B2B (Back To Bethel) (Davy DaSilva) November 7, 2021
Your dream is a treasure within you that you should spend and live out completely during your lifetime, not carrying any of it with you to your grave. As Dr. Myles Munroe phrased it, you should “die empty.”
Jacob, a forefather of our faith, had a calling over his life that God would prosper him, that nations would serve him and peoples bow down to him, that he would be lord over his brothers, and that whomever he blessed would be blessed (Gen 27:28-29). When he was forced to flee from his brother Esau, he had a dream at Bethel that God would give him and his descendants the ground upon which he was sleeping, and that God would be with him and bring him back to that place (Gen 28:12-15).
Jacob’s story is an example of learning how to live out your dream. Four lessons we can learn from his story:
1) Don’t let familiarity steal your God-given dream.
Bethel’s setting seemed so familiar to Jacob that he was unaware of God’s presence there until after he had woken up from his dream (Gen 28:16). Do not become so familiar with the Church that you forget or fail to realize that the house of God is where heaven touches earth. Come to the altar and receive or be reminded of your dream from God.
2) Familiarity makes you a better target for fear.
Jacob had become so familiar with his dream as well that he started to compromise it. When he was returning to the land and heard that Esau was coming up to meet him with 400 men, Jacob became afraid and referred to Esau as “my lord,” even though Jacob was called to be lord over Esau (Gen 32:4, AMP). Be careful not to let fear change your language and mindset or cause you to forfeit your calling. Fear is just faith in the wrong place (i.e. in something other than God).
3) Wrestle with God in the waiting.
Jacob’s faith rose when he wrestled with God and would not let go of Him until He had blessed him. God then gave Jacob a new identity–the name Israel–and restored Jacob’s fear back into the right place—in Him (Gen 32:24-30). Esau also ran up to Jacob and hugged him, rather than attacking him, which shows that God even changes the hearts of your enemies when you fear Him.
4) The return to Bethel brings a blessing.
When Jacob returned to Bethel, now with his own family whom he had purified from foreign gods, he built an altar to God to commemorate the site as the place where God revealed Himself to him (Gen 35:1-7). Not only did God protect Jacob and his family on their journey to Bethel, but He also appeared to Jacob once again at the site and confirmed his new name as Israel (v. 10).
Come back to Bethel like Jacob did, to the Church and the place where God gave you your dream. Bring your children with you and show them your testimony and the faithfulness of God.
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