Tues.’s Devo - The Curse of Guilt and the Blessing of Forgiveness

Read: Genesis 42:18-43:34; Matthew 13:47-14:12; Psalm 18:16-36; Proverbs 4:7-10 After Joseph’s brothers had been in prison three days, he brought them out and told them one of them must stay until the others brought their brother back. *** Reuben concluded that all of this was happening because of how they treated Joseph. He reminded them that he had tried to tell them not to do it, but they wouldn’t listen. Now they were having to answer for their sin. *** This told Joseph that Reuben was innocent, so he chose the second born to be responsible. He kept Simeon in prison and sent the rest home. He had his servants put their money back in the top of their sacks to bless them. *** When they found the money, instead of being blessed, they felt cursed. That is the power of guilt; it taints everything through that lens. *** They shared with their father what had happened and he swore Benjamin would not be going to Egypt. So, Simeon was stuck in prison. When they ran out of grain, Reuben was able to talk his father into letting Benjamin go with them and assured with his own life, that he would return. Jacob had then take gifts and twice the money, just in case it was an accident that there money was restored to them. *** When they entered Egypt and Joseph saw that Benjamin was with them, he told his manager that these men would be eating with him. The manager led them to Joseph’s palace and once again their guilt robbed them of the blessing. They were terrified instead and immediately confessed that their money had been restored to them and they had brought it back, and more, to pay for the next grain. The manager knew what was going on and assured them he had received their money. This was not about the money. He released Simeon to them and gave them water and fed their donkeys. They were told they would eat there, so they prepared their gifts to give to Joseph. *** Joseph arrived and they bowed down before him again. He asked about their father and found out he was still alive. He addressed Benjamin and had to leave the room to compose himself. He came back refreshed and had the food brought in. He sat them in their birth order and they were amazed, but none of them caught on that this was Joseph. He was giving them small clues to show them that he knew things about them that no one should know as a stranger, just like all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, and yet there were teachers of the law who missed the clues and refused to believe he was the promised Messiah. *** In Matthew, Jesus told the last parable about the Kingdom of Heaven and the great threshing the angels are doing - separating the good from the wicked. There is a difference between sinners and the wicked. Sinners are all of us before Christ. Sinners can be converted but the wicked have no grid for repentance or love. They are Satan’s seeds that he scattered on the earth. *** Not all of the religious leaders rejected Christ. The ones who did were able to add the new teachings of Christ to the old teachings of the law and the prophets. This was the last thing Jesus taught them before he left and went back home to Nazareth. *** He taught on the Sabbath in the synagogue and the people wanted to know where he got his wisdom and power to do miracles because they could not get past the fact that he was Mary and Joseph’s son. They were offended and refused to believe in him. Jesus told them that a prophet is honored everywhere but at home and left, not being able to do many miracles because of their unbelief. *** Herod Antipas heard about Jesus and thought he must be John the Baptist risen from the dead. Herod had been tricked into beheading John the Baptist and now his guilt had caused him to live in fear also. *** It is built into our DNA that sin requires judgment. Both Joseph’s brothers and Herod lived looking over their shoulders because of their guilt. Jesus came to take away our guilt and shame away so we can walk in freedom. Hallelujah! *** Lord, thank you for the cross! Thank you for your great gift of salvation and your invitation for us to live in your kingdom. We choose to live in your presence with your laws and under your authority.

