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Dwight Fletcher | Finding Your Way Home - Part 2

Published:Thursday | January 18, 2018 | 12:00 AM

Jamaicans have a knack for adding humour to bad situations. Almost all Jamaican YouTube bloggers, from Bella Blair and Quite Perry to YaadBwoys, have done some form of parody on parental discipline or abuse (depending on your perspective) in the home. But doesn't it make you wonder about the state of the Jamaican home?

So we may laugh about it, but as a nation, we are hurting and reaping the whirlwind. We all want Jamaica's social environment to match its natural beauty. We all want our home to be a place of justice, love, and peace. But how?

The answer is found in responding to the call of God on our lives.

Last week, we started looking at the irrepressible call of God on our hearts to come home to Him. Using the history of Jacob in Genesis 35, we said that God often makes that call through His Word, through speaking within our inner being and sometimes through crises. But, how does God respond when we answer this call?

 

GOD PROTECTS US FROM SERIOUS DANGER

 

After Jacob and his family put aside their idols in an act of obedience, "Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them." Genesis 35:5 NIV.

The Lord protects His people who are in His will from the enemy. The problems you have are no match for God. We discover this kind of protection only when we are in the centre of God's will.

 

ONLY GOD CAN CHANGE US & BLESS US

 

When God graciously grants a personal revival, we experience freedom from the fear of our enemies and a reorientation of our personality and character.

This is indicated in Jacob receiving a new name in Genesis 35:9-10 (NIV): "After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.' So he named him Israel."

 

God changes us from the inside out

 

God gives Jacob, whose name means "trickster", a new name to indicate, and to remind him of, his new character and personality. Jacob was touched by God, but though his heart was changed, the change had not worked its way into his character. Yet, family tragedy would now accomplish what a lifetime of struggling with God had not.

God can rescue every Jamaican, but He ultimately wants to change our lives. God allows personal crises to lead us back home to Him. Surrendering to God means a new you with a new direction and a new purpose.

 

God blesses us with renewed purpose

 

"And God said to him, 'I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants." Genesis 35:11 (NIV). Once Jacob is restored, God confirms His promises. It is the Lord who would accomplish this.

All of us are born on purpose and with purpose. Some of you may have wandered from home, your place of perfect rest and of belonging, but God wants to renew that plan.

Others have spent a lifetime searching for purpose. When we find our way back to God, He will proclaim our purpose and give the provision for us to accomplish it all. "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV).

It is at Bethel that Jacob's restoration was finally complete. The place he first met God was the place that God prepared for his return. Though He still had much to learn, Jacob was beginning again with God and you can, too.

Today, find your way back home to God, and he will fill you with joy so you no longer need to "tek bad ting mek laff". If you want to make a commitment now to God, then you can say the prayer below.

Dear Lord,

I believe that you made me with purpose and for purpose. I confess that I have wandered form your perfect will for my life, but now, I want to walk in Your plan for me, so I give my life to you. I believe that you sent Jesus to die for me so that I can be restored. I accept your free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. I want to come home. Amen.