Prayer: Father, help me to be honest, transparent, with integrity in all my relationships. Amen.
Reading: Genesis 38 key: vs. 26
26 Then Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I didn’t give her to my son Shelah.” He was not intimate with her again.
Attention: The more I age, the more I discover that the family secrets which plagued the family of Genesis 38, plague our families today. The Bible is contemporary in that manner. Even Solomon says 29 times, “There is nothing new under the sun”(Ecclesiastes 1:9). If you have followed the Choose Life Journal schedule for the past 38 days, you know that generational tendencies of deception, lying, and cheating have been repeated from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and now Judah and Tamar.
The story of Judah and Tamar reminds me of the woman caught in adultery who is brought before Yeshua. What was the verdict? She wasn’t innocent, she wasn’t guilty, she was by virtue of our guilt, not stoned. Tamar was not burned to death because Judah knew who the “seal, the cords and the staff” belonged too.
Have we applied grace and mercy to our family situation, and repented of our guilt? Even in a bad situation, God’s plan prevailed. Do you know the who the main characters are in this chapter? Who is Judah? Why is this story sandwiched in between the chapters about Joseph?
Judah was the brother of Joseph who hatched the plan to kill Joseph. Did he sin in his action with Tamar? Yet, I encourage you to read Genesis 48:8-12, when Jacob/Israel blessed each of his sons before his approaching death. Then read Matthew 1:1-3. Both Judah, the twin boys (Perez and Zerah) and Tamar are included in the lineage of Yeshua. God’s plan was fulfilled and is still being fulfilled today.
Would their names be included in Hebrews 11? While Judah’s name is not mentioned directly, there is indirect mention in vs. 21, “By faith Jacob, as he was dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph.” We know that he blessed each of sons too.
Will you by faith, repent and pray against the generational family curses which plague your family today?
Action: I will by faith, repent today and pray against the curses which plague my family.
Yield: I will repent and pray against generational curses so that they no longer plague me and my family.
Engage: I will engage in the intentional act of spiritual warfare for my family.
Relationship: I will draw closer to Adonai, His Word, and His Spirit today!
Prayer: Father, the generational curses have prevailed upon my family long enough. Today is the day of surrender, repentance, and the willingness to protect my family from destruction.
Memory verse: Exodus 20:4-6
4 Do not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them, do not let anyone make you serve them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to the thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot.
Music Video: Casting Crowns—The Change in Me https://youtu.be/p8TCZiy5A2A
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”