The word, compel, may seem inappropriate to use in the title. However, I think that you will find it justifiable before the end of this text.

Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, said in John 14:26, “. . . the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” I found that to be true especially during one of the most turbulent times of my life. He taught me with examples from the Old and New Testaments how to compel our Heavenly Father, the Almighty and Sovereign LORD, to bless when what I needed defied logic. (See Miraculous Experiences in the iFrame above.)

What we must remember of the New Testament is that according to Matthew 1:23 Jesus is Emmanuel; the incarnated Almighty God [of the Old Testament] with us today. And, herein is Biblical evidence that we may not get our “blessings” if we don’t know how to compel Him to bless us. However, I am careful to NEVER tell Him how to answer because He knows what I need before I pray and He knows how to answer, which compelling Him causes Him to do.

jacob-wrestling-angelI will begin where the Holy Spirit began teaching me this astonishing lesson. It’s one of the memorable stories in the Old Testament: Jacob wrestling with an angel.

I would presume to say that like me you have probably read it and heard it numerous times: Sunday school classes, youth group settings, and general Bible classes. It’s not a lengthy story: it’s only six verses but a powerful lesson.

The Bible references are from the King James Version because that is what I was reading when the Holy Ghost/Spirit gave me this incredible and epic experience.

Genesis 32:24-29:

  1. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man [an angel] with him until the breaking of the day.
  2. And when he [the angel] saw that he prevailed not against him [Jacob], he [the Angel] touched the hollow of his [Jacob’s] thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him [the angel].
  3. And he [the angel] said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he [Jacob] said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
  4. And he [the angel] said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
  5. And he [the angel] said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
  6. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

This time while reading this account the Holy Ghost began to speak to my spirit. In the process, He asked two questions. The first one was, how is it that the angel was strong enough to knock Jacob’s hip out of joint but DID NOT have the strength to break his hand grip? Needless to say, it didn’t make sense for the angel to do what required enormous strength but was not strong enough to do what required less strength: it’s illogical.

The hip joints are the largest joints in the human body. It would take an enormous trauma (severe impact, a hard fall, automobile accident, and etc.) to dislocate a hip joint whereas it would not require nearly that amount of force to break a hand grip. Thus, I had no logical explanation as to why the angel was strong enough to knock Jacob’s hip out of joint but DID NOT have the strength to break his hand grip. It just didn’t make sense!

The second question was regarding the phrase, “power with God”, i. e., how is it that the angel told Jacob that he had power with God and Jacob NEVER performed a miracle? The phrase, “power with God”, is usually ascribed to a person that God uses to perform miracles, which occasionally occur today: physical healing, exorcisms, instant deliverance from substance abuse, and etc. I therefore wondered what Jacob ever did that warranted the phrase being descriptive of him?

My mind was in this short time in overload; totally perplexed. While in this state the Holy Spirit again spoke to my mind and said, “look up the identity of the angel”. As many times as I have heard teachers/ministers talk about this scenario with Jacob and the angel, I have never once heard any reference to the identity of the angel. I also knew that if the angel’s identity was not in the Bible, I would not have been instructed to research it: simple logic.

Given that the Angel told Jacob that his name would be Israel I began searching the Bible for where an angel could speak of his own volition without stating authorization from God. I found nothing.

I then began to search for other references that referenced Jacob’s encounter with the angel. I found Hosea 12:3-4, “He [Jacob] took his [twin] brother [Esau] by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel , and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him [God] . . .”

Grammar teaches that what follows a colon explains what precedes it. I therefore began to wonder if the angel in vs. 4 whom Jacob had power over was actually a manifestation of God in vs 3. Then I wondered if God ever came to earth in an Angelic form and spoke with the authority of being God.

I subsequently found Isaiah 63:9, “In all their affliction [the Hebrews’ enslavement in Egypt] he was afflicted [was grieved], and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” This verse implies that the pronouns, “he” and “his”, referred to God because the “he” is the one that subsequently carried them. If so, then God came to the Hebrews’ rescue in Angelic form. This is substantiated in Exodus 23:20-21:

  1. “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
  2. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name [Jehovah] is in Him.

Note that in Genesis 32:29 Jacob asked the angel His name. The angel’s reply contained the words, “my name”, which indicated that He did have a name: God’s name. But, the Angel did not tell Jacob what it was and asked him why he wanted to know it.

The two references caused me to revisit the account of Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:2-6:

  1. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
  2. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
  3. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
  4. And he said, draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
  5. Moreover he [the angel of the Lord] said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

I don’t ever remember anyone stressing the point or associating the angel of the Lord to being the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. But, here the angel of the Lord clearly identified himself as that God.

The New Testament reiterates that the angel of the Lord was God in the burning bush in Exodus 3:

Acts 7:30-32

  1. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
  2. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
  3. Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

Now note that in Judges 2:1 what the angel of the Lord did, “And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.” The question here is, can an angel make a covenant and furthermore sware to keep it WITHOUT once indicating his authorization from God? Let’s look at Who made the covenant, Genesis 17:1-8:

  1. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
  2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
  3. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
  4. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
  5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
  6. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
  7. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
  8. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

Genesis 17:1 settles any question as to Who made the covenant in Judges 2:1 and therefore proves that God (within the mystery of His Sovereign Being) assumed an Angelic form and occasionally visited earth.

