Praise the Lord
for this first Wednesday of October. It is going to be very brilliant and
colorful day. Last night Alice and I walked for over 2 1/2 miles. It was a very
warm evening and the breeze was gentle. While coming home after our walk we came
across a small herd of deer running carefree on the highway. The autumn colors
are getting more colorful and brighter by the day. I have been reporting to
Sunita while she is Rumania on a regular basis about the progression of the
changing of the leaves. It is so beautiful. It is indeed full of splendor.
We will gather for
our Wednesday Evening Food Fellowship at 6 PM. We are looking forward to a good
evening in the Word.
I woke up early morning by 3 AM and have bean reflecting how
the Lord our God in Jesus Christ meets us at all hours of the day and night.
Jesus met His disciples early morning by the Sea of Galilee. He met the woman of
Samaria during the midday. He met with Nicodemus bt night. He met Jacob by
night. We read in Genesis 32 about Jacob wrestled with our God.
“Why did God want to wrestle with Jacob?” It was not for fun
but to teach him some important truths. Further, we do know it is something God
WANTED to do. We need to understand that God wants to be actively engaged in our
lives. This wrestling match was not only something that God wanted, but it was
something that Jacob needed. More interesting yet is the question, "How could a
man possibly hold his ground with God in a wrestling match?” Clearly God let
Jacob prevail.
Whenever Simeon, our grandson, comes to visit us he and I
wrestle. I let me him win. It is clear from the text that Jacob didn’t “prevail”
in the wrestling match in the sense of defeating God. They wrestled all through
the night and it appeared that it was going to be a draw until God dislocated
Jacob’s hip with a simple touch. It was as if God allowed Jacob to take his best
shot and then showed He was still in control with a single touch. That night
Jacob found out that he couldn’t push God around and do things the way he’d
always done them. That is why the Bible says, “...the weakness of God is
stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Though there was no fight left in Jacob, he still held on to God for all he’s worth. God told Jacob to let go, but Jacob could not. He was still grabbing hold of things but for a different reason. Jacob held on to ask for his most basic need - a blessing. Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” These were words God had waited forty years to hear!
God had told Rebekah before Jacob’s birth that he would receive a blessing, but Jacob had schemed for it, instead of getting it from God Himself. Still, Jacob was right in desiring God’s blessing, for being blessed by God is no trivial matter. Life without God’s blessing was a nightmare.
Jacob had met his match and he knew it. His confidence was shot. He did not feel so conniving anymore. Jacob’s arrogance removed, He desperately grabbed one last time. He took hold of God, and it was the God of love, the God of compassion, the God of forgiveness who changed his grasp to an embrace.
God, who once had been unimportant to Jacob, who was not needed by Jacob to get by in life, suddenly became indispensable. Jacob realized he was nothing without God. He realized that no matter how big or strong he might be, no matter how sneaky he might be, there was One greater than himself. Jacob, the wounded wrestler, would then be reminded of this by the pain that would shoot up and down his leg as a reminder for the rest of his life.
Jacob became a broken man, physically and in spirit, and for this reason he was then exactly where God could use him. Furthermore, when we are broken, we are also right where God can use us. (Psalm 51:17) “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
Jacob's struggle is a metaphor both spiritually and emotionally. Yet it is also physical in nature. All of us have wrestled with God at times as we struggle to do our things our own way. We wrestle with God over problems we don’t understand. We wrestle with God over the things he has asked us to give up for Him. We wrestle with God and his call on our lives. Sometimes we wrestle with God because of a deep desire for blessing.
Each of us can think of nights when sleep eluded us and we have tossed and turned, struggling over decisions to be made. We can remember being physically exhausted in the morning from the struggle we endured the night before. Although we may not enjoy these times, we all have our wrestling matches with God and we NEED these times because God wants us to engage with Him and yes, even wrestle with Him for blessings. Somewhere during the long hours of fruitless wrest-ling, Jacob realized that this “man” was no mere man. He was really the “angel of the Lord.” That’s the same thing as wrestling with God himself, holding on for dear life. If he could not win the fight, he was not going to give up until he received a blessing.
