On Prayer (Gen 32:24)

Jacob had left Laban behind – the grief of working for that taskmaster who kept making up the rules as he went along - was over.  God had told him to leave, and he had left.  But he had snuck away in the middle of the night, and Laban had pursued him.  Yet even that was over. God had spoken to Laban in a dream and protected Jacob from violence.  The angels of God had met him at Mahanaim, and Jacob was certain that his reunion with his family would be a happy occasion.  To make that certain and give himself the additional peace of knowing it to be fact, he sent messengers ahead of himself.  But, “When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”” ^[1]  What did that mean?  Surely it meant that Esau had not forgotten Jacob’s own treachery in stealing his birthright.  Surely it meant that his brother would have vengeance.  But would his own flesh and blood – his own brother - commit the sin of Cain?  Such thoughts can weigh heavy, and the more you think of potential grief, the more real it becomes in your mind.

The Word records his anguish, “In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.  He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”^[2]   That done, he remembers God’s presence with him and commits himself to prayer.  “Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ” ^[3]

One might think that reminding himself of God’s promise would be enough.  But it was not.  Fear still ruled Jacob’s heart.  He devises a plan to appease his brother, and sends ahead an exceedingly generous gift of livestock.  To add impact to the gift, he sends it ahead in five separate herds, each with the same message.  Surely such a great gift must temper the anger of even the most vengeful!   But in spite of having taken these two precautions, he still cannot sleep.  What if the gifts don’t appease Esau at all – what if they instead fuel his anger at Jacob for having stolen the blessing that resulted in all this abundance?   Jacob gets up in the middle of the night and sends his family across the stream ahead of him.  He purposes to be alone when his brother meets him.  Still he cannot rest.  There is yet one thing to do. 

“That night…Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.” ^[4]

As you read through the Scripture, you are bound to come to parts that speak about people struggling in prayer before the Lord.  Jacob’s wrestling match is perhaps one of the earliest and most blatant examples of this – what the saints of old called ‘anguish of soul’.   But it is far from an isolated case.  The Psalmist wrote, “I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.” ^[5]  Ezekiel was so overcome with anguish that he called out to the Lord to take his life.  In the New Testament, we see Christ’s anguish in the garden of Gethsemane as perhaps the finest example of this same principle.  A prayer of anguish is a prayer born out of deep loss and/or profound sadness.  In Jacob’s case, he was physically wrestling with God, but he was also wrestling with the turbulent realization that his life decisions of past, his present circumstances and God’s timeless grace were all catching up with him at the same time.  Recall his dad’s long-ago-but-not-forgotten preference for his brother Easu.  Recall Laban’s all-too-recent treachery.  Recall the present circumstance, that in just a few short hours Jacob would have to face his deep-seated mix of fear and distrust at Esau.  Yet for all that, God was clearly with him and not Esau.  What a confusing mix of history, circumstance and emotions!  How was it that God was surely with him, and yet he was constantly facing danger – both that of his own making and that of others?   

Some people say that the Kingdom of God is one of peace and ease of mind, even this side of glory.  But all who walk in the Kingdom here know all too well that walking by faith requires courage, strength of character and perseverance.  It very often appears it is anything but ease of mind, and those who purpose to see significant advances in the Kingdom of God know with certainty that they just don’t come about without real and personal effort.  God is for us, but He is also neither a vending machine nor a Santa Claus.  When circumstances seem dire and there is nothing left to do but pray, pray we must.  It is then as we pray that we come to the end of ourselves.  No longer resting on our own wit, wealth and words, we have no choice but to give ourselves wholly to the One who providentially controls circumstance itself.  In the divine transaction, He takes who we are, and gives us back who He made us to be.

“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.”” ^[6]

Amen.  May we likewise overcome through our own struggle in prayer.  “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” ^[7]   Amen.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 32:6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 32:7–8). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[3] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 32:9–12). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[4] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 32:24). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[5] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ps 142:1–2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[6] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 32:28). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[7] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ps 30:5). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

A Day in the Life of a Prayer Ministry Team

We started with a worship time focused on God’s presence.  Devotional was on ‘courtroom prayer’, where we looked at God’s judicial system and the need to use Scriptural warrants to ensure we have a favorable judgment for us (and against the enemy of our souls) as we seek to make a spiritual impact. 

Victor and Betty met us just before our prayer time.  After prayer, we followed them to the park they minister in, and as they set up their kid’s craft program we began prayer walks around the park.  Jonathan and Claudia (sent by the Atizapan church to minister with Betty & Victor) were there to help too, and they brought two kids.   The team began to prayer walk, and immediately an old lady sitting on a bench called to Sandy, recognizing that we were speaking of the Lord.  She was concerned for her older friend, who had an encounter with the Lord some 20 years ago and was healed.  Sandy, sensing an important spiritual conversation was about to be engaged, waived Paul over.  The lady said that she’d never testified about that healing, but she needed to do that now.  After listening to her story, Paul told her that the Lord not only heals, but saves.  PTL, Sandy and Paul were able to lead this dear lady to Christ, right there and then as some of us prayed nearby.  Kim joined Betty in ministering to the kids as we continued doing prayer walks around the park, and after a few slow laps Victor purposed to take us outside of the park.  

