Tues.’s Devo - Time To Go Home

Read: Genesis 30:1-31:16; Matthew 10:1-25; Psalm 12:1-8; Proverbs 3:13-15
Rachel and Leah were typical sisters. Rachel was jealous of Leah because she could bear children and Leah was jealous of Rachel because Jacob loved her. Leah and Rachel named their children based on what was going on in hearts at the time. They competed with each other and their sons were the scoreboards, while Jacob was the referee trying to be fair to both sides. They all needed counseling!
After the 11th son, Jacob decided it was time to go home. He negotiated with Laban for his wages. He would take the spotted and speckled sheep and goats. That way it would be obvious which was which. Jacob stayed on for a while to fatten his take. He used his trickery to make the strong sheep turn out speckled. He put poles that looked speckled in front of where they mated. You become what you behold, so he made them behold speckled poles and they produced speckled offspring. He faced the weak animals towards Laban’s so they would produced solid colored animals. Genius!
Laban didn’t think it was so great and Jacob could tell he had lost his father-in-law’s favor. God spoke to Jacob and told him it was time to go home. Jacob went to his wives and asked them if they were ready to leave. They felt no connection to their father so they were ready to leave, too.
In Matthew, Jesus had chosen his twelve disciples and was sending them out to preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead a, cleanse the lepers and drive out the demons. He told them to take no provisions with them. He wanted them to walk in faith like he had demonstrated to them.
He told them what to do if they were rejected, what to do if they were arrested, and warned them of the persecution that was awaiting them. They would experience the same rewards and rejection that he had because they were his students.
We are told to do the same things. If it were impossible to heal the sick, raise the dead, etc, then he wouldn’t have told us to do it.
Lord, may we walk in the same anointing that you walked in with the same results.