Take Back Your Life, Part VI: Renouncing the Curse of Hagar and Fruitless Labor in Our Lives

by 

Vacirca V. Vaughn 

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. ³ Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. ⁴ So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

⁶ So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” ¹¹ And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

“Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
¹² He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram (Genesis 16:1-15).

And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” ²² Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham (Genesis 17:18-22).

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me…(vs.28)The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. 29 And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you….You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. (Deuteronomy 28:20; 28:28-30).

Before I jump into the teachings of this segment of the Take Back Your Life series, I wanted to present three scenarios to you.  As you read these scenarios, I pray the Spirit of God does the following:  1) Helps you to identify if this scenario has happened to you, or someone you love; 2) If so, help you identify how this was caused, or contributed to, by your (their) own actions; 3) That the Spirit of God would lead you to identify other experiences in your life that may not have been listed here, but are along the same lines of what is being described in these examples. 

Why did I mention my request for number 3?  Because sometimes, when we hear/read/see something that may not be exactly what we are going through, we can miss the point and how it can apply to what we are, or have been, actually going through.  That means that even if my specific example does not apply or relate, I pray the Lord uses that example to somehow minister to you in what does apply in your own unique experience.

 

Okay, moving forward…

Scenario 1:

You have been with a company for many years, working your way up through the ranks.  From the time you were an intern, you were so dedicated.  You were the one always staying late to complete your projects on time; you were always participating, and always volunteering yourself for extra projects in staff meetings; you were always coming in on your days off to get things done.  You worked like a dog, to prove yourself, and rose to be the assistant to one of the senior managers.  Then, for another year, you fought your way to Management Trainee to the senior manager—the one whom you would work alongside, as he/she showed you the ropes.  You and the senior manager worked like a team, the pair of you.  You continued this way for another two years, always having manager’s back—giving ideas for presentations, and picking up the slack where your superior drops the ball.  You continued to work and pray, for a total of five years.  You were just waiting for a senior management position to open so that one day you could possibly become a partner to this firm.  Finally!  After 5 years, 9 months, and 22 2/3 days, an announcement is made that one of the SMs is moving on to become a Vice President and that their position is available.  You can just see it!  You will be an SM for a couple more years before the Lord promotes you to VP one day!  Oh man!  Sweet! Finally…

You were so sure that your hard work was going to pay off—that is until you were passed over for that much-deserved promotion.  Apparently, they decided to go in a different direction--like in the direction of that young child, fresh out of college, who is barely able to use two brain cells without getting tired!

Scenario 2:

You have a friend that is always in a world of drama.  You’ve known this friend for a long time.  Even though she comes with a lot of baggage, and foolishness, you are a woman/man of God and cannot abandon them in their time of need.  So, for several months, even years, you remain a great friend to this person.  You help them financially when, yet again, they are running low on their rent payment.  You encourage them and help them to get back into school.  You literally hold their hand through the process of getting a job, or helping out when their mother gets sick with cancer.  You are a rock for them even when they go through their miserable divorce.  After a long while, and many prayers, your friend starts to do well.  After all of your support, and counsel, they begin achieving goals; getting on their feet; and even meeting new people.  They are no longer in a rut—thanks to you.  You’ve even been used to minister to them in the Word and through prayer until they accepted Christ and joined a church near their home! You cheer your friend on—so proud of them for how they’ve grown by leaps and bounds. 

Hmmm…the only problem now is the fact that they haven’t been calling you for weeks, all of a sudden.  Nor have they come by lately.  And when you dropped by their house, to see if something is wrong, you find out that you’ve interrupted some large gathering—one to which you were not invited. 

Your friend acts annoyed at your uninvited dropping-in and blows you off.  Your friend hastily promises to get back with you soon.  This promise is given after they make a flimsy excuse about how they tried to call, and text, but didn’t get a response.  And, of course, your friend supposedly being unable to reach you made it impossible for them to do the normal things needed to make sure you got invited to this large gathering—normal things like leaving a voicemail, sending an email, text, or a message on Facebook Messenger.  Both you, and your friend, know full-well that they used to find you before when they couldn’t get you on the phone…especially when they needed something.  Anyway, you leave that party feeling confused because it has just occurred to you that when your friend was doing badly, they were on you like skin on bones.  Now that you’ve helped them get on their feet, and they’ve got a new crew to chill with, you are nothing more than a nuisance suddenly—and you both are Christians for crying out loud!

