Gen. 32:22-32 - That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.
Jacob's name means supplanter or deceiver. I'm sure that you are very familiar with the story of how Jacob stole his older brother's birthright and his father's blessing. Yet, the hand of God was upon this man's life.
As Jacob wrestled with God, he determined within himself that He was going to get a blessing. He was not going to let go of God without it. Jacob did not have a give up mentality. He wanted a blessing and a blessing he would get. It might not come the way he thought it would, but it would surely come.
Many times, we expect God to bless us, but it doesn't come in the package that we thought it would. God doesn't operate like that. Our ways are not His ways. His ways are better!!
It's interesting to note that the Lord did not lay His hands on Jacob's forehead and bless him as his earthly father had done. Instead, He touched the socket of his hip with powerful force. His touch was so powerful that it forced Jacob's hip to dislocate from it's proper position. As a result of this close encounter with God, Jacob never walked the same again. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life. He would never be the same after this encounter with God. NEVER!
Are you willing to wrestle with God until He does what He needs to do in your life? Are you willing to be changed, even if it means a punch in the hip? If so, get ready! God wants to meet with you. He wants to see some determination in your life. He wants to touch you in a powerful way so that you will be changed forever. When God touches you, you will NEVER be the same!
The Lord doesn't want us to stay the same. He wants us to change. He wants us to be more like Him. We must become hungry and thirsty for God. We must not allow anything to get in the way of what the Lord wants to do in our lives. We must follow after Him with all of our hearts. There are new horizons to see, new adventures to walk through, and fresh revelation that He desires to show us by His Spirit.
Are we truly ready to pay the price to serve Jesus? Are we willing to do whatever it takes to walk in obedience to His commands? Are we willing to find that place of wrestling and stay in the ring until God has performed His complete work in us?
Friend, maybe you need to go to Peniel today. Maybe you need to go to the Jabbok River and wrestle with God like Jacob did.
It's time for change to take place on the inside of everyone of us. We need to repent of sin in our lives. We need to get right with God. We need to treat our friends and family members as Christ would treat them. It's time to lay aside the old and walk in the new. God has great things in store for us. We must learn how to press into Him in order to receive all that He has for us. We can't settle for less. We must press in farther and lay hold of Him. Everything we need is IN HIM! Everything we are is IN HIM! It's not IN US. It's found IN HIM.
I pray that you will be blessed and receive His touch today. There's no greater life than serving Jesus!!!!
This article is published with permission from Darol Wagstaff.
Our thanks and gratitude is extended to him.