Mon.’s Devo - From Prison to Position

Read: Genesis 41:17-42:17; Matthew 13:24-46; Psalm 18:1-15; Proverbs 4:1-6 Pharaoh told Joseph his dream. Dreams dominated Joseph’s life. His whole story started with dreams. It was through jealousy over his dreams that his brother’s sold him. Now, it would be through two dreams that God would promote him to his destiny. *** In dreams, God uses everyday objects to represent a greater truth just like he did in his parables. Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. Joseph was given eyes to see the symbols and to be able to interpret them. He was able to understand that fat cows and healthy grain represented years of prosperity and thin cows and blighted grain represented years of famine. He not only told the king the interpretation of his dream but also what to do to prepare and prosper in the midst of a famine. God is doing that now. He is giving us ways to prosper during this time to prepare us for the next few years when we go through a great transition in our land. *** The Pharaoh was humble enough to see that he needed help and that Joseph was the one to do it. He exalted Joseph to second-in-command. He gave him new clothes, a new name and new authority. This is another thing God is doing in the Body of Christ right now. He is bringing us out of the bondage and slavery we have been under and making us the heads of his mountains of society. He is clothing us in humility and love and giving us all the provisions we need to accomplish what God wants on the earth. We have got to change our mindset to do God’s new exalted assignments. We are to rule and reign on this earth with love and humility to care for and bless humanity. *** God used Joseph to bless and preserve a very idolatrous nation. We were all once sinners that Christ died for. America has been a very perverse and idolatrous nation, but God wants to change that through us and bless America once again. *** Back to our story, the last seven years of famine hit the whole world and eventually Canaan, where Jacob and his eleven sons lived. Everyone heard that Egypt had grain so Jacob sent all his sons except Benjamin to Egypt to buy grain to preserve their lives. When they reached Egypt they went to Joseph to buy their grain. He recognized them but they did not recognize Joseph. They bowed down before him and Joseph was reminded of his dreams of his childhood. He acted as if they were spies and asked them many questions. They revealed that they were brothers and had another brother at home. Joseph told them that he would keep them all there and send one home for this brother to prove their stories were true. He put them all in jail for 3 days. Because of them, Joseph had spent years in jail. Maybe he wanted them to experience a glimpse of what he had gone through. They were put in the very prison he had lived in for years. *** We will never go through the suffering that Jesus went through, but God does call us to fellowship in his suffering that we might one day know him and be conformed. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:11) *** In Matthew, Jesus continued telling parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. In his first parable we read about yesterday, the good seed represented the message of the Kingdom but in todays parable, it represents that message in people. Just like in Genesis 1:11, seed reproduces plants with the seed inside them over and over again. *** The first three of the parables we read about today have to do with that multiplication. Jesus spoke these parables to the people, but he explained them to his disciples when they asked him what they meant. The Bible is a closed book to those who have hard hearts and are not open to be taught by God’s Spirit. We have been blessed with tender hearts to receive the gift of God. The Holy Spirit teaches us and show us its mysteries. Thank you, Holy Spirit. *** In today’s parables we not only learn about multiplication but also the job of the angels. It is their job to expose and rid the body of the weeds at harvest time. It is harvest time and we are watching the angels do that now as many pastors, politicians, businessmen, etc. are being exposed and given a chance to repent. *** In the fourth parable, God explains that there is treasure hidden in the field - there are people who have chosen to follow Christ no matter what. So God bought the whole world in order to save them. (John 3:16). *** Lord, thank you for your wonderful plan of salvation. May we be part of your harvesting of souls in these last days. May we see your kingdom come to earth.

