Claim God's blessing - though it hurts

Genesis chapter 32 beginning in verse 22, says: "And he got up that night, this is Jacob, took his two wives, his two female servants, his eleven sons, and passed through Jacob's bad. stream to them and to all that they had, and so Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak." This is how the biblical text says, "and a man wrestled with him until morning."

I want to show you a photo, if you have the photo there, this is a work of art by an artist named David Costelo, I don't know how many have heard of him, but he was a secular artist, and when he converted, he he began to turn all his art, to illustrate biblical images, something that God put in his heart. And I don't know if you can appreciate this image well, but in this image, it's called Jacob's blessing. And if you see, he is a brilliant man who has Jacob, so to speak, caught on the floor and is with his hand on the hip area, as the text says that he touched the area where the thigh connects and dislocated it , he has his hand there, but if you notice Jacob is still holding onto his arm. Many people have asked me what Jacob has in his other hand, I don't know. put a magnifying glass there, you'll see, but I don't know what he has in his other hand.

But what I did notice is that Jacob is holding onto this angel even when he is lying on the ground. I wanted to do a demonstration today, but I don't know if I'm going to do it because I see that the person I wanted to use as an example is hurt so I would have an advantage over him. I wanted to take Medrad today and fight him, I wanted to wrestle him, but since he has a bad hand I know I can hurt him even more and I don't want to do that Medrad. But the reason why I wanted to do that is because Medrad is obviously a taller man than me, and I wanted to show what it is to fight, to struggle with a person who is much stronger than you, I guess those of us who In our school days we were less holy than we are now, and we used to fight a lot, well, some of us will remember what it means to fight, but look what I began to think, brothers.

What happens when God fights with us, what happens when God fights with us, and I know that this question will sound a bit strange because God will fight with us, as he will do if God is love, if God loves us, loves us and He longs for the best for us, but has he ever thought if at some point God fights with us, that God fights with us? If I'm saying an aberration for you, a heresy don't panic, I'm going to put this in context. Let's think about Jacob for a moment, we all know that Jacob was like who says that after this event God changed his name to what? Israel, if you haven't reached that point in your level 1 class, don't worry. It will arrive, but those who have already taken level 1 are supposed to know this, Jacob was called Israel, and after his name, from his tribe came the people of Israel that are now known. So through him it was that God continued that promise he made to Abraham.

Now, those are beautiful, beautiful things that we know about Jacob, but Jacob was not a saint, my brothers and sisters, Jacob was not a saint, he was not a perfect man. When I came across that image, it was like a reflection of a person who is interpreting that image, and one of the things that this person mentions that shocked me is that he was describing Jacob as we don't normally know him. And he described Jacob as a man who cheated on his dad, a man who stole his brother, a man who cheated on his father-in-law, and not only that, but he was a mamma's boy because he needed his mom to get him out of everyone. the trouble he got into. He was a man who lived with his tail tucked between his legs because he was afraid that, I say that the man had a fairly serious degree of inferiority, the truth is, the guy felt inferior, the guy was like, I I'm not much of a thing, and I had a well-marked sense of inferiority. And I dare say that because of that sense of inferiority, since he was not the one who came out of his mother's belly first, they say that Esau came out first and holding onto Esau's leg Jacob came there, right, read the biblical story there, I'm not making it up, it's there. I think that this sense of being second best, the least, the smallest, left him with this stigma that I'm not a big deal, and so he had to find ways to make his way, so to speak. to be able to do what he had to do. And he did it as I just mentioned, how he cheated on his father, obviously the mother was also involved in that so mothers listen please, please, with your children, the mother was involved in this, and what was the The obstacle that they put on the father, on the one hand was to steal Esau's birthright, and on the other hand it was to deceive Abraham so that he would bless him.

