Are you fighting for your faith?

What is the most desperate thing you have ever done?  For me, I can think of a lot of things I did out of desperation.   In those times of desperation I did what I normally would not do.  What I really want to point out is the level of perseverance that prevailed in my desperation.  I can’t help but believe that the true measure of our desperation is directly related to what we do in response to those situations.  Have you gone to great measures before in your times of desperation without quitting?

I don’t want to go into great detail about my desperate times simply because I want to keep this short.  I will say this, there have been times I put up a great fight and refused to surrender until the bitter end.  I knew what I needed and wanted and I was not about to give up without a fight.

The greatest things in life that we desire all can come from God.  Think about it we all want love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, hope, purpose, meaning….  These things all come from God.  We want them and we need them but yet we don’t value them enough to fight for them.

Jacob got it, he knew what he needed and wanted.  Jacob knew God would provide.  In Jacobs desperation, he wrestled with God all night refusing to let go just so he could receive God’s blessing.  Jacob desperately held on and persevered to great lengths and because of this God changed who Jacob was and blessed him.  That day God changed Jacob’s name (the crafty deceiver), to Israel which means he struggles with God.  God wants us to earnestly and passionately seek Him and hold onto Him, literally put up a fight to never let go.

Are you willing to do all it takes to hold onto God, to put up the fight of your life to receive what God has to offer?  God rewards the actions of our desperation when it comes to pursuing His presence.  What does your actions of desperation say about the value you have for God’s blessings?

Genesis 32:24-30 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.  25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.  26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."  27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.  28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."  29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."