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Christian Bill of Rights: Amendment IV

Amendment IV 

The follower on the Way of Jesus cannot escape the power of God. No place is beyond the reach of the Spirit. No relationship outside of the hand of Christ. There is nowhere to go and so the follower must learn to wrestle with and to rest within both the Real Presence and the felt absence. This is the tension of the faith.


The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the
By Talmoryair (Own work)
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man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip wasput out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Genesis 32:22-31)

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