Jabez The Power Of His Touch Series

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 READ TEXT “that Your hand would be with me,”

Figuratively the hand of God signifies favor and power in the Bible.But this word hand and prayer means so much more than that.

As we have been studying and praying the prayer of Jabez as a church family my hope is that God will use this prayer in our lives to challenge us to believe God wants to bless us and to increase our influence as we looked at last week.

This week we move to a leap of faith. As we begin to believe God and share Jesus God begins to open up more and more opportunities in our lives for Jesus the enemy begins an assault against us.

Our enemy doesn’t mind if we sit in a pew on Sunday and sing a few songs and associate with other believers. But when we really begin to associate ourselves with the power and presence of the Holy spirit Satan gets nervous.

Here then is the next focus of our series: that Your hand would be with me,The cry of the Christian heart that’s hungry for the presence of Jesus in our lives says, “Dear Lord, I need you.” I am living in total dependence on you being there and coming through for me.

The enemy doesn’t want us to live this way and that’s why some Christians never really step this far in faith. It’s like covert operations behind enemy lines, because as God enlarges our territory for Him we start taking territory away from the enemy.

In the first significant engagement between American troops and the Viet Cong, U.S. soldiers found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by their enemy 450 U.S. against more than 3,000. In the Ia Drang valley the Viet Cong had plenty of experience there 11 years earlier they drove the French completely out of Viet Nam.

So how did 450 Americans, 12,000 miles from home defeat over 3,000 Viet Cong, who knew they terrain, had and extensive tunnel system for troop movement, and the first to fight this new style or war, how did they win?

Simply put, they had a leader who had unshakeable desire to not accept defeat and every one of his men knew that because their leader touched them in such a way that they refused to quit.

You and I have been touched by our Savior and if we want our family to be stronger, our community to be better and our country to turn around you and I have to live under the umbrella of The Power of His Touch. We have to have an unshakeable desire not to accept defeat. So today let’s examine how to go on in faith.

I. Draw Me Close (Hand of God=Protection)

According to God’s Word the grabbing of the hand signified friendship (2 Kings 10:15). I can’t know what Jesus wants me to do unless I stay close to His touch. When

my boys were real little we made them hold our hands as we are walk through a crowded street or parking lot to protect them. But the older they get the less they realize they need to stay close to me.

The reality is as Christians we do the same thing. If we’re not careful and life’s dangers and snares come our way we have got so accustomed to the parking lots and busy streets in the world we quit holding God’s hand.

Is it because we think we have God all figured out? And we know how to cross the street ourselves.

Seminary professor and pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick compared our understanding of God with our understanding of the sea. He said, "I know the sea but I don’t know the vastness of the sea. There is a part of the sea that washes up on the sands of my life. I can bathe in it. It lulls me to sleep with its waves. And yet, I know only a very little part of the sea." It’s the same way with God, isn’t it? He is so close we can almost reach out & touch Him. And yet, He is so magnificent that we will never completely understand all about Him.

The Bible says in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” (NKJ) that’s what Paul prayed Jesus I want to know you.

Story is told about an old farm couple who were driving along in their pickup and she says, “We never sit all snuggled up in the truck like we used to.” He looks over at her and replies “I haven’t moved” When we discover as a church or as individual believers that we aren’t as close to God as we once were, understand this He didn’t move, we did.