We humans are always looking for change, for something different, a renewal of the mind. Just today I was on the phone with a close friend in the morning and she was discussing what she was watching on T.V., it was a “so called” famous old lady in India, who is supposed to be a goddess and people from America were flocking to see her, it’s funny, the grass always looks greener on the other side!

If we are to look at the list of TOP 10 sold books today, the top 5 would be titled something like, How to CHANGE IN 30 DAYS! How to overcome depression in 45 years . People are always looking for a change.

Many a times, we do change may be for a day, may be for a month and then we are back into the old habit. How come? It is because we always try to work on the exterior, our outside behavior instead of our inside intentions.

I would like to share a specific passage from the word and based on that word show how we can be really transformed.

In Gen 32 we see the process as to how God changes us. We will have a look at the life of Jacob in that specific passage and realize how God works. We have a clear expression of the four step process that God uses to change us. God will help us to change to overcome that weakness, that hurt we are struggling with.

As we read in Gen 32:24-30 (don’t want to type all that read it yourself!) But, we would now ask what does a wrestling match have to do with me? God uses 4 steps:

CRISIS:

Jacob had a long wrestling matching going on and it was a NO-WIN situation for both. He was getting tired, sick and exhausted. God when He wants to change us, He starts by getting our attention by putting us in a frustrating situation which compels us out of our comfort zone. If we are facing a crisis now and it is changing us, when we feel like giving up, then God gets on the drivers seat.

A mother eagle takes the nest of her young ones and stirs it up, makes them uncomfortable and miserable, kicks them out and forces them to learn to fly. God needs to do the same because we do not change until our fear of changing is exceeded by the pain we are experiencing.

COMMITMENT:

The angel said to Jacob, let me go it is mid day. but Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me (v26 para phrased). Jacob was now getting committed, he did not enjoy what he was going through one bit but yet he did not want to give up.

After God gets our attention with a problem He does not solve it immediately. He waits to see if we mean business. Most people struggle, feel uncomfortable then back off, they let go and actually miss the BEST PART OF IT! We are so programmed to think in order. When a certain thing is not in order, instead of thinking why did it happen in the first place and seek God’s face concerning it, we just say, Oh it is not in order, it is not His Will. Sometimes we think it is the people around or it is everyone else who is messed up, “Oh it is the way I was raised..my parents…OR Oh, it is my boss!” But sometimes God is using that to do a work in us too, he is removing in the interior. layer by layer, HANG IN THERE!

A dear friend of mine has her version to this, “imagine you are in a car and the car is messed up and causing trouble, You don’t leave it there on the streets, you work your way out in the car, take care of the mess and drive to your destination” – How true.

CONFESSIONS:

In the course of their wrestle, the angel asks Jacob, What is your name? Why? Did the angel get the wrong address as to who to fight with? NO! Many years back Jacob disguised as Esau, his elder brother to receive blessings from his father and when his father asked him what his name was instead of saying Jacob, he said Esau.

Sometimes we are in a mess and one of the major aspects is that we need to accept who we are, our true identity, our own transparency, our own acceptance that we are A CHEATER, admitting our character flaws.

This is a very important process for God, we never change until we honestly face and admit our faults, sins and weaknesses.

COOPERATION:

This is the final step, God began to transform Jacob as soon as he admitted and began to cooperate to this change process. The first thing God did was give him a new identity, a whole nation began from his name, Israel. In v 30 we then notice, Jacob names the place as “PENIEL” – FACE OF GOD, I would interpret it as, transparency and renewal in the face of God.

Something else phenomenal happens, during the wrestling, Jacobs hips get dislocated, so from that moment on he had to limp for the rest of his life. The thigh muscle is one of the most powerful muscle in our body, God touches Jacob at the point of His strength. When sometimes we think, hey I am good at this, I am good in that, that is my strength, May be that is what God will touch as change, to make a Better transformed, renewed us.