Last week, we learned that we must face uncertainty with unwavering confidence and faith in God. Let's be people who follow God's leading, who remember his kindness to us in the past, who pray to him (specficially) for our concerns and fears, and who review his promises to us for the future.

How do you make a new habit or way of thinking stick? One key is to build into your environment reminders of the changes you are trying to make. Because we have an ongoing tendency toward self-sufficiency, we need reminders of our need to completely depend on God. Please turn to Genesis 32.

In Growing Strong in the Christian Life, Chuck Swindoll described how he was on a flight in 1968. The landing gear failed to open, so they prepared for an emergency landing. Just before they landed, the pilot came on the air and said, "We are beginning our final descent. At this moment, in accordance with International Aviation Codes established at Geneva, it is my obligation to inform you that if you believe in God you should commence prayer“ ("Final Descent ... Commence Prayer,” p.273). (The plan landed safely.)

When are you most inclined to cry out to God in full and complete dependence? When you are facing something you can't handle. But as we live our lives, we feel that there are alot of circumstances and situations that we can handle. And its only when things go out of control that we cry out to God in complete dependence.

Yes, we know we are supposed to “have faith.” Jacob knew that, too. Except he forgot. Everyday. And so do we. Jacob had always been a “help-himself” kind of guy, as in “God helps those who help themselves.” Jacob had some times of great faith, but also many times when either fear or self-confidence edged faith out.

In Genesis 32:1-2, Jacob received a reminder of God's presence by the angels at Mahanaim. In vss. 3-8, Jacob received a report that caused fear – Esau was coming with 400 men. In vss. 9-12, Jacob rightly responds with prayer and faith. But in vss. 13-21, Jacob attempted to appease his brother Esau with very generous gifts and by taking the posture of a servant and calling Esau lord (as though Jacob was trying to give back the blessing he had received, that God intended for him to have).

Even the appearance of angels were not enough to motivate Jacob to continually remember he needed to and could trust God! Even having the full word of God, and even having the Spirit of the living God live in us, we still forget to trust God fully and completely in everything. And when we forget, we live lives that are ineffective and frustrating.

B. By reflecting on times when God miraculously intervened, both to bring about joyful circumstances, and to deliver you in painful circumstances. Are you keeping any kind of record in your life of times when God showed up in mighty ways?

D. L. Moody was told how, in the Highlands of Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they couldn’t get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they can’t jump back again, and the shepherd hears them bleating in distress. They may be there for days, until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will wait until they are so faint they cannot stand, and then they will put a rope around him, and he will go over and pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death. Moody asked, “Why don’t they go down there when the sheep first gets there?” “Ah!” his friend said, “they are so very foolish they would dash right over the precipice and be killed if they did!” (Moody’s Anecdotes, pp. 70-71). God had to bring Jacob to the end of his resources, so Jacob would trust him completely.

Jacob met God in a wrestling match at the border of the Promised Land. Jacob fought heard, and it was a situation in which he could not use his usual methods of winning (deception and schemes). He simply had to fight head-on. And he was not overpowered, until his competitor dislocated his hip. Then Jacob, realizing his competitor was greater than he, begged or prayed for a blessing. And that is why he prevailed.

A necessary part of Jacob's preparation to meet Esau and enter the Promised Land was that he be broken to the point of complete dependence on God. He was not permitted to re-enter the land God the way he was – he needed to be a changed man. Jacob entered a brand new day, and a new chapter in his life, but he went with a limp, a reminder of his need to trust God.

For Jacob (and for Paul), God used an obvious instance of physical weakness to help him remember to trust God and face his fears with confidence. That is how Jacob (and Paul) would experience the greatest power. Jesus said, “apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Let the pain and weakness in your life (past, present, and future) serve as everyday reminders of your need to always rely fully on God. Rick Warren wrote, “I believe great churches are built on broken people. Brokenness - a willingness to abandon our pride, our pretensions, and our self-righteous posturing - is the prerequisite to God’s blessing on our lives and our congregations. Jesus said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 5:3 NIV). When we reach the end of our rope and give up our self-sufficiency, that is when God moves into our lives with healing and growth.” ("Celebrate Recovery" Outline, 6-2002, Pastors.com email).