Day 23: Genesis 32-34

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2032-34&version=NIV

You won’t see this wrestling match on the WWE
Have You Wrestled with God Yet?

The time has come for Jacob and his family to move back to his home county, but there is one big problem. Years earlier, Jacob had deceived his brother Esau out of his birthright and now Esau is coming to meet Jacob with 400 men. Is Esau coming to take vengeance upon him and his family? Jacob is fearful and has a plan but so does God.

In Gen 32:8-11, Jacob cries out to God in his time of trouble.

Gen 32:9-11
Then Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you': "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. "Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.

This is what the Lord of Abraham and Isaac has been waiting for. God desires to bring Jacob into a relationship with Himself. No more playing religion, no more running from God. It’s time to humble himself before His maker. His sins have caught up to him.

Jacob gets alone. It's just him and God now.

As night falls, Jacob wrestles with God through out the night. There comes a time in our life were we must stand before God and enter our own wrestling match. Have you had your wrestling match with God? Our sins have caught up with us. No more hiding behind church or good works. The consequence of our rebellion against God is coming upon us. We need to do what Jacob did. We get alone with God and enter the wrestling match. “I will not let you go until you bless me” On through the night he wrestles with God until finally it is time to obtain his blessings.

What is the blessing God desires to give all of us? It is a change of nature.
From sinner to the righteousness of Christ. From an enemy of God to a friend of God. From a Jacob (deceiver) to an Israel (Prince of God) Yes, God desires to give all of us a new nature And just as Israel walked with a limp the rest of his life, we also walk differently in this world after we invite the Lord Jesus into our life. God is now the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Even as believers in Christ, we need to be growing spiritually. Jacob never gave up when he was asking God for his blessing. After his encounter with God, we can see a changed attitude. He was silent even after his own daughter had been defiled. What makes him so silent?

The past 10 years of my life I didn’t know why I had to go thru all the hurtful, heavy things in my life. Over and over again, like a boot camp, I would go through problem after problem. Actually I knew why but it was so hard for me to accept the reasons. God had a purpose for my life; He wanted to teach me discipline and grow my faith. God loves me so much that’s why he wants my faith to become pure as gold but to do this, I must pass through God’s boot camp to be molded into a soldier of Christ.

Even though I didn’t understand everything, I learned to just surrender to God’s working in my life. Waiting on Him to change my circumstances and listening to His voice to lead my steps in life. I knew if I tried to leave God’s boot camp by running from God’s working in my life, it would only make things worse. Only God can rescue me.

I graduated from my first boot camp after 10 years only to enter another one of God’s boot camps! But glory to God, I can tell every area of life has been changed beyond what I could ever imagine. I thought I was stuck, but God’s plan is working in me and He keeps moving me forward. He will never leave us alone. We can have confidence today; God is working in our life.

that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Pet 1:7

KW and Abrianna