Through various people I have talked to over the past week, as well as searching my own heart, I see a common place that believers are brought to and have a huge choice to make. This would be, therefore, a defining moment.

We often tie defining moments as to sports games, such as the “Immaculate Reception” by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, or historical moments, such as the breakdown of communist Russia and infamous words of former President Ronald Reagan “tear down this wall,” or Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. These are defining moments.

But what makes them defining moments? Usually the moment involves an underdog, a decision, extreme opposition, or a group in need of a leader. Simply put, a crossroad, where a decision made will change the course of events and in turn have large affects, close to home and abroad.

So what about these defining moments in our walk with God? As I mentioned earlier, I have talked with a handful of people who, just this past week, are at what you would call a crossroad. A point in life where God is calling you to lay everything down, to set aside your own ambitions and dreams, and make a choice. Am I willing to sacrifice everything and walk into the unknown, where Jesus is? Am I truly desiring God to take hold of everything? What if it’s not what I want? But how can God use me, I’m not even at a “spiritual mountaintop.” Emotions can run high with this moment, with fear as to whats to come, or anger with the old person, struggling to come to grips with what’s ahead. This leads us to one of the most intense struggles in life: the wrestle between spirit and flesh. Between God’s plans and my own. Basically, between my ways, or God’s highways.

It can be frustrating, scary, and all-together nerve-racking to be in the place. I know. I’ve been there. But how about this perspective: God has brought you to the place where He is asking you for everything. He knows your heart. You’ve prayed it for years. You want to do God’s will in life and truly serve Him. Great! God has been hearing that prayer from you, and now is the time He wants to use you and take you into the next season in Him. He wants you. He knows you can do it. But it is going to require everything. Laying down yourself so that all you have left is knowing Jesus has complete control over your life, and you are willing to do what He desires, and that alone. What a beautiful opportunity! Yet in this season, we wrestle so much, making the decision difficult. But, guess what?! Count it joy that God is working in you, and has you at this place. Some people may never reach such a crossroad in their Christian walk, but God has brought you to this very place. How humbling to know that! How much praise needs brought forth to God! This is taking the Scripture straight to heart that states “consider it joy when corrected by God”1 and “When troubles come, consider it joy!”2

Well my friends, this I would say is a defining moment. And I want to look at one individual in the Bible who had this very encounter with God, and a defining, lifechanging moment.

Let’s look at the encounter Jacob had with God (Genesis 32:22-30):

 ²² During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. ²³ After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

 ²⁴ This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. ²⁵ When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

   But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

 ²⁷ “What is your name?” the man asked.

   He replied, “Jacob.”

 ²⁸ “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel,^[c] because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

 ²⁹ “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.

   “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

 ³⁰ Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” ³¹ The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel,^[d] and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. ³² (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)

Jacob literally wrestled with God. Isn’t that how we feel sometimes when we are at a crossroads in our walk? We wrestle with God, throwing all the “what if’s” and “I cant’s” at Him, all a while He is trying to refine, mold, and shape us!

Look at what happened. The man (angel of God) that Jacob wrestled with touched his hip and sent it out of place. From that defining moment, Jacob walked with a limp. Check it out - his walk was not the same - he knew God had touched him, and only after that, could he continue in what he was called to. It changed his walk forever.

See guys, that’s what these defining, life-changing moments result in us, if we allow them to - changing our walk with God forever. God will touch us, direct us, and guide us, so that as we continue in walking with Him, and doing what we are called to, it was and is only by His power, and His changing us that brought us through to the next level. This in fact, will change your life forever.

God desires a people who serve Him because they love Him, and He uses those who are willing to give up everything for Him. So if you are at a defining moment in your life (and just to be clear - this “moment” can be an entire season!), allow God to work. Trust your ENTIRE life over to His hands, and watch your path unfold and develop in ways none of us could ever imagine. We want God’s impact felt in our lives and through our lives. The only way we can feel that and for it to last is to encounter God Himself - even to the point of wrestling.