Part 10: Let God Bless You Through The Prayer Of Jabez! Series

*Afterwards, your heart is shouting, 'God did that, nobody else! God carried me. God gave me the words. God gave me the power. And it is wonderful!'" (1)

*I have seen this happen too many times in my own life to count, and you may have too. I'm talking about those times when you were trying to witness to someone, or trying to give someone wise advice. Then you look back on the conversation and you know: That didn't come from me! God gave me exactly the right thing to say at the right time. That was the Hand of God at work in our lives.

*But we need to pray for His hand to work more, -- both in us and through us. This was certainly the way Paul lived his life. And he gave this testimony in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 where Paul wrote, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

*Paul lived the life he lived through the hand of God at work in his life. That's how we all need to live! And that's how Jabez wanted to live. So he prayed, "Oh that your hand might be with me." And God granted him what he requested.

4. PRAY FOR GOD'S POWER IN OUR LIVES. AND PRAY FOR GOD'S PROTECTION.

*In vs. 10 Jabez also prayed, "Oh, that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!'' The KJV says, "Oh that You would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" This reminds me of the Lord's promise in Psalm 121:7 where God's Word says, "The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul."

*This promise can seem hard to understand when we go through hard times in life. But we all need to know that the biggest problem we have with evil is not the evil that comes from outside. Our biggest problem is the evil that comes from inside our own hearts. The evil from outside can hurt us for a while. But the evil from inside can hurt us forever.

*And all of us have this problem. Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned fall short of the glory of God." But Psalm 121:7 says, "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul."

*The only way that this could happen was for Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. The eternal Son of God humbled Himself to become a mortal man. Then He lived the only perfectly sinless life. Then Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our evil ways. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. Then three days later He rose again in everlasting victory over sin and death. And we receive the victory when we trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

*The Apostle Paul described it this way in Romans 10:9-13:

9. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.