Stop Crying Over Something God Is Still Using.

Genesis 37:34-35 NLT says Jacob “mourned deeply for his son for a long time,” his family “tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted,” and he said, “I will go to my grave mourning for my son.” Do the math. Joseph was 17 when he was sold and 39 when Jacob found out he was alive. That is 22 years in sackcloth. Here is what I want you to see. Jacob never saw a body. All he had was a coat and some goat’s blood, and he built two decades of grief on it. And he had a word from God on file. Back in Genesis 37:11 TPT, when Joseph told his dreams, the brothers were jealous, “but his father kept pondering Joseph’s dream.” Jacob heard that this boy would rule. Then a bloody robe showed up, and he let go of what God said! 

For 13 of those years, Joseph was a slave and a prisoner. But for the last nine, Jacob was wearing sackcloth over the prime minister of Egypt. Jacob was grieving a destiny that was already unfolding.

How this applies to you:

— Never hold a funeral for something God kept alive.

— Jacob had a dream from God and a coat from his sons, and he believed the coat. The Bible asks the question: Whose report are you going to believe? 

— When what you see and what God said do not line up, God’s Word is still true.

— He refused to be comforted, which means comfort came, and he sent it away. Psalm 34:18 NLT says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,” so God was in that tent. Jacob just would not receive Him.

— If you never saw the body, do not sign the death certificate. Some things only look dead.

— Stop paying for what has already been paid. Jacob went back to the same grief every morning like a bill he owed, and God had already settled the account in Egypt. The problem is that he could not discern what God was doing because he was not open to it. Never allow grief to close your heart to God’s voice. 

4. Your Destiny Is Connected To Someone Else’s Destiny.

This is where the whole week comes together. Isaiah 46:10 TPT says God declares “from the beginning how it will end,” and then He says, “my purpose will stand, and I will fulfill my every plan.” Now watch the plan run. God told Abraham in Genesis 15 that his descendants would spend 400 years in a land that was not theirs and come out with great possessions. Somebody had to get to Egypt first. So while Jacob was crying, Joseph was sold, Joseph was jailed, Joseph interpreted dreams, and Joseph was made Prime Minister with seven years to store up grain before the famine. The plan never slowed down. The very thing Jacob was grieving was the thing God was using to get Joseph, and eventually Jacob, where they needed to be. Jacob’s destiny and Joseph’s destiny were tied together. 

How this applies to you:

— God’s plan for you does not wait for you to feel better before it moves. We are not called to live by feelings. We’re called to live by faith, which is why we have to keep our hearts open to hear God’s voice. Faith begins where the will of God is known. 

— Genesis 50:20 NLT says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.” God does not cause the evil; but he can turn it around!

— On Sunday, Isabella said, “God chose Abraham for what he would transfer, not for what he would pile up. Heaven picks carriers, not collectors, and God picked you the same way.”

— The blessing includes you, but it is not just about you. Jacob’s 22 years of grief were part of the road that carried a family into Egypt, right where God told Abraham it would be.

— The wagons came. Genesis 45:27 AMPC says that when Jacob saw the wagons, his spirit revived. Please don’t wait to see it with your natural eyes to believe it. This is the lowest form of faith. 

— In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, take off the sackcloth and quit the mourning! What God said about you is still alive, and He is still working.

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, thank You that Your plan for me is already done!

I will not hold a funeral for what You kept alive!

Every family pattern that hurt me stops with me!

I sow honesty, and I reap a harvest I can stand in front of!

When what I see and what You said do not line up, I believe You!

I will not send Your comfort away; I receive it today!

What I am crying over right now, You are still using for my good!

My destiny is tied to the destiny of the people I love!

I take off the sackcloth, because my spirit is revived!

In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, what You declared will stand, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

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

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