Sun.’s Devo - The Making of a Leader

Read: Genesis 39:1-41:16; Matthew 12:46-13:23; Psalm 17:1-15; Proverbs 3:33-35 The captain of the guard for Pharaoh bought Joseph from the Ishmaelite traders for his own personal slave. God blessed Joseph with the gift of administration and he proved himself in all he did for Potiphar. He used his gifts to bless Potiphar and prosper him. When Potiphar recognized Joseph’s abilities, he gave honor to God. He put Joseph in charge of everything he owned. *** Joseph was good looking and strong and Potiphar’s wife began to try to tempt him to have an affair with her but Joseph kept putting her off. She finally found him alone and begged him to be with her. She grabbed at his cloak, but he fled the house, leaving his cloak behind. She took it as evidence, and called for her servants and told them Joseph tried to rape her. *** When her husband came back in town she showed him Joseph’s cloak and told him her lie. It doesn’t tell us that Joseph stood up for himself, all we know is that the husband put Joseph in the king’s prison. This is just where God wanted Joseph to be. He was able to learn the way of the Egyptians in secret and be preserved until God was ready to use him. In prison, he had much time to reflect on his life and learn humility and let God mold him into the leader he was being trained to be. *** Instead of giving up and becoming bitter, he became a favorite with the prison warden and was put in charge of the prison. Joseph was learning how to rule and work with all kinds of people. God caused everything he did to succeed. *** Pharoah’s cup-bearer and chief baker were both thrown into prison on the same day. There must have been a threat to the king of poisoning since it was the duty of the cup bearer to taste his wine first and the baker to cook his food. They were put in jail until an investigation was made to find out who was trying to poison the king. *** The two men each had a dream on the same night. The next morning, Joseph noticed they were both upset so he asked them about it. They told him they had dreams and had no one to interpret them. Joseph told them that was God’s business. He told then to tell him their dreams. *** The cup-bearer told Joseph his dream and Joseph interpreted it as saying that in three days, he would be returned to his job. The baker saw that the cup-bearer got a good interpretation so he told his dream, but his was not a good ending. Joseph told him that in three days, he would be impaled on a pole. *** Three days later was Pharoah’s birthday and he called in the two men and restored the cup-bearer to his position and impaled the baker on a pole. Joseph had told the cup-bearer to tell the Pharaoh that he had been kid-napped and was wrongfully put in prison, but the cup-bearer forgot all about Joseph. It was not time for Joseph to emerge. *** Two full years later, it was time. Pharaoh had a dream and he needed an interpreter and the cup-bearer then remembered Joseph and told the king. The king had him brought to him to see if he could interpret it. Josep told him the same thing… only God can tell you what it means and bring you peace. *** In prison, Joseph had learned how to please the king and the customs of the Egyptians. Before Joseph came before the king, he had his hair shaved and he changed his clothes to look Egyptian so as not to offend him and to relate to them. We, as Christians are set apart, but the difference we really want people to notice is our character. We need to be relatable without compromising our faith. *** In Matthew, Jesus’ mother and brothers wanted to speak to Jesus. Jesus made it clear to the people that they were just as important to him as his own family was. Anyone who did God’s will had this honor of being in his family. *** Jesus taught the people in parables. He told them stories and the first one was about a farmer scattering seed in his field. The seeds fell in different places. The seeds that fell on the foot path were eaten by the birds. The seeds that fell on the shallow soil with rock beneath sprouted quickly but soon wilted because their roots were not deep. The seeds that fell among the thorns were choked out, but the seeds that fell on the fertile soil produced a crop thirty, sixty and even a hundred times as much as was planted. *** Later, Jesus’ disciples asked him about the story and Jesus explained that it was one of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven and only those who had ears to hear and hearts to understand would understand its meaning. They were blessed because they were given eyes to see and ears to hear. Many prophets had longed to see what they were seeing (meaning him). Then he shared it’s deeper meaning with them. The seed was the message of the Kingdom. God gave this message to a bunch of people but the difference of receiving it had to do with their hearts. Their hearts were the soil. The enemy was the devil, who came to snatch the truth away as soon as it was given. The ones without roots in the words of God’s law and his prophets would not understand the message of the Kingdom. The ones who let their circumstances overwhelm them couldn’t process it. Some let the worries of life and the lure of wealth steal the truth. But, the ones who had good hungry hearts, the message of the Kingdom was life to them and they produced a harvest of souls - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times as much as they had received. *** Lord, we want to be productive in your kingdom. Thank you for showing us that it is not salvation alone that is the seed, but it is the whole Kingdom message that includes salvation and healing and ruling and reigning in this world and overcoming evil. May we help cultivate hearts to receive this message.

