DEEPER WELLS? SEARCHING FOR DIRECTIONS… GOD CAN!
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
I CAN DO… WE CAN DO… I quit? I can’t will never win in your journey of life. Why would we allow I CAN’T TO RULE our spirit person?
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
We need to focus on the goals before us. In the game of life we often get hit so hard that we can’t see the goals in front of us. We must stay focused on what is important. We know whatever we have, wherever we go… GOD HAS A PLAN! We can make it through any STORM, STRUGGLE OR TRIAL that we want to…THE QUESTION MIGHT BE AM I SEARCHING for a deeper relationship to KNOW GOD IN HIS FULLNESS. DO WE RECOGNIZE THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL? We must not allow our emotions, thoughts, hopes and peace to hinder God’s plans.
WE MUST ASK GOD AND THEN BELIEVE? ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
STAY HERE? THERE HAS TO BE MORE. LET US RECALL THE LESSON OF THE FARMER AND THE BIG EGG.
The farmer had a large productive farm. One day his young son came running to his dad with a HUGE EGG. He said dad I found this huge egg just out of the HEN LOT. The dad said: I BELIEVE THAT IS THE BIGGEST EGG I EVER SAW. Go put it under one of laying hens. They waited and waited for the BIG EGG TO HATCH. All the other eggs hatched out, but not the big egg. Several days later the big egg hatched and the farmer looked at the hatchling and said I BELIEVE THAT IS THE BIGGEST AND UGLIEST CHICKEN I HAVE EVER SEEN. The school bus driver saw the chicken and said: THAT IS THE BIGGEST, UGLIEST CHICKEN I EVER SAW. The school children told everyone about that big, ugly chicken. The big chicken drew crowds to observe the bird. One day a man told the PARK RANGER ABOUT THAT BIG, UGLY CHICKEN. The Ranger drove out to the farm. The ranger told the farmer that is not a big, ugly chicken that is a baby eaglet. The farmer said watch that chicken dig and scratch in the feed. Watch that chick dig up worms. The ranger said: I am telling you that big ugly chicken is an eagle. The ranger said I will prove it. The ranger caught the big chicken and carried it in the hay loft and threw the chicken down. He told the chicken to fly. The chicken flapped its wings then landed on the ground and climbed back into the hen lot. The farmer said: SEE I TOLD YOU IT WAS A CHICKEN. The ranger said: HOW MUCH DO YOU GET FOR YOUR CHICKENS? The farmer said: 3 BUCKS. The ranger gave the farmer $3.00 and said I will be back tomorrow to get my chicken. The next morning the Ranger returned in a jeep with a large cage. He placed a bag over the chickens head and loaded it. On the long journey up the mountain side the ranger kept talking to the big, ugly chicken. You are not a chicken! You are an eagle. The ranger stopped the jeep at the edge of a 1,500 feet cliff. He opened the cage and carried the chicken to the cliff side and threw it over the cliff. The eagle fluttered around and dropped 200 feet. The chicken was screaming and crying, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME? The ranger just watched the free fall. Finally the big bird put its wings out. The chicken felt the wind beneath the wings. The chicken felt a new vigor. He spread his wings out and it felt the wind drafts carrying him upward. The ranger watched as the EAGLE STARTED SOARING HIGHER AND HIGHER. The ranger got out his binoculars to watch as the eagle slowly faded in the distance. That big, ugly chicken was never a chicken. The bird was an eagle hatched to soar above the storms. The eagle learned its limitations from the chickens.
The eagle learned the behavior of chickens. IT IS HARD TO SOAR LIKE AN EAGLE WHEN YOU ARE GROUNDED WITH CHICKENS.
SOMETIMES GOD ALLOWS PAIN AND SUFFERING TO FORCE US OUT OF THE NEST.
The eagles parents cannot allow the eaglet to stay in the nest forever. It is unhealthy. The parents will know, it is time. They push the nest off the cliff edge. The parents trust by faith that they have mentored and modeled eagle behavior to launch into a BETTER WAY OF LIFE. If the eaglet fails the parents will catch the baby on its wings and return to a new, clean nest.
Deuteronomy 32:11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
WE MAY THINK I AM JUST A LITTLE PERSON, A NOBODY IN A NOBODY PLACE… JABEZ THOUGHT HE WAS A VERY UNIMPORTANT A MINOR CHARACTER IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL. EZRA WROTE 1 CHRONICLES AFTER THE TERRIBLE SEASON IN BABYLONIA. GOD’S PEOPLE HAD BEEN SLAVES FOR 70 YEARS.
