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MESSAGE TITLE:
“The Past Will Always Chase You Until You Wrestle for a New Identity”
SCRIPTURE TEXTS:
“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day… And when He saw that He could not prevail against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with Him.” (Genesis 32:24-25)
“And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men… And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.” (Genesis 33:1)
DATE: March 13, 2025
BY: EFFIONG ETOK
Carrier of God’s Word
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Until a man wrestles with God and receives a new identity, his past will always hunt him down, no matter how far he runs.
MESSAGE
What do you do when the weight of your past meets you at the doorstep of your future? Jacob was blessed, yet he spent 20 years in pain. He was chosen, yet he was cheated over and over again. Could it be that receiving a blessing is not the same as becoming the man who can carry it?
Jacob was caught between two realities-the promise of God on one side and the consequences of his past on the other. As he returned to Canaan, he was not just going back home-he was going back to face everything he once ran away from.
Jacob’s life was marked by deception, but the deeper reason he was repeatedly cheated was the law of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7). He tricked his father and stole Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27), so Laban tricked him and stole 14 years of his life (Genesis 29:25-27). He manipulated Esau in his weakness, so Laban in turn manipulated him when he was helpless. He thought he could control his destiny, but he ended up at the mercy of others, facing the very thing he had done to his brother. Jacob was blessed, but he was still broken. A blessing without transformation only prolongs the struggle.
Being blessed does not mean being exempt from struggles; it means being prepared for them. Jacob was blessed by his father, yet he lived as a fugitive for 20 years. He had wives and children, yet he lived in fear of losing everything. He had wealth, yet he was still restless. God had blessed him, but Jacob still carried the identity of a deceiver. That was why the wrestling match was necessary-not to fight an enemy, but to fight for a new name.
On the night before meeting Esau, Jacob sent his family ahead (Genesis 32:22-23). This was driven by fear and uncertainty as he was not ready to face Esau. That night, he stayed back-not to rest, but to wrestle for divine intervention.
1. Fear of Esau’s Revenge – Jacob feared Esau might still seek revenge, so he sent gifts and his family ahead to soften his heart (Genesis 32:20). By doing this, he was stepping back and letting God take over because he was not yet prepared to confront his past.
2. Uncertainty About His Fate -He did not know whether Esau would attack or accept him. If Esau decided to kill his family, Jacob may have considered escaping and starting afresh.
3. A Last Resort: Seeking God’s Help-Realizing that neither gifts nor escape could guarantee safety, he turned to God in desperation, wrestling all night for a new identity and divine intervention.
Jacob had manipulated everything in life, but this time, he knew only God could turn Esau’s heart. Just as God warned Laban in a dream not to harm Jacob (Genesis 31:24), this time God may have softened Esau’s heart before Jacob even arrived. Esau came with 400 men because he expected to see the old Jacob, the deceiver. But when he met the new Israel, he had no fight left in him.
When a man wrestles in prayer, even his enemies lose their strength to fight him. That is why the same Esau who could have killed Jacob instead ran to embrace him (Genesis 33:4).
REFLECTION AND TAKEAWAY.
✓Your past will always catch up with you until you wrestle for a new identity.
✓Some battles cannot be fought with words or strategy-they must be won in the place of prayer.
✓God’s blessings do not cancel your struggles; they empower you to overcome them.
✓Transformation happens when we hold onto God and refuse to let go, even when it hurts.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Father, I refuse to enter my future carrying the burdens of my past-change my name and my destiny, in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen!
2. Lord, I lay down my fears, my control, my manipulations, and my strategies. Take over my battles, replace my human wisdom with Your divine strategies, and give me true peace, in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen!
3. Every unresolved situation in my life, as I wrestle in prayer, let Your divine intervention turn it into a testimony, in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen!
