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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