Today we look at the account in the life of Jacob, when Laban came into his life and the ramifications of that 20 year encounter.
I want us to see up front that Laban showed up in Jacob’s life to teach him that there are those who will always place their wants and desires before your destiny. As a matter of fact, they want what’s theirs and what’s yours as well….They will form an attachment to you which will cause you to struggle between choosing them or choosing the dream that God has put in your own heart. This attachment will cause you to have a divided heart.
A divided heart will try to lock you into a valley of indecision and confusion, so that you lose your way and make bad choices and decisions that will take you to a place you never would have otherwise gone…. The attachment to Laban, in Jacob’s case was Laban’s daughter Rachael. Because of her, Jacob really lost his way….
Speaking of losing your way, a family was driving through Louisiana. As they were approaching Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town. They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch. As they stood at the counter, the dad asked the blonde employee, “Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are…very slowly?” The blonde girl leaned over the counter and said, “K-e-n-t-u-c-ky F-r-i-ed C-h-i-c-k-en” (Now I’ll be craving KFC the rest of the day)!!!
It has been said that when you’re walking through hell, keep moving…..So with an amazing destiny upon Jacob’s life, forces begin to work through the attachments in his life to circumvent and block his legacy….and he found himself negotiating through a mine field. But Praise God, The Lord will make a way where there is no way, and He will even use the enemy’s own plans and attacks to fulfill His promises…
Genesis 29:18 “Now Jacob loved Rachel, (so he agreed with Laban’s terms) and said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” v19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.” v20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her”.
So, Jacob agreed to work for Rachel’s father (his uncle Laban) seven years. But on the wedding night Laban tricked Jacob and sent Rachel’s older sister, Leah, into Jacob’s tent, because Laban felt that his older daughter should be married first. He put his wants above Rachael’s wants and dreams. I MEAN, COME ON FOLKS, LET’S KEEP LABAN OUT OF THE BEDROOM!!! He was willing to betray his daughter and Jacob to have his own way. Folks think they know better than you, but they don’t have to live with what you have to live with.
Genesis 29:23 “Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob was intimate with her. v24 and Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. (she was his eyes and ears inside Jacob’s tent, today he would just put in a spy camera) v25 So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn”. (when greed and covetousness are caught, they always play the blame game, and any excuse will do)
Adam said, “She made me do it”….. Arron said “the people made me build the golden calf”…. Joseph’s brothers said “a wild animal has taken him”…. Someone said that no one has a gambling problem, till they start losing all their money….
Jacob’s problem was that he let his heart lead him, instead of leading his heart!
Laban reminds me that Arm chair quarterbacks always act like they know better than the players on the field, who are taking all the bumps and bruises. Someone described a football game as 22 players on the field with 20,000 in the bleachers telling them how to play the game…..Many folks like to tell everyone else how to live their lives, while their lives are a mess!
I told someone last week that I’m very careful who I take spiritual advice fromwhen they come with a vision or a dream, or a “word from the Lord”…..I want to know if their lives are in order and what their relationship with the Lord is. How can they be walking in disobedience and telling me how to obey and what to do?!!! Some folks have all the answers, but they don’t live where you live and face what you face.
Don’t get me wrong, God can speak through anyone He chooses, but you better use discernment and Holy Spirit insight. Folks will prophecy over you and speak what they are picking up inside your soulish area. They will confirm what your soulish self-life, your emotions, your self-will and intellect wants to hear, instead of what your Spirit needs to hear. Paul says “try the spirits to see if they are of God”…..
A true friend will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. They won’t try to push it down your throat or manipulate you with it, but they will leave it with you and trust the Lord to confirm it. Do you have an arm chair quarterback speaking into your life and trying to call the plays…. It’s time to bench them….
So I realize that it was probably dark, but Jacob must have been plastered orlet his hormones replace his brains, because he didn’t notice until afterwards that Laban gave him Leah instead of Rachael, but by then he was legally wedand she got pregnant that night. Later on, He was allowed to marry Rachel as well, but only in exchange for seven more year of servitude.
(Understand, that Satan always has “One more thing”)
Lack of discernment will take you where you never wanted to go, keep you there longer than you ever wanted to stay, cost you more than you ever intended to pay, and keep you from ever getting to where you started out to go in the first place!
We are told that he loved Rachel because she was beautiful but he didn’t love Leah because the bible says she had “weak eyes” (she had crossed eyes) We might call this the haunted honey moon!!!
Now Jacob wasn’t too happy about it, but this glitch wasn’t about to stop God, who calls the things that are not as though they were….. and believe it or not the Bible traces the linage of Christ through Leah, not through Rachael!!!.God will work His mysterious plan in ways we never dreamed of…. Stick with Him, He never fails!! I want you to realize that it was Leah, not Rachel who was in the linage of Jesus!
It reminds me of a woman who went to her doctor’s office. She was seen by one of the new doctors and after the visit, she was seen by one of the nurses as she went screaming and running down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, when she explained, he had her sit down and relax in another room. The older doctor marched back to the new doctor and demanded, “What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?” The new doctor smiled smugly as he said to his boss. “Her problem was hiccups…and now she’s cured!”