Scenario 3 (my personal favorite):

You are a man, or woman, that has been in your relationship for a long time.  For the past several years, you have been there for your significant other.  Just like the platonic friend in scenario 2, you, as a mate, have helped your partner achieve goals.  You provided comfort for your mate when needed, assisted with crisis after crisis, and have even paid many a dollar to provide both gifts and assistance for this person.  Why did you do it?  Because you loved them—maybe you still do!  You considered them to be the one—your God-ordained better half.  Perhaps your “mate” is your wife/husband or your long-term partner, whom you thought would become your wife or husband.  Regardless of the title, you have been in love with this person; you have done all that you could to help prosper and bless them.  There is only one problem:  they don’t really fulfill your needs in return.  Perhaps your need is more romance, or financial help, or more consideration, or a deeper commitment…like that proposal you’ve been waiting on for three years! 

Regardless of your specific need, your mate fails to fulfill it—even though you do everything in your power to make that person happy, or to help them achieve their personal goals.  After a while, you start to realize that this person is a taker, and that you have to twist their arm for them to give something…anything…back in return.  There is always someone or something more important for them to focus on.  You pray to God about the situation constantly, but it seems like God isn’t bringing you guys closer together, but rather, that you are being pulled further and further apart.  Another year of arguing continues.  You are still going back and forth about these issues, until finally this partner of yours sends you out of their life—after all you have done for them!  After all of the sacrifices you’ve made for them, and all the ways you tried to make them happy, and after how often you have tried to be a blessing to them, they have sent you away!  Some of you may have been sent away with that former partner’s child(ren) to look after, all on your own.  As far as they are concerned, you—and the child(ren) you gave this partner—could all just go die in the desert!

Sound familiar?

But wait, I am not done.  Not only have you done things for this partner with whom you were involved, for barely anything in return, but after you’re gone, your partner goes on to build a whole new life with someone else!  You worked so hard to build a foundation that you could share with this person; you did everything you could, and all you wanted was a little consideration!  Not only did they not give you any of what you had been hoping to receive, in return for all of your hard work in your relationship— and in your partner’s life—but that partner has now gone to share the fruit of your labor elsewhere!  Or…worse, they have completely discarded your efforts/blessings/the fruit of your labor only to give back to someone else. 

Perhaps we’re talking about that selfish, lazy ex-wife of yours who, upon divorce, finally decides to get up, go to school, and pursue that career she has always been dreaming about; of course she is now contributing financially to her second marriage.  Perhaps we are talking about your “baby daddy” who has abandoned the three children you gave him, only to go off and raise, and provide for, the children of his new girlfriend—who are not his, by the way.  Either way, you did a whole lot of work, for a lot of years, and the person went off and shared the blessings, the fruit of that labor, with someone who came after you—and after all of your hard work and effort to build them up!  You know what I’m talking about right?

“Yeah!”

How does this apply in real life, you ask?

So the Lord, right?  He and I were discussing some issues that have gone on in my life that look really similar, if not identical, to these scenarios.  I—along with others I am close to in my personal life—have been in those situations.  There were times I experienced something similar to Scenario 1, where I worked my behind off—only to see the fruit of my labor be handed to someone who just showed up at my workplace and snatched the promotion from me.  Perhaps that person was younger, or male, or white, or spoke Spanish.  Either way, after paying my dues for a long while, someone collected on a position promised to me ages before.

As for Scenario 2, I know that sometimes God places people in our lives for a moment, a season, or a lifetime.  I get that.  However, when it happens that someone just flips, after all of your support, it can sting.  There were times when I was used by the Lord to assist friends, only to have them turn on me, or fade away, for whatever reason.  I am talking about friends I literally helped build their lives back up from the cesspool that they had made of their lives.  Once they got on their feet, they either outright disappeared into the “too busy to speak ‘cause I am now successful” season of their own lives, or they just got “fly” as we say in the hood.  They became too special, in their new success, or married life, or social circle, or position to remember the people that helped them along the way.  And don’t talk about asking them for help when it is your time to need some!  Oh, I have seen that behavior in people—even in some Christians— and so have many of my other friends and family members.   It is not with bitterness that I describe this type with experience, but with the desire to be real.  I want whomever reading this blog article to be true to themselves about what has, or is, taking place with some of their relationships in our lives. 

