George E. Hilton Foundation

Devotional by Apostle Hal T. Best

Warfare of Life.
In Genesis 32:24 -32 Jacob is a man that faces interior and exterior struggles at the same time. Many of us can relate with Jacob. He is facing going back to his home where he had tricked Esau out of his birthright. Worked for bigger ConMan, in Laban for his wives and children. Finally God reveals the solution to the problem and Jacob is on his way back to his homeland.

When you think you are free from the issues exterior God reveals the that you need some interior changes. I hear you say I just overcome this and that all exterior issues with the level of faith, grace, wisdom to defeat or overcome, and now this. Jacob is left alone and a man appears. This man starts wrestling with him. A interior struggle takes place. Lord there is nothing wrong with me. Yes there is, you can’t overcome the next exterior issue without this interior change. Your level in God must increase to handle what is next.

Your strength to overcome this interior man requires a level of power you have not access yet (Hosea 12:3,4). We must stay in the presence of God until you are changed. How do you know you are changed? Jacob name is change. His walk is different. With other things change. We start having mercy on people you would not had mercy on. You forgive people that in time place you would have not forgive them. Your passion for things has changed. You see things differently. Your tone of your voice has changed. Your thinking about things differently. You stop trying to do it all by yourself and learn how trust the people around you. Tears are flowing down your face and there is not problem exterior.

Jacob wrestled until the break of day. The wrestling match some of us are facing is longer than three rounds.

Lord teach us how to get out of Your way so we can walk into all You have for us. The interior fight will continue until you change. The interior pain of change is self inflicted. God requires change to grow and dominate territories and you fighting change. Stop and yield to God’s will. God had to change Jacob’s walk because he would always fall back on his tricker conniving ways. In our case we go back to what we can control and handle in our mental capacity. God demands more from you and you are willing to settle for level that you have out grown. Quit being the man playing in the sand box. God demand change to dominate.

Lord teach me how to change my walk in You. Teach me how to walk in your foot prints (Psalm 25:12-22). God has to change Jacob’s name from that supplants, undermines; the heel. To Israel who prevails with God. God has already empowered you but you could not handle the power until you change (2 Corinthians 4:1-7).

Where God needed Jacob to be interiorly required the wrestling. What is happening to you interiorly is for the next level of greatness.

Lord change my walk to embrace Your will for me.

Lord change my talk to embrace Your authority in me.

Lord change my heart to love like You.

Lord change my sight to see answers and not always the problem.

Lord change my thinking to have Your mind about matters. The interior struggles come to change the image of how you see God. How you see God will be how you serve God. The interior struggles come how you see yourself what you give God and others. The interior struggles come to teach you how to balance what others think about you and what you think about yourself. Please stop saying you don’t care. All people like need affirmation, acknowledgement and celebration.

Lord teach me to balance the interior struggles for the elevation for exterior issue coming that You want me to dominate. Now walk like Israel because Jacob is no more.

Reading assignment Proverbs 2, Acts 3-6