Wrestling Before God » CO2MannaToday

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 16 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Good morning God and thank you for this day and this lesson from Oswald Chambers. The only problem I have with the lesson Lord, is, is, is everything! Statements like “If I pray and I am not complete, You will not answer my prayer”. Or, “we must continue to wrestle with our issues and the difference between Your permissive will and your perfect will. And when Chambers says, “Prayer is effective only when there is completeness. Chambers even adds a qualifier to Romans 8:28…”“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 I understand the qualifier is that we love you, but to add the qualifier “to those that remain true to Gods perfect will?” Lord, how can we fall back into our own work, and our own worthiness when you gave us Jesus because we could never achieve worthiness through our own diligence and discipline? And given this disparity in teaching, how do we really know that all things work together for our good Lord?

And God says…As Paul said in Romans 8:16-17 and as is interpreted by Eugene Peterson in the Message…”God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!” Many teachers and writers want the same thing for their students and readers, and so they often extend their understanding into teachings and create process, doctrine, and a “quid pro quo” that seems to make sense to them and the worlds understanding of “religion”. But My unconditional love and forgiveness requires only one thing; that you accept it. You can access a supernatural level of peace and understanding by simply relying on the sacrifice of Jesus. When you surrender all your own understanding (and that of many teachers) to Me, I can and will make your paths straight.”