Praying as we went that the Lord would take back every place we put our feet, we went to a more difficult neighborhood and looked at a shrine to La Santa Muerte.  We took a few pictures of it, and then Paul and I stook back and began praying against it and for protection from the demonic forces it represents.  Suddenly a man came up and unlocked the side door of the shrine so our group could look inside.  We knew right away that something was wrong, and as the six of us (Kim and Betty were still with Jonathan and Claudia and the kids back at the park) walked away we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by three young thugs.  They looked at us, and then grabbed at Kathy’s camera (which she had tightly to her chest and almost completely hidden).  She began struggling as Victor, Paul and I yelled and then rushed him.  Two of them ran at that point.  The fellow intent on robbing Kathy wrestled the camera away and began running, as we kept yelling and gave chase.  The three of them ran around the corner, where the first two of them had jumped into a car.  As they started it the last guy (the biggest and the one with the camera) opened the passenger door and began to enter, but Paul grabbed him and began wrestling him out of the car.  He threw the camera down, distracting us (as we glanced at it) just a split second but long enough to get away.  PTL, no one was hurt and the camera was undamaged (though it hit the pavement hard). 

We immediately began praying for protection and peace.  Now we had just gone around the corner and the three ladies were standing close together praying also.  We rejoined them and then crossed that same street the robbers drove down.  There was a  group of people on the corner of the street who had obviously witnessed the whole event.   A lady asked if we were hurt, and Paul spoke to her in Spanish, telling her that we were there to pray over and bless the community and support Betty and Victor’s ministry in the park.  He began praying over them too.  Their spokesperson was a lady who owned a business there, and was so taken with this action that she said she would send over all her employees to participate in Victor’s ministry!

Arriving back to the park, Jonathan and Claudia were talking to a couple Betty and Victor had met there.  They were from up north and as we arrived they asked us to pray for her 2yr old daughter Allyson, who is in need of a liver transplant (the whites of her eyes were yellow).  They take a 12hr bus ride down every two weeks to see a specialist in the city, and with nothing but time on their hands for the time after the appointment they spend the day in the park.  As we began to pray a group of other people (all people Betty and Victor had befriended during their times in the park) saw what was happening and asked us to pray for them too.  An impromptu healing service kind of broke out.  We prayed for an older lady who had a back problem, and then for Isabella, and then for young Ethan who had a respiratory infection.  It was an unusual opportunity of ministry.

As a group of twelve went for a local lunch at the market.   It was great to talk and laugh after the morning’s events.   We walked to Jonathan and Claudia’s place a few blocks away so we could pray over them there – they had just taken up residence there to better partner with Betty & Victor.  A powerful time of prayer ensued as we prayed over them and anointed their place as a place of peace and ministry.  By this time it was 4:30 in the afternoon, so we walked back to the car at the far end of the park and drove to the ministry center to park.   From there we walked to Betty & Victor’s place (which is only a few blocks from there).  There was a new freedom there, and we debriefed a the day’s events so far.   Of course we also prayed for and over them, and were blessed to anointed their new place too! 

We went back to the ministry center, ordering pizza as we went.  About an hour later Betty, Victor, and Rick arrived.  Paul picked up the pizza and we began to eat.  Ramiro arrived a bit late (he does run on Mexican time, after all) and we had a great time of sharing our Kairos experiences (Betty, Victor, Kim & Paul have not yet taken it, and Ramiro just finished facilitating the very first two Kairos course in Mexico).  We did some vision casting as to what next steps might be for the Alliance in joining the Kairos movement in Mexico.  After prayer and more discussion, we said goodbye and retired for the night.  It was after 10:30.  A long and profitable day of seeing advances in the Kingdom of God.  Praise the Lord.  

On Prayer (Gen 32:1-2)

Jacob was in trouble.  He knew that his boss and brother-in-law was jealous of his success, and his own distaste for Laban was only matched by Laban’s growing paranoia.  Yet what could he do?  This was his brother’s wife – his own family.  As he took the matter to the Lord, the answer that came back was the obvious. “Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” ^[1]

With such an encouragement, one can imagine that Jacob could feel a sense of relief and release.  Surely now he could confront Laban and tell him his plans to go, knowing that it was God’s command and Laban would have to honor that.  But Jacob, having just heard from God, does not follow through in a godly way.  Instead, he hatches a plan to leave without saying goodbye.  He infects his famiy with his distrust and bitterness, loads up his worldly goods and leaves.  But by failing to have a crucial conversation with his brother-in-law Laban before leaving, he made it appear as if he was feeling the scene of some heinous crime.  Worse, his wife had committed such a crime (idolatry and theft) immediately prior to their departure, and the theft was one that Laban could not help but notice.  His household gods would’ve been either made of or covered with gold or silver, and Jacob’s bitter words against Laban’s greed had inspired Rebekah to take them as they left.  Jacob had gone from simply being in trouble to getting himself into a real predicament.