Though there was no fight left in Jacob, he still held on to God for all he’s worth. God told Jacob to let go, but Jacob could not. He was still grabbing hold of things but for a different reason. Jacob held on to ask for his most basic need - a blessing. Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” These were words God had waited forty years to hear!
God had told Rebekah before Jacob’s birth that he would receive a blessing, but Jacob had schemed for it, instead of getting it from God Himself. Still, Jacob was right in desiring God’s blessing, for being blessed by God is no trivial matter. Life without God’s blessing was a nightmare.
Jacob had met his match and he knew it. His confidence was shot. He did not feel so conniving anymore. Jacob’s arrogance removed, He desperately grabbed one last time. He took hold of God, and it was the God of love, the God of compassion, the God of forgiveness who changed his grasp to an embrace.
God, who once had been unimportant to Jacob, who was not needed by Jacob to get by in life, suddenly became indispensable. Jacob realized he was nothing without God. He realized that no matter how big or strong he might be, no matter how sneaky he might be, there was One greater than himself. Jacob, the wounded wrestler, would then be reminded of this by the pain that would shoot up and down his leg as a reminder for the rest of his life.
Jacob became a broken man, physically and in spirit, and for this reason he was then exactly where God could use him. Furthermore, when we are broken, we are also right where God can use us. (Psalm 51:17) “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
Jacob's struggle is a metaphor both spiritually and emotionally. Yet it is also physical in nature. All of us have wrestled with God at times as we struggle to do our things our own way. We wrestle with God over problems we don’t understand. We wrestle with God over the things he has asked us to give up for Him. We wrestle with God and his call on our lives. Sometimes we wrestle with God because of a deep desire for blessing.
Each of us can think of nights when sleep eluded us and we have tossed and turned, struggling over decisions to be made. We can remember being physically exhausted in the morning from the struggle we endured the night before. Although we may not enjoy these times, we all have our wrestling matches with God and we NEED these times because God wants us to engage with Him and yes, even wrestle with Him for blessings. Somewhere during the long hours of fruitless wrest-ling, Jacob realized that this “man” was no mere man. He was really the “angel of the Lord.” That’s the same thing as wrestling with God himself, holding on for dear life. If he could not win the fight, he was not going to give up until he received a blessing.
So it is that when our greatest energies are surrendered to God, our lives are radically redirected. That which was used for evil now is used for good. That which was used for trivial pursuits now is used for the kingdom of God. That which was used for earthly gain now is used for eternal profit.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/SZ-fghqc8Oo
Saturday October 6,
2012
5:30 PM October
Festival with Food, Fellowship, Testimonies, and Hymn Sing
at
Wesley UMC,
1000 Day
Hollow Road, Endicott.
Sunday October 7,
2012
Family Breakfast at
7:00 AM
Speaker: Dr. Gary
Smith, Ph D, from Binhamton University
Location:
Union
Center United Methodist Church. 128 Maple Drive Endicott
Annual Praise and Prayer Conference
Friday- Sunday October 12-14,
2012
- Opening worship: Friday 7 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott
- Saturday 10 am - 1 PM We will gather in the sanctuary of the Union Center United Methodist Church for a concert of prayer.
- Prayer teams will be available to pray. We will anointing with oil and will pray for emotional, physical, and spiritual healing. We will be praying for deliverance and restoration.
- 6 PM First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott. We will gather for a NEW YORK PIZZA Party
- 6:30 PM praise and worship. There will be time for prayer. There will be anointing with oil. We will be praying for miracles of healing, deliverance, salvation, restoration. We will also be serving Communion at the Altar.
- Sunday, October 14, 2012, Morning worship will be at 9:30 AM at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1000 Day Hollow Road
- 8:30 and 11:00 Worship services will be held at the Union Center United Methodist Church; 9:50 - Sunday School Hour
- 12:30 PM Prayer Banquet with international foods
Leaders for the prayer conference
are:
Kelly Johnson from Memphis, TN,
Andy and Sunita Groth, Rob
Krech, Meredith Watson, and Amanda (all from Washington,
DC).
The leaders and members of the
Binghamton House of prayer will be joining for this conference Event. Laureen
Naik will be leading in worship music. Come expecting a miracle.
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