Struggler to overcomer!
Verse for Today: Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Genesis 32:28 – “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Walking in the Promised Land requires new qualifications and character. The calculated life style of the old nature has to give way to the new life of faith. The earthly life style that emanates from Jacob the deceiver has to give way to the overcoming and reigning life of Israel the prince with God. The life of faith seems slow, limping and a failure according to the world’s philosophies. The world writes off those who can’t cope with modern methodologies and approaches. But the life of faith is the life of the victorious overcomer. When the world looks at how fast we run, faith looks at how well we walk by holding the hands of the author and finisher of our faith. At Peniel Jacob is transformed into a reigning Israel. The success that Jacob had with his powerful legs is old story. But his new lifestyle of trust in the Lord created a legacy of faith. All the wealth that Jacob secured was due to his smartness. But the limping pilgrim of the tents challenges the world by faith. Today Israel is in the land of Hebron which tells stories about how God led Abraham as they had fellowship together. Bethel speaks volumes about heavenly vision, call and sojourn by faith. Canaan is the land of the overcomers who have subdued the desire for worldly acclaim and assets. At his struggle of faith at Penile, Jacob had to surrender his powerful legs to His creator God who has taken over the responsibility of his sustenance through faith in Him. Today Jacob has a new royal name, a new motto of faith, a pair of surrendered legs, a committed heart and an overcomer’s character as he sojourns. Jacob came out of Laban’s house as a rich man according to the world’s standards, but at Peniel he inherited all that God had promised his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. Jacob became truly rich with a new name, new character and new walk of faith. Jacob’s transformation challenges us today to walk by faith and be contended with the royal position. Our surrendered hearts overcome all the earthly desires as God enables us to live by faith and trust in Him and His provisions for us.
Dear friend, are you struggling to achieve the temporal fortunes of this world? Are you in the rat race to become great in this world by being smart? Yet you might find no end to your struggles and no contentment with what you have. Jacob had such a lifestyle for over 20 years and found his earthly success to be empty. He had everything this world bragged about, but he was still a struggler and not an overcomer. At Peniel, all his struggles were over. All that he put his trust became meaningless to him as he came face to face with God who made him a ruler and prince with Him. He surrendered his legs, heart and name to God. Thus he started reigning by appropriating all the inheritance that God gave him. His walk became slower, but he walked by faith and held the hands of his Lord. He overcame the human emotions of grief and loneliness by faith. He saw the pathway to God’s greater promises through his son Joseph by faith. God changed his name from a person to a nation chosen by God. It challenged him to change his son’s name from Benoni, a name of grief, to Benjamin, an overcomer’s name. Today God wants to touch your life to make you live as an overcomer of all that pulls you back from a life of faith. Take the challenge and go forward from victory to victory as a reigning prince with God.
1 John 5:4 – For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.
Thought for Today
The surrender and broken servant of God becomes a blessing as he lives to reign by faith.
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