The Lord had given him release before, but would He do so again?  For all Jacob’s haste and bitterness, God still watched over him.  Laban was warned in a dream not to harm him, and Jacob was subsequently able to see a truce established by a boundry marker.  By God’s grace and in spite of his own foolishness, he was free of Laban’s threats and had finally broken off that destructive relationship.

But where would he go?  The Lord had told him to go back to his native land.  Perhaps after the celebratory meal with his brother in law Laban, contemplating the path ahead to his family’s homestead the next day, Jacob thought of his own brother Esau.  There was a even more strife between him and Esau than between him and Laban!   Surely Jacob would have to think back to his failure to have a crucial conversation before he had left his father’s household so long ago.  That meant that Esau would’ve had at least 14 years to stew in his anger against Jacob for stealing his blessing.  In today’s colloquialism we would say Jacob was between a rock and a hard place.  It seemed that every time he found release, he only found himself next in a tighter spot. 

“Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home."  Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.”^[2]

Is God really with you when each time you hear His Voice or see His Hand in answer to prayer, you soon find yourself needing Him even more desperately?  Jacob had followed the Lord, and yes, the Lord had blessed him.  But he found himself in servitude to a greedy brother in law who kept changing his wages.  He prayed, and he heard the Lord’s voice telling him to go.  Going, he found himself in a confrontation with Laban that could easily have turned violent.  The Lord’s hand was in that situation, and he was miraculously delivered.  Now he faced perhaps his greatest fear, in seeing his brother once more.  Sick from worry, God sends His angels to meet him. 

We know from reading the rest of the story in Gen 32 that Jacob’s fear is not so easily discarded, even after he hears God’s Voice, sees God’s Hand at work and is met by God’s angels along the way.  But he is on the right path, and to his eternal credit, Jacob does not veer from that path, through confrontation after confrontation is on it.  From his perseverance we have much to learn.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 31:3). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge  31:55-32:2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

On Prayer (Gen 30:22)

“Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”  She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.” ^[1]

Jacob loved Rachel, and worked for years to gain her as his wife.  After agreeing with her brother Laban to work 7 years in exchange for her hand in marriage, he was deceived on his wedding night into marrying Rachel’s sister.  When Jacob confronted Laban he was told, “Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”   Wow.  What would you do in his shoes?  Yet the Word records, “And Jacob did so.” ^[2]  Say what you want, that is probably the most tangible demonstration of love someone can make! 

What often gets overlooked is the fact that all that time, Rachel would’ve understood her engagement to Jacob as binding.  How she dealt with the waiting is unknown, because the Word doesn’t tell us.  Certainly it would be a challenge though.  Her culture valued marriage and children.  She had to wait 7 years to be married to even think about bearing children, and when the wedding actually happened, she was deprived again through trickery.   To add to that sorrow, Rachel doesn’t bear any children to her beloved for yet another 7 years.  

Instead, the Word records that her sister Leah gives birth to Reuben after a time.  Then Simeon, then Levi, then Judah.  That’s ~4 years.  Rachel then gets desperate and gives Jacob her maid Bilhah as a wife.  In spite of that being a practice that got his grandfather Abraham into a heap of trouble, Jacob proceeds to gain sons Dan and Naphtali through Bilhah. Rachel does take these as victories, and says, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” ^[3]  Leah then uses her maid Zilpah as a substitute womb, and brings Gad and Asher into the world.   After which, Leah gives birth three more times – to Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah, Rachel realizes she is loosing both the struggle to her sister and the blessing of bearing children herself.  It’s been almost 14 years since she was betrothed to Jacob.  Almost 14 years of dreaming of the day she’d be a mother to her own child.   That’s a long time.  

During those years God had blessed her.  Her husband had become wealthy, and she did have Dan and Naphtali as ‘her own’ from a social perspective.  She was part of a blended family, which has unique joys and privileges.  But for His own reasons, the Lord had shut up her womb till just now. 

“Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.” 

What that tells us is that Rachel was speaking to God about it.  Not only right then, but she had done so in the past (for God remembered). From that we can gather that Rachel had been praying all that time for her own child.  Wherever the line is between persistant prayer and persevering prayer, Rachel crossed it.

There are many examples of persevering prayer in the Scripture.  Most likely that’s because at some point or on some level, we all need to be persevering in prayer for something.  For Rachel, it was the opportunity to bear her own child.  For many of us, it is the opportunity to see our children come to faith (and bear both a physical and spiritual child in the same person).   But whatever your reason is, know that you are in good company in doing so.  As the Psalmist writes, “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” ^[4]  Amen.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 30:22–24). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 29:27–28). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[3] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ge 30:6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[4] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ps 116:1–2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.