Governed by God: A Teaching by Joe Focht
During the November 2025 Calvary Chapel Association (CCA) International Pastors Conference, experienced leaders delivered powerful teachings to build up and encourage attendees fulfilling the legacy left by Pastor Chuck Smith. Featured here is one from Joe Focht, senior pastor of CC Philadelphia, PA. View the archived teaching at the end.
“Jacob’s name is changed here; [he’s] going to be called now ‘governed by God’. That’s what every one of us wants this evening. We may kick, we may wrestle, we may scream, but somehow when we look into His face, we say, “Lord, I want to be governed by you.”
Pastor Joe Focht explained that 400 years after Jacob’s all-night wrestling match, Moses would write, Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank (Genesis 32:32, KJV). Joe pointed out, “Which is not part of God’s law, but it’s [Jewish] tradition. I come to this portion of Scripture, like so many places; I look and think, Lord, why did you put this here? What is it? As a well-respected and admired teacher, Joe’s impactful message was Wednesday evening’s capstone to the conference at CC Golden Springs, CA.
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Genesis 32:24
“It begins by saying, ‘And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.’ I think what a plague of loneliness is in our culture today,” shared Joe. Noting America’s great expenditure on medications for loneliness, fear, and depression, he described how a believer’s place of loneliness—a sanctified loneliness—is of the Lord. “It’s something that He brings about because there are certain things that are only settled there.”
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. Genesis 32:25
Having sent his wives, children, servants, and flocks before him to his brother Esau, Jacob was now alone in the dark—in the quiet. “All of a sudden, somebody’s got a hold of him. The Lord initiates; Jacob ... resists. He wrestles,” Joe remarked. He described the loneliness and isolation that sometimes comes into a believer’s life. “You can sit in a room full of people and feel very lonely, very isolated. Nobody knows what [you’re] going through. Nobody knows what [you’re] struggling with in [your] marriage ... what’s going on with [your] kids ... nobody understands what [you are] feeling.” Joe encouraged the audience that there is a divine side to that aloneness, that only believers have the blessing that comes when the Lord wrestles us “in that solitary alone place, [with] no desire to humiliate me. And He is patient. He wrestles until morning, and He will touch those things and dislocate them.”
And he [angel of the Lord] said, ‘Let me go, for the day breaketh.’ And he [Jacob] said, ‘I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.’ Genesis 32:26
Jacob went from wrestling to clinging. “It’s [in the Book of] Hosea that tells us that it was in weeping and tears that Jacob prevailed. ... It says he took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength, he had power. He [Jacob] contended with God. He had power over the angel. ... He prevailed,” explained Joe.
And he said unto him, ‘What is thy name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Genesis 26:27
Suggesting Jacob had come to the end of himself, Joe relayed, “And Jacob says, ‘My name, heel catcher, conniver, deceiver. I’ve been wrestling for years. Ask Esau. Ask my blind father. Ask Leah, my wives, and kids. My name is Jacob. I can’t wrestle anymore; I can only hang on. I can’t lie. I’m at the end here.’ And graciously then he said, ‘I want a blessing.’”
And he said, ‘Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.’ Genesis 32:28
In an exceptional teaching moment, Joe reveals, “The KJV says, “for as a prince you [Jacob] have prevailed”. The word prince is not in the Hebrew. And people try to say Israel means prince of God. ... The idea is ordered of God. ... And Jacob's name is changed here. You'll no longer be called Jacob. You're going to be called now governed by God. And that's what every one of us wants this evening. And we may kick, we may wrestle, we may scream, but somehow when we look into His face, somehow when we realize just with His touch, He's kind of lovingly breaking us down.”
And Jacob asked him, and said, ‘Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.’ And he said, ‘Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?’ And he blessed him there. Genesis 32:29
As he announced to the crowd how central this verse is for those who were present, Joe admitted, “I came expecting ... to hear from the Lord. And it tells us here; the Lord blessed him [Jacob] there. The Lord drew him to himself. The Lord wanted him to see his problem wasn't Isaac. It wasn't Esau. It wasn't Laben. It was that He was wrestling with him [Jacob]. That's where the crux of the matter was all along. ... The place of blessing is the place of crippling. Gently, incredibly tender. God Almighty, [is] able to touch something in our life and dislocate anything that would keep us from His blessing, from His guidance. He initiates. He does it.”
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Genesis 32:30-31
Because Jacob saw God face to face, he called the place Peniel. Joe asked, “What was it like as he began to see the face of the One he was wrestling with? When you and I are face to face with Him, every other problem is minimized because what comes into focus is who you are. God never says to you, What about that pastor down the road? What about this guy? What about your wife? What about your husband? When you are in that much light, face to face with Him, it’s What’s your name?
Joe invited the crowd into a time of reflection: “I don't want to leave here unchanged. I want to leave governed by God. I want to be clinging onto Him, because I realize it's Him working in my life. It's you, Lord. I'm not letting go tonight until you bless me.”
Joe urged, "If you feel led and you just want to say, ‘All right, Lord, I don't want to leave here [as] Jacob. I'm going to leave here [as] Israel—governed by God,’ I'm going to ask you just to come up. ... Come by yourself. ... Just you and Him." As people gathered in agreement, Joe prayed, “You're drawing us deliberately, Lord, to change our name, to consecrate us, to make us see You face to face, to be overwhelmed with Your glory and Your love and Your healing, Your forgiveness, Your kindness, Your joy, that we would leave, Lord, governed willingly, Lord, by you. Lord, forgive us for all the things we've held onto, the things we brought here.... We let go of them, Lord, and we cling to you.”
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