Again, I don’t speak on it with bitterness, because I am a woman who prays daily for God to “grant me the keys of David, and to open doors that no man can shut, and close doors no man can open,” (Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 3).  I ask for God to close and open doors—according to His perfect will—regarding any persons, places, and things in my life.  So when it is God doing the closing of doors, believe me, it is for the best.  However, there are times when folks—in their brokenness—just become self-absorbed, selfish, ungrateful, or filled with a mentality that they have what they need, and can move on--without you!  I don’t believe that is God’s will at all because God speaks against treating people in such a manner all throughout His Word.  God warns about those people who are “lovers of themselves”—especially during the last days—and how those types of people treat their families, friends, and people in general (see 2 Timothy, Chapter 3…the whole chapter.  Just read it all)!  So I am discussing those people that ditch you when they don’t need you anymore, only to come back again when things are going badly for them.  Those people are not supposed to act that way and it is not God’s will for any of His children to experience that at all.  And although you (and I) are called by God to “bless those that curse you and pray for those that despitefully use you” (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28), in response to such behavior, it does not mean God considers it a blessing to us to experience those behaviors from friends—or anyone He allowed to be part of our lives.

And, frankly, Scenario 3 hasn’t happened to me in such a huge manner.  Whoever was a loser when I met them, and dated them, has pretty much remained one!  However, I do know several men and women who can attest to loving and sacrificing for someone who refused to honor their relationship by being helpful, productive, giving, and supportive.  As soon as there was a breakup, and their mate found someone new, that person began a total transformation.  I had a friend date a man for sixteen YEARS—not weeks, not months, but years!  Yes, I said date.  And she had four kids with him and a home they shared.  She waited for him to not only finally propose, but to obtain his education and grow in his culinary career—based on what her man had been complaining about wanting to do for almost fifteen years.  Yes, he was a good short-order cook, but he was always saying how much he wanted to grow, and be better able to provide for his girlfriend and kids—rather than letting her carry most of the financial burdens. 

As soon as my friend finally puts the guy out of the house and ends the relationship—after a whole additional year of ultimatums and threats—what does he do?  Enrolls in culinary school, and gets not only a better job as a chef, but becomes a culinary instructor as a side career!  He meets a girl, and within one year, proposes marriage.  Funny thing is, this man says if he had a chance at all to return to his family, and his previous home with my friend, he would in a heartbeat.  The problem is that my friend is not only crushed and bitter that this man, for whom she invested everything into the relationship, has not only let her down, but chose to do it all right away with another woman.  Of course, I have been ministering to her about Jesus Christ and about living in sin not benefiting her, at all!  Besides that, however, whatever little feelings she had left to build on evaporated the moment she discovered what the man was willing to do with someone else.  He did it for the other woman, but not for the mother of his four children! Some could argue that this man learned from his mistakes, but I don’t believe it for a second.  I think it was a spiritual issue, which is what I will describe later in this argument.  I not only think it is a spiritual issue, I know it was—due to the revelation the Lord has been giving me as I grow in my walk with Christ—and learn to share with others.

So what do these three scenarios have in common?  More importantly, what do these issues have to do with our walk with Christ?  Well, as I wrote earlier, I—and those I know—have experienced such disappointments.  Some people would shrug and say, “Eh, that’s life.  Get over it!” And I suppose that is true.  Such things happen.  Friends fade away, other people get hired for the positions you held your hopes on, and our mates can become more passionate and inspired by their next partners.  However… that ain’t right, yo!  I know that some may say that these things happen to the unsaved, who are not walking with Christ, and are reaping what they sowed by being out there, in the world, living ungodly lives.  Yes, many could say that--especially when one considers Scenario 3.  However, Scenario 3 is happening to Christians too!  Maybe not with the lived-in lover, but with spouses.  I don't have to mention how often I've seen Christians experience Scenarios 1 and 2!  So, tell me, how is it that we Christians, who pray, and communicate with the Lord Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, often find ourselves with the wool pulled out from under us?  People will tell you, “Well, it was God’s will.” 

But guess what?

