Wrestle Me! A whole new approach to prayer...

Wrestle Me!

He's doesn't even weigh in at 40 pounds and he's challenging me to 'wrestle' him. I'm over 200 pounds with a 'Hit-Man' trophy from my high-school glory days as a Middle Linebacker and Tail Back on the football team. I'm a trained assassin on the gridiron and here's this little rug-rat challenging me to wrestle him!

You know what I do? I wrestle him and I let him win most of the time, because I want him to ask me again and again and again...

He's the youngest of my three children and his older brother and sister will tell you right away that he's the most 'spoiled' of the bunch. They'll whine that he gets whatever he wants and that it'sreally not fair at all. And, I'd have to admit that they're mostly right. You see, I'm a better daddy today than I was when I started this daddy business. I know what to worry about and what to let go, what's major and what's minor. And, most of all, I know that the time to 'wrestle' this little guy will quickly zoom past like my glory days of High School Football. So, I wrestle every chance I get and I love it!

God likes to wrestle, too. (check it out in Genesis 32:24-30)

You see, the Bible tells us that we can boldly come to the God at the Throne of Grace because we are His cherished children.

This verse from Hebrews 4:16 is so powerful I thought I'd let you see it from a couple of different views...

From the Message Bible: So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

From the New Living Translataion: So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.

From the New International Version: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Prayer is, at it's most basic level, just coming before Him like a small child and saying 'wrestle me'. Or, 'pick me up and carry me', or 'can I please have a cookie', or sometimes just throwing a temper tantrum because we know He'll still love us.

Prayer is letting it all hang out before our Great Father in Heaven who loves us more than our earthly parents ever could. Sure, there are deeper forms of prayer and more complicated explanations and better theology. But, for many of us it's been so long since we've talked to Him at all; that perhaps, it's okay to come to him like a child coming to his daddy and simply ask for what we want.

You might just be surprised that he's just itching to throw you upon a bunch of pillows and wrestle you and roll around and giggle with you for a little while. I choose to believe that the things I enjoy most are really just shadows of how God designed life to be lived. That they are echoes of creation waiting in the wings to come bursting out like leaves on a maple tree in the springtime.

When He returns and makes all things right I think there's gonna be a whole lot of laughin and giggling goin on.

So, let us take our prayers to our Father - our Abba (daddy) Father who loves us with a perfect love.

I hope this helps you pray more simply and more often.

Just start the conversation with God and let it go on all day.

Here's what Paul has to say in Ephesians 6:18-20 (New LivingTranslation) about praying all the time...Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. 19And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too. 20 I am in chains now for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.

Wanna wrestle? Just ask.

Have a great day,

Jeff Fuson

Would you like to receive more spiritual encouragement like this? You may want to get the whole THIRST Challenge series. Two steps to sign up to receive theseries: 1. Send a blank email to thirstchallenge@aweber.com 2. Watch for the confirmation email comong back from me and then click the link in that message to confirm your subsrcription.

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p.s. If you are a 'rising leader' who's excited about advancing the Kingdom of God, then you need to RUN to Rising Leader Alliance.com and splash around a lot! Join the community, sign up for FUEL, grab some cool tools, maybe even post your story so that other leaders will be inspired by what God is doing in your life!

p.p.s. If you lead an organization that could use an ENERGY INJECTION then consider bringing me in to do a Custom Crafted Training Experience for you. I'm launching some very cool Adventure Training and Action Learning Experiences that you and your team could benefit from. Drop an email to me and we can talk more.

p.p.p.s. Host a Daddy Power (tm) Event at your church to encourage the Dads in your congregation to excel at their most important task -- being 'DADDY'. Drop me a email to learn more.

p.p.p.p.s. Okay last one! Feel FREE to distribute this content as long as you pass it along in it's entirety with all links in place pointing to original urls. Give credit where credit is due and use this to build other people up. Thanks for playing and thanks for passing this along. Jeff Fuson