You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint (see Genesis 32:24-25). Don’t become a cripple by wrestling with the ways of God, but be someone who wrestles before God with the things of this world, because “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37). Wrestling before God makes an impact in His kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you, and I am not complete in Christ, my prayer accomplishes nothing. But if I am complete in Christ, my prayer brings victory all the time. Prayer is effective only when there is completeness— “take up the whole armor of God….”Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28)— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, “Yes, it is the Lord’s will.” We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.

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December 12 2014

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, how can I tell if I am engaged in a glorious fight, as Chambers says, or if I am wrestling with circumstances that you have given me for my refining and shaping? Lord I try to wrestle against everything that can or does cause pain, uncertainty, fear or anguish. How can I know when I am wrestling with the right things? How can I know when to put up a glorious fight or to simply accept your perfect or permissive will? The whole permissive will versus perfect will discussion is one that I have difficulty fully understanding as well.

And God says…”Read the verse the way Eugene Peterson translated it… Romans 8:26-28 ……, “God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

“You do not necessarily need to naturally make a decision about what to fight or accept, because you believe one thing is God’s will for your life and another is not. You need not fight against a thought, action, movement or enemy because you believe they are battles against My kingdom.  Your certainty that a battle is worth fighting is not the key to making that decision.  Your view of the potential outcome does not dictate whether or not you choose to fight a battle. I am God, there is no reason to fight against things that cannot hurt Me, and I do not need help in fighting battles. However, you can be in such close relationship with Me that there is never any doubt about what battles you are to fight. “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.  Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health; your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.”