Unlocking Love with Jacob’s Key
- Avi Tekle
- Feb 11
- 5 min read
Tents of Mercy Congregation
Kiryat Yam, Israel
Love is a force that drives us to act. If it’s real love, it doesn’t just sit at home; it moves us to do something – often practical, such as providing compassionate assistance toward people in need.
Love is also a force put into effect through the spoken word. Words actually matter a great deal. This is a lesson I have learned from my wife, who needs to hear how I feel about her often. Sometimes I think to myself, “Wait, we stood under the wedding canopy 25 years ago – didn't I already tell you how I feel?” But no, I can’t just repeat the same lines. I have to come up with something authentic each time because my words build her up.
There is real power in words. We’re told that Yeshua “washes” the kehila with His words. Can you imagine that? Words can literally cleanse someone’s soul and heart.
You know who really understood the power of words? Jacob. As Jacob approached the end of his days, he gathered his twelve sons and said, “I’m going to tell you what will happen with you in the months and years to come.” Do you get what he was doing? He was telling them, “I’m going to speak, and what I say will become the reality you live in.” That’s actually the job of a parent – to use our words to create a reality for our kids to inhabit.
Jacob wasn’t just predicting the future; he was speaking it into existence. Jacob knew words create reality. Remember when he was young and struggled with his brother Esau over the birthright? I used to wonder why he fought so hard for those words – while his brother considered lentil soup more important. Jacob did everything, even manipulated things, just to possess the words of his father’s blessing, because he knew the power they held.
Decades later, Jacob’s wife Rachel died in childbirth. As she was dying, Rachel named her newborn baby Ben-Oni (Son of my Sorrow). But Jacob, knowing the power of words, said in effect, “No, no. This boy won’t grow up with a name that carries a curse.” He changed the name to Benyamin (Son of the Right Hand). He knew that growing up without a mother would be hard enough; he wasn’t going to let his son grow up with an oppressive name. He spoke a blessing over him instead.
That’s love: giving someone a “prophecy” of love through your words. At the end of Jacob’s life, he blessed Benjamin by calling him a “ravenous wolf.” It might sound strange, but a wolf is incredibly fast and loyal. He told Benjamin, “You will conquer in the morning and share plunder with others in the evening.” I want that for myself – to be able to provide and share with everyone else.
As Yeshua’s followers, we want to love with both actions and speech (1 John 3:18). God uses words to create. When the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, what was the first result? The disciples started… speaking (in different tongues)!
Let’s use our words to build others up and edify; whereas the enemy uses words to tear down and curse. Just like Jacob canceled Rachel’s “curse” regarding the name of their baby with his own words, we can annul the curses spoken over us. Maybe you had a parent who called you “a little devil” when they were angry. Perhaps it affected you, and you started thinking, “I am a problem.” But I’m here to tell you: cancel that. You are a child of God, not a child of the enemy. If someone spoke something negative over you last year or even long ago, you have the power to cancel it today.
Recently we were leaving the congregational building quite late. We were in the car when a young Orthodox Jewish man approached us. He was very heated, very angry; and he confronted me, asking, “Are you a Christian?” I tried to de-escalate the situation and just said, “Be well,” and drove off. But later, I looked at our security camera video footage. This man stood at the door of the congregation for half an hour, holding a book and cursing us. I thought, “Wow, this guy is like a Saul of Tarsus.” In prayer, we cancelled every curse he proclaimed, and we blessed him in Yeshua’s name to repent, come to know the Truth, to know the Messiah, and that his heart would melt from God’s love.
Back to Jacob. He wrestled with the Angel of the LORD and said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” What is this blessing composed of? Words. Let’s open our hearts to use speech differently.
Let’s start this year by filling our hearts like “treasure chests” full of words – words that build and bless. I look at my daughter. When she was born, we spoke things over her that are coming true today. I said she would be a worship leader, and now, she leads worship here at our congregation.
This applies to everyone. Even a husband needs to hear at home: “You’re a good man. You’re a hero. You’re capable. You are succeeding. I believe in you.” We have a saying: “A man sent forth on a mission by his wife does not fear death.” That’s the power of words. Likewise, a husband can “clothe” his wife in beauty that no fashion designer can match, just by how he speaks to her.
Don’t underestimate words. I want to change how I talk, to others and to myself, so I can live out what God planned for me. Ephesians 4 says that Yeshua gave gifts to people – a calling, a grace. But often, the key to open that gift is our own words.
So friends, love has two sides: actions and words. Both are essential for the reality we want to live in this year.
I ask You, Father, to equip us and fill us. Make us people who truly love one another in word and in deed. I pray, in Yeshua's name, that You would cancel every curse spoken against us. We are Your children. We also ask for Your forgiveness for any word we’ve spoken to ourselves or others that wasn’t the truth – words spoken out of raw emotion that carry no life. Fill us with Your words. Fill us with words that carry the power of love and prophecy because You put the power in words to create the reality we live in. In Yeshua’s name. Amen.
