This is the next message in the sermon series, Jacob Generation, from Abba's House in Hixson, TN. with Pastor Ron Phillips. May it bless you also.
Let your troubles be stepping stones into the Face of God!
We, as believers, are kings, princes, and queens~that is who we are. Most of us don't know it because the world beats us down all the time. But deep inside each of us, there's an ever~living, never~dying spirit that only Jesus can redeem. We can have a new position, new power. The God who spoke and galaxies exploded into being, looked at Jacob and said, "you can be blessed." This is the Jacob of the Old Testament. He's struggled with God and man and the God of the Universe says "YOU WIN!!!!" In our Christian faith, if you lose, you win, if you give up your life, you'll save it~this is the principle of the Kingdom. And who commanded that blessing of God? A broken~down, physically~challenged loser, Jacob. But Jacob had God give him a blessing! (Read Ezekiel 37 some time, about the Resurrection in the valley of the Dry Bones.)
We need an all~night wrestling match with God. The Lord may knock you down, and put you through a time of testing, but on the other side of it, you will know that the great I AM, the Lord Almighty, the God of the Universe will bring you to a place of new position, new power and new prosperity. If that's not happening to you (or me) maybe we should stop whining and say to God and the Devil, "I'm here, I'm not leaving, I'm going to have my blessing!!!" When you have a real encounter with God, it will give you a new perspective. Jacob said in Genesis 32:30, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." Instead of God killing Jacob, the Lord showed His love~He saved him. Jacob became Israel, blessed of Almighty God. For the rest of his life he limped where the angel touched the hollow of his thigh. Yes, the Lord could have healed him, but He left that as a reminder of what had happened to Jacob.
How does this relate to us today? We live in a hurting and broken world with hurting people, but we should stand and say to the devil, "We are the blood~bought children of God, weeping may endure for a night, but JOY cometh in the morning, we are going to receive a blessing!" Psalms 78:5-7. The Lord established a testimony in Jacob for generations to come!!! Today we need a revival, and we can have it, we have that testimony given to us and our children's children. "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Ps 85:6
"Lord, remember David and all his afflictions: how he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob...." Ps 132:1-5. We have to bring all our brokenness to God and ask Him to revive us again that we might rejoice in Him. God will say YES!!!! That is pleasing to the Father. But above all, we have to enthrone Him in our hearts, and He must inhabit our praises.
In John's gospel we read about Jesus at Jacob's well. There He meets a woman and He tells her all things she ever did. Out of the misery of her life, broken and bruised, she met the Master and He gave her rivers of living water. She was broken, but out of that brokenness came a well of water springing up into everlasting life. So, what did she do? She took the Good News to her generation. Look what one broken woman did. Christ met her where she was and transformed her.
"Behold, I will do a new thing.........and rivers in the desert" Is 43:19. Salvation is new birth, you won't ever get over it. Look at Isaiah 44:1-6. Precious promises from the Father. Don't you love Psalm 34, especially verse 19? 'many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all'.
We'll get the blessing in spite of our failure, rebellion and brokenness~our limping. God formed you from the womb. Is 44: 3-5 'I will pour water upon him that is thirsty....' For us to be thirsty, God has to take us through some hurt, some loneliness, some loss. Hold on for the blessing. God WILL pour floods on dry ground, He will pour His Spirit and His Blessing on your children, and they shall spring up. We are qualified as being the Jacob Generation. Verse 6 says "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." How many of us have lost a job, been betrayed, had a broken home, been run off, had a wayward child, been through a church split, struggled, felt all alone, been falsely accused, lied about? God has chosen the weak things to confound the wise. He will raise you up so people will say "I can't believe they did that". Put Him first in your life and He will not let you down. Hold your head up and hang onto God.
Jump over to the New Testament to Hebrews 11:21. We see Jacob is old, he's gone to live with Joseph in Egypt, and "by faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff." The last thing Jacob did was to take that blessing and pour it out on the next generation.
In this world we will have trouble, Jesus told us that, but cheer up, WE WIN!!!! The Lord Jesus Christ has overcome the world!!!
