The Struggle for Meaningful Transformation

Every Man’s Struggle for Transformation (Jacob Wrestles w/ God and Himself)

1 Corinthians 15: – 51 (NIV)  Listen (Behold), I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians (NLT) 15: 51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret (mystery). We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!… 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Genesis 32:24-30 NLT

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The call/need to evolve is not an option, it’s a search and rescue operation! (Fail and it will soon become a search and recovery operation)  a reflect & regret exercise in the futility of living, suffering and dying…well for nothing!  Nothing meaningful, worthwhile and/or of eternal consequence. 

Unlike Jacob, Samson, Absalom and the Young Rich Ruler in whose life came into contact with Jesus’s radar and response proximity (the one who in a moment of spiritual sobriety, and personal epiphany concerning his soul’s grasp of and claim for eternity, had a literal come to Jesus experience…in that moment he loses his sense of importance, his royal dignity so to speak as he runs, bends a knee and begs the creator of all things asking “what must I do to be saved”; (I’ve everything a man or woman would ever desire and more and and yet I sense my life is still void of purpose and the power to make it count for eternity) sadly, not not unlike Samson and Absalom in their own inimitable way, our young rich ruler walks away from not only the gift of eternal life but from the gift of making his life count for eternity. 

These three… with so much built-in divine purpose, promise & potential gone to waste for they seemed to lack the simple but indispensable redemptive qualities of wanting and willingness to engage in the struggle for change… to grow… and evolve!  The tragic truth of the matter is that they got stuck and stayed stuck in their ways, wills and wants and refused and/or recused themselves of the personal responsibility of owning it!  Owning their mistakes, shortcoming, sins and failures.  Owning not just the past but more importantly the path forward.  

If you and I are going to make it… if we are going to experience those cathartic, breakthrough moments…we’ve got to own it!  And subsequently be willing to engage in the life and death struggle for change!   Ask yourself what obvious or hidden area are you refusing to acknowledge and address?  Where and why are you stuck? Perhaps unwilling to admit, yield, and commit to a path of change and transformation.  And better yet, what are you willing to do about it?  The operative work being willing… because you should know that God is both willing and able but will not without your consent and cooperation.  ( the leper who comes to Jesus… if you are willing, I know you’re able). 

The good news is that…

The call/need to evolve, grow, change for the better is in our God given DNA

• It’s already in your God-given will and skill
• Righteous Transformation/change is synonymous with LIFE
• If we are not evolving/growing we are devolving and DYING!
• True Transcending Transformation is not an event or a one-time experience or event but a lifestyle, process and way of life.
• True Lasting Transformation is usually conceived in a crisis and birthed in desperation (Jacob was in the crisis of his life – running from Laban and confronted by Esau… no way out but forward…something. Someone had to CHANGE)

Reality is that most desperately want to change…need to evolve but frustration sets in as soon as we realize that it is not in our power to do so, alone, in our own power.   Hence a deep and destructive sense of impotence, hopelessness, frustration, and personal and spiritual apoplexy sets in.   We must deal with and confront the REALITY of our DNA (Congenital) and Environmental (social, family history/curses) factors/forces that are always in play – foul play.

• Congenital and Environmental forces are REAL and must be account for in part, as aberrant behavior influencers and provocateurs. “My people perish”  (Jacob – supplanter, deceiver came from a dysfunctional home (environment) and a long-line (DNA) of deceivers/liars which in part conditioned and shape his character)
  • Left unaddressed – become toxic, intractable, and destructive (seal you fate)

• Congenital and Environmental influences can take a life-time to Overcome! (If not careful)
  • Rebecca told Jacob to go away “a few days” (Gen 27: 44,45) until Esau anger simmered…and she would have him come back. Twenty years later he is still running!  Matter a worse and unresolved…

• Congenital and Environmental influencers can create a spirit/mindset/attitude of learned helplessness and hopelessness. (Jacob thinks he is doomed and begins to scheme how to save his family and himself from Esau’s anger… then in his desperation he begins to Pray and have only his 2^nd conversation with God in twenty years ) Gen 32

• Congenital and Environmental influencers can and must be confessed and confronted before they can be conquered!

How to engage in a successful journey of personal and spiritual Transformation?

How does one Win with God and with Men?

Genesis 32:22-31

1. You’ve got to be willing and desperate enough to CHANGE!  Change is a decision not just a desire.  God wants and can transform you into a new person and give you a new name/nature… Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Simon to Peter, Saul to Paul… etc (my own personal post-salvation transformation)   Nothing like the power of a motivated will!  Perhaps the greatest power in the universe certainly from God’s perspective and we are made in the image and likeness of God.  We’ve been given free will… with the capacity to believe… we know that “all things are possible to them that believe”

2. Transformation requires a deep and holy dissatisfaction with yourself and the status quo!

3. Transformation requires the recognition that, even at my best, I am incapable to change myself or others!

4. Transformation will require you to make peace and seek reconciliation! You’ll never be free to be the great, blessed patriarch that God intends you to be without making things right with God, yourself and others.  God was forcing Jacob heart and hand to humble himself and reconcile with Esau before he would allow him to possess His promises and Promised Land.

5. Transformation is only made possible by engaging in a hand-to-hand struggle and face-to-face encounter with God! Here’s where the real change, breaking, disjointing of hip bones and changing of nature spirits takes place.

6. Transformation requires the willingness to continue to fight/struggle and NOT let go of God until HE BLESSES you with a NEW NAME and Nature! Your destiny is tied to your Name and Nature!

7. True transcendent Transformation will be manifest and evident in a “different” and distinct and unmistakable way of walking…. It will be in your walking…gait, limping not your talking that will mark and distinguish you as a Prince of God that has prevail with God and Man!

“The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel and he (Jacob) was limping because of his hip.” Gen 32:31