The Fight Everyone Should Get Into
Memory Verse: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. '
James 1:17
Sermon Sentence: The greatest fight for your life will lead you to realize that you can not keep what you think is your life.
James 1:17
Sermon Sentence: The greatest fight for your life will lead you to realize that you can not keep what you think is your life.
Day 1
Read Genesis 32:1-21
I am just a classic, world class avoider. A challenge is better ignored and a tough situation is better put off. When I read about Jacob, I am aware of that broken relationship in his background that no one wants to talk about. Especially not Jacob. As long as that is all in the past, it seems better there. Then comes the reckoning day. The day he eventually has to face the consequences of the part about himself that he surely despised…his ability to push people away from him. Jacob has a family. Jacob has a life. Jacob has money. But for some reason, Jacob feels that desire to return to his past. Maybe he is driven by that desire to make it right. Maybe he is driven by that ago old issue of the siren call to return to home. Maybe he feels his conversation with God that one time made it clear he had to go back. We don’t really get the full answer.
Most of us reading this have experienced some version of reckoning with the past. It is a strong work of the enemy to keep us distracted from our wrongs and keep moving forward to what we think is our future. Never looking back is more difficult than the look back tends to be. Almost always, our story takes us right into the reality of our past and we have to do something with what we have done, with what we have become. How will our story end? Will we just always be the way that we are, or is there hope that we can change and be different? The real beauty in this story is the picture of how that was wrestled with in Jacob’s life.
How have you had a moment in your life that was similar to this story in Jacob’s?
How is verse 11 a really good picture of what it means to surrender your life to God?
What are the promises of God that draw you to the life He offers to you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
I am just a classic, world class avoider. A challenge is better ignored and a tough situation is better put off. When I read about Jacob, I am aware of that broken relationship in his background that no one wants to talk about. Especially not Jacob. As long as that is all in the past, it seems better there. Then comes the reckoning day. The day he eventually has to face the consequences of the part about himself that he surely despised…his ability to push people away from him. Jacob has a family. Jacob has a life. Jacob has money. But for some reason, Jacob feels that desire to return to his past. Maybe he is driven by that desire to make it right. Maybe he is driven by that ago old issue of the siren call to return to home. Maybe he feels his conversation with God that one time made it clear he had to go back. We don’t really get the full answer.
Most of us reading this have experienced some version of reckoning with the past. It is a strong work of the enemy to keep us distracted from our wrongs and keep moving forward to what we think is our future. Never looking back is more difficult than the look back tends to be. Almost always, our story takes us right into the reality of our past and we have to do something with what we have done, with what we have become. How will our story end? Will we just always be the way that we are, or is there hope that we can change and be different? The real beauty in this story is the picture of how that was wrestled with in Jacob’s life.
How have you had a moment in your life that was similar to this story in Jacob’s?
How is verse 11 a really good picture of what it means to surrender your life to God?
What are the promises of God that draw you to the life He offers to you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Genesis 32:22-32
What a weird story! Many people have wondered who in the world it is that Jacob is wrestling with here. Hosea 12 tells us that it was an “angel” that Jacob wrestled with. Genesis 32 tells us that it was a “man” and then uses the word “elohim” in the Hebrew later, which simply referred to a spiritual being of some sort. Jacob seemed to think that he had seen God face to face. All of this considered together leads me to lean towards the idea that this was God in the flesh…or maybe better understood as Jesus.
That makes the story so much more bizarre. Because Jacob, the farmer dude, surely doesn’t have the ability to best God in all of His infinite power. So we have to keep wrestling with the story in our own understanding. I think it’s safe to say that God threw this match. It was fixed. He held back and allowed Himself to be out wrestled. That seems like the only logical conclusion, does it not? This is not a picture of the abilities of God that we are to draw from to form an image of Him. It is a picture of the character of God, that allows Himself to be beaten by a far inferior being, a man, for the sake of bringing about a new identity for that man! That is the beauty of the story of the cross, which is an absurd story of how men were able to crucify the King of Kings, while everyone knew without a doubt that Jesus could have brought down an unnamed amount of angels and power to rescue Him and undo the wrong happening to Him. But He did not. He stayed and He died. He did it all for one purpose and for one reason, to save the ones He was dying for, to give US life!