Sat.’s Devo - Hearts Are Exposed

Read: Genesis 37:1-38:30; Matthew 12:22-45; Psalm 16:1-11; Proverbs 3:27-32 Joseph was 17 and helped his half-brothers (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher) out in the field. Joseph told Jacob some bad things they were doing. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite since he was Rachel’s son and reminded Jacob of Rachel. Jacob had a special coat made for Joseph that showed his love for him. This made the other brothers jealous. To make it worse, Joseph had dreams about them bowing down to him and worshipping him. He even had one where his mother and father bowed down and worshipped him. *** Joseph’s brothers had gone to Shechem to pasture their sheep and had been gone a while, so Jacob sent Joseph to bring him back a report of how they were doing. Joseph found them in Dothan. As he was approaching him, they were plotting how to kill him. Reuben stepped in and suggested to just throw him into an empty cistern and let him die there. He planned to come back and rescue him. They took off his coat and threw him into the cistern, but then saw a caravan of Ishmaelite traders with their camels. Judah came up with the idea of selling him and making a prophet. They sold him for twenty pieces of silver and the traders took Joseph to Egypt. *** When Rueben returned to save Joseph, he found the cistern empty and he was distraught. The brothers killed a wild animal and dipped Joseph’s coat in the blood. They took it back to their father to let him figure out what had happened to him. *** Jacob believed wild animals had attacked and eaten Joseph and was so sad he wept for a long time, refusing to be comforted. *** Judah left home and moved to Abdullah and stayed with a man named Hiram which means “hollowness.” Judah married a Canaanite woman and had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah in that order. Jacob chose Tamar to marry Er. Er was so evil, God killed him. Jacob had Onan marry Tamar to have a son for his dead brother’s name. Onan didn’t want to do this, so God killed him. Jacob had promised Tamar that he would give her Shelah when he was old enough to marry, but Judah was afraid his sons were dying because of Tamar so he didn’t give Shelah to Tamar. *** When Tamar realized Judah was not going to fulfill his promise she tricked him into having sex with her. She heard that Judah was sheering sheep in Timnah and she set up a prostitute’s tent on his way. He fell for the bait and gave his staff, his ID seal, and its cord to guarantee his payment to have sex with the veiled Tamar. He had no idea she was his daughter-in-law. *** Tamar became pregnant and when Judah found out he sent someone to stone her. She presented the staff, seal and cord and said that the father was the owner of these things. Judah realized what Tamar had done and was not going to kill his off-spring, so he let her live. *** Tamar had twins and while she was delivering them, one of them put out his hand and the midwife put a scarlet string on his wrist, but the other boy came out first. They named him Perez which means “breaking out” and the one with the scarlet thread was named Zerah which means “brightness.” *** This is a spiritual concept. The first born is the one they were to offer to the Lord. He was the one who received the most when the father died. The first born represents our natural life. When we present our lives to the Lord, we die to our sins and are born again. This second birth represents the second born. He was the one with the scarlet thread who is now a light in the world. He is double blessed with the inheritance naturally and spiritually. In Matthew, Jesus healed a man and he could now see and speak but now the Pharisees had to explain why this man couldn’t be the Messiah. They came up with the statement that Jesus got his power from Satan and was the prince of demons. This showed that the more light the people were shown, the more blind the Pharisees became and the more lies they had to speak. They accused Jesus of being the very thing they were. *** Jesus explained that the kingdom of Satan would not be bringing healing and salvation or it would be fighting against its cause. The cause of Satan is to steal, kill and destroy, so how could Jesus be of that kingdom. Because Jesus was casting out demons this was evidence of what John preached was here. John preached that the kingdom of God was near and Jesus was proving that now it had come. Jesus was plundering the camp of Satan. *** Jesus said that the only sin that could not be forgiven was to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. He said, people could speak against him, but not the Holy Spirit. What is in our hearts will come out of our mouths. It is with our mouth that we confess Jesus, and it will be with our mouth that we will give an account on judgment day for every idle word spoken. It is our words that will justify or condemn us. *** The Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus asking for a sign to prove his authority. What? Everything Jesus did was a miraculous sign that proved his authority. Jesus said that only an adulterous, evil generation would ask such things. The only sign they would get was the sign of Jonah. The people of Nineveh had repented when he showed up and now the Messiah was here and the people still wouldn’t repent. Their sign would be the empty tomb. *** Jesus added that this generation was like a person who was delivered from demons and yet when the demon couldn’t find a place to go, it came back to the original person bringing with it more demons and now that person is worse off than before. Jesus was predicting what would happen when he left. They already wanted to kill him, they would try to kill all his followers once he was gone. (Their demons would increase.) *** God forces demons out into the light which is what he is doing right now in our society. He is forcing the demons to show themselves and what their agenda really is. They can’t hide anymore and we can’t sit on the fence anymore either. We have to choose between light and darkness. *** Lord, you are our refuge and place of rest. Your are our inheritance and you guard what is ours. May we watch over our words and only speak what is gracious and true. May we not tolerate darkness in our society.

