UNDERSTANDING OUR POSITION

In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” The thief is Satan and one of the things he seeks to steal is our position or standing before God. One of the main things he seeks to destroy is our self-image.

There is nothing so destructive as not having the correct image of yourself. When your mind is conditioned to the extent that you see yourself weak and as a failure, when the image of who you are is negative and incorrect, it blocks the power of God from flowing in your life to help you victoriously confront your daily circumstances.

In this respect, Jacob in the Old Testament is a true figure of the New Testament Church. Like Jacob, the Church has not come to the place where it fully comprehends its own position and situation.

In Genesis 32, Jacob is involved in a wrestling match. The match is taking place between a physical human being and a spirit being. The Bible says “man” but we can tell from what took place that Jacob’s opponent was an angelic being. The first thing that I question when I read this scripture is this: Isn’t it strange that an angelic being has to ask Jacob, a human being, for permission to leave?

Can you imagine yourself right now wrestling with a heavenly being and suddenly having that heavenly being turn and say to you, “Would you please let go of me?” You can’t imagine that, can you? And yet that is exactly what happened to Jacob.

The impact of this is compounded when you realize the angelic being had such tremendous power that he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh and made him a cripple. Jacob’s thigh came out of joint and he had to walk like that for the rest of his life. The angelic being had that much power over Jacob, yet he was not able to leave the presence of this man without permission.

Jacob didn’t wrestle to get God’s power. He already had power over this being. The blessing and the power are not the same thing. God promised the blessing and Jacob had the power to receive it, but didn’t realize it. He didn’t realize — until this incident — who he really was in God.

When the angel said, “Let me go, for the day breaketh,” Jacob declared, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” A little further on the angelic being makes a declaration and blesses Jacob, but before he does, he tells him, “Jacob, thou hast power with God and with man and thou hast prevailed.” He blessed him after he made that statement, but the blessing was not the power — Jacob already had that lying dormant within him.

The angel recognized something that even Jacob himself didn’t realize. He recognized that Jacob had power with God. He certainly wasn’t acting like it. He wasn’t using it.

Could this be a picture of our own lives?