Jacob’s Surrender

When we first believe, we wait in anticipation of God’s blessings,
declaring our faith by calling upon the name of the Lord and in turn
God enters us into His kingdom. Believing is receiving. However, the
same requirements that have been on mankind since the beginning are
also required of us. There is a reciprocation of responsibilities. We
must be in obedience to the word of God. We must fulfil our
obligation to tithe, and we must perform a service or ministry to the
benefit of others so that our prayers and blessings will flow. If these
three things are not met, there may be some type of obstruction of
reciprocation between us and God.

Jacob struggled with surrendering to God most of his early life.
He resisted until a heavenly messenger wrestled him into submission.
They grappled with each other most of the night until the messenger
touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, causing the thigh to go out of
joint. A wrestler depends on their thigh muscles for power to push
against their opponent, so Jacob became powerless and had to hold
onto his visitor lest he fall to the ground. His resistance was broken so
instead of trying to obtain a blessing through his own efforts, he
depended on the messenger for support and begged him for a
blessing. God had transformed Jacob into a man who was no longer
dependent upon himself, but dependent on God.

Most countries celebrate Independence Day, whereas a Christian
celebrates dependence day. Mine was November 8, 1997, when I got
down on my elbows and knees crying out to God for help. In
celebration of Jacob’s dependence day, God said, “Your name shall
no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God
and with men and have prevailed.”1 The person that Jacob was prior
to his surrender had been defeated. He discovered his true identity and
was now designated a prince and an heir to the lineage of Christ.
“My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours.”2
This is what King Ahab said to the Syrian army to prevent them from
ransacking Israel. This is in turn what we should say to our King and
Savior so our life is not ransacked with sin, and the blessings that God
has for us can flow. These are the words of absolute surrender with
which every one of us should yield our will, our life, our possessions,
and our emotions to God. If our heart is willing to do that, there is no
end in sight to the blessings God will bestow upon us. Your heavenly
Father answers prayers that have been offered for blessing yourself
and others based on one demand. Are you willing to surrender
yourself to God completely? What is your answer?

Many have been called into service, but few are chosen because
most people try to use God for their benefit where the exact opposite
is true. Absolute surrender is the foundation of God’s nature and
throughout the universe everything He has created is surrendered to
Him. What if the sun decided to embark on a different orbit? What if
the stars decided to go exploring and leave their estate? God has
absolute control over all His creation, and all abide to His will except
mankind. God is light and love, and He delights in communicating
with His creations.

Every one of us must be given up to the will of God so we can
learn our true identity, our service to mankind, and our special place
in creation. He does not ask us to surrender with our own ability, but
through the power of God He is willing to work in us to will and to do
His good pleasure. Look at the Pharaoh of Egypt when he refused to
let God’s people go. Didn’t God proclaim to him, “For this reason I
have raised you up to show in you My power.” It is for every one of
us to seek out the will of God. We might say our desire is not strong
enough and we are not willing to relinquish some small part of our
life, so I want you to pray: Dear heavenly Father, I am willing that
You should make me willing where I should hold back any part of my
life; I release it to You to bring it into subjection to Your will. If there
is any commitment I am afraid of making, I pray You will make it for
me. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

He has possession of us, and He is living in our heart waiting to
work His Spirit inside of our mind. We are feeble flesh-born creatures
whose inability to make changes in our lives leaves us spiritually
void. Look at Jesus in Gethsemane. He was broken and scared with
the daunting task before Him. His perspiration was like large drops of
blood. He became deeply distressed. “My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful, even to death.” He fell on His face, and prayed, “O My
Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as
I will, but as You will.” Again, a second time, He went away and
prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me
unless I drink it, Your will be done.”3 I urge you to put yourself in His
place. Would you stay there and be led off to jail to be beaten and
crucified or would you run?

Every one of us wants God to be clearer in our mind. We want to
be closer to Him so we can acknowledge His Being. Let us begin
today to have this blessing throughout our lives and begin now to look
away from ourselves and toward God. Let us release the grip we have
on ourselves as a poor and trembling child of God. While we are full
of failure, sin, and fear, let us bow down before God and accept His
terms and conditions for absolute surrender. While you kneel there in
deep silence, remember that God is present in your mind waiting for
you this very moment to take possession. Will you not come and trust
the work of the Lord and say, “Yes, blessed Lord, I surrender to You
all that I am, all that I have, and everything I will be is in Your hands.
In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.”

After wrestling with the Lord and receiving a new attitude of
dependence, God promised Jacob would be given the name of Israel,
so the con artist who fooled his father into giving him his brother’s
birthright is now designated a prince. Jacob had twelve sons by four
women: his wives Leah and Rachel, and his
concubines Bilhah and Zilpah. The sons, in order of their birth, were
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar,
Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. All of them became the heads of
their own family groups, later known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel,
and it is also known that Jacob had a daughter, Dinah. Jacob displayed
favoritism among his wives and children, preferring Rachel and her
sons, Joseph and Benjamin, causing tension within the family and
culminating in the sale of Joseph by his brothers into slavery.

As Jacob (Israel) grew older he decided to transfer some of his
authority to his son Joseph. Jacob designated him heir apparent, but
God had different plans. Joseph was going to deliver God’s people
from famine and would bring them into Egypt where they would
eventually become slaves of the Pharaoh. Then He said to Abram:
“Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that
is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four
hundred years. And the nation whom they serve I will judge;
afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”4

It was during the lifetime of Jacob that this prophecy was fulfilled.
So, when the famine forced them to seek food, God said, “Do not fear
to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will
go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and
Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” Then Jacob arose from
Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little
ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry
him. So, they took their livestock and their goods, which they had
acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his
descendants with him. His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and
his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to
Egypt.5

God brought them into bondage so they might experience the
redemption He will provide. Before Jacob’s death he officially
designated his successor as Judah. “Judah, you are he whom your
brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s
whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he
lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.6
There will be a succession of kings that will come from the tribe of
Judah until the promised Messiah, and He will fulfill the covenant
that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

1.) Genesis 32:28
2.)1 Kings 20:4
3.) Matthew 26:36-39, 42
4.) Genesis 15:13-14
5.) Genesis 45:3-7
6.) Genesis 49:8-10