January 2021 – If Not For Grace

31 Jan 202129 Jan 2021

Weekend Reading (January 31)

Dear Heavenly Father, Please open my understanding as I read the Bible so that I may be able to know you better. Please help your word be planted in my mind, so I may recall it as needed. Bless me with wisdom and knowledge, please. In the name of Jesus we pray ~ amen

RELATIONSHIP:
Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.
“⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Exodus 4-6 NKJV

Miraculous Signs for Pharaoh

4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

²So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A rod.”

³And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), ⁵“that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. ⁷And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. ⁸“Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. ⁹And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from ^[^a^]the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and ^[^b^]slow of tongue.”

¹¹So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹²Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

Moses Goes to Egypt

¹⁸So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”

And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.” ²⁰Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

²¹And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. ²²Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. ²³So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

²⁴And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. ²⁵Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and ^[^c^]cast it at ^[^d^]Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” ²⁶So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a ^[^e^]husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.

²⁷And the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. ²⁸So Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. ²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. ³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

First Encounter with Pharaoh

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may ^[^f^]hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”

²And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”

³So they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

⁴Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.” ⁵And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!”

⁶So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, ⁷“You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”

¹⁰And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’ ” ¹²So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. ¹³And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴Also the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”

¹⁵Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why are you dealing thus with your servants? ¹⁶There is no straw given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make brick!’ And indeed your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.”

¹⁷But he said, “You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸Therefore go now and work; for no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota of bricks.” ¹⁹And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble after it was said, “You shall not reduce any bricks from your daily quota.”

²⁰Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them. ²¹And they said to them, “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made ^[^g^]us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

Israel’s Deliverance Assured

²²So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? ²³For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”

God Renews His Promise to Israel

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am ^[^h^]the Lord. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord^[ⁱ^] I was not known to them. ⁴I have also ^[^j^]established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their ^[^k^]pilgrimage, in which they were ^[^l^]strangers. ⁵And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with ^[^m^]an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you into the land which I swore^[ⁿ^] to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” ⁹So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish^[^o^] of spirit and cruel bondage.

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

¹²And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am ^[^p^]of uncircumcised lips?”

¹³Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command^[^q^] for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Family of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. ¹⁵And the sons of Simeon were ^[^r^]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. ¹⁷The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. ¹⁸And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. ¹⁹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

²⁰Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. ²¹The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²²And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. ²³Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴And the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.”^[^s^] ²⁷These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Is Moses’ Spokesman

²⁸And it came to pass, on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

³⁰But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, I am ^[^t^]of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”

Footnotes

Exodus 4:9 The Nile
Exodus 4:10 heavy or dull of tongue; cannot talk very well
Exodus 4:25 Lit. made it touch
Exodus 4:25 Lit. his
Exodus 4:26 bridegroom
Exodus 5:1 keep a pilgrim-feast
Exodus 5:21 Lit. our scent to stink before
Exodus 6:2 Heb. YHWH
Exodus 6:3 Heb. YHWH, traditionally Jehovah
Exodus 6:4 made or ratified
Exodus 6:4 sojournings
Exodus 6:4 sojourners, temporary residents
Exodus 6:6 Mighty power
Exodus 6:8 promised, lit. lifted up My hand
Exodus 6:9 Lit. shortness
Exodus 6:12 One who does not speak well
Exodus 6:13 charge
Exodus 6:15 Nemuel, Num. 26:12
Exodus 6:26 hosts
Exodus 6:30 One who does not speak well

30 Jan 202129 Jan 2021

Weekend Reading (January 30)

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Exodus 1-3 NKJV

Israel’s Suffering in Egypt

1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: ²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; ³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; ⁴Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵All those ^[^a^]who were descendants of Jacob were seventy^[^b^] persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). ⁶And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. ⁷But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and ^[^c^]grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with ^[^d^]rigor. ¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[^e^]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and ^[^f^]grew very mighty. ²¹And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He ^[^g^]provided households for them.

²²So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is ^[^h^]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Moses Is Born

2 And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. ²So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. ³But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. ⁴And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

⁵Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. ⁶And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

⁸And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. ⁹Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name ^[ⁱ^]Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. ¹²So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

¹⁴Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” ¹⁵When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from ^[^j^]the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came to Reuel^[^k^] their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

¹⁹And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

²¹Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. ²²And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom,^[^l^] for he said, “I have been a ^[^m^]stranger in a foreign land.”

²³Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. ²⁴So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

Moses at the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

⁴So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

⁵Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” ⁶Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

⁷And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their ^[ⁿ^]sorrows. ⁸So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. ⁹Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹²So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

¹⁴And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ ¹⁶Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; ¹⁷and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ ¹⁸Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. ²⁰So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. ²¹And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. ²²But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Footnotes

Exodus 1:5 Lit. who came from the loins of
Exodus 1:5 DSS, LXX seventy-five; cf. Acts 7:14
Exodus 1:7 became very numerous
Exodus 1:13 harshness
Exodus 1:19 have vigor of life, bear quickly, easily
Exodus 1:20 became very numerous
Exodus 1:21 gave them families
Exodus 1:22 Sam., LXX, Tg. add to the Hebrews
Exodus 2:10 Heb. Mosheh, lit. Drawn Out
Exodus 2:15 the presence of Pharaoh
Exodus 2:18 Jethro, Ex. 3:1
Exodus 2:22 Lit. Stranger There
Exodus 2:22 sojourner, temporary resident
Exodus 3:7 pain

29 Jan 202129 Jan 2021

It shall spring forth (5)

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 KJV

It is springing forth – I do not see it, do you? It springs forth and I am not feeling the gushing of it all, do you? The Bible says it and I believe it and that settles it – how about you?

Dear Heavenly Father – Help us to understand your ways are not our ways and give us an understanding of your plan. Please open our ears to hear what you are saying. Please open our eyes to see and open our understanding that we may know you. Please continue to pour out your grace upon us and give us a real experience with you. Continually, all we want is more of you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

It springs forth – and I do not care if you cannot see it and I cannot see it and we have no feelings by which to believe that it is true! This week a battle another stronghold in my life with roots going back generations. I told you God showed me some hidden things – I zealously rush to expel them! And that glorious grace which is sufficient, catches me once again, before I fall. Daddy has this all under control.

