“I WILL NOT LET THEE GO, EXCEPT THOU BLESS ME.”

Nov. 25, 2013

“I WILL NOT LET THEE GO, EXCEPT THOU BLESS ME.”

“And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” Gen. 32:26

“All who desire the blessing of God, as did Jacob, and will lay hold of the promises, as he did, and be as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded. There is so little exercise of true faith and so little of the weight of truth resting upon many professed believers because they are sluggish in spiritual things. They are unwilling to make exertions, to deny self, to agonize before God, to pray long and earnestly for the blessing, and therefore they do not obtain it. That faith which will live through the time of trouble must be daily in exercise now. Those who do not make strong efforts now to exercise persevering faith, will be wholly unprepared to exercise that faith which will enable them to stand in the day of trouble.” (E.G. White Story of redemption)

“For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” The wrestling match of the century. But why would God the King of the universe, want to portray himself as weak. You  mean a created being took on the Great I AM and won? Not hardly, But I am sure God places this event in the pages of the historical events of His Word, wanting us to focus on the struggles each of us would encounter through our short probationary period on this earth from birth to death.

Each day our problems moves up in a designated weight class and as we get older the main event always gets more and more dramatic, the trials more precise, Problems, situations, the injustice of life, a disobedient child, a drunkard husband, and the list goes on.

So now that I have placed each of us in the ring with God as our opponent. How can we win like Jacob. Well first of all Jacob was prepared, remember he is going up against the great I Am, so there must be daily preparation. My friends we cannot come to the fight, lacking in faith and prayer, intemperate in our eating habits, or maybe just “having a form of godliness but denying its power”

Like Goliath who went into the ring with the Lord’s Anointed with only a sword, a spear and a javelin. My friends we must be prepared to endure through faith and God’s Spirit until God gives us the victory. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matt 7:11

And also we must never focus our attention on the timing of why we haven’t succeeded against God because a lack of patience is only a lack of faith remember Jacob fought all night 2 Peter 3:9 tells us “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

My friends we must always remember God is preparing us for greater fights against the enemy, fights we are unprepared to handle right now. For there will come a time in each of our lives, such has not been since the beginning of the world until this time….” Matt 24:21-22

So what I’m trying to get you to focus on today is, it may come a time when the presence of God is veiled from our face, and it will only be our faith, and the promises of God that we have constantly studied in His word that will give us the strength to continue.

“And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him…”Gen32:30-31 What hope for each of us, “and the sun rose upon him.” Like God’s Son who rose on the cross for our sins. One day soon we will be able to say we saw God face to face and it was our daily encounter with God that will allow us to look up and see the Son of God above us “and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess 4:16-17

So my friends today. Stay focused, remain faithful, love one another and endure till the end and never forget to STUDY&PRAY