What is a time that you “wrestled” with God and what was the result of that moment?
How have you seen someone else wrestle with God recently?
When you think about Jacob’s name being changed to Israel, how does that fit into your story and what do you think the significance is?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Acts 9
Saul was sent out on the most extreme and highest of the religious endeavors that he could have been launched out on in his flavor of religion. He was a Pharisee, the way he tells the story he was one of the most zealous of them as well. So it is significant that it was on the road to this mission that Saul was met by Jesus and questioned about his work. For the sake of our study this week, I think it is safe to say that Saul was, in essence, wrestling with Jesus. He was out to stop Him when he was, in turn, changed by him and brought to surrender to Him. You will also notice that in this story, like our story of Jacob, Saul’s name was changed to Paul. This is the repeated theme of the Bible that is worth paying attention to: there is a struggle between God and mankind. That struggle leads to a moment where something needs to give. If the one struggling with God surrenders to His call, there is a great change that happens in their lives and the lives of those around them.
How do you see your story of deciding to follow Jesus in this same light?
Why do you think there is almost always a name change that happens after someone surrenders to God?
What other stories in the Bible do you see where the name of the character is changed at a significant moment?
How does this become your prayer today?
Saul was sent out on the most extreme and highest of the religious endeavors that he could have been launched out on in his flavor of religion. He was a Pharisee, the way he tells the story he was one of the most zealous of them as well. So it is significant that it was on the road to this mission that Saul was met by Jesus and questioned about his work. For the sake of our study this week, I think it is safe to say that Saul was, in essence, wrestling with Jesus. He was out to stop Him when he was, in turn, changed by him and brought to surrender to Him. You will also notice that in this story, like our story of Jacob, Saul’s name was changed to Paul. This is the repeated theme of the Bible that is worth paying attention to: there is a struggle between God and mankind. That struggle leads to a moment where something needs to give. If the one struggling with God surrenders to His call, there is a great change that happens in their lives and the lives of those around them.
How do you see your story of deciding to follow Jesus in this same light?
Why do you think there is almost always a name change that happens after someone surrenders to God?
What other stories in the Bible do you see where the name of the character is changed at a significant moment?
How does this become your prayer today?
Day 4
Read Colossians 3:1-17
I do not tend to be a big style person. Most of my outfits are chosen in the dark and the rest are chosen out of colorblindness. Therefore, you will not find me looking over many fashions and wondering how I get the latest and greatest from wherever people buy clothes these days. Most of the changes in my wardrobe are brought about by changes in my body. If it quits fitting, it’s time to replace it! With that being said, Paul is approaching these verses from a wardrobe change experience that he likens to following Jesus. His point is simple, you were not automatically following Jesus, so you have to change to follow Him now. That is a subtle realization but one that is vital.
Look the part, not because you saw the catalogue and wanted to look appealing to everyone else, like the models in the pictures, but rather because you are different than you were. Have you been somewhere wearing the outfit from where you came from and it didn’t work with where you were now? It is that sort of an idea. You came from the world, but now you are a part of a different Kingdom. Paul likes this analogy and uses it in other places as well, but for today, think about this idea.
Why do you think that we have to be told this idea and that there is the struggle of not putting away the old ways in our following Jesus?
How do you explain to people the idea that there is the battle between the old and the new in following Jesus?