Now let’s deal with Genesis 32:28 where the Angel said to Jacob, “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men”. Let’s focus on Jacob’s influence on men first.

Prior to this experience with the Angel, Jacob was hungary and therefore conned his twin, Esau, who was the older of the two, into forfeiting his birthright for some food. Note the reference in Genesis 25:30-33:

  1. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
  2. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
  3. And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
  4. Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Genesis 29:13-31:21 accounts for Jacob going to live with his uncle, Laban. He ultimately married Labans two daughters: Rachel and Leah. Jacob lived with Leban for 15 years and was cheated out of wages for the duration.

Upon Jacob’s plan to return to his home land, he makes and agreement with Laban wherein Jacob’s wages for the years of labor would be to take the speckled sheep and goats and brown lambs and Laban would keep the solid color animals. But, Jacob’s advantage was that he knew how to cause the sheep to be born speckled.

Jacob therefore took greater care of his herds making them more in number and healthier that Laban’s herds. Jacob consequently became wealthier than Laban and returned to his homeland with more than he had at his departure.

The scenarios with Esau and Laban are the only two in which Jacob ever had power with/over men. This is what the Angel with whom he wrestled referred to in saying that Jacob had power with men.

It has so far been established that the Angel was a manifestation of God. It has also been shown how Jacob had power with men. Now it’s back to the first question: “how is it that the Angel was strong enough to knock Jacob’s hip out of joint but DID NOT have the strength to break his hand grip?

The Holy Ghost gave me an astounding answer. As the idiom says, it nearly knocked me out of my chair.

The Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit and said, “God may act as if He is not going to answer you, i.e., bless you. But, He does not have the strength (as it were) to brake away from you when you are holding onto Him for a blessing.”

That certainly sounded logical and good but I wanted to be sure it was the Holy Ghost and not my imagination. Therefore, my next thought was recalling the prophesy concerning Jesus in Matthew 1:23, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Given that Jesus was the incarnation of the unchangeable God of the Old Testament He must have exhibited the same character in the New Testament as exhibited when incarnated as an angel and wrestling with Jacob. And, given that Jesus was/is the Son of God I thought of the idiom, “like father like son.

The Holy Ghost then caused me to remember the scenario of Jesus and the Syrophoenician (Greek) woman whose daughter had a demon as recorded in the Gospels written by Matthew and Mark. In this account is the likeness of Jesus (God in the New Testament) to Jehovah (God of the Old Testament). Let’s look at Mark’s account first:

Ref: Mark 7:24-26

  1. And from thence he [Jesus] arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
  2. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
  3. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician [descendants of Noah’s son, Ham] by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

The only point to be made in Mark’s account is that this woman came to Jesus because of reputation. I therefore wanted to know what she could have heard and proceeded to do a little research to see how many miracles Jesus had already performed. It was 27. How many of those the woman heard about is impossible to know and it doesn’t matter. But, she heard enough to be convinced that He could help her daughter.

Matthew recorded a more detailed version of the same story in which he reveals the likeness of New Testament Jesus to Old Testament Jehovah . . . Matthew 15:22-28:

  1. And, behold, a woman of Canaan [descendants of Noah’s son, Ham] came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
  2. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
  • Just imagine that the compassionate Jesus rejects her by ignoring her. (There is no sound in the world like that of the voice of a helpless mother pleading for her child. But still, Jesus exhibited a cold-hearted uncompassionate man by ignoring this desperate mother’s plea.)
  1. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel [descendants of Noah’s son, Shem].
  • This is where I actually made the “time-out” sign with my hands as the Holy Ghost spoke to my spirit and I said, “stop . . . time out . . . overload”. I then quoted to God John 3:16 where Jesus said that God so loved the world, not God so loved the Jew. So then, I asked how does this loving Jesus reject this desperate mother pleading for her child by telling her that He did not come for the Canaanites, ONLY for the house of Israel . . . In other words, He came for His kind, not her kind. He sounded like an arrogant, pompous, and heartless racist. At that, the Holy Spirit told to keep reading.
  1. Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me.
  • In spite of Him denying her, jerking her around (as it were, like the angel did Jacob), she DID NOT give-up; her cause was too great. As Mark 7:25 explains why; she heard of Him and thereby knew that He could help her. But, by virtue of being desperate, she was not about to leave without obtaining help for her daughter: she was unrelenting.

NOTE: In worshiping Jesus, the woman did what Psalms 150:2 teaches, “Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.” She knew from what she had already heard of Him that He had greatness and could deliver her daughter from the demonic attack.

