Wrestling With God

Genesis 32:22-30 NIV

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants 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 humans 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.”

Wrestling as defined by dictionary.com 

noun 1. a sport in which two opponents struggle hand to hand in order to pin or press each other's shoulders to the mat or ground, with the style, rules, and regulations differing widely in amateur and professional matches. 

verb (used without object)

1. to engage in wrestling.

2. to contend, as in a struggle for mastery; grapple: to wrestle with one's conscience.

verb (used with object)

3. to contend with in wrestling.

4. to force by or as if by wrestling.

5. to throw (a calf or other animal) for branding.

noun

6. an act of or a bout at wrestling.

7. a struggle.

Wrestling brings to mind the thought of force into our prayers. We need to pray aggressively and wrestle with stubborn issues that the enemy has brought into our lives. We also need to wrestle with God for the blessings we desire. God will give them to us if they line up with His perfect will. 

Seek, Ask & Knock.

Wrestling is an orderly sport and our God is orderly in manner so that would bring us to believe that our prayers should be orderly. What is this order we are to follow, or the rules we are to follow? First we need to acknowledge that God is Creator and Jesus is His Son, then we need to repent of our sins or we will not be heard. 

Acts 3:19 NIV 
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Obey the Lord!! We need to obey the voice of the Lord and do as He asks us.

Deuteronomy 30:10 NLT 
The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

We need to pray all kinds of prayers in all kinds of ways. A wrestler has many different moves he can make in a match, yet often he is prone to a specific style or group of moves that works for him, but if he is wise and well trained he will throw in a move that is not of his routine in order to throw off his opponent. So with that thought, routine is important for us in praying and what good athlete can get by without training? None. We need to pray and pray building our spiritual discipline focusing on God's Word and what He desires of His children. 

 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV 
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 Ephesians 6:18 NIV 
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

Are you wrestling with God over things? I encourage you to keep on pressing in and don't give up. If you are not receiving an answer make sure your heart is in alignment with God's will and then maybe what is needed is a change of prayer pattern from the stalemate you are in.

Blessings,
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