Upon discussing an issue with God, about the threat of such a circumstance happening again; upon experiencing some recent teachings on deliverance; upon reading God’s promises, I found out that stuff like this is not God’s will for any of us at all!  It is not God’s will for us to labor and have someone else reap the benefits—unless it is God allowing us to leave a legacy for our descendants to look after!  This happens, when God ordains, from time-to-time, such as King Solomon picking up where David left off with the building of the Temple of Jerusalem.  David’s calling as a man of war who shed blood (1 Chronicles 28:3; 1 Kings 8:19), excluded him from building the temple he laid the foundation for--so God left it to his son, Solomon.   So, based on biblical occurences such as that, we can safely say that unless God ordains such a thing for a purpose, or  God uses you to “plant the seed” rather than “reap a harvest,” it is NOT God’s will for us to work on something, only watch it slip through our fingers, and to be passed on to someone else.

After discussing this issue with the Lord recently, I felt led to look into the lives of some people, in the Bible that had been called to do something, or had been placed into a situation, that could have caused them to labor—maybe even in love.  Those people were successful in completing their tasks that they had been called to.  Yet, after a while, rather than reaping the benefits from their labor, these people were cast out of it, only to see someone else benefit from it.

I found out that it is not God’s perfect will for most people to invest time, energy, focus, or make huge sacrifices, to either help someone, or complete a project/task, only to left out of the benefits or the fruits for that labor.  We are all are supposed to finish well, and—unless God Himself says otherwise—we are supposed to eat off the land into which we have planted seeds.  Even Moses was denied the opportunity to go to the Promised Land as a result of sin and disobedience (see Numbers 20).  Had Moses spoken to the rock, as instructed, I believe—as do many—that God would have allowed Moses to finish in the Promised Land as God intended.  This is God’s law. 

It is always God’s will to enlarge and increase our land, and for us to bear fruit!  Jesus cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit (Mark 11:12-14).  God always desires to pay us double for our troubles (Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah  9:12)!

I am going to list a few scriptures in full, but other references for you to look at directly.  Below are scriptures that depict God’s Promises in regards to His desires for us to bear fruit in all that we do. This includes the following:

• God is glorified when we bear fruit!

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father (John 15:8). 

 

• We are to bear fruit in every good work. 

…Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).

• Doing good work is to be good and profitable among men.

This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men (Titus 3:8).

• God will not forget the good work that you do for men.

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister (Hebrews 6:10).

• God calls us to help out, or provide for, those in our households (if it is not sinful to do so).

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (I Timothy 5:8).

• God will give us plenty of “bread” (blessings) if we work the land He has given us (land means whatever we are called to do—our jobs, ministries, or help to a friend in need, etc).

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense (Proverbs 12:11).

• When we obey God, and are covered by the Blood of Jesus, we are promised the same promises God gave the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 28.  One of these promises is that God will bless all that we put our hands to do.

The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 28:8).

• When we are walking with Christ, and obeying the Word of God, God also promises us that we are not to be the tail or beneath anything or anyone!

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God… (Deuteronomy 28:13).

• The Lord wants to increase and bless His children.

May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, Who made heaven and earth (Psalms 115:14-15).

May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you! (Deuteronomy 1:11).

• It is a curse for any of God’s children to work the land just for others to reap the benefits—again, this does not mean that God will not, at times, use someone to lay a foundation for others, but it is most often God’s will for those who toil to reap the benefits of their hard works—one way or another (even in Heaven after we pass!).

Each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. 34"You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see.… (Deuteronomy 28:33-34).

• The only Godly “decrease” is when we are surrendering to the Holy Spirit and allowing ourselves to decrease so God, in Jesus Christ, can increase within us!

He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). 

• There was only one fruit that God did not want His children to eat off the land He had given them—one fruit, at one time in history.  This shows that the only fruit God’s children cannot eat, off the land He gives them, is fruit God says not to touch in the first place…otherwise, we are to enjoy the fat of the land always.

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:15-17).

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life (Genesis 3:17).

*Notice that God was merciful, even to Adam and Eve, by saying they would still eat of the land, even though they would “toil” or work hard to be able to do so!  Regardless, it was always God’s plan that when we work the land—and the land can represent anything God gives us to do, work on, and manage—God wants us to bear fruit and live off the fruit of that blessing. 

