Wrestle With It — Landon Wiland

What do you think of when you hear, "wrestling?" Do you think of the high school sport or maybe the 100% real, never fake, WWE? According to the dictionary, the word wrestling means: to take part in a fight, either as a sport or in earnest, that involves grappling with one's opponent and trying to throw or force them to the ground.

Do you have a picture of wrestling in your head now? Good!

Paul says this in Ephesian 3:17-19:

"...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

The word "grasp" here can be equated to the word wrestle. Paul's prayer is that you wouldn't just believe in Jesus and his Word, but that you would take hold of it, and wrestle with it. All of this so you can begin to understand the width, length, height, and depth of Christ's love.

It is not good enough for you to simply look at the Word of God and know about it. You have to wrestle with the words for your life to truly change.

Jonathan Edwards best illustrated this principle through honey. There are two way to know that honey is sweet, he says. You know it with you mind, and you can also know it with your tongue. You can know that honey is sweet because people tell you about it and you believe them, but when you actually taste the sweetness of honey yourself, you know fully - as well as experimentally.

This is how you must approach scripture. Once you begin to do this you will begin to say, "I knew, but I didn't know."

Are you wrestling with scripture? Are you asking the Holy Spirit to show you the width, length, height, and depth of God's love for you? If not, try reading Psalms 1 and wrestle with it today. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes. You just may be surprised by what you see!