Much in the same way, God will probably do it in a way much different than you might have expected Him to…..I believe that God is saying to us, let the Laban spirit pull his tricks and let Leah push her way in front of Rachael…. It’s not going to stop the plan of God, if you don’t quit and don’t compromise or settle for less than God has promised! ' He will do it through situations and circumstances you never would have suspected..
Sometimes God has to take drastic measures to get our attention.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts".
Before his deal with Laban, God visited Jacob at Bethel and God neverchanged His mind about Jacob…..Genesis 28:13 “I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your lineage. v14 And your lineage shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in you and in your lineage shall all the families of the earth be blessed. v15 And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in all places where you go, and will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done all that which I have spoken to you of.”
Would you tell someone.. “God has not changed His mind about you”!
Not everyone is coming into your life to love you. Some are coming to teach you and the lessons may not be comfortable, but learn them anyway!!!
Jacob had his Laban, David had his Saul, Joseph had his brethren, Daniel and the 3 Hebrews had Nebuchadnezzar, and Jesus had his Judas…. Into every life will come betrayal, deception, and injustice. But it’s not what happens to you, it’s what you learn from it and how you respond to it! Don’t look at the situation and be foolish enough to camp there… Look at the principalsinvolved and be the wiser person as you move forth! Not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy and not everyone who digs you out is your friend! The Laban Spirit is very much alive today…. That spirit wants to have your cake and eat it too!
It’s time to tell Laban to get out of your business!
Laban and Jacob struggled back and forth to have the upper hand in the livestock which each had accumulated as per agreement the two had together.The agreement was that Jacob would work for the speckled goats and the black sheep which were very few in number and Laban agreed until most of the flock started being born that way. Then Laban changed the deal to work in his own favor but the Lord changed the color of the goats once again, to bless Jacob, and this flip-flop scenario continued until Jacob’s fortunes were increased and Laban’s were dwindling to the point that Laban and his sons were angry as Jacob’s livestock increased and theirs decreased….
*……Genesis 31:4 “And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, v5 And said unto them, I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable to me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. v6 And you know that with all my power I have served your father. v7 Andyour father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. v8 If he said, “The speckled shall be your wages”,then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said, “The ringstraked shall beyour hire”, then all the cattle gave birth to ringstraked. v9 Therefore God hastaken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me”.
The Laban spirit wants to keep you serving your stuff instead of ruling over your stuff. It wants you to be owned by your stuff instead of you owning your stuff!
We must do what Jacob did in opposing the Laban spirit…. He kept speaking what God had told him…..Look at it….
Genesis 31:12 And He (God) said, “Lift up your eyes now, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban is doing unto you. v13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you vowed a vow unto Me: now arise, get out from this land, and return unto the land of your kindred”.
Jacob didn’t keep rehearsing what had happened, he didn’t keep rehearsing what Laban was saying, he rehearsed the words God had spoken to him, and gave no power or authority to what Laban was attempting to do in keeping him in servitude forever!!!
Even when Jacob broke free of this servitude after 20 years, and began to move on in his life, this spirit of bondage made sure that his wives would do something that would be the final attachment which would attempt to pull him back again. Rachael is really trying to get my boy Jacob in trouble…..
Reminds me of another wife who got her husband into trouble…. The guy is pulled over by a cop and the following conversation takes place: As the officer walks up to the window, he asks, “What’s the problem officer? The Cop tells him, “You were going at least 75 in a 55 zone”. The man is adamant, “No sir, I was going 65”. The Wife speaks up and says, “Oh Harry. You were going 80and you know it”. (He gives his wife a dirty look.) The Cop says: I’m also going to give you a ticket for your broken tail light. To which he says “Broken tail light? I didn’t know about a broken tail light”! The Wife speaks up and says “Oh Harry, you’ve known about that tail light for weeks”. (He gives his wife another dirty look.) The Cop says “I’m also going to have to give you a citation for not wearing your seat belt”. He replies “Oh, I just took it off when you were walking up to the car”. His Wife says “Oh Harry, you never wear your seat belt”. Harry shouts, “Shut your mouth, woman”! The Cop asks,“Ma’am, does your husband always talk to you this way”?.....”No, officer,only when he’s drunk”. OOPS!!!
Look at this….Genesis 31:27 And Laban said “Wherefore did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and did not tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? v28 And did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? You have now done foolishly in so doing. v29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spoke unto me last night , saying, “Take heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad (do him no harm) ”. v30 And now, though you desire to be gone, because you long after your father’s house, yet why on top of this, have you stolen my household gods”?
We can see that when Laban catches up to Jacob, he uses every scheme he knows in order to gain control over Jacob again. The Laban spirit uses these today..
He Uses Shame: v26 And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? You’re no better than a common criminal, a kidnapper, a human trafficker. You should be better than that Jacob - you should treat me and my daughters better than that.
He Uses Flattery: v27 Why did you flee secretly and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? Yeah, right. I ‘m sure that was Laban’s plan, to send Jacob off with song and dance.
He Uses Pity: v28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Oh, Jacob, you didn’t even give me a chance to say goodbye.