As I work things out – I was thinking about the process of the elders anointing you into ministry and how it is laid out in the Bible, verses what it has become. It is a fearful thing to have your hopes in the hands of fallible men. But I fear more for the men, what if they fail to bring forth the plan of our Lord. Biblically there is a woe upon them. I cannot help but think about the how this process will look for me. I returned to the church that grew up with me from apartment and through a few splits into its third building. Like me it is going back to its roots. It is in this place God has promised to restore the years the locust have eaten. One lady, excitedly reminded me that Rehab was always called rehab the prostitute. Her sin defined her or maybe her redemption – but either way, I wouldn’t want to be remembered as the sinner. I look around the church for those pressing towards God hard – they are the ones I want to fellowship with, and honestly, my reputation can do more harm to them, then good. Now, before you think I am having a pity party over here – I have the grace for my situation and the grace to overcome for the purpose and the ministry God has for me. I am a force to be reckoned with although not me, but in me – there is a purpose that shall not be stopped. Others do not have the grace for the offenses I see in the distance rising against the Lords plans for me. All, while I press in and push forward tearing down the stronghold that I have always seen as the immovable obstacle that God Himself would miraculously take down. And it did start to crumble as soon as God shined His light on a weak spot and we began taking it down. (By we – it does require I chose to commit and press forward and never go back!)

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” Philippian 3:12-15 ESV

This work may seem like it’s slowed things down – BUT I know in whom I believe! And He is faithful who promises. His new thing springs forth! It does! I am convince He is able! And the years the locust have eaten shall be restored to me! I have returned from my exile – from my captivity – from my prodigal ways.

Now is the time and today is the day of salvation – BECAUSE HE heard me in the time of favor!!!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1 ESV

Remember how we started the year? Studying the weapons of our warfare? And having done all stand! Right now I shed every weight and having done all, I stand. And soon I shall again run. My Daddy is able to keep me and His promises to me!

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,” Jude 1:24 ESV

Yes! My Daddy, Abba Father, is able to keep me and keep His promises to me!!!

Today we finish reading Genesis – earlier Jacob fight, wrestled with the angel for his blessing – he held on for dear life and did not let go!!! And today, we read about him blessing his grandbabies. All that He had lost in his lie was restored and he was abundantly blessed – so now, he passes those blessings on.

So I look towards the future promises, the new thing that is springing forth – I am reminded of hanging onto God – fighting for my blessings and my restoration. I know at some point it will overflow and God will be glorified through me! He will be exalted and lifted up! I press toward the goal.

I CONFIRM:
I confirm that through my relationship with God and through prayer and communication with Him, I seek His face with all my heart. I will ask the Lord to guide my steps so I can learn to spend time in His presence. I praise and thank Him for His grace and goodness!

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4
NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 48-50 NKJV

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

48 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, “Indeed your father is sick”; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel ^[a]strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. ³Then Jacob said to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ ⁵And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. ⁶Your ^[b]offspring ^[c]whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”

⁹Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.”

And he said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!”

¹²So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. ¹³And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. ¹⁴Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said:

“God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
¹⁶The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the lads;
Let my name be named upon them,
And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²²Moreover I have given to you one ^[d]portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:

²“Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,
And listen to Israel your father.

³“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
My might and the beginning of my strength,
The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
⁴Unstable as water, you shall not excel,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—
He went up to my couch.

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Instruments of ^[e]cruelty are in their dwelling place.
⁶Let not my soul enter their council;
Let not my honor be united to their assembly;
For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they ^[f]hamstrung an ox.
⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
And scatter them in Israel.

⁸“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He ^[g]bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
¹⁰The ^[h]scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
¹¹Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
¹²His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.

¹³“Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea;
He shall become a haven for ships,
And his border shall adjoin Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar is a strong donkey,
Lying down between two burdens;
¹⁵He saw that rest was good,
And that the land was pleasant;
He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden,
And became a band of slaves.

¹⁶“Dan shall judge his people
As one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
A viper by the path,
That bites the horse’s heels
So that its rider shall fall backward.
¹⁸I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!

¹⁹“Gad,^[i] a troop shall ^[j]tramp upon him,
But he shall triumph at last.

²⁰“Bread from Asher shall be rich,
And he shall yield royal dainties.

²¹“Naphtali is a deer let loose;
He uses beautiful words.

²²“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
²³The archers have bitterly grieved him,
Shot at him and hated him.
²⁴But his bow remained in strength,
And the arms of his hands were ^[k]made strong
By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who will bless you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶The blessings of your father
Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,
Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And at night he shall divide the spoil.”

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

²⁹Then he charged them and said to them: “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. ³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Burial of Jacob

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. ²And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned^[l] for him seventy days.

⁴Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, ⁵‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ”

⁶And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. ⁹And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering.

¹⁰Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called ^[m]Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

¹²So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. ¹³For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. ¹⁴And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may ^[n]actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” ¹⁶So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ¹⁷‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

¹⁹Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. ²¹Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke ^[o]kindly to them.

Death of Joseph

²²So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. ²³Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely ^[p]visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Footnotes

Genesis 48:2 Collected his strength
Genesis 48:6 children
Genesis 48:6 Who are born to you
Genesis 48:22 Lit. shoulder
Genesis 49:5 violence
Genesis 49:6 lamed
Genesis 49:9 couches
Genesis 49:10 A symbol of kingship
Genesis 49:19 Lit. Troop
Genesis 49:19 Lit. raid
Genesis 49:24 Or supple
Genesis 50:3 Lit. wept
Genesis 50:11 Lit. Mourning of Egypt
Genesis 50:15 fully
Genesis 50:21 Lit. to their hearts
Genesis 50:25 give attention to

28 Jan 202128 Jan 2021

It shall spring forth (4)

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 KJV

It is springing forth – like light into the darkness! And I praise the Lord and say “Yes, Lord – expose the truths and shine light into all the deep dark places in our lives!” and then He shines a light on me – into me. Into places I forgot about. Well then what do we do?

Always so much of me remaining – every time I feel depleted of me God shows me more areas that need work. Why does God love us when we have so much evil and depravity within us? Yet His love overflows much like the new thing He is springing forth!

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38 ESV

So I suppose it make since that this process will continually cleanse me and draw out areas I need to work on. And then it will flow out of me!!! Which is of course the goal as Jesus said:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 ESV

What works?