How are you battling with this idea right now in your life personally?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
I do not tend to be a big style person. Most of my outfits are chosen in the dark and the rest are chosen out of colorblindness. Therefore, you will not find me looking over many fashions and wondering how I get the latest and greatest from wherever people buy clothes these days. Most of the changes in my wardrobe are brought about by changes in my body. If it quits fitting, it’s time to replace it! With that being said, Paul is approaching these verses from a wardrobe change experience that he likens to following Jesus. His point is simple, you were not automatically following Jesus, so you have to change to follow Him now. That is a subtle realization but one that is vital.
Look the part, not because you saw the catalogue and wanted to look appealing to everyone else, like the models in the pictures, but rather because you are different than you were. Have you been somewhere wearing the outfit from where you came from and it didn’t work with where you were now? It is that sort of an idea. You came from the world, but now you are a part of a different Kingdom. Paul likes this analogy and uses it in other places as well, but for today, think about this idea.
Why do you think that we have to be told this idea and that there is the struggle of not putting away the old ways in our following Jesus?
How do you explain to people the idea that there is the battle between the old and the new in following Jesus?
How are you battling with this idea right now in your life personally?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Genesis 32:1-21; Genesis 4:3-16; Genesis 43:11-31
For today’s devotion, I want to challenge you in a bit of a Bible study method. Often, we will count Bible study as the reading of a verse or three and then the reading of some commentary that tells us what it all means. This is a good tool, but much like any good tool, it can take from you the primitive skills that are good for working out the Bible study rather than being handed it. I am not against commentaries and studies, but I am very much aware that the Christian Bible study world has created a culture of lazy Googlers and readers that are not doing the work of really meditating on God’s word. One of my goals in 2026 will be to combat this and encourage everyone to work on becoming Bible “studiers” themselves.
All of that to say that I am aware this is a lot of reading for today. I was looking at our key story in Genesis 32 and wondered about the gift that Jacob prepared to give to Esau. Mainly I was interested in verse 13, it just felt like there should be more significance to the way that verse was worded. Especially that “present” word (In the ESV). So I went to www.blueletterbible.org, a fantastic resource for studying the Bible, and searched for that word in the Hebrew. I was amazed to find that it shows up three times in Genesis. You may say, “It is just the word ‘present’, that is not THAT amazing!” But hold on. Look closer. It is used three times, in three different brother stories; Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, and Jospeh and his brothers. All three times it is used for the idea of appeasing an offense. That leads me to sit and think about this for a while.
Do you see a significance in linking these three stories?
What do you think is a good lesson and thought to take away from this idea?
How do you link that idea to other ideas in the Bible- maybe some of the New Testament?
How does this become your prayer today?
For today’s devotion, I want to challenge you in a bit of a Bible study method. Often, we will count Bible study as the reading of a verse or three and then the reading of some commentary that tells us what it all means. This is a good tool, but much like any good tool, it can take from you the primitive skills that are good for working out the Bible study rather than being handed it. I am not against commentaries and studies, but I am very much aware that the Christian Bible study world has created a culture of lazy Googlers and readers that are not doing the work of really meditating on God’s word. One of my goals in 2026 will be to combat this and encourage everyone to work on becoming Bible “studiers” themselves.
All of that to say that I am aware this is a lot of reading for today. I was looking at our key story in Genesis 32 and wondered about the gift that Jacob prepared to give to Esau. Mainly I was interested in verse 13, it just felt like there should be more significance to the way that verse was worded. Especially that “present” word (In the ESV). So I went to www.blueletterbible.org, a fantastic resource for studying the Bible, and searched for that word in the Hebrew. I was amazed to find that it shows up three times in Genesis. You may say, “It is just the word ‘present’, that is not THAT amazing!” But hold on. Look closer. It is used three times, in three different brother stories; Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, and Jospeh and his brothers. All three times it is used for the idea of appeasing an offense. That leads me to sit and think about this for a while.
Do you see a significance in linking these three stories?
What do you think is a good lesson and thought to take away from this idea?
How do you link that idea to other ideas in the Bible- maybe some of the New Testament?
How does this become your prayer today?
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