Hanging On Desperately

Hanging On Desperately

As is my custom, I listen to Dr J. Vernon McGee on my iPod when I lay down for a nap. Dr McGee talked about the life changing night Jacob became Israel and that he didn't really want to fight anybody, as he had Laban his father-in-law behind him and Esau his twin brother in front of him, and both had been breathing out threats and curses last time he saw them. He said that the angel he fought with was the Preincarnate Jesus (he also cited reasons that this was  what he believed) and that He prodded Jacob until he would wrestle with Him. 

Dr. McGee said that Jesus could have done things differently, but that He needed to cause Jacob's spirit to yield. He then quoted a story he had told previously about a little boy who had gotten in trouble and was therefore sitting in a corner as punishment.
His mother heard a noise and said “Billy, are you sitting down?”
“Yeah”, little Billy replied “but I'm standing up on the inside!”


Dr. McGee said that Jacob wrestled with Jesus until he had nothing left, tied and not strength he could only hang onto the Preincarnate Christ. He then talked about how we too need to yield to God and to hang on to Him just as hard as we can.


Once upon a time, I was like an octopus, my hands doing many things at once and at the end of the day there was a long list of what *I* had done, but as my strength and stamina has declined, God has really been teaching me that He “designs disability, [which has been] designed to produce within us a desperate kind of dependence”. and also that “life with a disability and with Jesus is infinitely better than a healthy body without him.¹” Amen! We are to hang on to God desperately. “God loves those who desperately need him because God delights in being desperately needed. Therefore, in our desperate need, we exult in the truth that he is rich in mercy to meet our needs (Ephesians 2:4).” 

God has caused me to have low energy and pain because then I tire more easily and therefore have been able to fight Him less, which caused me to realize, once I had to slow down enough to think about it, that is, how desperately I do need God and also to hang onto Him because sometimes that is all I can do. There have been times when I can only lay in bed praying and praising God, and Jacob quit fighting the Preincarnate Christ and yielded, he then began to change into Israel. Sure he didn't become mature overnight, none of us do yet as long as we listen to the Spirit, we will continue to grow.
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I've been trying to memorize the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:23-24), and so I listened to a kids song about them by Steve Green, and in it it says that when Jesus left the earth He left behind the Holy Spirit to be our leader and we are to follow the leader, the Holy Spirit and then we will develop the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. By walking with Him, each day we become more like Him until after many days, we can look back and see a remarkable change in us.

To download the entire 5 Years Thru the Bible radio program by Dr. J. Vernon McGee, click here. To learn more about Bethlehem Baptist Church click here. To listen to Fruits of the Spirit by Steve Green on youtube click here. 
¹ A Letter From Pastor Jason Meyer, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN to see the letter click here.