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17-18 ESV

As a side note: a man in my church, while rebuking my zealousness and requesting I settle down, asked me if I knew that NOT all believer have the power and authority to heal or cast out demons. I told him that I know he is partially correct. Those who do not truly believe will not. In both of these verses above – all we need to do is believe. The power of Christ is not set aside for only a select few – we have all been given the power – and belief if the key to unlocking it according to these verses.
Oh how we parish from lack of knowing Him! It is in the overflow of knowing – deeply and truly knowing Him, that the new things springs from – that the power and authority rule from, that the humility peacefully maintains.

“And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,” 1 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV

Abound – overflow! In love, because God is LOVE and as we abound in love for one another we are becoming more and more like Him and who He designed us to be!

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Psalms 23:5 ESV

There are still trials – but more and more, I get invited to a feast put on by my enemies to sabotage me and by grace (not coincidence) it backfires on them and I come out unharmed and looking good. Then when asked – God can be given the glory!

“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45 ESV
So God is still cleaning me – still working on me and still filling me because He knows and teaches us that it is out of the abundance of the heart our mouth speaks. It is out of the overflow. So we have need to be clean, so clean waters flow.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 ESV

Here is that believing thing again! It comes with joy and peace! SO THAT BY THE POWER of THE HOLY SPIRIT you MAY ABOUND IN HOPE! You catch that??!! The power of the Holy Spirit makes us abound in hope. Hope in what???

“So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:7 ESV

Hope in the gospel message – Hope that Grace is real and transforms us into heirs – into children of God!!!

Today while I was in prayer and there were concerns which people and my own thoughts had that we were lifting to God and all I could keep saying is: “Its ok, Daddy’s got this. It is ok – Daddy’s in control.” No matter the outcome – there is grace. No matter what His will is – His grace is sufficient. No matter if God works things out the way we want or another way – God raises up man and takes man down… God is in control. Daddy has it all under control. We can have peace – in abundance.

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4
NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 46-47 NKJV

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

³So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. ⁴I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph ^[^a^]will put his hand on your eyes.”

⁵Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the ^[^b^]carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. ⁷His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

⁸Now these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon were ^[^c^]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, ^[^d^]Jachin, ^[^e^]Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar were Tola, ^[^f^]Puvah, ^[^g^]Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.

¹⁶The sons of Gad were ^[^h^]Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, ^[ⁱ^]Ezbon, Eri, ^[^j^]Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.

¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ²¹The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, ^[^k^]Huppim, and Ard. ²²These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.

²³The son of Dan was ^[^l^]Hushim. ²⁴The sons of Naphtali were ^[^m^]Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[ⁿ^]Shillem. ²⁵These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.

²⁶All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen. ²⁹So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰And Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.”

³¹Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³²And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an^[^o^] abomination to the Egyptians.”

Joseph Is Governor of Egypt

47 Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.” ²And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. ³Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my ^[^p^]pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

¹¹And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ¹⁴And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ^[^q^]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹And as for the people, he ^[^r^]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵So they said, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

²⁷So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

Footnotes

Genesis 46:4 Will close your eyes when you die
Genesis 46:5 wagons
Genesis 46:10 Nemuel, 1 Chr. 4:24
Genesis 46:10 Jarib, 1 Chr. 4:24
Genesis 46:10 Zerah, 1 Chr. 4:24
Genesis 46:13 Puah, Num. 26:23; 1 Chr. 7:1
Genesis 46:13 Jashub, Num. 26:24; 1 Chr. 7:1
Genesis 46:16 Sam., LXX Zephon and Num. 26:15
Genesis 46:16 Ozni, Num. 26:16
Genesis 46:16 Arod, Num. 26:17
Genesis 46:21 Hupham, Num. 26:39
Genesis 46:23 Shuham, Num. 26:42
Genesis 46:24 Jahziel, 1 Chr. 7:13
Genesis 46:24 Shallum, 1 Chr. 7:13
Genesis 46:34 loathsome
Genesis 47:9 Lit. sojourning
Genesis 47:17 supplied
Genesis 47:21 So with MT, Tg.; Sam., LXX, Vg. made the people virtual slaves

27 Jan 202124 Jan 2021

It shall spring forth (3)

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 KJV

It is springing forth – my gratitude, my love, my appreciation, my praise, my thanksgiving, my joy and rejoicing! I am humbled by the awesome and amazing wonder of a great and mighty living God – who has reached his presence down to touch me, a terrible sinner saved by grace, unworthy yet blessed – because God has so great a love for me!

I find myself depleted of me again. I find I have brought all my prayers and more and I am out of requests. I find I have given it all and if I hold back, Lord, reveal it and let me give it as well.

I have met our mighty God – and He is good. And I have sat in His presence and heard His voice – and it is good. BUT this is a new thing! This time it’s different and I feel emptied of all that I am – and overflowing full of something I cannot describe. I feel dazed yet hyper aware. I look around, I see a few who have the same look on their face as I feel like I have on my face – like a deer caught in the headlights. There is nothing left for us in the carnal world and we are experiencing a new well that springs forth. It is love. God is love. So it is God.

OK – let me slow down and take a deep breath – you too. Let us put aside whatever “busy” is waiting for us when we finish reading this. Let’s take some time for our real and mighty and living God!

“¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22 ESV

Jesus, wash us clean from our sins, please. Please deliver us from bondage to our sins. Forgive us as we forgive others. And let the redemption power of your blood give us the confidence to enter the holy places in prayer and worship.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8 ESV

Oh Lord, come near to me cause I am running after you!!!! Thank you for cleaning me and giving me a single focus – I focus on you!

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2 ESV

I feel like I have held my breath for year and will die if you do not breathe new life into me. I am thirsty for you Lord like a deer needs water. I am hungry like I have been living through years of famines – only you can give me breath, water and food!

“You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Psalm 27:8 ESV
I seek ye first! I keep my eyes on you! I am looking up! I am seeking your face – with all my heart and all my soul and all that is within me!

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” Psalm 84:1-2 ESV

Yes! Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

“The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.” Isaiah 50:4 NLT

Oh Lord, teach me and give me understanding of your will – and wisdom so you shall be glorified in me! Teach me Lord – please tell me your ways!

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3 ESV

I call on you, Lord!