1 Chronicles 4:9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
WE MAY BE LIVING IN A DAY OF DREAD… JABEZ HAS BEEN LIVING IN A DEEP DARK STRUGGLE… FULL OF SORROW… BORN IN PAIN… “HERE COMES TROUBLE IS HIS NAME.” JABEZ’S MOTHER NAMED HIM A STRANGE NAME. DOES GOD CHANGE JABEZ’S NAME? NO! NO! GOD CHANGED JABEZ’S DAILY LIFE AND THUS GOD CHANGED JABEZ’S FUTURE. THE CUSTOM OF HEBREW NAMES CAN FORETELL ABOUT THE CHILD’S FUTURE.
Perhaps one of God’s greatest tools in the SPIRITUAL GRADUATE SCHOOL IS SUFFERING AND PAIN. We tend to see sickness and defeat as NEGATIVE SOURCES TO DEFINE DAILY LIVIING. The cross teaches a great lesson: THAT SET BACKS CAN BE SET UPS FOR COMEBACKS FOR MIRACLES.
Suffering can be destructive and deadly. GOD RAISES PEOPLE ABOVE THEIR PAST AND THE NAME OF TROUBLE. For some reason God does not CHANGE JABEZ’S NAME… God changed JACOB to ISRAEL. The bad SAUL to the new man: PAUL. God chose to CHANGE THE HEART OF JABEZ NOT HIS NAME.
GOD CHANGED JABEZ’S DAILY LIFE AND THUS GOD CHANGED JABEZ’S FUTURE. THE CUSTOM OF HEBREW NAMES CAN FORETELL ABOUT THE CHILD’S FUTURE. BUT GOD!
EZRA SAW SOMETHING SO SPECIAL ABOUT JABEZ THAT EZRA TOOK HIS PEN IN HAND AND WROTE A BRIEF LESSON ABOUT JABEZ.
I AM SURE THERE WERE MANY IMPORTANT MEN IN EZRA’S DAY… but Ezra saw this great lesson in this man they called: TROUBLE. There is a Hebrew name JABEZ. It appears this lad’s mother had much trouble in carrying her son and she had a difficult birth. Jabez does not just mean pain and trouble… His name means TO CAUSE TROUBLE and PAIN.
HIS CHALLENGES CAN BROUGHT GREAT BLESSINGS TO HIS NATION. This mother learned not every lesson comes easy or smoothly.
JABEZ IS IMPLIED TO BE AN ANCESTOR OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH… JUDAH MEANS PRAISE AND WORSHIP.
JABEZ STUDIED THE WORDS OF GOD AND HE LOVED TO OBEY THE LAW. Jabez lived in a day of gloom, despair and agony on end. 70 YEARS OF CAPTIVITY… Has daily life crushed our dreams and hopes? Jabez was willing to trust the plan of God for his life… Jabez was faithful and a man of prayer.
JABEZ TAUGHT THE LESSON THAT FAITH OVERCOMES TROUBLES AND STRUGGLES… JABEZ PRAYED FOR DIVINE PROVISIONS IN DARK DAYS… JABEZ KNEW AND REMEMBERED GOD HAD A COVENANT WITH HIS PEOPLE. Jabez’s prayer was not long nor was it repetitive.
JABEZ’S LESSON POINTS DIRECTLY TO THE CROSS AND JESUS CHRIST AND SPIRITUAL SUBMISSION. JABEZ HAS A CURRENT, PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…
It is God’s desire to bring change from HARD, BAD TROUBLE… That if we trust God’s plan we will endure the troubles, sorrows, pains and struggles of our menial daily life. God can use us little nobodies in little nobody places to seek God for miracle provisions.
WHAT IS JABEZ SEEKING GOD TO DO? WHAT ABOUT THIS MAN IN TROUBLED TIMES?
1. GOD PLEASE BLESS US
2. GOD BLESS AND ENLARGE OUR TERRITORIES OF OUR HEARTS.
3. GOD BE WITH US AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ON US IN A MIGHTY WAY.
4. GOD KEEP US FROM EVIL.
WE NEED GOD TO OPEN OUR EYES TO THE POSSIBILITIES. I DON’T WANT TO BE A FAT TURKEY IN A HOT OVEN. AS JABEZ PRAYED HE TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND FROM TROUBLE MAKER TO THE BLESSINGS OF GOD’S PROMISES.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (YouTube: Wade Hughes)