He Uses Threats: Now you have done foolishly. v29 It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
He Uses Belittling : v30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house……One commentator I read noted that there is sarcasm in Laban’s tone – “you poor thing, you got homesick and couldn’t cut it like a man, so you’re running home to daddy”.
These are the methods the Laban Spirit still hits us all with today…. I have seen a couple of people derail the vision of an entire church. Because they wanted to hold on to what was, and not let go and receive what God was bringing in, they used delay tactics, flattery tactics, pity tactics, shame tactics, condemnation tactics, and threats to destroy a move of God, and a new direction for the entire church body.
That’s a Laban Spirit. It will muddy the waters so that no one can drink. It refuses to enter in and blocks the way for anyone who wants to enter in. It is the spirit of delayed blessings, and delayed answers and refuses to change when God is working.
Someone said, "I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I'm gonna be, but praise God I'm not what I used to be." I believe God is telling me to tell somebody that it’s time to leave the house that Laban built. You can’t afford to live there anymore!!!
If you are a child of God, everything that takes place in your life has a spiritual implication. Be careful of your attachments. Jacob didn’t know that Rachael had taken the household gods and hidden them in her belongings. Rachael’s attachments could have jeopardized Jacob’s future. Her difficulty in letting go, could have brought Laban’s vengeance down on Jacob’s head.
How to recognize that you are being affected by a Laban Spirit….. I wrote this down….. Those who suffer from the spirit of Laban, spend a much longer time to get what others get easily and quickly. They work much harder before they can get anything. By the time they eventually get it, all the joy of the achievement is taken from them. The Bible says, “hope deferred makes the heart sick” When you see men and women afflicted by this spirit, folks all around them seem to get things easily and quickly, but when they make their own attempt, progress becomes very slow and hard. They pay an unusual price in getting anything done and they always seem to be last on the line of blessing. The last to get admission to college, the last to get that job they are more than qualified for, the last to get married, the last to have children. They are always looking for their breakthrough when others are celebrating. Their middle names could easily be called brother or sister “Still Waiting”. They are people whose blessings don’t usually come early.
It's interesting to me, that Jacob made the final break at Gilead, which means in the Hebrew tongue, “The full circle of time”….And Laban is never mentioned in his life ever again, except in the rear view mirror.
The story of Jacob gave a clear picture of what the spirit of delayed blessings can do in a person’s life. Despite the blessings of Jehovah upon their life, they suffer untold hardship at the hand of Laban. Until they come to their full circle in time. I’m believing with you today, that the Lord will break the yoke of this spirit off ofyour life and you will enter into your destiny in Jesus name.
When Jacob finally broke all attachments with the spirit of Laban, there was a wealth transfer, blessings that were delayed were loosed, and he was reconnected to his destiny!
We must do what Jacob did at Gilead when he confronted Laban. He came to the place of “No More” and drew a line in the sand. Scripture says that Jacob declared, “You shall not cross over to me and mine ever again, then he headed for the place where it all began, where he had deceived his dad, and stolen the birth rite of his own brother Esau. Now that the break was made with Laban, he needed to deal with the roots in his life that had allowed him to come under the Laban spirit.
Deuteronomy 8:18 " Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to get wealth, so that He may establish His covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is even today."
If you identify with the effects of the Spirit of Laban anywhere in your life, I want us to pray a breakthrough prayer as we close the service today….”
1. “I renounce and loose myself from every inherited or acquired spirit of delayed blessings in Jesus name”.
2. “By the authority of the word of God, I break every curse of delayed blessings operating in my life in Jesus name”.
3. “Let the angels of the living God roll away every stone of hindrance to the manifestation of my breakthroughs in the name of Jesus”.
4. “I command every wall of Jericho standing between me and my destiny to collapse, and never to rise again in Jesus mighty name”.
5. “I bind, plunder and cast out of my life, every anti-breakthrough, anti-blessings and anti-testimony spirits in the name of Jesus”.
6. “I refuse to continue to tarry in any satanic bus-stop; I must enter my destiny this year in the name of Jesus”.
7. “Lord, let all evil labels fashioned by the camp of the enemy against my life be completely rubbed off now, in Jesus name”.
8. “I break myself loose from the bondage of stagnancy and delayed blessings in the name of Jesus Christ”.
9. “Holy Ghost fire destroy anything that makes your promises to fail or tarry in my life in Jesus name”.
10. “I decree by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the rapid fulfillment of all prophecies and promises of God concerning me in Jesus name”.
11. “Having waited long for my breakthrough, I shall not be frustrated nor be disappointed in the end, in Jesus name”.
12. “Today, I activate the Abrahamic and the Messianic covenants operating in my life. By these divine covenants, let all my delayed blessings be released now in the name of Jesus”.
13. “In Jesus mighty name I move from the back to the front on the queue of blessings in Jesus name”.
14. “Father, from hence forth, let my life be a divine magnet that attracts diverse miracles all the time”.
15. “I resist, bind and overthrow all miracle hijackers, miracle deflectors and miracle interceptors operating in and around me in Jesus mighty name”.
16. “I shall submit myself to the prophetic words over my life and ministry so that they may be fulfilled, in Jesus name”.