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:1-5 ESV

And keep the worship going throughout your day…

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4
NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 43-45 NKJV

Joseph’s Brothers Return with Benjamin

43 Now the famine was severe in the land. ²And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”

³But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”

⁶And Israel said, “Why did you deal so ^[^a^]wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”

⁷But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

¹¹And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹²Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. ¹⁴And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

¹⁵So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. ¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter ^[^b^]an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

¹⁸Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may ^[^c^]make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.”

¹⁹When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, ²⁰and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; ²¹but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. ²²And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. ²⁵Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there.

²⁶And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. ²⁷Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.

²⁹Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.”

³²So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. ³⁴Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

Joseph’s Cup

44 And he commanded ^[^d^]the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ²Also put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain money.” So he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. ³As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.’ ”

⁶So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. ⁷And they said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. ⁸Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.” ¹¹Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. ¹²So he searched. He began with the oldest and ^[^e^]left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there; and they fell before him on the ground. ¹⁵And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”

¹⁶Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; here we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.”

¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Intercedes for Benjamin

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ ²¹Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²²And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’

²⁴“So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’ ²⁶But we said, ‘We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. ²⁹But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰“Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, ³¹it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. ³²For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’ ³³Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. ³⁴For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would ^[^f^]come upon my father?”

Joseph Revealed to His Brothers

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

³Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. ⁴And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷And God sent me before you to preserve a ^[^g^]posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

⁹“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not ^[^h^]tarry. ¹⁰You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.” ’

¹²“And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”

¹⁴Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. ¹⁷And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the ^[ⁱ^]fat of the land. ¹⁹Now you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. ²⁰Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts,^[^j^] according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. ²²He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. ²³And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father for the journey. ²⁴So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.”

²⁵Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them. ²⁷But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. ²⁸Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Footnotes

Genesis 43:6 Lit. wickedly
Genesis 43:16 Lit. a slaughter
Genesis 43:18 Lit. roll himself upon us
Genesis 44:1 Lit. the one over
Genesis 44:12 finished with
Genesis 44:34 Lit. find
Genesis 45:7 remnant
Genesis 45:9 delay
Genesis 45:18 The choicest produce
Genesis 45:21 wagons

26 Jan 202124 Jan 2021

It shall spring forth (2)

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 KJV

It is springing forth – do you feel it? Many have felt like they were being held back, or waiting for a release, or waiting for an explosion. God has been working in us and now is the time.

I know I have felt so full, like I was going to explode with Jesus all over the place. And many of you who are seeking and pressing in have felt the same way. Yet at the same time we know there is a release of this new thing that flows like a well, or a spring or even like the latter rains.

“We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ²For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NKJV

Now is the time! And today is the day of salvation!!! God is not slow as we understand slowness – it just happens His way and not our way. We aren’t released and we don’t explode. The well springs forth out of the abundance, we overflow and pour out because we have abundance and out of that abundance of our heart, the mouth speaks and it flows. Out of the abundance of our gratitude pours worship. Out of the abundance of the grace extended to us comes a quiet and humble fire that moves in love – LOVE. LOVE.
I get the MOST likes when I speak of love – but yet, I meet very few people who can be described as love and as in love with God and being able to see Christ in them. Love is our Goal – daily we need to show love and see through the eyes of LOVE, through glasses of grace!

“¹¹For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹²teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. ¹⁵Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.“ Titus 2:11-15 NKJV

It is good for us to get to the end of ourselves, to lay it all down on the altar, to deny ourselves the things of our fleshly nature. It is good to run zealously for God. To grab ahold of the angel like Jacob did and NOT let go until you are blessed! To receive your anointing and become zealous for the work of the Lord and obedience to Him! And speak! Proclaim boldly the good news!

It is time – and we are on fire burning to GO! And having yet another and another and another transforming life changing experience with grace and pressing deeper and deeper – and it is good to speak and proclaim – but… Paul is keeping it real with Titus about the nature of people because the very next verses remind us to be obedient and humble, to proclaim boldly and with humility! Reminding us of our propensity to lean towards evil, how mercy saved us, the Holy Spirit transformed us, and how we have only been justified by grace!

“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, ²to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. ³For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:1-7 NKJV

These are the graces of the heirs of grace – these are the ways in which we should live! It is through just living this way – in grace and obedience that we overflowing with love and power – then other lives are transformed. Little by little, with each encounter with us, just living.

This is the call for all men and women – through living, just living after a life changing transformation and real experience with grace – will cause other to ask us questions and we can tell them about our experience. God will open the doors he wants open.

I know a few people who said they are not called to share because they just can’t do that. But the boldness will come over you when they ask – so do not worry. Just live. This is your minimum service.
And to those of you who are called to something else like preaching or teaching, also live in obedience. It is also your minimum service. And the Holy Spirit will also give you boldness, when the boldness is needed. Just simply in the act of living obediently you shall see the signs and wonder of God as Jesus described and taught.

Stay in the word, stay in prayer and seek God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit first! And in all things! And in all your ways! And in all you do!

I CONFIRM:
I confirm that through my relationship with God and through prayer and communication with Him, I can live in grace and obedience. I will ask the Lord to guide my steps so I might fulfill His purpose in my life. I praise and thank Him for His grace and goodness!

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4
NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 41-42 NKJV

Pharaoh’s Dreams

41 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. ²Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. ³Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. ⁴And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. ⁵He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. ⁶Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ⁷And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream. ⁸Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. ¹⁰When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, ¹¹we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. ¹²Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. ¹³And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”

¹⁶So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. ¹⁸Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. ¹⁹Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. ²¹When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. ²²Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven ^[^a^]heads came up on one stalk, full and good. ²³Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ²⁴And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ^[^b^]heads are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. ²⁸This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. ²⁹Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; ³⁰but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. ³¹So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. ³²And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

³³“Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint ^[^c^]officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the ^[^d^]authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. ³⁶Then that food shall be as a ^[^e^]reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not ^[^f^]perish during the famine.”

Joseph’s Rise to Power

³⁷So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be ^[^g^]over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

⁴²Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name ^[^h^]Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth ^[ⁱ^]abundantly. ⁴⁸So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. ⁴⁹Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.

⁵⁰And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn ^[^j^]Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” ⁵²And the name of the second he called ^[^k^]Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, ⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do.” ⁵⁶The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened ^[^l^]all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ²And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.”

³So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest some calamity befall him.” ⁵And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. ⁷Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke ^[^m^]roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the ^[ⁿ^]nakedness of the land!”

¹⁰And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

¹²But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹³And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

¹⁴But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be ^[^o^]kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” ¹⁷So he ^[^p^]put them all together in prison three days.

