HOW TO HAVE POWER WITH GOD
Gen. 32:22-30
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. JOKE. Two convicts were working on a chain gang. "I heard the warden's daughter up and married a guy down on cellblock D," the first con says to the other. "The warden's mighty upset about it too."
"Why?" asks the second prisoner. "Because she married a con?" "No. Because they eloped."
2. JOKE. Nicholas Banks tells that his dad was summoned to the hospital, where he is an anesthetist. As he raced toward the hospital, a police patrol car sped up behind him—lights flashing, siren blaring.
So Dad hung his stethoscope out the window to signal that he was on an emergency call. Within seconds came the policeman's response: a pair of handcuffs flapping outside the police car window.
B. THE POWER OF INFLUENCE
1. Around Kings, Prime Ministers, & Presidents, are a handful of trusted advisors. When making decisions, the governmental Heads seek the opinion of these advisors to reach decisions. These men/ women have power with the leader and can shape policy and legislation.
2. Others have access to the President. Imagine getting a private audience with the Queen of England!
3. Tonight we’re going to look at the power we may have, far greater than power with presidents or access to Kings.
C. TEXT
22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
D. THESIS
1. The KJV of vs. 28 says, “As a Prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”
2. This is an incredible blessing, because God controls the future and the destiny of mankind.
3. We’re going to look tonight at how we too can have “Power With God!”
I. WHAT THIS POWER CANNOT BE:
IN THE O.T., SPIRITUAL THINGS ARE OFTEN PICTURED AS PHYSICAL THINGS. THOUGH LITERAL, THIS BATTLE PICTURES HOW THE CHRISTIAN SHOULD WRESTLE IN PRAYER(Col. 4:12) BY FERVENT PRAYERS & TEARS AND PERSIST UNTIL WE RECEIVE THE BLESSING WE SEEK. God is saddened we don’t do this! “No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you” Isa. 64:7. Moses in the breach. See Ezek. 22:30
A. JACOB DIDN’T DO IT BY PHYSICAL FORCE
1. We have power with God, not against God.
2. No creature has any power against God.
3. The strongest men or angels, or confederations, cannot touch God.
4. We are foolish if we resist Him. You can’t possibly prevail against God; It's crazy to think you can.
B. NOT BY STEPPING OUT & ‘OBLIGATING’ GOD TO BAIL YOU OUT
1. Some people think that they can force God’s hand by putting themselves in a place where they have to have His help or disaster will happen. God will somehow be obligated to rescue them (like the Israelites taking the Ark into battle!)
2. Churches take out big loans and expect God to make the payments! Christians can marry a non-Christian and expect God to save their spouse afterward.
3. If we do something without the direction of God or against the direction of God, how can we expect God to be obligated to intervene?
4. This is no different than when the devil set Christ on the pinnacle of the Temple and encouraged Him to jump, because the Scriptures promises that God would dispatch His angels to catch Him. What did Jesus answer? That that was “tempting God” or “putting God to the test.”
5. In such situations, God is not obligated to help us; it’s tempting God!
C. NOT BY DOING SOME GREAT SACRIFICE
1. MANY DO SUCH THINGS AS:
--Giving large sums of money to charity;
-- Working for a rescue organization, mission, or soup kitchen.
2. Often people think that giving a large sum of money to a charity will gain God’s favor; a pay-off or bribe.
3. But God’s is NOT like a politician that you can buy influence with. God is not for sale.
D. NOT BY CRYING OUT TO GOD…
…FOR AID, WITHOUT FIRST DOING WHAT GOD ASKED YOU TO DO.
1. Non-Christian people frequently get in terrible predicaments – marriage trouble, problems with kids, financial trouble, health problems, etc. – and begin screaming to God to help them.
2. The problem is, if they are currently living in disobedience to God, the only prayer He is obligated to hear is a prayer of repentance. You see, God can’t bless people in disobedience or they would stay there forever.
3. SCRIPTURAL EXAMPLES:
a. “Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high” Isa. 58:4.
b. “I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them” Ezek. 8:18.
E. NOT BY BEING EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD
1.-- If I say a certain number of prayers,
-- if I am a good citizen,
-- if I am a good father/ mother, husband/ wife,
-- if I live an exemplary life, then God will bless me.”
2. The truth is, God says in Isaiah 64:6 that our best righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight!
II. WHERE CAN WE GET POWER WITH GOD?
A. FROM THE GREAT MEDIATOR!
1. There’s someone in heaven who has direct access to the throne of God; who’s related to God the Father; who’s interceding on behalf of men and women – Jesus Christ!
2. The patriarch Job knew this Advocate; “Even now my witness is in heaven; my Advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend” Job 16:19-21.
3. Paul said, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” 1 Tim. 2:5.
4. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our greatest access to the throne room of God. He sits at the right hand of God the Father and pleads to the Father in our defense. He says, “You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it” Jn. 14:14. Jesus is our best access to the throne of God!
B. FROM THE VERY CHARACTER OF GOD
1. WE MAY APPEAL TO GOD’S MERCY
a. Have you ever seen people in abject poverty? Ever seen the commercials showing starving children? Haven't you felt they had a moral power over you?
b. How much more is our heavenly Father moved to pity by
the misery of His children. If we have grave needs, we have power with God.
c. It's not what WE are, but what GOD is -- compassionate.
