Meditator
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me”…Then he blessed him there. –Genesis 32:26, 29
Jacob encountered a stranger in the night. He found himself wrestling with an angel of God! Jacob already knew this was a turning point in his life. He knew God was at work. So he tightened his grip and insisted upon a blessing. He received a new name and destiny.
We’ve all wrestled through a tough night. We’ve felt God telling us that times were changing. Imagine going boldly before Him and daring to say, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
The truth is that this is just the attitude He wants from us at the crossroads of life—insistence upon His blessing upon us.
Model
Debbi Fields was definitely wrestling with her destiny. She had a dream, but it seemed more than a little unrealistic.
What Debbi really loved doing was baking, and what she baked best was chocolate chip cookies. She had created the ultimate recipe for them, and wanted to go into business selling her cookies. But all her friends told her she was crazy, and she felt internal pressure to devote her life to marriage and children. She spent many nights tossing, turning, and wrestling.
Her husband, Randy Fields, supported her dream. With a high-risk $50,000 loan, she opened her first cookie store in Palo Alto, California—and couldn’t sell a bite.
Still she wouldn’t give in. Mrs. Fields took a batch of her best out to the street and started giving them away. It attracted a crowd that soon formed a line toward her shop door.
Just like that, Mrs. Fields cookies were the going thing. By 1990, she was franchising stores across America, and her cookies were in grocery stores everywhere.
All of it happened because the baker wouldn’t let go until the blessing came.
Magnifier
Have you ever wrestled with doubts about a new life and new opportunities? It’s only rational to have doubts and questions. New changes are exciting, but they can also be a little frightening.
God honors perseverance and boldness. Even when we have a few sleepless nights, we need to insist upon God’s blessing, because it is a blessing He has promised us. It is a blessing that is part of our spiritual destiny.
Sometimes God places the opportunity before us but requires us to reach out and seize it. Are you ready to not only ask for God’s blessing, but also wrestle to claim it?