I'm thinking of my grandfather, they are related, ok, thanks Pablo, there he is teaching me level 2, Isaac, so what did his mother do to him, she put a leather on him like that, Jacob was hairless, that was something else, Well, her mother had to put some things like that in her arms that she had, what, goatskin, sheepskin, something like that? I could lend her a little of mine, just in case. And so he stole his brother's birthright and tricked his dad into blessing him instead of his brother, huh? and prepared food for him, yes that's another. But the issue is my brothers that I believe, when I read this story, the mere fact that Isaac blessed Jacob and not Esau, God wanted to honor that gesture of Isaac, even though it was supposed to be Esau, but I believe that God he wanted to bless what Isaac did, he wanted to fulfill that promise that he brought from Abraham to Isaac and from Isaac to Jacob. And in this story in chapter 32, at the beginning, he talks about how Jacob was on his way to meet his brother Esau, as if to try to fix things, and on that way news began to reach him saying look, Esau is the who is now coming against you, and he got scared, he began to be afraid because he thought that his brother was going to take everything he had, his wives, his maids, his children, his cattle, everything, and the man got scared and He began to hatch a plan, don't wait, I have to sneak out of this again, and he began to hatch a couple of things.

And when he managed to send his family in different directions that, as the story says, he was left alone, that's when God had to intervene in the life of this man, God told him look now at your machinations, and your deceptions, and your lies, that is history, I am going to do something different now, what God told him now was I am going to bless you, I am going to do something with you, and he told him more or less the same promise that he said to Abraham, your offspring will be like the sand of the sea, he told Abraham your offspring will be like the stars in the sky but he told Jacob your offspring will be like the sand of the sea, there are still many, try to count the sand of the sea, well yes, the beach, the shore. The thing is, to confirm this, that's where this fight comes from.

The mere fact that God had to fight this man, I want you to imagine that battle. Usually when we see a fight scene in a movie the scene is hard, for example in boxing there are twelve rounds, each round lasts 3 minutes, if you do the addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, the fight ends Being like almost two hours or so, if you get to the last round, the thing is that some of them fall by knockout, things like that, the thing is that this fight lasted all night until dawn, and it was going to last longer but rather the angel said look, my time is up, we passed round number 12, and we got to 24, and I have to go, it's time to go, but what happened, Jacob didn't want to let go of this man.

You know what I started to think, I think that Jacob had a moment of conviction, and at some point he had to understand that he was fighting with someone who represented something divine, and he had to know that this was going to be his opportunity to redeem his life. What was it that he said to this man when he dislocated his hip? I imagine the pain that man must have felt when he felt that bone out of place, and being stuck on the floor as they say, but at the same time being grabbed by the hand and not wanting to let go, what did he say, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me, I'm not going to let go until you bless me. We have heard many messages about this, about how one has to insist, to fight for the blessing, blah blah, all of that is good, but you know what I started to think, for some reason I started to combine that story with the Javes' story, in First Chronicle chapter 4, Javes was more illustrious than his brothers, because his mother called him Javes, I fathered him with pain, so what was Javes's fate? a life full of what? of pain, but what did Javes say when he says that Javes invoked the God of heaven and what was the first thing he said? "Oh Lord, if You would bless me, may Your blessing be with me."

Look when one invokes God's blessing on his life, what you are asking for is a total change in your life. That is what the blessing of God is. The blessing of God is not a, God take care of you, God bless you and oh that you do well. (court)

God's blessing on that person, Jacob knew that his life had to change, and that God's promise was going to be fulfilled in him, all that past, something had to happen there in that fight, that things had to take a turn. distinct. In him, his way of thinking, his way of seeing his life, his way of proceeding with things, something had to change, and when he struggled, struggled with this man, he knew that there was something of God there. And he recognized in a moment, hah, this is where my blessing is, it is not the one that comes from my father Jacob but the one that comes directly from you, and he did not let go, can you imagine my brothers, that even in the midst of pain what this man was feeling, the tiredness he had, after hours of fighting, I imagine that perhaps this man of God was playing with him, he would stop and pum to the floor, he would stand again and pummel to the floor again, and he came back and stood up and fell to the floor, there are times when I do that to Lucas, don't tell him that I said this to you.