¹⁸Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: ¹⁹If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. ²⁰And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.”

And they did so. ²¹Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

²²And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” ²³But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. ²⁴And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

The Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. ²⁶So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. ²⁷But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts ^[^q^]failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: ³⁰“The man who is lord of the land spoke ^[^r^]roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. ³⁴And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

³⁷Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”

Footnotes

Genesis 41:22 Heads of grain
Genesis 41:26 Heads of grain
Genesis 41:34 overseers
Genesis 41:35 Lit. hand
Genesis 41:36 Lit. supply
Genesis 41:36 be cut off
Genesis 41:40 In charge of
Genesis 41:45 Probably Egyptian for God Speaks and He Lives
Genesis 41:47 Lit. by handfuls
Genesis 41:51 Lit. Making Forgetful
Genesis 41:52 Lit. Fruitfulness
Genesis 41:56 Lit. all that was in them
Genesis 42:7 harshly
Genesis 42:9 Exposed parts
Genesis 42:16 Lit. bound
Genesis 42:17 Lit. gathered
Genesis 42:28 sank
Genesis 42:30 harshly

25 Jan 202124 Jan 2021

It shall spring forth

“for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” 2 Corinthians 10:4 ESV

Is anyone working on the memory verse for this month? How is it going? Are you at the very least keeping the verse before you and thinking on it daily? God has been speaking loudly and saying many things this month and we study and hear more and more – but quietly in the background this verse stands and has significance! So let me pull it back to the foreground.

Dear Heavenly Father – Please open our ears to hear what you are saying. Please open our eyes to see and open our understanding that we may know you. Please continue to pour out your grace upon us and give us a real experience with you. Continually, all we want is more of you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Correction – it should not be “So let me pull it back to the foreground”. It should be God wants us to look at it again. I sat here reading and praying and not feeling any direction. I sat here wondering if God just had nothing for us, and wondering if I should just randomly select a passage – This is new. God always tells me clearly what to study. But to be honest, lately a whole lot is new.

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 KJV

Occasionally I have visions and dreams, occasionally God says to share them here, sometimes I share them with friends or wherever God has me share them. This one provided a clear date. The whole vision is too long and has various symbol meant for other messages, so let me tell you this part:
The sky was dark and cloudy, then it parted and light poured out like a river. This Holy light was not directional like earthly light – but it was liquid and could bend and flow and fill every dark nook and cranny. With it came truth. This was followed by power, authority and deliverance. And then the river began to worship and out poured worship.

So on that particular date which was 15 days after the vision, at lunch time, I was home and I could not eat because I was fasting. So, I sat in the front windows of my house and prayed. The weather was overcast and gray, and the day just felt dark. I prayed about the vision: “God, that vision was today and look it is dark…” …then it suddenly became bright… blindingly bright! I could not even look into the sky as it was just bright and warm and glorious. It didn’t feel like just the sun shine – it felt like God’s presence came to me. I could not see a river or anything like in my vision – quite frankly I was blinded by the light – I could only feel the heat and the light and the presence of God!
It was tempting to get up and go back to work. It was warm and glorious and also probing and made me feel vulnerable so there was definitely a desire to NOT be bathed in that light. But I heard a preacher the day before say, that when God wants to give you the download, do not unplug from His system until the download is complete!
I just sat there – and worshiped God. I have not been the same since.
It was quiet – not an explosion, not a breaking, not anything of consequence to anyone else but me. I am free. I went back to work. I went about my days and week – no one seems to notice, I am different. There is no stronghold. There is no resistance. And I cannot stop worshiping. God is good – so good!

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. God said to fast and pray, and humble myself, and read scriptures out loud – work on memorizing and meditating on them – and I have and I still am and will until the day He tells me to stop.
These weapons are divinely powerful – It isn’t us, not anything we do or say it is divine. It is all God. God gets the glory. God gets the glory! GOD GETS ALL THE GLORY!!!

Like we discussed last Friday – we lay ourselves down – all in – a living sacrifice.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 KJV
Then, do not be surprised if He sends His fire to consume, His light to reveal, His glory to transform, and His Spirit to give you power and a boldness.

I want this for you, the readers. I want this for my pastors. I want this deeper revelation for everyone. God showed me that the head pastor at my home church has had a similar experience and that one of the associate pastors is going through it. Thank you Lord. Please Lord, help us all to seek you and experience this new thing that you are doing.

So I tried to share this with a seasoned Christian, to encourage her to press in deeper and go after this new thing God is doing! And her salt ran out of savor and I think she is seasoned by nothing but the passing of time. There are no trials, no travailing in prayer, no attacks of the enemy, no struggle of flesh (as even Paul continued to struggle with as he said in his letter to the Romans, which was late in his ministry), and no signs of life. I am not criticizing or judging her – I am discerning and seeing her how God sees her: which is lifeless and dead or maybe just sleeping. And she says it is so sweet that I reached that stage, and I am so zealous for the Lord, and not to worry, I will settle in.
WELL! Get Behind me satan!
I shall wake up every day and beg God for the fire so I do not burn out! Lord, do not let me settle in! Open her eyes – this is not the old revelation of you that you poured out in the 1980s! oh no! I was there and I remember! I thank you for that revelation – but this, my friends, is a new thing! And for all of you who had experiences which changed you…. I am not putting them down or invalidating them. BUT THIS IS A NEW THING!!!! THIS IS A NEW THING!

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11 KJV

This is a well in a desert like the verse says but it is acted out and you swore you weren’t a desert! This is a new thing! It gives you a certain look – and on the other side is an understanding. A powerful supernatural understanding and new way of seeing and feeling and knowing. I wish I had words that could describe this. Lord, open the understanding of those who want to know.

I CONFIRM:
I confirm that through my relationship with God and through prayer and communication with Him, I can be open for life transformation. I will ask the Lord to reveal who He is and what His plans are for my life. I praise and thank Him for His grace and goodness!

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4
NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 38-40 NKJV

Judah and Tamar

38 It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. ²And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her. ³So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. ⁴She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. ⁵And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him.

⁶Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him. ⁸And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” ⁹But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. ¹⁰And the thing which he did ^[^a^]displeased the Lord; therefore He killed him also.

¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house till my son Shelah is grown.” For he said, “Lest he also die like his brothers.” And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

¹²Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.”

