Read Gen. 32:26-32
Jacob sent one group on to meet Esau and spend the night waiting. He took Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, Zilpah, and his 11 sons and put them in a safe place, then he went to spend some time alone. God sent an angel that wrestled with Jacob all night long. Jacob fought so hard the angel couldn’t get away so the angel touched his thigh and it went out of joint. How do you wrestle with an angel and all he had to do is touch you to hurt you? That word “wrestle” in the Hebrew means “to float away (as vapor)” so maybe Jacob was fighting a vapor and spiritually had power to hold him there. He only touched Jacob when the sun was about to come up and he needed to leave. I think Jacob was wrestling for his promise that God had given him. Jacob refused to give up till the angel blessed him. So the angel made him speak his name. When he did, the angel told him that he would no longer be called Jacob, the supplanter, but he had fought and earned a new name - Israel, which means “he will rule as God” When Jacob asked him his name, he refused to tell him. Jacob had to figure it out himself… he did. It was God himself. Jacob left that encounter a new man, with a new name, and a new way of walking. He limped because God had touched him. The place that God touched him became a sacred place and his children refuse to eat that part of the meat to this day.
We are Israel spiritually and should walk as God on this earth because we carry his presence in our spirits. If we could get this in our minds then we could wrestle with God and be forever changed.
Lord, help us to walk cognizant of your presence in us and the power we possess as your children.
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