The Curse of Hagar (Fruitless Labor)

So, by the time God led me back through all of these scriptures, that teach us the promises of God, I had to wonder why I’d been going through situations I’d gone through.  Why did members of my family or friends?  How come I experienced times when I ended up the tail rather than the head (Deuteronomy 28:13)?  How come I would work hard to “build a house” (or foundation, business, etc.) only to have someone else get live in it (Deuteronomy 28:30)?  Why was it that every time I planted a vineyard that someone else ate its fruit (Deuteronomy 28:30)?  How about the times I thought it was my time to marry and become a wife, only to see it come to nothing (Deuteronomy 28:30)?  Why have I, and even many I’ve known—saved or unsaved—been through situations where we work “the land,” only to have someone else benefit from it?

I asked God, and just as He promised, in Jeremiah 33:3, He gave me a revelation of the secret and hidden things, the “unsearchable things,” the things that one would never notice unless the Spirit of God reveals it.  He also unlocked the secrets of the Gospel so I can learn them and share them (Ephesians 6:19), as He promised.  God revealed even more secret and hidden things, the hidden treasures, of the Word of God in order to help me grow in my walk with Jesus Christ, but also in my ministry of teaching or writing or prayer. 

One of the things God revealed is that those unfortunate incidents that I noticed in the Bible were obviously not blessings, but curses.  Although I usually look to the infamous LIST OF CURSES OF DISOBEDIENCE (Deuteronomy 28:15-68), it is clear you do not just have to look at how curses occurred in the lives of people who, for whatever reason, could not obtain/maintain God’s favor or protection.  These curses have played out in various people of the Bible who unfortunately missed out some, if not all, of what God wanted to do in their lives, to bring glory to His Name as their fulfilled their destiny.  I mentioned how there were some who started well, but struggled along their path to completing their assignment, only to end up making grave mistakes at the end—such as Moses not being able to go into the Promised Land (Numbers 20).  There were those who did well in the beginning and struggled during the journey, only to finish victoriously—such as Elijah who was so favored by God that he did not even have to die, but was transported to Heaven by a chariot of fire upon fulfilling his destiny (2 Kings 2:11).  And then there were others….

There were others who failed.  Sometimes that person did not mean to fail, or ask to be put in the position to fail, but somehow, they were called to do something that required them to give up a lot of themselves; they gave everything they had or could to fulfill this task or assignment.  Not only did they not end not prospering from that hard work, but the things that were promised would be a blessing turned out to be a curse.   When I consider such a curse—the curse of failure, one main figures in the Word of God come to mind:

Hagar: Fruitless Labor Due to Disobedience and Unbelief**

                                                                                                                                          

Many of us know…know…know…the love triangle that took place between an old man and an old woman and a younger chick.  Sound familiar?  Yes, I know, but we are talking about the first love triangle ever recorded in history—the one between Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar.  Not only was it the first love triangle, but it is a soap opera that continues to be rerun even to this day in the war between Israel and Palestine.

Now, I suggest you get to Genesis, Chapter 16 to read the entire account but here, since I have so much to cover, I will give the condensed scenario of the account.  Basically, Abraham was married to Sarah, who was barren, when God made a covenant with him.  God’s covenant was that he would build a great nation from Abraham. The problem was that Abraham did not have any child and was nearly a 100 years of age, while his wife with about 90.   Unbelieving (and disobedient) Sarah approached Abraham and offered him her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, and asked him to sleep with her so that he could have that baby God promised.  Apparently Sarah felt she needed to help God fulfill His promise.  Abraham agreed and slept with Hagar and she had a baby named Ishmael.

Hagar, in her pride about having a child for Abraham, began to mistreat Sarah, so Abraham gives Sarah permission to discipline Hagar.  Out of all this faithlessness and strife, Hagar flees. She returns to Abraham’s house and resumes her role as a servant, a concubine, and the mother to Abraham’s first born.

Another 14 years passed when Sarah saw God’s true promise fulfilled.  She gave birth to her own baby named Isaac.  Sarah became jealous of Hagar. She ordered Abraham to send her and Ishmael away so that they could not share in Abraham’s inheritance.  Abraham was distressed by what Sarah said.  He asked God for advice. God told Abraham to do what his wife said, informing him that Isaac would be the seed on which his nation would be built but also reassuring him that Ishmael would lead a nation too because he was also from Abraham.

