March 2, 2019
My Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet and bless everyone in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. The blessed word that God has given for you today is from the book of Hosea 12:4, “Yes He wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought His favour. He found him at Bethel. And there He spoke with us”
My Dear Brothers and Sisters, From the above context we come to understand that Jacob had power over the Angel who represented the invisible Jehovah. Jacob was left in a tight corner situation. He was left alone. So he wept over his situation and made supplication to God. He entreated with tears that God should bless him and he prevailed. Jacob found God in Bethel. It was there that God made those glorious promises to Jacob, relative to his posterity. Bethel was the meeting place of God and Jacob. It was there that God spoke to him directly. Jacob Prayed with tears from a sense of his own unworthiness and with earnestness for the mercy he desired. Jacobs wrestling with the angel was not only a physical conflict but a spiritual one. He cried with earnest supplication and prayers. And strove not for victory but for a blessing, The extraordinary conflict between Jacob and the Angel was so excellent which shows that Jacob had come into imminent danger of his life therefore he exerted his bodily strength to defend his life. Jacob called the name of the place “’Peniel ” saying “For I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered.”
Jacob was obedient to his parents. So they blessed him and sent him to his uncle Laban’s place as he feared that his brother Easu, would kill him for cheating his father Isaac and taking all the blessings that was due to him. Since he obeyed his parents God blessed him. God blessed Jacob many times more than his uncle Laban.
My dear Brothers and Sisters if you obey the Lord God then He will bless you too. God expects reverence and submission to God. Jacob humbled himself before God as he was left alone and he had no one to help him in that situation. So he wrestled with God until the angel touched his hip socket and Jacobs’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him till day break.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Learn to be like Jacob who said “Lord I will not let you go until you bless me.”And because he persisted he prevailed. The bible says, “The violent take by force.” If you need an answer to your prayers then you need to pray until you have achieved your request. May God help you to be honest and faithful to God with implicit obedience and humbleness of heart. There was no more room for ego or selfishness. He admitted that he was “Jacob” So God called him “Israel” and changed his entire course of life.
May God change your life too and bless you.
Prayer:
Our loving heavenly Father, we thank You for this blessed day. We thank
Amen.