So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

¹⁸Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. ²¹Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was ^[^b^]openly by the roadside?”

And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.”

²²So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.”

²³Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.”

²⁴And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is ^[^c^]with child by harlotry.”

So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

²⁵When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”

²⁶So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.

²⁷Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb. ²⁸And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called Perez.^[^d^] ³⁰Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah.

Joseph a Slave in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. ²The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did ^[^e^]to prosper in his hand. ⁴So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put ^[^f^]under his authority. ⁵So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. ⁶Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s ^[^g^]hand, and he did not know what he had except for the ^[^h^]bread which he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

⁷And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife ^[ⁱ^]cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”

⁸But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. ⁹There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

¹⁰So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her.

¹¹But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, ¹²that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. ¹³And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, ¹⁴that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to ^[^j^]mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”

¹⁶So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; ¹⁸so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

¹⁹So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. ²⁰Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. ²¹But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave^[^k^] him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²²And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. ²³The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under ^[^l^]Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

The Prisoners’ Dreams

40 It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. ²And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. ³So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. ⁴And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.

⁵Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. ⁶And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were ^[^m^]sad. ⁷So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”

So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.”

⁹Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, ¹⁰and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. ¹¹Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

¹²And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. ¹³Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your ^[ⁿ^]place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. ¹⁴But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. ¹⁵For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three ^[^o^]white baskets on my head. ¹⁷In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸So Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹Within three days Pharaoh will lift ^[^p^]off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁰Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²²But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Footnotes

Genesis 38:10 Lit. was evil in the eyes of
Genesis 38:21 in full view
Genesis 38:24 pregnant
Genesis 38:29 Lit. Breach or Breakthrough
Genesis 39:3 to be a success
Genesis 39:4 Lit. in his hand
Genesis 39:6 Care
Genesis 39:6 Food
Genesis 39:7 Lit. lifted up her eyes toward
Genesis 39:14 laugh at
Genesis 39:21 Caused him to be viewed with favor by
Genesis 39:23 Lit. his hand
Genesis 40:6 dejected
Genesis 40:13 position
Genesis 40:16 Or baskets of white bread
Genesis 40:19 Lit. up

24 Jan 202121 Jan 2021

Weekend Reading (January 24)

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 35-37 NKJV

Jacob’s Return to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

²And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. ³Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” ⁴So they gave Jacob all the foreign ^[a]gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.

⁵And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷And he built an altar there and called the place ^[b]El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.

⁸Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called ^[c]Allon Bachuth.

⁹Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. ¹²The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” ¹³Then God went^[d] up from him in the place where He talked with him. ¹⁴So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. ¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

Death of Rachel

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. ¹⁷Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.” ¹⁸And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name ^[e]Ben-Oni; but his father called him ^[f]Benjamin. ¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. ²²And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it.

Jacob’s Twelve Sons

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: ²³the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ²⁴the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram.

Death of Isaac

²⁷Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjath Arba^[g] (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. ²⁸Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. ²⁹So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was ^[h]gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

The Family of Esau

36 Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom. ²Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah^[i] the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ³and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. ⁴Now Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel. ⁵And ^[j]Aholibamah bore Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob. ⁷For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom.

⁹And this is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. ¹⁰These were the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, and Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. ¹¹And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, ^[k]Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

¹²Now Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife.

¹³These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.

¹⁴These were the sons of ^[l]Aholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon. And she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah.

The Chiefs of Edom

¹⁵These were the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, ¹⁶^[m]Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the sons of Adah.

¹⁷These were the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.

¹⁸And these were the sons of ^[n]Aholibamah, Esau’s wife: Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, and Chief Korah. These were the chiefs who descended from Aholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah. ¹⁹These were the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these were their chiefs.

The Sons of Seir

²⁰These were the sons of Seir the Horite who inhabited the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

²²And the sons of Lotan were Hori and ^[o]Hemam. Lotan’s sister was Timna.

²³These were the sons of Shobal: ^[p]Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, ^[q]Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴These were the sons of Zibeon: both Ajah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the ^[r]water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon. ²⁵These were the children of Anah: Dishon and ^[s]Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.

²⁶These were the sons of ^[t]Dishon: ^[u]Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ²⁷These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and ^[v]Akan. ²⁸These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These were the chiefs of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, ³⁰Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

The Kings of Edom

³¹Now these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel: ³²Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³And when Bela died, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. ³⁴When Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. ³⁵And when Husham died, Hadad the son of Bedad, who attacked Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. ³⁷And when Samlah died, Saul of Rehoboth-by-the-River reigned in his place. ³⁸When Saul died, Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. ³⁹And when Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor died, ^[w]Hadar reigned in his place; and the name of his city was ^[x]Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

The Chiefs of Esau

⁴⁰And these were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families and their places, by their names: Chief Timnah, Chief ^[y]Alvah, Chief Jetheth, ⁴¹Chief ^[z]Aholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, ⁴²Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, ⁴³Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Esau was the father of ^[aa]the Edomites.

Joseph Dreams of Greatness

37 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a ^[ab]stranger, in the land of Canaan. ²This is the history of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. ⁶So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: ⁷There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

⁸And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

¹⁰So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ¹¹And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹²Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

¹⁴Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

¹⁶So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

¹⁷And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

¹⁸Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹Then they said to one another, “Look, this ^[ac]dreamer is coming! ²⁰Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²²And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. ³⁰And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

³¹So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. ³²Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

³³And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” ³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶Now the ^[ad]Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Footnotes

Genesis 35:4 idols
Genesis 35:7 Lit. God of the House of God
Genesis 35:8 Lit. Terebinth of Weeping
Genesis 35:13 departed
Genesis 35:18 Lit. Son of My Sorrow
Genesis 35:18 Lit. Son of the Right Hand
Genesis 35:27 Lit. Town or City of Arba
Genesis 35:29 Joined his ancestors
Genesis 36:2 Or Oholibamah
Genesis 36:5 Or Oholibamah
Genesis 36:11 Zephi, 1 Chr. 1:36
Genesis 36:14 Or Oholibamah
Genesis 36:16 Sam. omits Chief Korah
Genesis 36:18 Or Oholibamah
Genesis 36:22 Homam, 1 Chr. 1:39
Genesis 36:23 Alian, 1 Chr. 1:40
Genesis 36:23 Shephi, 1 Chr. 1:40
Genesis 36:24 So with MT, Vg. (hot springs); LXX Jamin; Tg. mighty men; Talmud mules
Genesis 36:25 Or Oholibamah
Genesis 36:26 Heb. Dishan
Genesis 36:26 Hamran, 1 Chr. 1:41
Genesis 36:27 Jaakan, 1 Chr. 1:42
Genesis 36:39 Sam., Syr. Hadad and 1 Chr. 1:50
Genesis 36:39 Pai, 1 Chr. 1:50
Genesis 36:40 Aliah, 1 Chr. 1:51
Genesis 36:41 Or Oholibamah
Genesis 36:43 Heb. Edom
Genesis 37:1 sojourner, temporary resident
Genesis 37:19 Lit. master of dreams
Genesis 37:36 MT Medanites

23 Jan 202121 Jan 2021

Weekend Reading (January 23)

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 32-34 NKJV

Esau Comes to Meet Jacob

32 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place ^[a]Mahanaim.

³Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the ^[b]country of Edom. ⁴And he commanded them, saying, “Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. ⁸And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[c]attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.”

⁹Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: ¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. ¹¹Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and ^[d]attack me and the mother with the children. ¹²For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

¹³So he lodged there that same night, and took what ^[e]came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. ¹⁶Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put some distance between successive droves.” ¹⁷And he commanded the first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these in front of you?’ ¹⁸then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.’ ” ¹⁹So he commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰and also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹So the present went on over before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.

Wrestling with God

²²And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. ²³He took them, sent them ^[f]over the brook, and sent over what he had. ²⁴Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the ^[g]breaking of day. ²⁵Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He ^[h]touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. ²⁶And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”

But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

²⁷So He said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

²⁸And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but ^[i]Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

²⁹Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”

And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.

³⁰So Jacob called the name of the place ^[j]Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” ³¹Just as he crossed over ^[k]Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. ³²Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He ^[l]touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.

Jacob and Esau Meet

33 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. ²And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?”

So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.

⁸Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?”

And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. ¹¹Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have ^[m]enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”

¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. ¹⁴Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, ^[n]are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

¹⁵And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”

But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made ^[o]booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called ^[p]Succoth.

Jacob Comes to Canaan

¹⁸Then Jacob came ^[q]safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. ¹⁹And he bought the parcel of ^[r]land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. ²⁰Then he erected an altar there and called it El^[s] Elohe Israel.

The Dinah Incident

34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ²And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. ³His soul ^[t]was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke ^[u]kindly to the young woman. ⁴So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”

⁵And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held^[v] his peace until they came. ⁶Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. ⁸But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. ⁹And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. ¹⁰So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.”

¹¹Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹²Ask me ever so much dowry^[w] and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.”

¹³But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. ¹⁵But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, ¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone.”

¹⁸And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was more honorable than all the household of his father.

²⁰And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying: ²¹“These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For indeed the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²²Only on this condition will the men consent to dwell with us, to be one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴And all who went out of the gate of his city heeded Hamor and Shechem his son; every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. ²⁶And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. ²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field, ²⁹and all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive; and they plundered even all that was in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”

³¹But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?”

Footnotes

Genesis 32:2 Lit. Double Camp
Genesis 32:3 Lit. field
Genesis 32:8 Lit. strikes
Genesis 32:11 Lit. strike
Genesis 32:13 he had received
Genesis 32:23 across
Genesis 32:24 dawn
Genesis 32:25 struck
Genesis 32:28 Lit. Prince with God
Genesis 32:30 Lit. Face of God
Genesis 32:31 Lit. Face of God; same as Peniel, v. 30
Genesis 32:32 struck
Genesis 33:11 Lit. all
Genesis 33:14 can stand
Genesis 33:17 shelters
Genesis 33:17 Lit. Booths
Genesis 33:18 Or to Shalem, a city of
Genesis 33:19 Lit. the field
Genesis 33:20 Lit. God, the God of Israel
Genesis 34:3 Lit. clung to
Genesis 34:3 tenderly
Genesis 34:5 kept silent
Genesis 34:12 bride-price

22 Jan 202121 Jan 2021

What would you pay?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2 NKJV

Let me open today with a verse that I have repeated often these last few weeks, both here and in person. As I press in closer to God, God has shown me areas that I had to surrender, be delivered from, or otherwise deal with because they are hindrances to getting closer to Him. What if we could skip all this work and just pay our way through? (Hold up, don’t leave yet!! I haven’t lost my mind – I have a thought, though.)

Dear Heavenly Father – Thank you for letting me draw closer to you and wanting a relationship with me! Thank you for wanting a deeper relationship with all of us! Thank you for your hand in our lives. Please open our ears to hear what you are saying. Please open our eyes to see and open our understanding that we may know you. Please continue to pour out your grace upon us! Continually, all we want is more of you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

We know that salvation from the wrath of God is free and all we need to do is believe (see the section below about “Relationship”). Free to everyone is the fact that Jesus made a way to have a restored relationship with God and a way to avoid eternal damnation. With a little faith to accept that – we are on our way – That is the easy part. But from there we must work out our salvation. It would seem there is the cost of “work”:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV
Through a desire to get to know God, we see in verse 13, that it is GOD who works in you and that transformative grace and love of God causes you to will (or to want to obey His will) and to obey His will. So maybe God does the work in us – so then, what are WE “working out”?

Let’s work this out: Why does it say in revelations that He wants us to be Hot Christians and if we are on the warm side (lukewarm) He would spit us out of heaven!?!?! (Revelation 3:16)
Why does it say we can do a whole bunch of things for God – but get to the gates of heaven and he will point us away into eternal damnation?!?!?
”Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:21-23 KJV

Obviously there is something between believing and being saved and being permitted into heaven. There is that verse about professing. And the verse on keeping the commandments. But what is the thing that guarantees us heaven?

Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with beauty and grace – Hell is a horrible place of pain and suffering and terror. So first of all, how do we get into heaven and second, what would you pay to get to heaven and be saved from eternal damnation??

“¹⁶Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
¹⁷So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
¹⁸He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ¹⁹‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
²⁰The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
²¹Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
²²But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” Matthew 19:16-22 NKJV

And there it is! Give up everything and follow Jesus. Jesus isn’t asking more of us than He Himself has offered us; He gave up His life for us. No cash payment – just you.

The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 (above) had the wrong perspective. Jesus said he’ll still have treasures, but they will be in heaven. But sadly for this kid, He just missed the boat.

