RADICAL PRAYER
THIS MESSAGE ON RADICAL PRAYER WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Genesis 32
21 So Jacob's giftsS ver 13 went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. 21 Ge 33:10; Pr 21:14
21 22
22 Jacob Wrestles With God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sonsS Ge 30:24 and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.Nu 21:24Dt 2:37; 3:16Jos 12:2 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.S Ge 26:14 24 So Jacob was left alone,Da 10:8 and a manS Ge 18:2 wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hipver 32 so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
26 But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."Hos 12:4 26 Hos 12:4
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?"
27 "Jacob,"S Ge 25:26 he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your nameIsa 1:26; 56:5; 60:14; 62:2,4,12; 65:15 will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[a] Israel means he struggles with God.S Ge 17:535:101Ki 18:31 because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."S Ge 30:8 28 Ge 17:5; 35:10
29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."Ex 3:13; 6:3Jdg 13:17 29 Jdg 13:17
29 But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?"Jdg 13:18 Then he blessedGe 25:1135:948:3 him there. 29 Ge 35:9
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[b] Peniel means face of God. saying, "It is because I saw God face to face,S Ge 16:131Co 13:12Ex 24:11Nu 12:8Jdg 6:2213:22 and yet my life was spared." 30 Ge 16:13; Ex 24:11; Jdg 6:22
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,[c] Hebrew Penuel, a variant of PenielJdg 8:9 and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip,ver 25 because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon. 32 ver 25The church has many organisers, but few agonizers; many who pay, but few who pray; many resters, but few wrestlers; many who are enterprising, but few who are interceding… Tithes build a church, but tears will give it life. That is the difference between the modern church and the early church. In the matter of effective praying, never have so many left so much to so few’.
Are you a prayer? Are you a wrestler? Are you an interceder? We need to be a church, and we need to be a people who are serious about prayer. Who are serious about grappling with God over the bigger issues of this world. We need to be a church that starts praying some pretty radical prayers.
What is radical prayer? ‘The word radical comes from the Latin radix which means root. That means that radical prayer goes straight to the root of the issues. Radical prayer refuses to let us stay on the fringes of life’s great issues. Floating around on the surface so to speak. Never getting too involved in the things that really matter. It dares to believe that things can be different. Its aim is the total transformation of persons, institutions and societies. Radical prayer, you see, is prophetic’ (Richard Foster – ‘Prayer finding the hearts true home’)
Now listen to this – this is important - Radical prayer enables God to change the world--through you. Did you get that? Radical prayer enables God to change the world--through you.
- Radical Prayer challenges the status quo
And that’s exactly what Jacob did. Faced with the hostility of his brother, faced with certain death – he got on his knees and he held God to his promises. Gen 32:9-12 ‘ Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ’Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this
When he was wrestling with God what do you think he meant when he said ‘I will not let you go until you bless me’. He’s not talking about prosperity, he’s
not talking about God giving him more wealth – anyone who can give as a gift 220 goats, 220 sheep, 30 camels, 40 cows, 10 bulls, and 30 donkeys has enough wealth. Jacob wants to be blessed by being reconciled with his brother.
‘Look God... you said. Look God... you promised, and now I’m not going to let you go until it happens’! That’s pretty radical eh! And what has God promised for us? What should the reality of this world be?
Jesus standing in the synagogue said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor..." "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
That’s the promise of God. Let me just paraphrase it in a slightly different way. I have been empowered to share good news with the economically and spiritually poor. It is the good news of holistic salvation. For those with a broken heart, I have come to bind up your wounds and redeem your suffering and make you whole again. I have come to set the captives free, those who are downtrodden and oppressed, those who are distressed in spirit, who are mourning, I am here to comfort, deliver, and redeem you. Those who are struggling with poverty of soul, Spirit, and cannot fill the empty place inside, though they have tried everything, I have come to give you life again. (Isaiah 61:1-3 rephrase)
That’s Gods promise for the world! But is it the reality that we see all around us?
Radical prayer calls us to speak out in spiritual defiance of the world as it is
‘Radical prayer is impertinent, persistent, shameless, unbecoming. It is more like haggling in an outdoor bazaar than the polite monologues of our churches’. Like Abraham we bargain with God over the fate of the city (Gen 18). Like Moses we argue with God over the fate of the people (Ex 32). Like Esther we plead with God over the fate of the nation (Es 4).
In Acts 16 there’s the story of Paul and Silas in prison. They had been beaten, they had been thrown in jail, but they weren’t defeated. They didn’t sit around in chains and say ‘that’s it, we’re done for, it’s time to give up’. They didn’t moan and groan. They didn’t just accept the status quo. The Bible says, they prayed. Right there in that dark, damp, smelly prison, wrapped in chains – they prayed and their prayers challenged the status quo. Their prayers challenged the ‘what was’.
That brings me to point number 2 – Radical prayer challenges and changes the status quo. Jacob wasn’t prepared to accept the status quo, he wasn’t prepared to go forward with the mentality of ‘que sera sera, whatever will be will be’. He said, ‘things can be different, things will be different’. And that night the most famous and perhaps the most bizarre wrestling match in all of history
- took place. That night Jacob wrestled with God. He took God to task and held him to his promises, held him to his word. ‘I will not let you go until you do what you promised, I will not let you go until you keep your word, I will not let you go until you bless me’.
And while Jacob wrestled with God in prayer something quite remarkable happened. As Jacob prayed over here – something changed over there. While Jacob was praying here – a change was happening in his brother Esau over there. How do we know that? Well in Gen 32:6 it says that when the messengers returned they said, ‘we went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him’ – fearing for his life Jacob gets on his knees and pleads with God, wrestles with God until God blesses him – and then in Chapter 33 it says, ‘Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men... (verse 4) Esau ran to meet Jacob and (killed him – NO) embraced him. He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.’
You see, while Jacob was praying here – a change was happening in his brother Esau over there. He went from being an angry, vengeful, spiteful, hate filled person to a loving, caring, forgiving brother. Radical prayer doesn’t only challenge the status quo – it changes the status quo.
- Be careful what you pray for – you might just get it – and it usually costs
And that brings me to point number 3. When it comes to radical prayer you need to be careful what you pray for – you might just get it – and it might just come at a cost.
Jacob wrestled with God. He challenged the status quo and through his praying he changed the status quo – but it came at a cost. Verse 25, ‘When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man’. Why couldn’t God overpower Jacob? Because Jacob was holding him to his word, to his promises that’s why. God has to be faithful to his promises. Verse 31, ‘Jacob called the place Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip’.
Jacob spent the rest of his life limping wherever he went – because of the radical prayer he prayed that night. His prayer was answered, the status quo was changed – but it came at a personal cost. So I say, be careful what you pray for – you might just get it – and it usually comes at a cost.
I’ve finished. But let me just ask you. Do you believe in prayer? Do you really believe that prayer changes things? Or is prayer for you just some kind of ritual that you go through. Some kind of religious act you do because thats what you think you should do.
A true story is told about a small town that had historically been "dry," but then a local businessman decided to build a pub. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask
- God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The pub owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not."
It reminds me of the story when Peter was in prison in Acts 12 and it says that the church was
earnestly praying to God for him. And an angel appeared to him and helped him escape – so he
made his way to the house where the people were praying for him knocked on the door – and it
says, ‘a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" "You’re out of your mind," they told her.
How often are we just like that. We pray and we pray, but we never really believe that our prayers will achieve anything. Do you believe in prayer? Do you believe?
God bless you and claim your blessing
Narender bhatia
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