Wrestle for your Faith
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Introduction:
And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Jacob left his father-in-law along with his wives and all of his belongings.
The LORD, is FAITHFUL. Despite of Jacob’s failures, despite of his deceitfulness, God blessed Jacob.
How can this be? Because God doesn’t look at where you are right now. He looks at what you will become and He is the one who molds us and shapes us to the vessels that he would have us to be.
Yeah, Jacob may have had some hang-ups, but at the end of his journey, he is honored some hundreds of years later as being a hero of faith.
Just testify to someone and tell them the LORD is still writing my story.
Verse 1 says that as Jacob ventures off, he is going to the land that God has promised his grandfather Abraham. And as he leaves, the Bible says he sees the angels of God met him.
What an amazing experience to have the angels of God meet you.
It ought to be a sign, it ought to be reassurance to know that God is with Jacob.
Those of us who have been born again, who have the power and presence of God living inside of us by the power of the Holy Ghost, we have something greater than the angels. We have the embodiment of God residing in us.
And because we have the Holy Spirit within us, it ought to reassure us that no matter what we face in life that God is with us!!! And if God is with us, then we must believe and have faith that everything will be alright.
Jacob, in verse 3 then tries to make amends with his brother Esau. Years have passed, the last time Esau was in proximity of Jacob he wanted to kill his brother for stealing his birthright.
So Jacob sends messengers to Esau, with humble greetings, Jacob desires to see his brothers and is hoping that come and see him and that his disposition will be friendly towards him.
But when his messengers came back, they told Jacob that Esau is already on his way to meet you and his coming with 400 men!
The bible says in verse 7:
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
Jacob seemingly got bad news and he was afraid and distressed. Have you ever received bad news and became afraid? Have you received news and it caused you to experience stress?
Someone today may have received bad news, you may have received it this week, this month, and you may not tell anyone but you are afraid, you are concerned, you’re fretting just a little bit, you’re stressed out!
IMPORTANT POINT:
Jacob received news just that quick and he forgot that God was with him! And it can happen to anyone of us, because you don’t know what may happen tomorrow......but as long as we know and recognize that God is with us......our faith will keep us balanced and stabilized!!!
Encourage someone this morning and tell them.....GOD IS WITH YOU!!!
So the scriptures said that Jacob divided his household, his flocks, herds, and camels into two groups.
But after his divides his household and his belongings, he does what we ought to do when we receive bad news.
He starts to talk to God about his situation!
He says “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Issac.” In other-words, he is invoking the God who is a promise-keeper, the God who is a provider, the God who is a healer who healed the womb of his grandmother Sarah, the God who healed the womb of his mother Rebekah, the God who protected his ancestors.
Is there anybody here that knows who God is? Sometimes when you pray you need to invoke the God who is a healer, the God who is a deliver, the God who is a provider.
Jacob said, God you made me a promise that if I would return to my country and to my relatives you would prosper me.
Watch this:
Then Jacob says “I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness or unfailing love
Let me stop there to encourage someone this morning to let someone know that the God that we serve has unfailing love, HIS LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL!!!! It does not matter how many times you mess up, God’s love is an unfailing love.
And just because you might experience hard times does not mean that God doesn’t love you. The bible says, that he chastens whom he loves. And the scriptures says he chastens so that you will not be condemned with the world.
And Jesus himself said in the book of Revelation “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent.”
Someone needs to hear me this morning, sometimes God sends difficulty your way to get your attention so that you can repent so that you won’t be condemned with the world!
Jacob says I am unworthy of all the unfailing love and of all the faithfulness which you have shown your servant.” That’s what the NASB says.
Jacob recounts his life, he said when I crossed over Jordan, the only thing I had to my name was a walking stick.
But God you been good to me.......I’m reading between the lines here. Because Jacob was a supplanter, he was a deceiver, but yet, God remained faithful to him. Jacob said you blessed me so that “Now my household fills two large camps.”
