Pastor Rick Warren (0:02)

Hey, everyone. It's so great to have you with us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are going to continue our very encouraging series today called Life's Healing Choices. And in these lessons, Rick Warren will guide us through a deep biblical exploration of how to overcome the hurts, hangups and habits that really hold us back. So get ready for some practical insights and powerful truths that can lead to lasting change and freedom in your life. I'm so excited to hear what Rick has to say in part two of a message called the Transformation Choice.

Pastor Rick Warren (0:40)

Phase one, conflict with others. Phase two, struggle with God. Crisis with God. Phase three is commitment. And in phase three, I finally cry uncle. And I commit to God's changes. I commit to God's changes. And I hang on and I hold on and I don't give up. But I say I am going to go with God's plan if it kills me. I'm going down, God, I'm going to go your way because I want you to help me change. I want you to bless my life. Notice the next verse in this unusual wrestling match between God and a man. It says, then the man that's God said, let go. Let me go. For it is dawn. They've been wrestling all night. Instead of Dancing with the Stars, he's wrestling with the God. But Jacob panted. I mean, he's out of breath. I won't let you go unless you bless me. This is phase three, commitment. I commit to God's change. Okay, God, I'm serious about this change. You got to help me. I'm not going to go on in this marriage the way it's going on. I can't get out of it. I can't get on with it. I'm not going to go on with this habit. I can't get out of it. I can't get on with it. I'm not going to go with this way in a relationship or this career. I want your blessing in my life. And he says, God, I won't let go until you bless me. Do you hear the passion in that? God loves passionate praying. He hates the kind of prayer. Oh, dear God, would you kind of sort of please help me? If you get a spare moment, help me out if it's not too hard on you. Now, what God loves is passion. Pray God, I am not letting go until you help me. I have got to get help. Help. I'm not letting go till you bless me. That's commitment. Now Jacob has moved to step three, the commitment choice. And we looked at that in week Three consciously choose to commit all my life and my will to Christ's care and control. And nothing's going to happen in your life till you get to step three. Now I want you to notice on the verse there before on your outline, it said, let me go for it's dawn circle. It is dawn. They had been wrestling for hours now. Why is that?

Rick Warren (3:25)

Think about this.

Pastor Rick Warren (3:26)

