Strive and Confirm

Todays Reading: Genesis 31-33, Luke 13

Genesis 32:10-12
I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. ’”

Personalize it method (Rick Warrens's 40 Days in the Word):

Jeff, look at my servant Jacob.  See his prayer when he feared for the safety of his entire family and camp.  Jacob first acknowledged hi position before me...he humbled himself.  He then offered me praise in reflecting on my character, my attributes.  He then gave thanks for the blessings I had bestowed on him despite his condition of unworthiness.  Then he shared his heart, his concern with me.  His request was not, however, for something he remotely perceived to be his own will.  He referenced the promise I had made and was praying in alignment with that promise that he knew to be my revealed will.  Do you see that Jeff?  He prayed in accordance with my will, not his.  He claimed my promise and appealed to my name, my glory, my power to accomplish my purpose...not his special request for his own comfort or gain.  Jeff, Jacob learned this and was handed a legacy from Abraham and then his father Isaac.

Jeff, teach your children to pray like this.  Teach them to come before me humble and contrite and then to pray with confidence in the accomplishment of my purpose and that they would be vessels used by me in this amazing story that they live in.

How about the wrestling match?  Do you see that I strived against Jacob and he against me?

Genesis 32:28
Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Know that I will allow adversity, temptation, trouble, even calamity in your life Jeff.  Thank you Lord that my savior loves, my savior lives, my savior is always there for me.  My God you are , my God you were, my God you are always gonna be.  Thank you Lord that even in calamity I know you are there and you are working all of us to make us like your Son.  Thank you that you provide the strength to prevail even as you gave Jacob the strength to prevail.

Exodus 15:2
2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

2 Samuel 22:40
40 For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me.

Jeremiah 17:5
5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.

So know that it is I who you struggle against and work out your salvation Jeff.  I am transforming you.  The enemy may throw daggers but I allow them to strike in order to work all things for good for the sake of my glory.  Recall that I am sovereign and nothing that exists is except that I have created.  Nothing that happens is except what I allow as the progression of my creation's actions.

Also Jeff, know that this appearance of my Son prior to His incarnation was as a man, not in full glory- lest Jacob be destroyed at first sight.

Genesis 32:30
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Calvin's Commentaries on Jacob's wrestling with God-

This, though at first sight it seems absurd, experience and reason teaches us to be true. For as all prosperity flows from his goodness, so adversity is either the rod with which he corrects our sins, or the test of our faith and patience.

So I will strive with my children Jeff to bring them into conformity with my Son...but I require repentance and this begins with that humility that Jacob demonstrated in his prayer.  See that there are many who will perish except that they might yet repent.

Luke 13:1-3
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Luke 13:7-9
And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? ’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down. ’”

Jeff, I know you cannot see clearly what I am saying with the fig tree.  I know you are uncertain regarding it's reference to unbelievers and their destruction or to believers and their early calling home based on their lack of fruit.  See it the same.  Seek out both and may my children show themselves proven, holding fast until the end bearing fruit by my Holy Spirit.

John 15:8-10
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

2 Peter 1:10
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

So don't worry about the actual subject of that passage Jeff.  Consider that all must confirm their calling and be proven.  Although the calling is irrevocable, it must be proven...

Romans 11:29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Recall Jeff that my Word works not only to transform and to save but also to harden and blind...

John 10:25-30
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

1 Corinthians 1:18
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Take Joy that I have given you ears to hear and eyes to see, and this is not of your doing, but is completely by my grace and is my good pleasure.  May this encourage you that your efforts to make disciples, your efforts to share my gospel message does not carry a burden to save, but only a burden to show yourself faithful.  Jeff, pray for those that I put on your heart and plan how you will be faithful to my call.  Put effort to it...that they would repent, and soon!  Recall that the enemy's only victory can be the stalling of the inevitable for the cause of minimizing your pre-resurrected experience of me.

There is no doubt, Jeff that this perishing is a spiritual death, an eternal separation from me.  See how I reference the dead perishing in some manner that would be separate from their physical death...

1 Corinthians 15:17-18
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

This knowledge of the unrepentant perishing should move you to action Jeff.  Hear from Piper again...

Piper Sermon on June 5, 1988

Tape it [reminder that the unrepentant perish] in your wallet to see it every time you buy something―that clerk will perish if she does not repent. Your children will perish, you parents will perish, your neighbors will perish, your colleagues will perish if they do not repent.

So faith and repentance are not properly two separate things. The turning of repentance is a turning from trusting in other things to a trusting in God. And with a new trust in God as counselor and protector and provider there is also a turning to a new life of joyful obedience.

Jeff, also know that faith in me that does not evidence itself in repentance and a natural outflowing of the influence of my Holy Spirit is not a saving faith.  Recall the parable of the sower and how the hearers were not transformed and did not bear fruit to evidence my indwelling Spirit.  Shouldn't someone look different if they have my Holy Spirit residing in them?  Compared to someone who is dead in their sin?  Hear this description of any person alive prior to receiving my Spirit...

Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Now the description of a believer...

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Jeff, there is no reason whatsoever to allow the old man to have any reign over your body.  You are an entirely new creation and this should be self evident.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Matthew 3:8-9
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Luke 8:15
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Jeff, hold fast to my Word and guard your heart.

Luke 13:26-28
Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. ’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil! ’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Bible Knowledge Commentary-

A visible change must be seen in the life of one who claims to trust the Messiah. If there is no visible change that person, like the figless fig tree, is judged.

Matthew 7:17-20
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Matthew 3:10
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Application:
Today I will pray for faith and for strength that I might stand firm, confirming my calling
Today I will listen for the Lord's voice and direction concerning whom He wants me to share with
Today I will guard my heart and not allow darkness to enter by my eyes or any other way
Today I will take reassurance that the Lord Himself strives with me and will bring me into conformity to the image of His Son
Today I will have compassion on those that are without the Holy Spirit and are perishing
Today I will thank the Lord for saving me...I am completely unworthy and have done nothing to gain His favor

Prayer:
Lord thank you for choosing to bless me with faith.  Thank you for sealing me for the day of redemption by your Holy Spirit.  Please let me not grieve Him by choosing to be disobedient but rather let me confirm my calling and be joyously obedient that there might be a distinct difference seen in me, a new creation.  Please bear your fruit in me Lord.  Let me not strive in my flesh to prove anything but by surrendering to you, may your Spirit be the one who bears the fruit in me.  Please fill me Lord and guide me.  I desire to yield only to your Spirit.  Please grant me the faith and trust to do this, for I am unable.  Please forgive my lack of faith, my pride, my worldliness, and my self-will.  Father, renew me.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!
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