God gives her the blessing that her son Ishmael would have many offspring, but curses him, saying that he would always live in hostility toward others.  Later, Abraham begs that God would bless Ishmael, and God promises that Ishmael would become a great nation, but never revokes the curse.

The fight between Sarah and Hagar continue even now in the battle between their offspring.  The Jewish-Muslim divide is this fight.  The fight between Muslims and everyone else is an example of how “Ismael” would remain hostile to others and fighting with others.  To a large extent, the 9/11 terrorist attack is a continuation of this curse on Ismael.  And when considers the mother—Hagar who was called upon to be used by Sarah, who wanted her husband to be happy, she is left as someone who was used and dumped.

It is true that the result of both of Abraham’s sons was what God promised—Isaac (born of Sarah) and Ishmael (born of Hagar) did get to bring forth great nations, but Ishmael’s destiny will forever be cursed.

And so was Hagar’s.

You may be reading this and scratching your head.  You may be annoyed about Vacirca rambling again.  You may be begging me to get to the point of how Hagar’s story may relate to women and men now?

Hagar: Slavery Rather than Freedom

Hagar represents a different relationship, or covenant with God.  Hagar, and the curse upon her, represents “the curse of the law” described in Galatians 3:10.  The curse of Hagar—Hagar’s entire life, as well as how Sarai used her—represents what things look like when they are done in human effort, verses what things look like when we do things by the grace of God.  “The curse of Hagar” represents what can occur when we fail to trust in Jesus Christ and feed into the trying to get things done on our own—such as when we tried to obey God and go to Heaven on our own, when it was impossible.  Jesus is an example of how trusting God to provide and fulfill His will, in His own way, can “redeem us from the curse of the law.”

Galatians 4:22-29 states, “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.”

These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.  Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.  Hagar’s descendants are those of the Muslim world who follow religious doctrine but can never be free because they do not know Jesus.  As a result of Sarai using Hagar and Hagar fulfilling the task of bringing forth God’s promise in her way, she brought a curse upon herself as a mother who may have wanted her hard work and effort—in bringing forth a son—to be honored and successful.  Even though God did bless Hagar’s work, Ismael, in His mercy—as He continues to do with all of us because it rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), at the end of the day, we all know that Hagar did not end up the fullness of God’s blessings.  Hagar ended up having to be sent into the desert, only to raise up a nation that is in enmity with God’s people.   

But the Jerusalem—who came from Sarah and her son, Isaac, that is free.  Even as we all know that Sarah was foolish to take matters into her own hands, she was still blessed.  She is the ancestor of Jesus Christ.  She is even our own mother.   It is written: "Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband."  Because of what was brought forth by God in Isaac, we can all be the children of promise in Jesus Christ. 

At that time the son born in the ordinary way, through Hagar, has persecuted the sons born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.  However, even though Hagar appears as though she “got off alright,” it is clear as we look at her descendants that the “children of the slave woman (Hagar) will not receive the same inheritance as the children of the free woman (Sarah).”

The Curse of Hagar: Fruitlessness and Profitlessness

As you can tell by now, Hagar’s story burned me up when I read it.  Not only does it scare me because of the ways it is manifesting in the lives of so many, but because as a Christian, it just seems unfair at times to me!  How could someone go from being a princess to a rejected concubine/single parent?

Hagar did not start out as a slave, she had everything a girl could want, she was the daughter of the most powerful man on earth at that time!  Oh, yes, many people do not realize that Hagar’s father was the Pharaoh of Egypt.  Not only that, but she was beautiful with her dark skin, a princess of the most powerful country in the world with all the riches of the world at her fingertip! But, all of that changed in an instant when her Father gave her as a gift to a Hebrew couple to be a servant in their household.  Her own father said of his daughter, the princess, “It is better that my daughter should be a slave in the house of such a woman than mistress in another house" (Genesis 12:10-20).

Hagar was young, fruitful and beautiful.  As we know, Sarai could not conceive the child herself and asked Hagar to do so.  As we discover later, Sarai could not raise the child up as if the child came from her own womb. Sarai gave her husband permission to lay with Hagar and conceive a child. Up to this point Hagar was submissive to her Mistress but after giving birth to her child Hagar began to despise Sarai and mock her, Hagar became prideful and her whole attitude changed toward Sarai.  This, of course, eventually led to Hagar not only being in a low position, but being reduced to having no position in the household.  She was banished from the house and sent to the desert.

