Three Distinctions of Jabez
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Are you ready for an adventure … something new … a fresh start … that will get you off high center of status quo?
Would you be willing to do one thing if it would . . .
·gain you a better life …
·get you more than you presently have …
·protect you …
·not cause pain …
I probably sound like one of those old time side show elixir sellers! They would peddle their so called medicine that was believed to have the power to cure all ills. Well that is not my intent … however the world "elixir" also means "an underlying principle." Look it up!
I wonder if you are willing to practice, to do, one underlying principle to bring about a better and fuller life … to gain you more than you could ask for … to protect you … as well as not cause pain to others?
If so step right up and receive the elixir of prayer. But not just any mumbo jumbo prayer and not from a heart that is wanting for self … but a prayer that seats us deep into the cavity of God’s desire and will for our lives. A prayer that totally and absolutely leaves all in God’s hands. Would you be so willing?
The prayer I speak of is known these days as "The Prayer of Jabez." It’s uniqueness is equal to the way I came upon this prayer. Matt and Jimalee James were camping this past summer and as Jimalee and the girls waited on Matt to finishing fishing. An older gentleman who had been camped across the way from them, and who had with him a daughter who was bound to a wheel chair came over in the last moments before they left and handed Jimalee a small book titled "The Prayer of Jabez." Jimalee on a Wednesday evening asked me if I had ever heard of Jabez and did I know anything about him from the scriptures. Confessing I did not, she showed me the little book … immediately intrigued I asked if I could read it after she had. Well from there I read the book and read it again … bought several copies for myself, as well as a couple for the church library … shared it with some of you, and want to now share it with you in sermon format.
Why? Because the teaching from the prayer of Jabez is absolutely rock solid God filled substance that will get you off the high center of the status quo of your life. It will bring you into the presence of God where …
·You will not only receive, but enjoy the fuller life God desires us to live.
·You will ask not for what you can get for yourself, but what only God can give.
·You will become acutely aware of the direction God is moving.
·You will seek God’s protection from the evil filled living that temps and taunts.
Bruce Wilkinson says, "This petition has radically changed what I expect from God and what I experience every day by His power."
By now you might we asking, "Who is this Jabez guy?"
If you are a genealogy buff the records of 1 Chronicles might interest you … but to the average Bible reader long list of family names you can barely pronounce are about as interesting as counting the dots on a ceiling … you’d rather just skip over them.
1 Chronicles begins with Adam, Seth, Enosh, … with chapter four listing the descendants of Judah … Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal … Koz begot Anub, Zoebah, the families of Aharhel the son of Harum … and then without warning we are introduced to a man named Jabez … his spotlight in Hebrew history is but two verses. But in these two verses we see the distinction this man Jabez had in his life.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested.
1.Distinction of Name
1 Chronicles 4:9b and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain."
Today we name our children with names that are faddish or perhaps after someone who has left an impression upon us. However what we name our children may have an impact upon them. Consider this article I read in "Child Magazine."
What’s In A Name?
A lot of people subconsciously predict career success based on a name, according to James Bruning, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Ohio University in Athens. In his study, participants forecasted that girls with feminine names like Emma and Winifred would be more successful if they pursued traditionally female occupations like nurse and hairstylist, while boys with names like Boris and Bruno were expected to succeed in traditionally male careers, such as plumber and truck driver.
In biblical times the name given to a person often meant the character or the plight in life he or she might walk. For instance …
-Jacob … supplanter or one who tricks … he tricked his brother out of his birthright.
-Jeremiah … God hurls/throws … he was thrown as a prophet into a nation of self-righteous people.
-Jesus … God saves … He through His life, death, & resurrection saves.
Jabez has the distinction of what his name means … to grieve, be sorrowful. His mother for whatever reason chose to memorialize his birth experience by naming her son Jabez … because I bore him in pain.
You might say Jabez had a "kick start" in life … that is a kick in the heart every time he heard his name. His name would be constant reminder that he caused pain. What a plight to bear in life. What a future! What a distinction a name can make!
2.Distinction of Honor
1 Chronicles 4:9a Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers,
But something happened in this man’s life … something that took him from pain to glory.
It is said that the difference between the ordinary and extraordinary is the willingness to do the "extra." "Jabez wanted to be more and do more for God." (Dr. Seume quoted from "The Prayer of Jabez, pg.10) That’s the extraordinary of Jabez’s life. Is it yours?
Jabez owned the distinction of being more honorable than those around him.
Honorable (kabod) = to be heavy
-negative: burdensome or severe
-positive: abound more, great, magnitude, glory
Being honorable speaks to the character, responsibility and respect of the person. Jabez went from being a pain to being more honorable. His life take a turn for the realm of glory as he abounds into greatness not made on his own.
Only too frequently do the instances of our past lives affect the course of the future. It is frequently said, "nothing can change the past." The Bible paints a different picture. Sincere repentance and conversion if we are the erring one, and forgiveness if we are the one sinned against, both have the power to alter our perception of the past. Thereby they also change the direction of our future. -- Carl Hagensick (http://www.heraldmag.org/literature/pray_1.htm)
What made the difference in this man’s life … who was at one point characterized by causing pain … to become a man remembered as more honorable than his brothers? It’s the third distinction of the life of Jabez … his prayer life.
3.Distinction of Prayer
1 Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested.
Jabez is distinctly remembered, not for what he did, but for what he prayed. His prayer became the casting distinction in his life to remove him from causing pain to being blessed by the hand of God.
Would your prayer life be considered the distinction of your life or extinction of your life?
Jabez prayed for . . . God to bless him … enlarge his territory … keep His hand on him … keep him from evil so as not to cause pain.
Jabez’s four part prayer may not strike you as earth shattering requests when you read them. However the prayer of Jabez brings a big shift in the pattern of our prayer life … or as Bruce Wilkinson states it … "a giant paradigm breaker." Here it is … And Jabez called on the God of Israel
-Big distinction … Jabez believed that God heard and that God would answer.
-Bigger distinction … Jabez left the answering of his request up to God.
Jabez called on the One who could, would and wanted to make the difference in his life. His prayer let loose God’s will, power and blessing in his life. And it can be the distinction in your life also.
Conclusion:
In the weeks to come we are going to pour ourselves into this four part prayer to glean and loose the power and blessing of God’s will for our lives as individuals and as a church body. I believe God is desiring to make a distinction in your lives … through this simple and yet profound prayer.
Are you willing to be like Jabez and do the "extra" to bring about the extraordinary work of God in your life? I believe you are!
Amen!
The Prayer of Jabez sermons are a result of having read, The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life, by Bruce Wilkinson. Some ideas, thoughts and quotes have been gleaned from the book. However outlines are original with R. AuBuchon Jr, Other materials from various sources have also been gleaned and added.