He then prays “Deliver me, I pray from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.”
That’s a prayer right there that someone needs to pray. I don’t know who it is that I’m talking to that is in trouble, I don’t know who I’m talking to that is afraid, I don’t know who I am talking to that is stressed out, but you ought to lift your hands right now and pray “Deliver me.....I PRAY LORD!”
The NLT says “OOOOOOO LORD........can you cry out from the depth of your soul and activate your faith and say “OOOOOO LORD PLEASE RESCUE ME!!!!”
Listen, you don’t have time to be cute and sophisticated this morning, because if your heart is right, and if your faith is activated, I believe that God is going to deliver someone right now!!!
Lift your hands and cry out to the LORD and say “OOOOOOO LORD PLEASE RESCUE ME.........O LORD DELIVER ME I PRAY!!!!”
Jacob then began to invoke the promises of God.
And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
When we are met with adversity, when we are faced with uncertainty, when we get the bad news, and when danger is imminent. We have to hold on to the promises of God!
Jacob said “But you promised me, you promised me, I will surely treat you kind, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore- too many to count.
But now, he is fearful because his brother (so he thought) was coming with a 400 hundred man army to wipe him out.
He was coming to wipe him out because Jacob perhaps thought that Esau never forgave him for stealing his birthright.
Look at verse 13:
And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
Jacob then in verse 17 and 18 is trying to figure out a way to avert the anger of his brother. He thinks that if he gives Esau some more gifts that it will appease Esau.
But SEE......WHILE JACOB WAS ALREADY TRYING TO FIGURE THINGS OUT......GOD WAS ALREADY WORKING ON HIS BEHALF.
HE COULD NOT SEE IT......BUT GOD WAS WORKING ON HIS BEHALF. I CAME TO PROPHECY TO SOMEONE THIS MORNING AND TELL WHAT THE WORD OF THE LORD IS......THIS MIGHT NOT BE FOR EVERYONE.....BUT TO EVERY PERSON THAT HAS FAITH GOD SAID......YOU CAN’T SEE IT YET.....BUT I’VE ALREADY STARTED WORKING IT OUT IN YOUR FAVOR!!!!
I gotta quit, but listen to this:
The bible says in verse 22, that Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his elven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them, and after taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.
And Jacob was left alone in the camp, and a man wrestled with hum until daybreak.
The bible says that when the man wrestling with Jacob seen that he did not prevailed, he touched the socket of his thigh so that Jacob’s thigh bone was dislocated.
Sometimes God has to isolate us and wound us and sometimes we may experience pain and we are wrestling with a myriad of issues.
The man said “let me go for the dawn is breaking” But Jacob said “I will not let you go unless you bless me.
I said that to say that sometimes you gotta wrestle for your faith. It may hurt, but you got to wrestle for your faith, you may be at a disadvantage but you have to wrestle for your faith, you may not be winning right now, you may be taking a beating......BUT YOU GOTTA WRESTLE FOR YOUR FAITH!!!
YOU NEED TO TELL THE LORD.....I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL YOU BLESS ME!!! I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL YOU DELIVER ME, I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL YOU SAVE ME, I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL YOU HEAL ME, I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL MY FAMILY IS SAVED, I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL YOU BLESS ME!
IF I GOTTA HANG ON BY A THREAD.....I’M GOING TO HANG ON!!!! JUST ENCOURAGE THREE PEOPLE AND TELL THEM NEIGHBOR DON’T YOU LET GO OF YOUR FAITH......DON’T LET GO UNTIL THE LORD BLESSES YOU!!!
Verse 30 then says that Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved!
AND when the day broke, Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming and when Jacob thought that Esau would come and slay him, Jacob bowed seven times to the ground, and Esau ran to meet his brother, embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him and they both wept!!!!
Jacob’s prayer had been answered, Jacob wrestled for his faith, and all in the process he came face to face with God and God changed his name from Jacob to Israel!