Fri.’s Devo- Jacob Returns Home

Read: Genesis 35:1-36:43; Matthew 12:1-21; Psalm 12:1-21; Psal 15:1-5; Proverbs 3:21-26 God told Jacob to move to Bethel and reestablish the altar to God he had set up when he was fleeing from Esau. Jacob told everyone in his household to get rid of their pagan gods and change their clothes. This was a call to return to God. Jacob had not led his family spiritually as the head of his household, but God was calling him to change that. Jacob took their objects of pagan worship and buried them under a tree in Shechem. (Remember they had destroyed Shechem and had taken the women and children from that town with them. No doubt, they had brought idols with them.) I wonder if Rachel gave up the household idols she had stolen from Laban. *** Jacob and his family came to Bethel and Jacob built the altar and named it Elbethel which means “God of God’s house.” *** The nurse, Deborah, who had taken care of Rebekah when she was a child, died. She was buried in Bethel. *** God appeared to Jacob and once again told him that he was to start using is new name, Israel. God also gave himself another name - El Shaddai which means “God Almighty.” He told him to be fruitful and multiply and he would become many nations. Kings would come from his offspring and he would be given the land God have to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark its place and poured wine over it as an offering then anointed the pillar with olive oil. He named that place Bethel which means “house of God.” *** Jacob continued traveling and when he got close to Ephrath which means “fruitfulness”, Rachel went into labor and died having her son. She named him Benoni which means “son of my sorrow” but Jacob changed it to Benjamin which means “son of my right hand.” Jacob buried Rachel in Bethlehem. *** Jacob traveled on to Migdal-eder which means “tower of flock” and there Reuben slept with Bilhah who had been Rachel’s servant and Dan and Naphtali’s mother. This dishonorable act cost Reuben his birthright. *** Jacob finally made it back home. Isaac was still alive and lived a total of 180 years. When he died, Esau and Jacob buried him. *** Esau’s lineage is given. He had married the two Canaanite women which his mother loathed, then he had married a Hivitte and then his cousin on Ishmael’s side. He had 5 sons by these wives. From his descendants came princes and eleven clan leaders. They lived in the land of Edom and Seir. The kings of Edom were listed, also. *** In Matthew, Jesus was walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. The religious Pharisees saw this and accused them of harvesting grain on the Sabbath. (This was what Jesus called, ‘straining at a gnat to swallow a camel’) *** Jesus reminded them of what David did when his men were hungry. They broke the law by eating the shewbread that was reserved for the priests alone. He also reminded them of the work the priests do in the Temple every Sabbath. He told them they would have not condemned his disciples if they realized who was there among them and understood the scripture that said, “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.” Then he told them that the Son of Man was Lord, even over the Sabbath.” I bet this ticked them off. *** Jesus went into ‘their’ synagogue and noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees were ready to charge him with blasphemy so they asked him if the law permitted them to heal on the Sabbath. He asked them if they would pull out a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath. They all would. So he compared the man to the sheep and said how much more valuable is a person than a sheep. Then he answered their question - yes, the law permits you to do good on the Sabbath. What could they say to that? *** Jesus told the man to hold out his hand and when he did, it was restored. This ticked them off even more. They wanted Jesus gone. Jesus knew this so he left that area. He continued to heal those who followed him and to fulfill Isaiah 42:1-4. *** Lord, may we do the things that you did and greater. May we not be afraid of opposition or threats. We see through the ministry of Jesus that you can protect and empower us like you did for him.