2. WE MAY APPEAL TO GOD’S PROMISES
a. God has spoken some things He will do. Before He spoke, He was free to do as He wished, but now He is bound to do as He promised.
b. God has put himself in the power of those who know how to plead His promises!
c. Haven't you ever told your kid, "I promise to take you to Incredible Pizza next Tuesday." The kid comes back and reminds you. Your memory is a little fuzzy; "I don't remember it just like that."
d. But your kid reaches in his pocket, pulls out a piece of paper with your promise in black and white, with your signature. There's no getting away from it!
3. That is just the way with God's Promises. He has given us power with Him by giving us His promises in black-and-white.
C. GOD’S CHILD HAS A RELATIONSHIP OF GRACE
1. God chose you, adopted you and regenerated you! From that moment, God gave us power with Him.
2. Don't we know (ourselves) the power of a child over his Father or Mother? There are some children who have too much power!
3. Like the story of the kid who ruled his mother, and his mother ruled his father, and his father ruled over Athens, Greece. So the little boy ruled over all Athens!
4. God won’t deny his children what is theirs by right.
D. GOD’S PAST ACTIONS
1. God has done so much for us in the past -- Jesus suffered and died -- will He now refuse to do a little thing for us? As Paul said, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Rom. 8:32.
2. If God has already demonstrated His generosity by giving you $1 million, won't He give you $10 more? Of course!
III. HOW THIS POWER CAN BE EXERCISED
It is exerted through prayer, but not all who pray, wield this influence. Steps for having EFFECTIVE PRAYER:
A. BE DEEPLY AWARE OF YOUR WEAKNESS
1. Paul said, "When I am weak, then am I strong" 2 Cor. 12:10. “He must become greater, I less” (J. Baptist)
2. Jacob never won the victory with the Angel until the Angel touched his thigh and his sinew shrank.
3. Until we are “broken” by God, we can never be greatly used by God. Why? Because God can’t really use a self-reliant man. But a broken and contrite heart, he will not despise.
4. MARKS OF OWNERSHIP. Everywhere Jacob went after that day, he carried the mark of God upon his body. The limp!
B. HAVE A SIMPLE FAITH
1. Heb. 11:6, "He that comes to God must believe that He is & that He is the rewarder of…diligently seek."
2. All things are possible. Pray the prayer of faith.
C. PAY ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
1. You can't expect God to listen to you if you won't listen to Him. Claim it! Stand on it!
2. Sin stops prayer (Isaiah 59:2).
3. If you confess your sins, and are willing to do the will of God, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive."
D. TEARS AND EARNESTNESS
1. Hosea 12:4-5 adds that when Jacob prevailed he had been weeping.
2. Not only did He physically exert himself, but his heart was broken -- the tears on the Angel's hand caused Jacob to prevail.
3. It's the same with Christ in Gethsemane; Hebrews 5:7, "During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”
4. You will prevail if you are passionate and earnest.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Assaulted at Sundown. Missionary story.
1. Some years ago, while working at the Inca Union, church headquarters in Lima, Peru, I was advised one afternoon that our computer order had arrived by sea, and was requested to
immediately pick up the equipment. My car would not start, so I got some friends to give me a push, and off I went. Arriving at the port just before closing time, they loaded my station wagon full of computer parts.
2. The port of Callao in Lima is known for being in a rough neighborhood. As I turned into the section of town I most dreaded, I noticed that most of the businesses were closing. A rusted-out bus from the 50s sat in front of an abandoned building. The streets were nearly empty. As I approached the bus, my engine began to run rough and then died. I came to a complete stop, pulling over by the rusting bus.
3. Forcing back fear, I took off my suit coat and tie and stepped out of the car to look under the hood. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the fear level in my stomach rose one more notch. I was a well-dressed foreigner with a broken down car in a known criminal area, with a fortune of computer equipment in my car.
4. As I stood there bending over the engine, I noticed two men step out of the old bus. I watched as each of them picked up a large rock. One headed around the back of my car and the other to the front. I knew exactly what they intended to do. I clearly remember praying, “Lord, I have no way to protect myself or the equipment. The equipment is yours. Please intervene!” I noticed that each of the men had raised their rock as if preparing to throw them at me. I took a step back to leave.
5. “Excuse me,” said a nicely dressed, black-haired gentleman, speaking quietly in Spanish; “Can I help you?” “Your life is in danger.” “I know each of these men. Four of them live in that bus. They just assaulted some people on the next block and now they want the equipment in your car. Your life is in danger! Get in the car and leave now.”
6. I explained that the car wouldn’t start. “Get in. I will push,” He insisted. I tried to explain that the car was too heavy. “Get in now and I will push,” he ordered. I obeyed, shaking my head.
7. The assailants were still standing there, holding their rocks, with an odd expression of their faces. Then the car started to move. I let out the clutch and was extremely surprised to hear it come to life. My benefactor rushed up to my window and insisted I leave immediately. When I had gotten to
a good area of town, my car died again, so I coasted into a gas station. I suddenly realized how God had answered my prayer by protecting both me and his equipment by undoubtedly sending an angel.
8. The world is a very dangerous place to live in today both physically and spiritually. We cannot afford to be in a position where sin and worldliness separate us from God's presence and divine protection.
9. This can be achieved through repentance and faith in Christ, followed by daily prayer and Bible study, and through carefully guarding what enters our mind.
B. ALTAR CALL
1. God is still in the miracle-working business!
2. If you have a large need, I want you to stand. Step forward & let’s contend with God for a miracle. God actually wants you to have it, but He’s waiting to know how bad you want it.
3. Prayer.
