Wrestling With the Lord

Genesis 32:24-30 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25 And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with Him.
26 And He said, Let Me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
27 And He said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29 And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name. And He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name? And He blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

As new Christians we became aware of the existence of both God and Satan, although we didn’t know much about either one. We knew Satan existed, but we didn’t have much of a problem with him. We knew God was real too, but we were separated from Him. Our concept of God was that He is up there and we were down here. So we would pray to a faraway God and live as good as possible. It is sad but true that many Christians continue to live in that realm.

When the Lord began teaching us how to walk with Him, things began changing. We were slowly ascending into the heavens, level to level in the realm of spirit (II Corinthians 3:18). There is divine and demonic activity in the spirit realm. So at this time we not only became more aware of the movings of God, but we also now felt the opposition of demonic activity. It was our first confrontation with warfare in the realm of spirit. We were still quite immature, but by flexing our spiritual muscles and entering into the battle we felt more spiritual.

The Lord continued to lead us step by step through the heavens, and eventually we began to realize that our battle was not so much with Satan and his hosts as it was with the Lord. We learned that it wasn’t just demonic forces that needed to be overcome; it was our Jacob nature that needed to be defeated. When Jacob the supplanter was defeated, then Israel the prince of God came forth. Realizing that our foe was within us we then understood why God was beginning to wrestle with us. And we also understood that if we were going to receive our inheritance and the promises of God that we would have to wrestle with Him.

Now our battle doesn’t have so much to do with the devil. Instead we are contending with the Lord. It’s not that Satan is non-existent, but as far as we are concerned he is insignificant. We refuse to allow him to draw us into a battle with him. After all, Jesus defeated him on the cross. Our focus is now Godward. More and more we are coming under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That is what we are interested in, and that is where our victory is. We’re moving out of that in-between realm of demonic activity and into the Kingdom of God. We’re pressing in to know the Lord. Wrestling with the Lord precedes the defeat of our sinful nature, His Lordship over us, and the possession of our inheritance. It is the way in which we enter His Kingdom. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom God is preached, and every man presseth into it. Luke 16:16.

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