WRESTLING WITH GOD

In Genesis 32:24, Jacob wrestled with Christ all night. In the morning the Lord blessed Jacob.

How can I wrestle with the Lord and receive a blessing from God? I can’t wrestle with God and impose my will on Him. Wrestling with God is laying hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. When people wrestle they lay hold on each other. If I would wrestle with God I must lay hold upon Christ by faith. When I lay hold upon Christ I am claiming no other hope but Christ.

Wrestling with God does not happen by my strength. I wrestle with God by the power of Christ. I wrestle with God by laying hold on the power of Christ by claiming no other hope but the blood and righteousness of Christ.

I will never prevail with God if I quit seeking Christ and turn away from Him. If you would have a blessing from God seek Christ and beg God for mercy all night long – until He gives you mercy. Wrestling with God is refusing to let go of Christ as my all and in all. Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” (Gen. 32:26) Jacob refused to let go of Christ and he was blessed.

Pastor

When Paul said, “I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified”, he is not saying that is the only theme he was going to preach on, and will ignore everything else. He is saying that is the only message there is. There are no other themes to ignore.

Pastor Todd Nibert

THE WILL THAT CLEANSES

Mark 1:40: And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 41: And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 42: And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

Salvation is not by the sinner’s will but by the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. This leper did not come to Christ making demands or boasting of his will—he said unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

This man knew he was full of leprosy. The Spirit of God must reveal to us our desperate need. We only come to Christ asking his will to be done when we believe we are nothing but sin and only Christ can cure us. The will of Christ by which we are saved begins by Christ sending us the Holy Spirit to purge our conscience from dead works by his blood and convince us that we are nothing but sin—a loathsome disease in God’s sight.

Salvation is by the will of our Lord giving us a new heart that is broken and believes on Christ. The leper did not come to the disciples. He did not merely come to Christ’s teachings. He came to Christ. When you have a little sniffle then you might get curious. You might pick up a book and try to learn what causes these symptoms. But when you are deathly ill you go directly to a physician! When a sinner is given faith to believe God’s own word against him and taught that Christ alone is the Righteousness of God who heals then he will come to the great Physician!

How does Christ receive the sinner that he has made willing in the day of his power? Our Lord Jesus moved with compassion. He said, “I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Christ is our compassionate High Priest! (Heb 4:15) Christ put forth his hand and touched him and cleansed him immediately. We are cleansed by a living union with Christ! We were in him on the cross and he is in us by the new birth that we might be made perfect in one, Christ Jesus. (John 17:23)