Imagine being in a position to be told that you—someone who is not in a great position—can be placed in a better one if only you agree to do some sort of work.  Perhaps that work is to bear a child for the master of the house, like Hagar did for Sarah and Abraham.  Perhaps that work is to do all kinds of presentations for your Senior Manager.  Perhaps your work was to support your husband as he tried to find himself as a man, and in his career.  All you know is that you are called to do a work, and promised all kinds of rewards, only to find yourself cast out when you have fulfilled the task. 

That is not God’s will.  However, if we continue to do things in our own efforts, rather than trusting God, or waiting on Him to fulfill things He has promised, then God will allow us to complete the task.  And God may even make use of it or bless it somewhat in His infinite mercy.  Yet, it will never be what God fully desired or intended, nor will it ever allow you to prosper in God’s way.

 

So if you are in a relationship you are working on, or in a job in which you are fighting to be promoted, or involved in anything at all that seems like it could pay off, be mindful to avoid the Curse of Hagar.  Steer clear of unbelief, and the disobedience that can come with it.  Be sure to be asking God, and confirming with God, if it is His will before and during your journey while fulfilling this endeavor.  Don’t end up like Hagar, having to be pulled into something that God never wanted you to be a part of in the first place--only to be abused while there, just to end up cast out of it when you are no longer needed.

Remember God states that when we are covered by Him, and the Blood of Jesus, it is never God’s will for us to toil and to be cast out of the blessing that comes from it.  God never intends for you to be used and cast out when they are done using you. 

However, this is what happens when we do things in our own efforts.  It is also what occurs when we allow the things of the flesh to try to do things that should be done by the spirit.  The Bible says, in Galatians 5:17, “for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.”  The flesh and the spirit are always at war with one another—as we saw when Hagar was at war with Sarah.  However, this is a curse that can come as a result of us allowing the flesh to be the superior factor in our lives.  The flesh is supposed to come under submission to our spirit.  

It is by the Spirit of God that “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy” (Colossians 1:9-11).  It is the Spirit of God that can lead us to first discover what God desires to do in our lives and through us in the lives of others.  It is the Spirit of God who calls appoints us to our work--whether business, ministry, or any part of our ordained destiny.  It is the Spirit of God who causes the work to be fruitful. 

Hagar, prompted by Sarah, is the work of the flesh and although it did bear fruit, it is fruit that will not bring glory to God and His perfect will. 

Pray now and ask God to remove any fruitlessness or flesh-driven activities from your life.  Below are prayers you can pray as a guide.  However, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in overcoming this issue in your life. 

Even before you move forward into your destiny, however, let us make sure you have finalized your salvation.  Before you can ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, He has to be planted in you by the Lord Jesus.  Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior?  If not, allow me to assist you in doing so. It does not have to be exactly like this prayer, but this is one that will definitely be heard:

“Jesus, I confess I have sinned against God and against others.  I ask for Your forgiveness for all my sins.  Please wash me clean with Your Blood.  I believe You died on the Cross for me and rose on the third day.  I ask You now to be my Lord and Savior.   Please come into my heart and take control of my life.  I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit.” 

Then I suggest you ask God to place you in one of His churches, and get yourself baptized by water, then baptized in the Holy Spirit.  Anyway, just ask God to lead your every step as You walk with Christ.  He will.

For those who are in Christ…below is that prayer to help you overcome those fruitless activities, the unappreciated hard work, and the profitless labor.  Here are prayers to begin to overcome the Curse of Hagar in your life:

Prayer Points Against the Curse of Hagar

First we praise and honor God.  We thank Him for what He has done and what He is doing.  Then begin to speak scriptures that are the promises of God—see those above about God’s blessings. 

Additional Scripture to speak to your situation:

 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

1.       I praise You, God, because You are the One who can make us fruitful in every spheres of our lives.

2.       Father, let this be my own month of breakthrough in every facet of my life, in Jesus’ Name.

3.       Father, please put an end to every forms of fruitless effort in my life in Jesus’ Name. .

4.       Father, make the impossible possible for me this month.  Make every impossibility in my work, in my home, or my ministry possible in Jesus’ Name. .

