PRAY FIRST
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
• For this month I have prayed that, collectively and individually, we might get a ‘FRESH START’ in our walk with God and His ministry for us. Even though I am a part of the older generation, I don’t want to be ‘stuck’ nor do I want us to be stuck. I don’t want us to be ‘stuck’ in the past, in tradition, or in spiritually, or a situation, my heart is for us to move forward into Faith territory.
• Have you ever been stuck? A few years ago, I went to see my dad and he said, “Son, Got my tractor stuck in the woods.” Honestly, I thought him, my brother, and I could drive down there and get it out, BUT I was WRONG. Not only was he ‘stuck’, but he was stuck “bad”!! The mud was so deep that the tires could not even touch the ground for traction. Ultimately his brother had to bring a powerful ‘wrecker’ down & pull the tractor out. Because when you’re stuck, it takes effort.
• All too often, people get stuck. They get stuck in a job, a financial situation, a marriage or some other relationship, or even emotionally, and when a person gets stuck they feel trapped. You know what trapped is, it is when you feel like there is NO WAY OUT.
• From time to time churches, congregations, and Christ followers find themselves stuck. Not only are they stuck practically, but they are stuck spiritually. I know that it’s very easy for me to get stuck. Take Prayer. We are called to “Pray 1st”. How easy it is to NOT PRAY. I’m speaking of deep, passionate, & heart-felt praying. When we get in the habit of NOT PRAYING, we will find ourselves stuck spiritually. Perhaps this is where you are. The question is, “How do you get out of the bog?” Here’s the truth which those who have been in the woods with vehicles, the effort required to get you out of a bog is directly proportional to how deeply you are entrenched or stuck in the bog. When you get deeply stuck, it requires major help to get free and move forward again.
• So I ask, “are stuck in your spiritual growth?” Are you closer to God today than 6 months ago? Many will say, “Yea, I am. I feel closer to God today.” If this is true, can you give evidence of it? You see, we don’t walk closer with the almighty & remain unchanged.
• I have been meditating on this topic of being stuck spiritual because of an article I read by a friend of mine. He suggested that the reason or way a church can become stuck (I.E. plateaued or declining) is by church members (those who make up the church) not growing in their walk with God. Be CLEAR: It’s not that they intended, set out to, or even wanted to get stuck (getting stuck is always an accident), but for whatever reason they just kind of bogged down.
• As we have started this month, which I have termed “Fresh Start”, my prayer has been for to have a “Fresh Start” that is not one of our own making or one of our “plain determination.” Too many churches attempt to ‘work for God’ in the power of their determination. My heart prayer is that we, me & you, will experience a Fresh Start in our journey with the Lord and that it will happen through a fresh encounter with the Spirit of God. An encounter which will free us, release us, & make us ready to move forward to build His Kingdom, follow His will, & to reach/disciple people.
• What can we do? Pray 1st. Who can we learn from? I think we can find help in an obscure person taken from the Old Testament. Turn to 1 Chronicles 4. If on some night you have insomnia & need to sleep, you might open your Bible to 1 Chronicles 1 and start reading. The first 9 chapters are nothing but genealogies. It begins in chapter 1 with Adam, Seth, & Enosh and conclude in chapter 9 by repeating the genealogy of King Saul. In other word ‘so-in-so fathered so-in-so’ ad infinitum. If you like that type of reading, you have been given a place to read into oblivion.
• This reading is so much that same that it is easy to miss ONE MAN who can give us some much needed inspiration and help. That man is Jabez. Let’s walk through these two verses which are basically all we know about this man and let’s learn some lessons from one who “PRAYED FIRST”.
1. About the Person – Like it or not, everything we know about Jabez we discover in these two verses & perhaps the context of the scripture. Knowing that he is from the tribe of Judah & was likely living in southern Israel after the conquest of Canaan is probably small compared to the rest.
a. His Name – His name tells us more than, quite likely, he wants us to know. His mother named him ‘pain’!! Ouch! When Christy was about 2 years old, one day I said to her, “Baby, you’re a pain” and quick as a whip she responded, “But I a sweet pain, daddy.” Well, that was a fun exchange but for Jabez this was not an exchange, this was a NAME (and one that would stay with him all his life!) When I read this story I am reminded of that old country song recorded by Johnny Cash entitled, “A Boy Named Sue”. Today it is not a song that I recommend, but it is one in which I discover a pertinent lesson. At the end of the song, “the boy named Sue is face to face with the dad who named him & walked away.” And he said: "Son, this world is rough And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along. So I give ya that name and I said goodbye I knew you'd have to get tough or die And it's the name that helped to make you strong." Think: Jacob means ‘grabber’, Solomon means peace, Jesus –Jehovah saves.
