Mike Evans Reviews

Added November 10, 2004

God Wrestling

Like Jacob of Old, A Life-Changing Encounter with the Almighty

Author: Mike Evans
Publisher: Bethany House
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: February 2004
Genre: Nonfiction: Christian/Religion/Discipleship
Format: Trade Paperback
Price: $12.99
ISBN: 0764227580
Reviewer: Phillip Tomasso III

Renowned, award-winning journalist, Mike Evans has written a powerful book, God Wrestling: Like Jacob of Old, A Life-Changing Encounter with the Almighty. Evans, a television producer and minister, has managed to get to the heart and meat of Christianity. Leaving out the fluff and warm-fuzzies often found sprinkled over, or thickly layered on top of works about living Christian living, Evans shoots from the hip and from the heart.

Evans, a very successful minister, always thought he was doing everything he could with his ministry until he finally realized some thirty years later, that he relished in the power and praise he received for the works he performed. It wasn't until he God-Wrestled that he realized how wrong he had been - and where all of the glory belonged. It belonged with God. And this life-changing realization immediately redirected the life of Evans in ways never imagined.

Some of the best parts of this taut testimonial are brief vignettes the author shares about his personal experiences as chosen evangelist, and about growing up in a physically abusive home. The heartfelt sincerity is overwhelming as Evans, chapter after chapter, pleads with Christians about the importance of getting close and personal with God, God-Wrestling. He talks at great lengths, with tightly crafted sentences about becoming dead to the flesh, about getting out of the way and letting God do the work He wants to do, the way He wants to do it, when He wants to do it without us interfering.

Christians who have not God-wrestled struggle a similar pattern of sin, repent, sin, repent. We reach a Christian plateau and think we are at the summit, at the peak of Christianity, when in fact we are nowhere near the top at all. Evans claims that without God-wrestling, experiencing genuine revival, we can never become truly dead to the flesh-and then sin will continue to dominate our lives.

Evans writes in his book about how Satan loves that we Christians seemingly stranded on a plateau-not yet dead to the flesh, trying to become better Christians on our own, using our own strength. To do so is impossible. Without God's grace, God's strength, no matter how hard we try, we will always fall victim to the sin, repent, sin repent mentality. We need to God-Wrestle, to have God make us dead to the flesh.

Initially, I planned to pull direct quotes from the book in order to litter my review with pointed examples of how deep, purposeful and impacting this book should be to any Christian. Instead, I strongly suggest any and every Christian should consider reading the book to unlock and discover the importance of God-Wrestling.

Mike Evans is a skilled writer. This is evident in his bite-sized chapters, packed full of information, presented in a clear and concise way.

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