5.       Father, please turn me into a miracle when the world sees Your miracle in my life, in Jesus’ Name.

6.       Father, if there is anything in my life that I’ve been operating from the flesh, rather than the spirit—such as Hagar having a child for Abraham—then please reveal it to me and cast it out, and close doors no man can open, even while opening doors to Your perfect will that no man can shut, in Jesus’ Name.

7.       Help me to trust You to take control of every area of my life.  Help me to stop doing things in my own strength.  Please remove every distraction, counterfeit, and trap that is keeping me from fulfilling my God-ordained assignments in Jesus Name.

8.       Father, let my season of joy begin tonight in Jesus’ Name.

9.       Father, let my testimonies be many in Jesus’ Name.

10.    Father, You are the Commander in Chief, please command all that I do by ordering my steps and placing every area of my life in alignment with Your perfect will and timing, in Jesus Name.

11.    Father God, please rebuke every hidden and visible person, place,or thing that would keep me from fulfilling my destiny, in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

12.  Father, I cover all of my dreams, goals, visions, tasks, and decisions with the Blood of Jesus.  Please remove whatever I desire or do that is not from You and please replace them all with Your perfect will and timing for the assignments You have for me.  Please grant me grace to do every good work and bear fruit for the Kingdom.  In Jesus Name.

13.  Holy Spirit, please help me to pray about my calling.  Please reveal the secret and hidden things about who I am and what I was created to do.  Please lead me to continue to pray about it in alignment with God's perfect will and timing, in Jesus Name.

14.  Father God, I reject and renounce all self-directed, self-driven, or flesh-driven works, tasks, decisions, desires, plans, and efforts in Jesus Name.

15.  Father God, please arise and rebuke every strongman, every devourer, every witch or Satanists that is operating against my fulfilling my destiny and bearing fruit in Jesus Name!

16.  In the Name of Jesus, I reverse every curse ever spoken over my life and my destiny by anyone in authority over me, or peers, or enemies, by the Blood of Jesus.

17.  In the Name of Jesus, I reverse every curse ever spoken over my life and my destiny by me through negative words, deception, unbelief, pride, doubt, or manipulations by the Blood of Jesus.

18.  By the Blood of Jesus, let the fire of the Holy Spirit reverse every satanic and witch-sent demonic prayer, incantation, bewitchment, enchantment, hex, vex, voodoo, hoodoo, Santeria, voodoo, spell, ritual, demonic altar sacrifice, divination, psychic connection, or spell working against me and my fulfilling my destiny, in the Name of Jesus.

19.  By the Blood of Jesus, I bind and rebuke every principality, dark power, rule of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places, strongman, or every demonic power operating in the second heaven, the air, the land, the sea, or under the sea.  I bind and rebuke every ancestral evil spirit operating through generational curses and territorial spirits.  I bind and rebuke every spirit of Pharaoh, ever demonic locust, devourer, and waster spirit.  I bind spirits of confusion, delay, distraction, defeat, discouragement, or death.  I bind spirits of infirmity operating against the health of my mind, body, personality, and mentality.  I bind every demonic spirit working through witchcraft and occult practices against me and renounce and reject their works in Jesus Name!  

20.  By the Blood of Jesus, by the fire of the Holy Spirit, I bind in the chains and shackles of God every demonic spirit from the Marine Kindgom, the desert, the forest, or the Second Heaven.  I bind any succubus or incubus troubling my life.  I bind and rebuke every water spirit or any demonic spirit that entered my dreams to steal or ciphon my blessings and success.  I command seven-fold restoration of all that has been stolen, lost, ciphoned, exchanged, or destroyed by demons or witches, in the Name of Jesus!

The Lord will lead you to pray more as He sees fit, but may these prayers richly bless and guide you, as God trains you for deep spiritual warfare as you reclaim your freedom that Jesus already died to give you! 

If you need prayer, please contact me on the PRAYER REQUEST PAGE on this blog, or on Facebook IM, or at VacircaVaughn@gmail.com.

**biblical research notes taken from article “The Curses of Genesis” by Jeff Clark and "Hagar Must Go" from Tracy Grier Ministries.