There are times when Lucas comes and I just grab his head and knock him down, and pah to the floor, and he comes back and gets up and pah, to the floor, and I don't even let him reach me, pam to the floor, again? again, and I am the one who gets tired of throwing it on the floor, but for the record that this is not an abuse, ok?, we are playing. I imagine that this man of God was doing the same with Jacob, are you going to stop again? Pangara, oh, again? Another trip, oh again?, uh huh! by the forehead, well, by his mind. The uncertainty of how this is going to end, I am going to die, I am not going to die, they are going to take me to heaven, they are going to send me to hell, that is, how is this going to end here?

So imagine the mixture of fatigue, fear, uncertainty, and on top of that, pain from a dislocated hip, on top of that being able to say and hold on and say no, you won't leave until you bless me, I want my life to change , I want something different, imagine yourself in the midst of your tiredness, in the midst of the fears of your life, in the midst of the uncertainties that you may have, in the midst of the pains that you may suffer, that with everything and that, you you can hold on to God and tell him, Lord, I need You to bless me, I need You to give me a new name, what does a new name mean, a new identity, I need a new reason for being, I can't keep dragging along with the nonsense that I was dragging, I need something totally new, I need a totally new hard drive, I need a clean slate, that's what I need Lord.

And that is why I am fighting, not only in my personal life, I declare that for the rest of the things that surround me and your environment, discussions every morning, with whoever it is within the home, I'm already tired of that, I want a new blessing, I want a new way of thinking, speaking, blessing, for my people around me. Grumbling all the time, ah, I want a new blessing, you spend your time complaining about all the people next to you, no, I want something new, I can't go on like this, I can't contribute to my church if I'm complaining about everyone, that if that one is more anointed than the other, that if that one speaks more beautifully than the other, that if that one is more intelligent than me, that if that one has more money than me, I cannot be a blessing to the church if I'm looking at things like this. I have to hold onto God's hand and fight, fight with it and say Lord, I need You to bless me.

We have to learn, what's more, I know you know it, but put into practice the true meaning. You know that when we are well centered, that the mere fact that you greet someone and give them a God bless you as it should be, you don't know how much that can do in that person's life. That maybe you can't see it right away, but the mere fact that you declare that remote-controlled blessing of the Holy Spirit towards that person, that it can start something in that person's life. That maybe consequently as you meet that person and you go on and on, something is going to happen, you have your son in your hands, night after night when he lays down to sleep, I bless you in the name of the Lord, but no I bless you now ok, you turn off the light and we leave the room, no, intentionally, you shelter him, and while you are putting your hands around his tender little body, you are saying, Lord, cover him, keep him, that he can grow as You want, that he knows you at some point, that he can know who you are, you declare that blessing on him, on her.

In your husband, in your wife, if they are fighting, arguing, if one is on one side of the bed and the other on the other, look, bite your tongue and do so with your hand, Lord, please, don't do this, Don't take the sheet off either, please, but let your hand approach the bed like this and even touch the tip of his or her elbow, and Lord bless him or her. Call someone on the phone, invite them out to eat, to the movies, but if the conversation ends, tell them, look, Leo, God bless you, well-intentioned I tell you, I declare all the things of God about your life, listen my brothers, God can use you to transform the existence of a person, but we have to be well aware of it, we have to be very sure of it, but for us to be able to live and experience it is because we have gone through that process first ourselves.

