A number of my post lately have been about learning to rest in Jesus and His Word (which is why I named this blog as I did) . . . learning to "dwell" in Him and trust Him in everything. So what does wrestling have to do with it? . . .
It seems like wrestling and resting should be opposites, and in a physical sense, they are. Several months ago I was trying to figure out if I should be resting or wrestling and a friend told me that the only way to truly wrestle is to rest in Him. I couldn't wrap my brain around the concept that wrestling and resting could be done at the same time, or that they could be the same thing, (thinking logically is certainly a disadvantage when it comes to the things of God! :0) . . . but I think I'm beginning to understand!
Eric Ludy has been preaching on faith lately, and it has been very inspiring. Three Sunday's ago his sermon was titled "The Test of Faith". To briefly sum it up, a test of faith is when you have a promise from God, whether from His Word or from something He has told you, and it doesn't happen right away. You have to press on in faith that it will eventually happen, in order to prove that your faith is genuine. I really like these two verses from Hebrews . . .
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:36
Who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises . . . Hebrews 11:33
The key words in these two verses are "receive" and "obtained". They are different words in the Greek, but their definitions are very similar. The word "receive" is in the middle voice and so it has the meaning "to take for oneself". I like that. :0) This is where wrestling comes in. Wrestling in prayer, by faith, in order to "take" the things God has promised.
This might seem silly . . . and I know that the idea of God wanting us to be healthy can be a controversial issue . . . but this my story. :0) We had girl camps three weekends in a row (normally it's every other weekend) and by the second weekend some of us were wearing down . . . sickness was beginning to reveal itself. I certainly couldn't believe that God would want us to all get sick and not be able to have camp that third weekend. To make a long story short, God led me to Psalm 91 and 103, (which have some pretty amazing promises!) and I realized that He wanted me to claim (wrestle for) these promises, by faith. I love these verses . . .
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place - the Most High, who is my refuge - no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent . . . Because he holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My name. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. Ps. 91:9-10, 14-15
Well . . . either these verses are true . . . or they aren't. :0) I realized that in order to claim these promises I needed to be dwelling in Him, in His shelter, abiding in His shadow - which is a perfect picture of resting. What a beautiful place to be!! I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, though, because at the same time, it was a huge wrestling match. An attack of the enemy came on Friday morning and . . . I wavered. Aargh. But God told me that He wanted me to go to camp, trusting and resting in Him, wrestling for His promises. And so I went. I didn't know it at the time, but we were short some staff and if I hadn't gone to camp, it might have been cancelled. It was absolutely amazing to see God, in my weakness, give me the strength to do my job and fill in for a missing person, as I rested and wrestled. It was also amazing to see God work in the hearts of different girls, in ways that I don't think could have happened if I had given in and stayed home sick.
God is SO amazing!! :0) And I think this is only the beginning . . . .
PS - Eric and Leslie Ludy's book "Wrestling Prayer" is excellent - highly recommened! :0)
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