PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Genesis 32:22–30
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.”
Genesis 33:19–20
For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.
CONSIDER THIS
I’m a fan of many different sports, but wrestling is not one of them. I don’t really understand it as a sport and it feels one-dimensional in terms of how to win (if you’re a fan of wrestling, I apologize), but there is one professional wrestling term that we should all learn. It’s the term submission. When one wrestler chooses to yield to the other, he must submit.
In our altar story today, Jacob experiences a shift in his life because he surrenders, or, in wrestling terms, through submission. You may recall that Jacob is the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. As a young man, he cheated his brother, Esau, out of his rightful inheritance, which created deep conflict between them. In order to save his life, Jacob ran away and after some time, married Leah and Rachel. Just prior to our passage today, Jacob found out that his brother, Esau, was on his way to see him and after many years of being estranged from him, Jacob was afraid to face the sins of his past.
The night before he would have to face his brother, Jacob wrestled with a man who we find out is an angel of the Lord. By this time, Jacob is ninety-seven years old so I cannot imagine he was much of a match for the angel, but they wrestled through the night. It might seem that Jacob is winning because the angel calls time-out, but it is actually Jacob who realized this was a pinnacle moment for him. He had a choice. He was at a proverbial fork in the road. Would he continue down the path of denying his sin and running away from the consequences or would he open himself up to find freedom by surrendering to the Lord?
Jacob, in asking for a blessing, demonstrates his willingness to submit to God and repent of his past. The wrestling match became a physical representation of Jacob’s heart. God had the power to force Jacob, but He didn’t want to pin Jacob down to win. God wanted him to willingly submit. It is when we choose to surrender that we experience the shift in our lives of transformation. And when Jacob surrendered, God changed his name to Israel as a declaration of his transformed heart. Jacob faced the sins of his past and God provided freedom of a new future.
Are you wrestling with God in any area of your life? Is there a place where you are holding on to the sins of the past or running away from the consequences? We have an invitation to yield, to offer submission to God, and allow God to transform us.
THE PRAYER
Lord, how long will we run away from our sin? We want a new life and a new name that reflects how You have changed our hearts. We surrender all to You! Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
When have you felt like you were wrestling with God? Was there something you were holding on to that you needed to let go of and give to God? Where would you like to see God do a transforming work in your life?
For the Awakening,
Susan Kent
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Prayer That Flows From Brokenness
Praying out loud with and for other people as you open your heart to be led by Christ’s presence is powerful. Words of love begin to spontaneously flow from deep within you and tender compassion fills your heart. The atmosphere fills with awe as everyone becomes aware that Jesus is there. Then humble, Spirit-led prayer begins to spread as other people are prompted to open their mouth and let God fill it with words that freely flow from their heart. But for this process to start someone needs the boldness to open their heart and let God’s presence flow through their brokenness. Will you?