I got to a point in my life where I had made such a mess of things I felt like I had nothing left – Easier for me to give up those cares and run recklessly into the arms of a saving God. Right? Well, there were struggles. Things I thought were gone forever came back. Things I thought I wanted were suddenly available again to me. It wasn’t easy. I was well aware of His Covenant and I made a very intentional agreement with Him to keep my end of it.

This covenant, I have taught on before, is the key. Ya see, we aren’t “saved” even though we are saved from eternal damnation. We got caught on the wrong word. The covenant, or promise or marriage or commitment – the restoration of a relationship between God and us – this is what it is all about. Not about heaven or hell. It is about having access to ALL – ALL – of God. Access to His power, authority, to His gifts – to healing – to raising the dead – to casting out demons – wait!! Even more and better is: we have access to heaven and a new earth and Jesus and grace and a perfect will played out in our lives.
AND as covenants, promises, marriages and commitments have 2 parties with obligations – so does this. In exchange for full unhindered access to all that is God – we give Him us. Uninhibited, unhindered, full access – laying ourselves at the altar – not getting back up, but instead asking Him to reveal anything else that needs to be sacrificed.

What would you pay for complete access to God and heaven? What would you pay to be spared from eternal damnation? Would you give it all? Give your hopes and dreams for the good, good, plan the Lord has for you? Give up your pride, autonomy and will to obey a mighty God for His victories in your life?
OK let’s keep it real – this is tough to understand. Because most people in today’s world have never seen a “miracle”. Maybe you have seen a sinner like me transformed into a Jesus Freak like me – which really is a miracle. But have you seen a short crooked leg grow? Or a blind man see? God has seemed so silent and many have not seen these things. But that was just the dry season – AND IT IS ABOUT TO RAIN!

God is looking for those who have the faith, have sown the righteousness, who have broken up the fallow ground, who are presenting themselves (ALL of themselves) a living sacrifice to pour out his living waters – the liquid truth, life and light upon them (Hosea 10:12 and a few other verses). Get ready, get thirsty, want more of God and want more of God! (I know I repeated that).

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” Isaiah 44:3 ESV

King David had quite a battle keeping his flesh under control as we see throughout the story of His life – but he was a man after God’s own heart – oh chase God’s heart! And the Apostle Paul says his flesh does what it isn’t supposed to because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I point this out so you understand there is NO condemnation in God. He is convicting us to give up more – to go deeper – to keep working to get that flesh under control! This is conviction for correction to bring us closer to our promises and blessings and be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Keep pressing it – where we want to be will cost us everything. But we have nothing really to lose and everything to gain.

I CONFIRM:
I confirm that through my relationship with God and through prayer and communication with Him, I will actively seek what I need to surrender in order to present myself a living sacrifice. I will ask the Lord to deliver me from any bondages and stronghold that hinder. I praise and thank Him for His grace and goodness!

MEMORY WORK: 2 Corinthians 10:4
NKJV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds”
NAS – “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
ESV – “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
NLT – “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
NIV – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Genesis 30-31 NKJV

Jacob’s Children

30 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”

²And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may ^[^a^]have children by her.” ⁴Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name ^[^b^]Dan. ⁷And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “With ^[^c^]great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name ^[^d^]Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as wife. ¹⁰And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Then Leah said, ^[^e^]“A troop comes!” So she called his name ^[^f^]Gad. ¹²And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³Then Leah said, “I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.” So she called his name ^[^g^]Asher.

¹⁴Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”

And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night.

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name ^[^h^]Issachar. ¹⁹Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name ^[ⁱ^]Zebulun. ²¹Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name ^[^j^]Dinah.

²²Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” ²⁴So she called his name ^[^k^]Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.”

Jacob’s Agreement with Laban

²⁵And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”

²⁷And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” ²⁸Then he said, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”

²⁹So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. ³⁰For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you ^[^l^]since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?”

³¹So he said, “What shall I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: ³²Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. ³³So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”

³⁴And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” ³⁵So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. ³⁸And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

⁴¹And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴²But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.” ²And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before. ³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, ⁵and said to them, “I see your father’s ^[^m^]countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶And you know that with all my might I have served your father. ⁷Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. ⁹So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰“And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. ¹¹Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. ¹⁶For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”

¹⁷Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household^[ⁿ^] idols that were her father’s. ²⁰And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. ²¹So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed^[^o^] toward the mountains of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²²And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. ²³Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. ²⁴But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”

²⁵So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.

²⁶And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? ²⁷Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? ²⁸And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing. ²⁹It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ ³⁰And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”

³¹Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ ³²With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the ^[^p^]household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban ^[^q^]searched all about the tent but did not find them. ³⁵And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the ^[^r^]household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my ^[^s^]trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? ³⁷Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! ³⁸These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. ⁴¹Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. ⁴²Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”

Laban’s Covenant with Jacob

⁴³And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴Now therefore, come, let us make a ^[^t^]covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. ⁴⁷Laban called it ^[^u^]Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[^v^]Galeed. ⁴⁸And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, ⁴⁹also Mizpah,^[^w^] because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

⁵¹Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. ⁵²This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ⁵³The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the ^[^x^]Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. ⁵⁵And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Footnotes

Genesis 30:3 Lit. be built up by her
Genesis 30:6 Lit. Judge
Genesis 30:8 Lit. wrestlings of God
Genesis 30:8 Lit. My Wrestling
Genesis 30:11 So with Qr., Syr., Tg.; Kt., LXX, Vg. in fortune
Genesis 30:11 Lit. Troop or Fortune
Genesis 30:13 Lit. Happy
Genesis 30:18 Lit. Wages
Genesis 30:20 Lit. Dwelling
Genesis 30:21 Lit. Judgment
Genesis 30:24 Lit. He Will Add
Genesis 30:30 Lit. at my foot
Genesis 31:5 Lit. face
Genesis 31:19 Heb. teraphim
Genesis 31:21 Lit. set his face toward
Genesis 31:34 Heb. teraphim
Genesis 31:34 Lit. felt
Genesis 31:35 Heb. teraphim
Genesis 31:36 transgression
Genesis 31:44 treaty
Genesis 31:47 Lit., in Aram., Heap of Witness
Genesis 31:47 Lit., in Heb., Heap of Witness
Genesis 31:49 Lit. Watch
Genesis 31:53 A reference to God