Thurs.’s Devo - Wrestling with God and Winning

Read: Genesis 32:13-34:31; Matthew 11:7-30; Psalm 14:1-7; Proverbs 3:19-20 Jacob selected a list of animals from his flocks to present to Esau. Each animal group had a different shepherd, and when he approached Esau, he was to give him his herd and say that Jacob was right behind them. Jacob hoped to appease any anger Esau might still have towards him with his gifts. *** During the night, Jacob sent everyone across the Jabbok River and he stayed alone in the camp. A man came and wrestled with him until the dawn was breaking. When the man saw he couldn’t win, he touched Jacob in his thigh and injured it. Jacob still would not let him go so the man asked Jacob his name. The man changed his name to Israel which means ‘he will rule as a prince of God’. Jacob asked the man his name but he didn’t tell him. *** Jacob named the place Peniel which means ‘face of God’ for he knew he had seen God face to face and yet been spared. Jacob limped back to his family. *** Jacob saw Esau coming with his 400 men and divided his children with Bilhah and Zilpah and their children in the first group, then Leah and her children in the second group, and last of all Rachel and her son. Jacob went ahead of them all and met Esau. Esau ran and embraced him and they both wept. Jacob introduced his family to Esau and insisted that he kept the flocks he had sent ahead. Both Esau and Jacob had become very wealthy. *** Esau wanted to lead Jacob back with him to Seir but Jacob insisted on coming alone at their own pace. Jacob ended up in Shechem in Canaan. Jacob bought his first plot of land in Canaan for 100 pieces of silver. (Abraham had bought his first plot of land in Canaan for 400 pieces of silver.) *** One day Leah’s daughter, Dinah, was defiled by Shechem who was the local prince and the son of Hamor. Afterwards, Shechem fell in love with Dinah and wanted to marry her. Her brothers found out she had been raped and were furious. Hamor came to Jacob and his sons to ask for the hand of Dinah in marriage for his son, Shechem. He wanted to enter into a covenant through this marriage between his people and Jacob’s. Jacob’s reply was that they could only agree to this if their men were circumcised. Hamor and his son, Shechem were able to get the men in the town to agree so they all got circumcised. *** Three days later, while the men were good and sore, Simeon and Levi, Leah’s sons, attacked the town and slaughtered all the male there including Hamor and his son. The men were too sore to even put up a fight. When the other sons of Jacob arrived they saw the slaughter and plundered the town of all their wealth. They also took flocks and herds, the women and children. *** When Jacob found out what had happened, he was very upset, he was afraid the people around there would retaliate and he would lose everything, but this didn’t happen. Jacob would curse Simeon and Levi because of this act in his blessing at the end of his life (Genesis 49:5-8). This was not a small injustice they had done. God was not pleased. *** In Matthew, Jesus had just answered John the Baptist’s disciples question about whether he was the Messiah. As they left to go tell John what Jesus had said, Jesus turned to the crowd and asked them why they had gone out to listen to John. He reminded them that John was a prophet who didn’t dress in expensive clothes, but he was the one that scriptures had said would prepare the way for the Messiah. John was the greatest prophet that ever lived and yet he was less than those who lived in the Kingdom of Heaven. When John began preaching about the Kingdom, a war in heaven had begun and the Kingdom of Heaven was winning. *** People found every kind of reason to find fault in John because he wasn’t what they had expected. The same went for Jesus. He did miracles the people had never seen before and yet many had not repented of their sins. Every place Jesus had gone and displayed the Kingdom of God would be judged for how they received him. Yet there were those with child-like faith who had accepted Jesus, and they would be given the gift of salvation. They would enter into God’s rest and learn of him. *** Jacob had struggled with God and won and we must struggle with him also and win. We struggle with our pride and giving our whole will over to him. We struggle with sin and losing our lives. But, we always find that God’s life is better. *** Lord, may we never take lightly the gift of salvation and the joy of knowing you. May we always have child-like faith and struggle to enter into your rest.

