Oh, That You Would Bless Me!

Let’s look at it & see. Let’s see why God was pleased enough with his prayer to have it forever recorded in scripture. Listen to it.

D. "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, & enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, & that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’” (1 Chronicles 4:10, NKJV).

His prayer had 4 parts: #1, He prayed that God would bless him. #2, He prayed that God would enlarge his territory. #3, He prayed that God’s hand would be with him. #4, He prayed that God would keep him from evil.

And in response to his prayer, the last part of vs. 10 says, "So God granted him what he requested” (NKJV).

PROP. If we want God to answer our prayers, then maybe we ought to take a careful look at this prayer & see why God granted Jabez what he requested.

I. JABEZ PRAYED FOR GOD TO BLESS HIM

A. The first thing we notice is that Jabez prayed for God to bless him. He wanted God’s blessing on his life.

ILL. One man wrote: "I used to think it was selfish to ask God to bless me. Then I realized that the word 'blessed' means to have God’s favor upon your life. It isn’t selfish to ask for that; in fact, all Christians should be asking God to have favor upon their lives."

There is nothing wrong with praying for God to bless you if it is for the purpose of being a blessing. If you want to have more so that you can give more, then that is an acceptable prayer.

If you want wisdom so that you can help other people, then pray for wisdom, for the Bible says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, & it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

In the New Testament we find these words: “Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…” (Ephesians 1:3 NASB)

God wants to bless His people – so it is not wrong for Jabez to ask to be blessed, & it is not wrong for you or for me to ask God to bless us either.

If you want success, or want to be a leader because you want to serve others with more talents & resources, then pray for those things in order that your life may be a blessing.

B. Jabez knew that God had told his ancestor Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation & I will bless you; I will make your name great, & you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2) And Jabez wanted to share in that blessing, too.

God wants to bless us, but we must want the blessing for the right reasons.

SUM: If you're not closer to God now than you were last year, then somehow you have missed a blessing. You need to pray for God to bless you & bring a new fire into your soul; a new passion for God; a new zeal for serving Him; a new desire to have your life be a blessing to others.

II. JABEZ PRAYED THAT GOD WOULD ENLARGE HIS TERRITORY

A. You see, so many people never have a purpose larger than themselves. This is why Jabez prayed the second part of his prayer: that God would enlarge his territory.