He's wrestling God. God could have overpowered him. Boom, just like that. Why is God letting this thing go on? You ever thought about this? Have you ever thought about, you know, God obviously has the answer to every one of your prayers. Why doesn't he just give it to you the first time you act for God? I need this. Boom, it's there. Why does he let it go on till dawn? Why is there always a delay to your prayers? Why is there always a struggle? Why does God let it go on? God could have ended it. He could have put a full nelson on him right then, said, it's over. But he wrestles with him. He limits himself and wrestles with Jacob until dawn. What's he doing? He lets the struggle go on. Why doesn't God answer your prayers immediately? Well, there's a couple reasons. One, he wants to know if you're really serious. There's a difference between a desire and whim. When you have little preschoolers, you learn this. Go into a grocery store, daddy, can I have this? No, they forget it. Daddy, can I have this? No, getting it now. But if they keep saying it over and over, it's not a whim, it's a desire. And God says, I don't answer whims. If you don't care about praying about it more than once, it's a whim. It's not a desire, it's a whim. So God wants to see if you really mean business. The second reason God waits is God is not a vending machine. The vending machine will give you things that can harm you, that can kill you, give you cigarettes, all kinds of stuff that'll kill you. God is not a vending machine where you put in the prayer and you plug it. He did. God doesn't serve you, you serve him. God is not your genie. And prayer is not where you rub the bottle and whatever you your wish is my command. You serve God, not God serve you. And if God answered every one of your prayers instantly, you would be the most self centered person anybody. Remember the movie Bruce Almighty? When all of a sudden he was given the ability to get anything he prayed for instantly. He just gets it and he's ruining the world. But here's the real reason why God lets the struggle go on. When you're saying, God, I need help in this area, you know the mess you're in right now, you didn't get into it instantly. It took you years to get as screwed up as you are. You didn't just make one bad choice, you made a lot of bad choices, a lot of them. And so God has to peel the onion one layer at a time. You're not. You don't build a problem in your life for 20 years and then instant end it with a pillow. I can't tell you how many times I've been on the patio, somebody come up to me and say, you know, Pastor Rick, they start sharing a problem they've got in their marriage or whatever and I'm listening to them. I say, yeah, yeah, that's tough. And they want me to give them an answer right then that will solve the problem. How long have you had this problem? Well, let's see, we've been married 19 years. You want me to solve it on the patio in 30 seconds? That's a little unrealistic. You got into the problem in a long time and you're not going to get out of it. And so we're going to see how long. Now let me give you advice in phase three, because this is if you're serious about letting God change your life in the commitment phase, you've got to hang on, you've got to hold on. You don't give up until God's blessing you. You don't just say, God, save my marriage and you pray at one time and then, well, I'm giving up. I'm getting a divorce. Many people, let me just rephrase that. Most people miss God's best because they give up too soon. They don't make it to dawn. They give up in the struggle. So forget it. It isn't worth it. I'm giving up on this dream. I'm giving up on this relationship. I'm giving up on this change. I will never be able to change. Don't do it. Stay with phase three, commitment. I commit to God's change in me. I'm not letting go until you bless me. Recovery is a process. Healing is a process. It's not a one time event. Growth is a process. It's not a one time event. And the Bible says this in the commitment stage, do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness to be used for sinning. Instead, here's what you do. You give yourself completely to God. That's the commitment phase. Since you have been given new life and use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of. Of God. And that takes us to the next phase. Phase four. Phase one, crisis. I mean, conflict with others. Phase two, crisis with God. Phase three, commitment to change. Phase four, confession. I admit I am the problem. Not my husband, not me. I mean, not my friends, not my mom, not my dad, not my kids. I am the problem in me. Other people have their problems, but I am my own biggest problem. And this is the breakthrough step. Phase four, confession. We talked about this last week. And in the confession phase, I admit I openly examine and confess my faults to God. Now, this, as I said, is the breakthrough phrase. Notice how it happened in Jacob's life. He's wrestling with God. And it says, then the man that's God asked him, what is your name? Jacob. He answered, now, what an unusual, strange request. They're wrestling all night in the middle of the night. God obviously knows Jacob's name, but he says, what is your name? Now, we've dealt with this in other people's lives, like Moses and others, that whenever God asks you a question, it's never for his benefit. He already knows the answer. Like when he asked Moses, what's in your hand? He already knew. He wanted Moses to know what's in his hand. And so when he asked, Jacob, what's your name? God obviously already knew his name. The reason he asked us is he wanted Jacob to admit what he was. In ancient times, names were chosen on their meaning, not for how nice they sounded. So you could be named after a profession, like, I'm a baker, or I'm a carpenter, or I'm a smith, or you could be named after a relative, Johnson, Jackson, you know, things like that. Or you could be named for the situation you were in. Like Jabez was named Painful because he came in a painful