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BLESS ME: The Prayer of Jacob (Genesis 32:26)

study from "The 21 Most Effective Prayers of the Bible" by Dave Earley

As they say, Jacob was “in a fix.”   Years before he had take the birthright blessing meant for his older brother Esau, and Esau had not forgotten.  Keep in mind that Esau was a burly, roughhewn, angry man.  Not the sort you would want to meet in a dark alley.

Now Esau was bearing down on Jacob with an army of four hundred men.  The best plan Jacob could devise was to use Middle Eastern strategy and send Esau a series of carefully selected gifts, even though he had little hope that this would work.

At that point Jacob did what desperate men should do.  He prayed (Gen. 32:9-12), but he didn’t sound very sincere, apparently even to himself.  Thus, he continued to try and wiggle out of sure disaster (Gen. 32:13-24), and ended up finding himself alone and even more desperate (Gen. 32:24).

A man appeared in the dark to Jacob and a battle began.  Arms were twisted, legs were seized, and necks were wrenched.  All through the night the wrestling war was waged.  When it became clear Jacob could not win, he grabbed hold of the stranger and hung on for dear life.  Then he uttered a small prayer: “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Gen. 32:26). 

BLESS ME

Jacob had taken hold of God—his opponent in the dark—and refused to let go until God had blessed him.  Asking for all the blessing he could get was typical of Jacob.  He had asked his father to give him the biggest blessing his father could give and now he was asking the same of God.

When I first read this story I was surprised at the boldness, the brashness, and yes, the greediness of Jacob.  Come on!  I was expecting God to rise up and blast him for making such a request.  Instead, God gave Jacob what he asked for.  God blessed him with a manifold blessing—one replete with transformation, revelation, direction, protection, and impact (Gen. 32:27-28).

God changed his name from Jacob, meaning “grasper,” to Israel, meaning “prince of God.”  The name change indicated a transformation of heart.  There is a positive side to Jacob’s personality, and God was obviously impressed with his prevailing perseverance.  He had held on, and hung on, until he got what he sought.  When he had a chance to get a hold of God, he refused to let go (Gen. 32:29-32).

When Jacob chose the Hebrew word Peniel, which means “the face of God,” to commemorate the site, he was clearly aware that he had been given a rare and glorious opportunity.  He had a face-to-face encounter with the living God and lived to tell about it.  At Peniel, God reveled Himself to Jacob in a life-changing way.  God touched his hip and changed the way he walked the rest of his life.  More importantly, God touched his heart and changed the way he lived the rest of his life.

READ (Gen. 33:1-11).

REMEMBER

1. God blesses the spiritually aggressive.
2. God is willing and able to bless those who ask.
3. God’s blessing is big enough to go beyond us to others.
4. Receiving God’s blessing should make us the “blessers” of others.
5. God reveals Himself to those who really want to know Him.

HELP US: The Prayer of Asa

study from "The 21 Most Effective Prayers of the Bible" by Dave Earley

If you haven’t been there yet, you will be.  Mark it down.  There will be those times when there is nothing else you can do.  There is nowhere else to turn.  You need big-time help and you need it now.  You need God.

Maybe you read that first paragraph and nodded your head.  When despair, helplessness, and hopelessness are mentioned, they resonate deep within.  You understand what it means to be swept up in that current and somehow live to tell about it.  You know exactly what I am writing about.  You have been there and done that.  And guess what?  Times like that will probably happen again.

Maybe you don’t think such crises will ever happen to you.  Just ask Asa.

All was going great for Asa.  He was the golden boy.  As the king of Judah, he seemed to be doing everything right.  During his first ten years in office, he radically cleaned up and significantly built up the nation [2 Chron. 14:1-8].

That was a highly impressive decade as Asa did what was right in the eyes of God.  He tore down the tools of pagan worship.  He led his people to seek God and obey His commands.  He strengthened the fortified cities and assembled a large, well-equipped army.  He had every reason to assume his good fortune would continue and peace would perpetuate. 

He was woefully wrong [2 Chron. 14:9-10] .

All was sweet and joyful in Judah until one decisive day when a dark cloud rolled up from Egypt.  In the eye of the terrible tempest was Zerah, leading a massive war machine of one million Ethiopians and three hundred gleaming chariots.  Asa would have to face a skilled opponent who had him outnumbered by over four hundred thousand troops, which was bad enough.  But what made it worse were those three hundred war wagons.  Judah had no defense against the awesome speed and power of the best modern weapons of mass destruction on the planet in 900 BC.  It would be one of the most massive massacres in history.

How would you handle the horrible hopelessness of facing definite defeat and destruction?  What do you usually do when things are bleak?

Asa did the right thing.  He prayed one of the most effective prayers recorded in the Bible [2 Chron. 14:11].  How'd it turn out? [2 Chron. 12-15].

HELP US, O LORD OUR GOD

What an excellent pattern for effective prayer!  The prayer is short-only twenty-seven words in Hebrew—and complete.  Moreover, Asa’s simple petition consists of three outstanding components of effective prayer:

1.     He opened with appropriate words of praise.

2.     He stated the petition clearly and succinctly.

3.     He gave God the reasons he expected Him to answer.

DELIVER US: The Prayer of Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:9-19, 35)

Study from: “The 21 Most Effective Prayers of the Bible” by Dave Earley

Poor King Hezekiah faced a fate worse than his own death.  The nightmare had the mane Sennacherib, the undefeated king of Assyria.  Sennacherib had a massive army and, in the literal sense, cutting-edge chariots.  Sennacherib had already crushed all of the nations around Judah from Lebanon in the north to Egypt in the south.  And now he was poised to ride his mighty war chariot right through Judah.

In order to intimidate Hezekiah, Sennacherib sent a message reminding Judah of his complete destruction of nine city-states that had opposed him.  His message was clear.  He intended to make Judah number ten unless they unconditionally put up a white flag and surrendered, and then became slaves that were taken captive back to Assyria.

Hezekiah faced a deadly dilemma.  Option A was to watch his nation get crushed by a superior force under the wheels of thundering chariots.  Option B was to see his people shackled and led away to Assyria to be slaves.  What could he do?  What would you do?

Hezekiah chose Option C.  he did what we all should do when we face extreme pressure and ferocious enemy attack.  He prayed. [2 Kings 19:14-19]

Deliver us.

Notice carefully the sentence “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”  This was the expression of Hezekiah’s heart and the heart of his prayer.  Hezekiah prayed a very simple prayer.  The essence of it is captured in those two little words, “Deliver us.”  What else is there to say at times like that?  It turns out Option C was a great idea. [READ 2 Kings 19:35].

Isn’t it great serving a God who is both able and willing to deliver us when we ask?  That is the promise of Psalm 91.

Asking God for deliverance from evil is definitely a prayer God delights to answer.  We don’t have to be facing urgent danger to use it.  You may recall that when Jesus gave us the sample prayer, He taught us to regularly pray, “Deliver us from evil or from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13).

Only God knows what evil awaits you today.  You don’t need to face it alone.  God fights many battles for us, especially when we ask Him to deliver us.  Make “Deliver us” one of your daily prayers this week. Also, remember to pray this prayer on behalf of others who are part of the Body of Christ

Calling Upon God

As a Church and part of the Body of Christ, we need to unite as one in prayer and thanksgiving.  When the people of God call upon His name, united as one, He answers in His power and might.
We invite all believers to join us as we pray for the needs of our people and of our church.  Our church is in its infancy stage.  We have a lot of new born believers.  This is the time we need to seek God for Protection, Provisions, and a Spiritual Awakening.

Join us everyday for the next three weeks (21 days).