  1. But he answered and said, It is not meet [proper] to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
  • Jesus rejects this pleading mother’s desperation for her child the third time and humiliated her by implying her likeness to a dog [as racist Jews classified Canaanites].
  1. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

NOTE: In my imagination, the mother’s realized that she was the homemaker. She was therefore responsible for the laundry, house-cleaning, and cooking. She consequently knew from her experiences with baking that the same ingredients in the loaf were also in the crumbs. Thus, she knew that if she got enough crumbs she would have the benefit of having a part of the loaf.

  • Her need for His blessing caused her to debase herself by agreeing with Him that she is like a dog . . . “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
  1. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

NOTE: After being rejected by Jesus three times, her being relentless and worshiping Him is what guaranteed her blessing. Just as Jacob did with the Angel of the Lord, which was actually God, she refused to let go regardless to the pain from humiliation. Thus, she got her petition.

This scenario with Jesus occurred before He was crucified. However, after His resurrection the same characteristic of wanting to be compelled still exists. Note that in Luke 28 after the disciples visited the empty tomb at the urging of the women to see for themselves that He had risen, two of them, one named Cleopas, afterward started walking to a village called Emmaus.

They talked about the Lord’s death and His resurrection and He overtook them. But, He some how disguised Himself and they consequently didn’t recognize Him even after He joined in their conversation. Note the following verses:

  1. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
  2. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
  3. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
  4. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Note the wording in vs. 28, “he mad as though he would have gone further”. This suggest that Jesus was not going to go with them unless he was invited. Verse 29 says that they constrained him, i. e., compelled him and He went in to tarry with them.

We can conclude from Luke’s account also that compelling Jesus by being unrelenting gets a response from Him. But conversely, we must also remember that in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 8) the Hebrews compelled God to give them a king, which He wanted to be for them. But, they prevailed upon Him so much that He gave them Saul and before it was over they wanted God to take him back.

The conclusion is this. Do as the Apostle, Paul, taught in Philippians 4:6; “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer [worship] and supplication [praying for ones self] thanksgiving [for what He has already done and can do], let your requests be made known to God . . .” Continue to pray as long as the matter is not resolved. However, trust God’s love enough to say, “if it be Your will”. Don’t be like the Hebrews in the scenario of God giving them Saul to their own hurt.

The key to knowing if a request is in alignment with God’s will is a look at the miracles that Jesus did. They are conveniently listed in Wikipedia.org.

If it’s for an in increase in finances, See “About The Prayer of Jabez Not Working. If praying for healing, refer to “The Power Of Holy Communion“. I wrote the two blogs from lessons the Holy Spirit taught me on both subjects. But, DO NOT take me as the authority, validate them by the Bible.

Relative to praying for healing I remember my mother. She wore medium-high heel shoes to her 90th birthday dinner without having to be assisted in walking; only on stairways was she assisted. But, she looked about 70.

She had a heart attack about three months later. She was admitted to a hospital.

While I was sitting at home one evening while she was in the hospital, I was being realistic about her age. However, I remember praying and said to God, “Father, you promised us threescore and ten (70) and by a reason of health fourscore (80). Mother is 10 years past the four, but I am [emotionally] not ready for her go now.” Then I asked, “can I ask You for an extension on her life?”

I have never heard the audible voice of God but He does speak to my spirit. This setting was one in which God spoke to my spirit in a way that it was almost audible. His voice came toward me from the right side quoting Psalms 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” I will never forget that.

I knew at that instance that mother would not die then. God healed her and gave her four more healthy and strong years.

The last episode she had was not related to any previous illness. I again prayed for an extension on her life but it was as if I were in a vacuum in which there was no God in existence. Although I got emotional and prayed repeatedly, I knew in my heart that it was time for her to go because God’s presence would not come to me.

While out-and-about one day, I remember saying just above a whisper, “mother, it’s time for you to go back home now”. There was no emotional attachment to her as being my mother. It was as if I knew that we were two spirits that came from the same place and it was now time for her to go back.

That same day I went to various funeral homes to get estimates on funeral arrangements and to look at caskets. That day I decided on which facility would get her remains. She died the next morning, slept away peacefully to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

I deviated from the subject to say this. We have to learn to listen to that spirit-voice that speaks to a Christian’s spirit [psyche]. Spending time in private devotions and reading the Bible are unequivocally the ONLY ways to learn and know God’s voice and distinguish it from our imaginations.

Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice . . .” Therefore, believers can learn to recognize His voice. Just as sheep follow their shepherd, we must follow Jesus. We must demonstrate our dependency on Him.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. I am deeply convinced that He will not. But, I learned that He will not speak until it’s necessary because He IS NOT an entertainer. When He’s not speaking during adverse times I learned to worship Him by telling Him how great He is. I do this by enumerating to Him the blessings He has already given and thank for each one.

CONCLUSION

Jacob’s strength was his expectation of the angel blessing him. The Syrophoenician mother’s strength was her expectation of Jesus helping her. Otherwise, neither of them would have been persistent in spite of the physical and emotional wrestling: they refused to let go. We MUST have the same perseverance, which demonstrates our expectation and dependency and produces blessings.

Remember this, our God is NEVER LATE but seldom early. Be blessed!