I can't give what I don't have, and perhaps none of us are going to have a fight like this, I don't wish anyone to have a dislocated hip, believe me no, I don't wish that on anyone, I see Malta coming there with her cane, and she walks up the aisle and drops the cane but nothing stops her from raising her hands, that to me is a living example of. I see Medrad there with his cast in his hand but that doesn't stop him from raising his hand like this and giving his glory to God however he wants. We each have our struggles in life, and those struggles manifest in different ways, in different ways. There are times that they are struggles that are inside here, there are times that they are outside and they attack us, there are times that they are struggles that manifest themselves in the body in different ways, but in the midst of fatigue, in the midst of fear, in In the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of pain, hold on, hold on tight, let the circulation stop in the arm of God because of how hard you are holding his arm, and claim that blessing on your life.

One last point and I'm done with this. You know that claiming God's blessing is not according to your desires. Claiming God's blessing must be according to the desires He has for you, according to the plans He has for you. Do you know why I say that? and I see it in this image. Do you know what it is like to be caught on the floor and that you can't do anything? What does that mean? they grab his arm, they pull it like that, they squeeze him like that, and oh!, now, no more, when one is in that position and can say Lord bless me it is because in my opinion, if in my terms it has not worked, in I know yours will work. All of us are in different struggles in life, all of us, all of you, in there, I know that each one of you has your struggle too, but whatever the struggle, don't let go, don't give up, don't let go, Even if it's dawn, don't let it go, no, I want You to bless me, if it hasn't worked on my terms, I know that it will work on yours, help me to recognize the part that I have to respond to that blessing that You you have for my life

So my brothers, my sisters, you're in a fight tonight, tomorrow, yesterday, don't let go, don't let go of God's arm, even if it hurts, don't let go, claim that blessing of God, upon you, and when you receive it, impart it upon others, may the next God bless you that you tell a person, not to be equal, but to be intentional, when you greet each other as you walk out the door, think about it, and if you're not ready to Say it, well look, you better not say it, I really prefer that you don't say it, if you're not ready to bless me with the intention that this blessing goes, I prefer that you don't tell me, I prefer that you tell me Good evening Pastor Omar, see you later next. And when you have time to process and meditate on all this, see me then on Sunday so you can shake my hand, and I'm going to feel that rush and I'm going to say wow, this person is feeling it today, I I'm going to say wait, and God got in here now.

My brothers, my sisters, let's go forward, I believe that God is calling us to live that kind of life, an intentional life, that we recognize that in the midst of our struggles, the hand of God is there, and we have to hold on to that hand. , fight it, and receive that blessing from God, amen? We are going to stand up and we are going to pray.

Dear God, I thank you, thank you for your word Lord, thank you for the Bible that we have these stories recorded here, that there are so many things that we can learn from them, we can learn good things that we can repeat and search for, and bad things that we cannot in that direction we must look, but with everything it is all there embodied for us. Thank you for this word that was also spoken. Lord, I know and I declare that this word will not remain in the air, but will reach deep into the heart, and that You will ensure that this word bears fruit, Lord, as You intend. Lord we each have our struggles in life, we have our battles, and who knows if any of us are literally in a battle with you, but whatever the situation Lord, there is something we can learn from Jacob, and that is that Despite the tiredness, despite the fear, despite the uncertainty, or despite the pain, we must not let go until You bless us.

So, Lord, today we tell you that we hold on to you, and we want your blessing, the blessing that gives us a new identity, the blessing that transforms our reality, the blessing that gives us a future full of hope, that is the blessing that we want from you, for our lives, and for us to impart them around us. Allow us to share that blessing not only with our words, but also with our actions, with our deeds. You want us to be a blessing to our neighbor, we have done it, we are doing it, and I declare that we will continue to do it in Your name Lord Jesus, thank you.

Lord, take us safely to our homes tonight, shelter us well in our bed, and that You allow us to have a calm, restful sleep, a rest that ministers a supernatural peace over our body, Lord, and that tomorrow if you allow it, Lord , we can get up with new strength to be able to do what we have to do, deal with the people that have to be dealt with, and deal with that self that You want to align more and more, take us well Lord, and give us all Your blessing, through your Son Jesus we pray and thank you, amen and amen.