birth. But most often, parents named their kids based on their character. And it became your brand, it became your label. And when somebody told you their name, they were telling you what kind of person you were. And Jacob's name means deceiver. And boy, did he live up to his name his entire life. He lied out of this situation, lied in that situation, lied in that situation, and one conflict after another, because he was a deceiver. He was a manipulator. And when God says, what's your name? He's saying, jacob, I want you to own up to who you Are. I'm broken. I am a manipulator. I am a liar. I am prideful. I am a gossip. I. I'm a worrier. I am an addict. I am whatever. I can't control my temper. And, and so all of his life he had lived up to his name. He deceived his dad, he deceived his father in law, deceives his wife, you know, deceives his, his brother. By the way, I wonder if you were named after your biggest character flaw, what your name would be? Hi, my name's Bitter. Hi, my name is. It's all about me. My name is Gossip. Hi, my name is Angry Temperature. My name is Lust. If you were named after your biggest character flaw, what would people say? But hey, there comes greedy, you know, look who's with him. Fearful. You probably better be glad that we name people for how they sound today rather than their character. But in those days your name was your label. It was your brand. And when Jacob says, I am Jacob, he's saying, I'm moving to step four, confession. The house cleaning step. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself. I gotta be honest to me and to God. I'm honest to God and to someone I trust. I'm honest with somebody else. It's an act of confession. It's a self revelation. He's owning up to all of his conniving ways. He says, I am a manipulator. Now here's the cool thing about it. When Jacob says, I am manipulator, God is not shocked. You got to be kidding me. I'm fighting with a manipulator. How did I miss that? I didn't see that one coming. God already knows everything bad about you, even the stuff you don't know about yourself. And he still loves you. One of my favorite verses is in the book of Romans where God just says, jacob, have I loved. And I like that verse because it gives me hope. Well, if God loved Jacob, maybe he could love me. If God loved Jacob, who was so unlovable, who was such a manipulator, who was such a scoundrel, who was such a crook, who was such a liar, such a deceiver, then maybe God could love me. Well, the point is, lasting change starts with this humbleness, this brokenness, this honesty, where I stop making excuses and I stop blaming and I stop rationalizing and I be honest to God and I be honest with myself. And to be honest with one other person, that is the symptom of brokenness, where I just say, God, I admit It I'm the problem. I am the problem. How does God respond to our brokenness? The Bible says that God is close to the brokenhearted and that he saves those who are crushed in spirit. And that's why we get to phase five. And here's the phase five and God is changing you. Conversion. And in conversion I get a new identity. As Lee is saying, God picks up the pieces and replaces the pieces with peace. I move from conflict with others to crisis with God, to commitment that I'm going to change and trust God with those changes. And then the confession that I am the problem. And God says, okay, now comes the conversion. You're going to get a brand new identity. I love God's response to Jacob's brokenness and confession. The Bible says this in Genesis 32 and this is the fifth step that we're in tonight and this weekend. Then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob. I'm changing it. We're getting a conversion here. Your name will be Israel. Ever heard that one? Oh yeah. This is the guy the nation of Israel is named after. This is the guy. The scoundrel, the crook, the deceiver. He says, your name will no longer be Jacob. It's going to be Israel by this time. Jacob had another child then and he had 12 sons and they became the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, it is because I saw the face of. I saw God face to face. Now what happens in phase five in your life when you get to the conversion phase, the recovery stage, when you start following these beatitudes step by step and the healing choices step by step as we've just seen them outlined in this man's life. Well, first thing is Jacob gets a new identity. He says, you know, you've been called manipulator, schemer, cheater, your name has been crook. But he says, you know what? Beneath all that, Jacob, I see in you a prince. And I'm going to rename you Israel. What does that mean, Israel? It means prince of God. Everybody else saw a defeated, mean spirited, cheating, lying manipulator. And God says, you know what I see deeper than that? I see in you a prince of God. And beneath all your sins and all your hang ups, I see a prince. Listen very closely to me. When God does his deepest work in you, he does his deepest work in your identity, in who you are. That is the deepest work that God does in your life. He changes your identity how you see yourself. Why? Because the way you See yourself affects everything else in your life. You act according to the way you see yourself. And for lasting change to happen, you must change your self perception. You need an identity change. God says, people say you're that. I say, you're this. He did it all the time. He says to Peter, peter, people think you're impulsive. You're a rock, Gideon, You're a mighty man of valor. Sons of thunder, I call you beloved disciples. He changed the names of people all through scripture. He gave them new identities. Some of you were given an identity by your mom or your dad. You're a loser. You're a phony, you're a fake. You're worth zip. And on and on and on. And they. And the world has given you labels and they were lying. And God says, no, no, I see beneath all that, a prince. I see beneath that, a princess. I see what you can be. I see what I made you to.