Left Alone!

In Genesis 32:24, we read:  "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."  Perhaps you are wrestling or struggling today with something in your life, but don't give up!  Keep holding on as Jacob did, for in verse 26 we read --"And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me . . . And he blessed him there."  Praise the Lord! 

Many times the song,  "I Would Not Be Denied" by Charles Jones has been a blessing and encouragement to my heart.  I trust the story behind it will speak to your heart today!!

     "When Charles Price Jones was evicted from his church in Jackson, Mississippi because of his holiness doctrine, many of the members followed him to an old store where he preached from the counter.  The congregation soon built their own building.
      Using his new church as a base, Jones began traveling widely.  Churches were started in Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, and other cities.  When he was dismissed from his Baptist denomination because of his holiness doctrine, Jones formed the young churches into a new denomination, "The Church of God in Christ."
      It wasn't easy.  All his life, Jones faced religious misunderstanding and racial prejudice.  In 1905, a gang of white men with dogs burned his church in Jackson to the ground.  On two occasions in Mississippi, shots were fired into his congregations as he preached.  In Jackson, a mob approached the house where Jones was staying, intending to harm him.  They backed down only when the owner of the house met them nose-to-nose on the porch, saying, 'You can't come in unless you walk over my dead body.'
      But out of these backbreaking trials came heart-touching hymns.  Jones' secretary said, 'In those days of persecution many of those lovely, inspiring, encouraging, and heart-strengthening songs were born in the heart of our pastor.  Sometimes when they were given to him in the night, he would have us join him through the hours and sing.  Often we remained in the church until midnight.'
      'I Would Not Be Denied' was written on one such occasion as Jones studied the story of Jacob wrestling with the Lord in Genesis 32.  'I prayed in every closet', Jones said, 'behind every door; wherever I could hide I went to my knees begging for mercy .  But no comfort came --- Satan tempted me to despair.  But finally, my mourning became a song.  When all the trial was over, thinking of it all one day while alone communing with God and thanking Him for His mercy to me, my soul felt that it must express itself in song; and so was born 'I Would Not Be Denied.'"

     "When pangs of death seized on my soul, unto the Lord I cried,
Till Jesus came and made me whole, I would not be denied.
      As Jacob in the days of old, I wrestled with the Lord;
And instantly with a courage bold, I stood upon His Word.

      Old Satan said my Lord was gone and would not hear my prayer,
But praise the Lord the work is done, and Christ the Lord is here.
      I would not be denied, I would not be denied,
Till Jesus came and made me whole, I would not be denied."