The intersection of your desire and God’s perfect will could be the outcome of persistent prayers.

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Genesis 32:26.

Persistence is challenging but rewarding. It means to keep on seeking, asking and knocking, until you get the answer.

In the most nervous and critical time of his life, Jacob wrestled with God all through the night. He was afraid, confused, left alone. After wrestling all night, the man said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” The man who wrestled with Jacob was none other than God because Jacob said in verse 30 after the whole night wrestling, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Beloved, God wants us to wrestle in prayer. God likes persistent prayers. Jesus gave two parables to highlight the need for persistent prayer, and they are recorded in Luke 18 and Luke 11. Luke 18 shows the example of a persistent widow, and Luke 11 the example of a persistent friend. Both have the same lesson. The need for perseverance in prayers. Jesus gave these parables to teach them they should always pray and not give up.
Beloved, do you know, persistent prayer or wrestling in prayer achieves God’s plan and our best satisfaction in the end. Beloved, you may have been praying for a matter for a long time. Still, God has not answered your prayer the way you wanted. You see, if God always instantly answers your prayers, the whole process is not different from Mcdonald’s drive-thru experience. You only think about your hunger and the burger. You neither think about the work goes behind the window nor the cook. You are concerned only about your hunger. God wants you to think about Him, who approves your prayers.

The one who blesses is more important than the blessings. When you do not get answers to your prayers, God wants to pray always and not give up. Persistent, wrestling prayer focuses the attention on God. Not just on the matter, you are praying. God wants you to focus on Him.

Secondly, God wants to answer your prayers, but you are not ready for what you ask. If God answers your prayer before you are prepared for it, it will not only not do good for you but also could harm you. Furthermore, God’s purpose would not be fulfilled. When you are persistent in prayer or wrestling in prayer, God eventually makes you ready for the answer. It may take time to make you prepared for what God has in mind in answering your prayer.

Thirdly, Persistent prayer prepares you internally for spiritual growth. It transforms you for God’s callings and purposes. When you are persistent and wrestle in prayer, and as you eagerly wait for his answer, you are going to understand more about God and his desires. This is amazing. You pray for your specific needs. In the process, you know God and his desires better, resulting in your transformation and preparation for God’s will. Is this not what happened to Jacob?

Beloved, what was the last time you prayed like Jacob? “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Wrestling took all night. However, in the process, Jacob was transformed into a brand new person. He became the person whom God wants him to be. The deceiving, lying, manipulating life became his history. Through it, Jacob said he saw God face to face. Your persistent wrestling prayer has the same potential – to see God face to face. Jacob was stepping into God’s high calling in the eternal plan. The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel.” Once a deceiver changed into the prince of God.

Your prayers not answered yet? Continue your persistent prayer, always pray, not give up. Do not lose heart in it. In both of Jesus’s parables of persistent prayers were subsequently answered because they continued knocking and did not quit. Your prayer will not go unanswered. However, in the process of persistent and wrestling prayers, most probably, may I tell you God has a bigger, wider, and better answer than you ever imagined in your life. Jacob wrestled because he was fearful and nervous of his brother, Esau. He did not know how to face his brother. However, God had a bigger, broader, and better plan in His mind. A nation, Israel, birthed out of his name while he wrestled with God and continued with it by saying, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Ephesians 3:20 says this about God, “him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..”

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, I believe you have a bigger, wider, and better plan that I can not fathom in my mind. As I continue seeking you in prayer, may I know you and your desires are better and deeper in fashion? Lord, as you are getting ready to answer my prayer, transform me to your will and plan so that your will and my desire will intersect and bring glory to you. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.”