• Mom gave Jabez that name as either the reminder of how difficult her pregnancy or delivery was, or perhaps something which else she equated with his birth & life – She didn’t want him to forget! Here’s the deal: He lived with that name EVERYDAY. Pain & sorrow were forefront in his life. He could have copped a bad attitude, gone off the deep end, or suffered a self-image problem and turned his back on God and good. But what did he do.
b. His Nature – The Bible says, “He was more honorable than all of his brothers.” In other words, Jabez (the person of pain) was more praiseworthy than all of the rest. Think about this in context, Jabez is listed among more than 500 names and God inspired the writer to offer a parenthetical phrase which completely described this one man. What does this tell us about Jabez? How does Jabez rate this kind of high praise from our Heavenly Father? We may well uncover the secret -
2. About the Prayer – (READ THE PRAYER) Since the advent of Bruce Wilkinson’s book called “The Prayer of Jabez” many people profess to praying this prayer daily & it having a life-changing impact on them. What we learn from Jabez is the power of prayer, to turn a life of pain into blessing.
a. His Mood– His mood seems to be very emotion. Let me confess that I am one of those emotional people who believe that, in large measure as Baptist, we have attempted to discard the emotions which are needed & make our belief system one of pure intellectualism. It is truth that Romans 12:2 says, “Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” so certainly the mind is involved in the process. But candidly, it is with the ‘heart’ that you believe. It is also truth that you will receive a new ‘heart’ when you come to Jesus. By the way, ‘where your heart is (not mind), that is where your treasure is’ & “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Emotions in our walk with the Lord are not bad. Every person in scripture who encountered the Lord displays an emotional response of some kind. I can hear Jabez, “O!” “Please!” “I beg you!” “I plead with you!” Have you ever been like that with God? If you have, you were voicing a deep need. My spouse, child, parent, or loved one is sick or “I’m in trouble, help.” Problem is, we are all in trouble & are too rich to know it or too prideful to admit it. Emotion is birthed by our need. If we have no, little, or big need, then that is generally how our emotion is.
• Better asked, “Can you remember the last time you felt deeply about a need?” It is in these time, when be expend emotional energy to get someone to hear us that we listen when they speak.
b. His Message – As we see Jabez’s request, His message to God is to ask for God’s PROVISION, HIS PRESENCE, & HIS PROTECTION. Let’s be clear there is nothing wrong with asking God for His blessing! But we need a clearer understanding of God’s blessing. Have you ever considered how many different way we use the word ‘bless?’ We use that word for the missionaries, kids, and even the food were about to eat. Additionally, it’s common to use bless after someone sneezes.
• The meaning of the word bless in the biblical sense this to “ask for or to impart supernatural favor.” When we ask God to bless us we are not asking for him to give us something that we can get ourselves, rather something that can only come from the unlimited goodness of a powerful God who is able to do beyond what we think are asked. I invites to notice that Jabez didn’t tell God what the blessing would be, but rather let God decide what, where, when, and how he would receive it. This speaks to the trust Jabez had in God. This part of his message found in his prayer should serve as a lesson for us. Not only did Jabez asked for a blessing but he also ask God to enlarge or expand his borders or coast. It’s okay to pray for growth if you have the right reasons. Learn from Jabez: In the context of this prayer Jabez ask God to bless him, expand his territory, and without taking a breath, for God to walk with Him. In this, we found the key for at least one of the keys. When you’re walking with God, the skies the limit because God has plans for us, my plans for harm us, the plans for a hope and a future. This means as a congregation and as individuals, walking with God must be our top priority. When we walks with HIM he walks with us.
c. His Motivation - What is amazing is how often we tend to hide our motivation. You don’t have to watch people very long to have a clear understanding of what their motivation is. What becomes obvious about Jabez is that the reason he wanted God to bless them, the reason that he wanted God to enlarge his territory, the reason he wanted God’s hand on his life, was because he wanted to be protected from evil so that he might not be a part of evil. To look at the last part of the message of this prayer is to read these words “that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” Other translations say something to the effect of “grieve me,” “that I will be free from pain,” & “that I will not cause pain.” You see, Jabez was reminded of pain every time he heard his name and he knew if he lived in pain he would cause other pain and not honor God with his life. This prayer was motivated by the desire to help others, to touch others, & to bless others.
3. About the Prosperity - It is against that backdrop that we read the greatest sentence that we can read, “And God granted what he asked.” Answered prayer! Don’t miss this sequence of events. 1st, Jabez was an honorable man, more honorable than all his brothers. This speaks to his character and his authenticity. It speaks to his relationship to God. Next, Jabez prays a prayer for personal gain that could be shared, given, and used to help other people. Blessing others is the heart of an honorable person before God. Bruce Wilkinson points out that if you want to be considered “more honorable” in God’s eyes, the way is not arrogance nor self-centeredness. The way is - to live and walk in the spirit of God. The honor of Jabez is displayed in the fact that he is concerned about others. Finally, this honorable man, who prayed 1st, was the recipient of God’s blessing through answered prayer. Think about that; God gave Jabez exactly what he wanted.
• What would you have if God gave you exactly what you want? Would it be something of this earth that will not last? Or would it be something of eternal value? Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Here is the plain meaning of that: Whatever it is that you treasure is an indication of what’s in your heart. Your heart is an indication of what you treasure.
• What Jabez ‘did know’ was that he had to get God’s hand on his life, blessing on his life, so that he could enjoy life. Do you sense God’s hand on your life? Do you sense God’s unlimited blessings on your life? Do you know the peace of walking in the spirit of God every day?
• Jabez went from being a person of sorrowful pain to a person of spiritual prosperity through prayer. Have you made the transition yet? There is one last thing that I’m going off you;
4. About the Place - We know that Jabez the name means pain or sorrow. The only other place in the Bible that the name Jabez is printed is found in 1st Chronicles 2:55 which says, “The clans also of the scribes who live at Jabez.” How interesting?! Worse than a name of pain could be living in a place of pain. Have you ever resided at that place? I have. Jesus is your answer. Pray and seek him.
