The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Bereishis 48:24 Ya'akov says to Yosef - וַֽאֲנִ֞י נָתַ֧תִּי לְךָ֛ שְׁכֶ֥ם אַחַ֖ד עַל־אַחֶ֑יךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר לָקַ֨חְתִּי֙ מִיַּ֣ד הָֽאֱמֹרִ֔י בְּחַרְבִּ֖י וּבְקַשְׁתִּֽי. Rashi explains that this was a recognition of Yosef's act of being involved in the burial of Ya'akov. Since Yosef was arranging for the burial in Israel, Ya'akov gave him an extra portion - land in Shechem where Yosef would one day be buried.
But in discussing the gift, Ya'akov makes a curious statement that he took the land from the Amorites בְּחַרְבִּ֖י וּבְקַשְׁתִּֽי. This raises many questions, since Ya'akov did not capture Shechem - Shimon and Levi did when they avenged Dina. Ya'akov was not involved and did not even know about it until after the fact!
R' Frand quoted the Gemara in Bava Basra 123 which partially answers the question, as it explains that words בְּחַרְבִּ֖י וּבְקַשְׁתִּֽי as meaning with prayer and request to Hashem. Onkelos makes a similar translation of the words as well.
But while the explanation does somewhat answer the question of how Ya'akov could have said that he conquered the land with his sword and bow when he was not involved in the battle. But it also creates another issue - how could Ya'akov have prayed and requested when he did not even know about the war?
R' Frand quoted the Sefer Arzei HaParsha which explains that Ya'akov was not davening specifically for success in the battle, he was constantly davening for his children. He made reference to question asked to R' Chaim Kanievsky about how to succeed in raising children? R' Chaim answered that 50% is davening for the children. A similarly themed question was asked to R' Wolbe as to why there is no Beracha in Shemoneh Esreh for success of one's children. He answered that we only daven Shemoneh Esreh three times a day. That's fine for requests for Parnassah, but not enough for davening for the success of one's children.
Thus when Ya'akov said that he took the land בְּחַרְבִּ֖י וּבְקַשְׁתִּֽי he was referring to his constant state of davening and requesting success for his children.
R' Frand also mentioned a story involving the mother of the Chofetz Chaim. Someone asked her how she was Zoche to have a son like the Chofetz Chaim? She answered that when she got married, her mother gave her a siddur and told her to use it to daven for her children. And so she did from the moment she got married.
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