GOD LOVES THE REAL YOU

Do you ever feel as if your life is a prolonged wrestling match? Does it seem as if you're not making progress, fighting for each accomplishment, and becoming worn out in the process? Then you, like Jacob of the Old Testament, share a common frustration. And like Jacob, you, too, can become victorious by God's help.

Jacob's name means heel-catcher, cheater, deceiver. He fit all those descriptions as he grew up. He was a mama's boy and found a way to steal his brother's birthright by deceiving his dying father. Fearing that his brother most likely would kill him, Jacob, for the first time in his life, got gut-level honest with himself.

Alone until this point, Jacob wrestled a stranger all through the night. At dawn he asked the man to bless him. The man asked him his name, to which he responded, Jacob. The man told him he no longer would be called Jacob, but Israel: for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Jacob called the place Peniel: for I have seen God face-to-face, and my life is preserved. (Jacob's story can be found in Genesis 32.)

What you permit will always continue. Behavior permitted is behavior perpetuated. Change did not take place until Jacob admitted that there was a problem, a weakness, an area of struggle in his life.

God will wrestle with you alone. One of the things you should understand and appreciate is that God gives you a reason to deal with your issues privately.

You must want to change. Jacob told God that he would not let Him go until He blessed him. You must determine that you are not going to continue to live with your condition. Determine that you are not going to run, hide, or pretend. Determine that the thing that has mastered you will finally be defeated through Jesus Christ, and with His help you will once and for all master it.

God will wrestle with you to allow you to discover what you are made of. God already knows what He created you to be. He knows you intimately, and He knows your ways (Ps. 139:1-3). He wants you to discover who you are.

You must identify your true self. God asked Jacob what his name was. Of course, God already knew Jacob's name, but He made Jacob identify himself to admit what his condition was. Jacob had to come to terms with the fact that he was a deceiver, a cheat, and a fraud. Only then did God give him a new name and a new identity.

You cannot see God face-to-face until you are willing to see yourself face-to-face. Others might buy into your role-playing deceptions, but not God. Jacob had to be willing to come clean and to deal with his issues in order to see God face-to-face. And when you see God face-to-face, it cannot fail to produce change in yourself.

Paula White is co-founder with her husband, Randy, of Without Walls International Church, Tampa Bay, Fla. She ministers to women across the country in churches and conferences.

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