On Wednesdays at 6 p.m. at GracePointe Church, we are going through the seven portraits of prayer. However, there is another portrait in prayer, perhaps the most famous prayer portrait of all, found in our Daily Audio Bible reading for today.
In Genesis 32 there is a fascinating story about Jacob wrestling with an angel, whom Jacob later identified as a bodily, human manifestation of God.
Jacob was about to encounter someone whom he thought was his mortal enemy: his own brother, Esau. Jacob sent his wives, his children, all of his possessions and was left alone to wrestle with God.
Jacob had been a deceiver. Jacob had also been deceived. However, it was time for Jacob to come home and face his past, but before he could face his past, God showed up so Jacob could face his God in prevailing prayer.
First, notice prevailing prayer can come upon us in an instant. The man/Angel of the Lord came upon Jacob suddenly. Jacob was no stranger to visiting with angels or messengers from God. Look at verse 1 earlier in the chapter. Even before that, he had seen angels going up and down on a literal, spiritual stairway to heaven (see Genesis 28:12 and following verses). But here, in Genesis 32:24, there was no warning that this man/Angel of the Lord was going to come upon him.
We need to be ready and prepared to be in prayer and even wrestle with God about our needs. Luke 21:36 says, “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
We also need to be prepared not only in prayer but also in the Word. 2 Timothy 4:1 says to “be instant” to preach the word. Be prepared to patiently encourage, correct, and even rebuke with the right doctrine.
Secondly, we need to not only be prepared, but we need to be persistent in prayer. Jacob wrestled all night in his struggle. Don’t you sometime wish God would just instantly answer us? If we are to be instant in prayer, why can’t He be instant in answering? The truth is God’s delays are not God’s denials, but in fact God’s delays are God’s desires!
God wants us to be persistent in prayer. Look at Luke 18 and the woman who kept coming to the unrighteous judge. How much more does God want us to come to Him, the righteous judge.
Thirdly, God was us to prevail. Have you ever play-wrestled with your kids? Isn’t it funny we don’t see moms doing it as much as dads? I’ve seen some dads who pin their kids down again and again and pretty soon, the kids don’t want to “play wrestle” because they always lose.
But what happens when dads let their kids pin the dads down? Nothing makes the kids squeal with delight than when that happens. And doesn’t that seem like what’s happening with Jacob and his all-night wrestling match? So much so that God changed the name of Jacob, the deceiver, to Israel, the Prevailer! “Prince of God”.
There’s one last lesson to learn from prevailing prayer and that is the price. The Angel of the Lord touched Jacob’s hip and caused him to henceforth walk with the limp. There’s a cost to discipleship. There is a price we pay in prayer. Life’s greatest lessons we learn often cause us to limp as reminder of the price, the sacrifice we make to see God face to face.
Jacob called the place Peniel, the Face of God. 2 Chronicles calls us to seek God’s face. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Psalm 27:8 cries out to us: When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
While Isaiah 59:2 states, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear,” Jesus promises us that the pure in heart are blessed because they will see God (Matthew 5:8)
Be prepared to wrestle with God, persistent in prayer, and even “prevail” with God, because He WANTS you to win. But there is a price to pay: the cost of us being pure and separating from our sins.
But don’t “let go” of God in prayer. If we hang on to Him, He’ll bless you with a new name, a new identity, and a testimony of us being forever changed.