Wed.’s Devo - Facing Our Fears

Read: Genesis 31:17-32:12; Matthew 10:24-11:6; Psalm 13:1-6; Provers 3:16-18 Jacob was fleeing from Laban secretly, to go back to his homeland. On the way, he would have to face the one who had tricked him repeatedly (Laban) and the one he had tricked and done wrong (Esau). Sometimes we need to experience what we have dealt out to others to understand its severity and our need to repent. Jacob reaped in Laban what he had done to Esau. *** When Laban found out Jacob had left, he went after him. The night before he caught up with him, God came to Laban in a dream and told him to leave Jacob alone. But, it didn’t keep him from letting him have it with his words. What he was really saying was, ‘I can’t believe you broke out of my control.’ He was more upset over loosing his stuff than the welfare of Jacob and his family. He was most upset about someone stealing his household gods. *** Jacob told him to search for his gods and pronounced a curse of death over whoever had them. This came true. Rachel had taken them and hidden them. She would later die in childbirth to Benjamin. *** When Laban didn’t find his gods, Jacob felt emboldened to speak and he told Laban exactly why he had left and how wrongly Laban had treated him. There was nothing Laban could say in defense. Laban had lost his control, so he now wanted to make a covenant of peace so Jacob wouldn’t one day decide to take out vengeance on him. They made a peace treaty and put up a pile of stones to mark their agreement and it became a boundary line that neither would cross to harm the other. *** Laban left the next day after blessing his daughters and his grandchildren. Jacob went the other way and encountered some of God’s angels. He realized he had happened upon a camp of angels. He called the place Mahanaim which means ‘double camp’. *** Next, Jacob had to meet Esau, the one he had tricked and wronged. He sent messengers ahead of him to feel out Esau’s attitude towards him. He sent gifts with them to pacify any anger Esau might have. The messengers returned with news that Esau was on his way to meet him with an army of 400 men. Because of his guilt, he couldn’t imagine that maybe it was a welcoming party of 400. *** Jacob panicked. He divided his group into three groups leaving his family in the last group. Then he prayed that God would protect them and reminded the Lord of the promises he had given him to make him into a multitude of people. In Matthew, Jesus made it clear that he was their master and he was being called the prince of demons, so we should expect to be accused of being demons also. Jesus told us not to be afraid of those who threaten us because God is going to reveal the truth about everything that is done in secret. He told us not to be afraid of those who want to kill us because they can’t kill our soul. God sees everything and will reward everyone according to their deeds. *** Jesus told us that he didn’t come to bring peace on earth first, but a sword to cut through the lies and hypocrisy. He came to expose evil and reward faithfulness. We are to support other believers, like we would have wanted to support Jesus when he walked the earth. *** John the Baptist was in prison for his testimony of Christ and he knew the Messiah would ‘set the prisoner free’ according to Isaiah. Since Christ was not doing that for him, he sent a message to Jesus asking him it he was the Messiah or if they should wait for someone else. Jesus sent him a message back reminding John of the miracles he was doing and then said, “and blessed are those who are not offended in me.” He was saying to John, instead of being offended by what I am not doing, look at what I am doing. *** What a good word for us. It is so easy to let one unanswered prayer take away the blessing of all the answered prayers God has done. That is why we need to constantly remind ourselves of the things God has done for us, and know that he is always at work. *** Lord, thank you for your perfect timing. Thank you that your ways are so much better and higher than ours. May we trust in your ways, your timing and your results. We trust in your unfailing love and goodness to us.