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.
If you are a parent you probably have heard the words, "don’t let go!" Whether it was your child learning to ride a bike, walking along a ledge, or in the dark … those words sound familiar.
Maybe you’ve said those words at one time or another in your life. Finding yourself in some difficult or confusing situation you simply want someone to hold on to you. It’s a secure feeling.
Jabez up to this point had prayed:
· To be blessed … beyond what he could get for himself.
· For the enlargement of his territory … so as to live larger than life.
Jabez now realizing he could not manage the "bigness" of the blessing and extended borders he prayed for now requests of God that "Your hand would be with me."
· Jabez understood the necessity of God’s hand needing to be upon him.
· Jabez understood the availability of God’s hand.
· Jabez understood that without God’s hand his ability to live and work beyond his normal borders would be hindered.
When you start seeking the blessings of God you have to remember that with them you have to seek God in the blessing.
· The hand of God is the presence of God.
Joshua 4:24 "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever."
· The hand of God is the Holy Spirit working in us.
Acts 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
Scriptures reveal to us that the "hand of the Lord" can either be with us or against us.
God’s Hand Against:
1 Samuel 12:15 "However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
God’s hand can bring or be:
· Calamity … Judges 2:13
· Heavy … 1 Samuel 5:6
· Fury … Isaiah 51:17
God’s Hand With:
· Merciful is God’s hand …
2 Samuel 24:14 And David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man."
· Granting is God’s hand …
Ezra 7:6b The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
· Encouraging is God’s hand …
Ezra 7:27-28 Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me.
Jabez wanted God’s hand with him … if that is your prayer you must seek God to keep His hand on you to keep you, dependant, desiring and devoted.
1. Keep Your Hand on Me: To Keep Me Dependant
Living in an independent world makes it hard to live dependently.
· Independence says, "Keep your hands off me!"
· Dependence says, "Keep your hands on me!"
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 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.
Sufficiency = ability
· Ability to manage and maintain the blessings of God comes from His hand.
· Insufficient on our own … no ability aside from what God gives us.
We all have the tendency to live thinking we do not need God is everything area of our life.
We like our "m&m" life. As long as things are manageable and the fears and risks are minimal we think we have things in hand.
Bruce Wilkinson says, "The second your not feeling dependent is the second you’ve backed away from truly living by faith."
Jabez knew he needed the power of God lifting him up … working in him … blessing others through him … therefore he prayed … keep Your hand on me.
It’s easy to pray … God bless me! But it is dependence working in us to pray, "God keep Your hand on me!"
2. Keep Your Hand on Me: To Keep Me Desiring
From dependency we move into the desires of the heart … seeking God to keep us.
Jabez desired to be more and do more for God.
· Dependency … not success allows us to desire to be more and do more for God.
Moderate success in ministry is a spiritual hazard. It can make us content to live without the manifest presence of God. -- Henry Blackaby
· Desiring the blessings of God should make the heart fonder for God.
If God does not enter your kitchen, there is something wrong with your kitchen. If you can’t take God into your recreation, there is something wrong with your play. We all believe in the God of the heroic. What we need most these days is the God of the humdrum, the commonplace, the everyday. -- Peter Marshall, Sr.
That’s where Jabez asked God to move into and bless him … his everyday life of the same old, same old!
Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
It is said that you ought to attempt something large enough that if God doesn’t show up you will fail.
I know what you are thinking … because I tend to think it also!
· It’s not practical or sensible.
· It contradicts my past experiences.
· It disregards my feelings.
During the days of the early church Peter and John were threatened and told not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. (Acts 4:18).
The practical or sensible thing to do would have been to be quiet … say no more or do no more with the one called Jesus.
But that is not what Peter, John and the other disciples did … rather they prayed a prayer full of the desire for God to do something so big that if He didn’t step in it would fail.
Acts 4:28-31 "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 "by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
God would later do something through them so big … that He would expand the borders of their ministry … and through persecution they would be spread throughout all the known world spreading the flames of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Are you content with the borders you work in everyday? Or do you have the desire for God’s hand to be on you so as to do something big in you and through you?
Bruce Wilkinson suggests, "Tragic as it might sound, the hand of the Lord is so seldom experienced by even mature Christians that they don’t miss it and don’t ask for it."
Let me ask you two questions:
· Is God everywhere? Yes He is.
· Is God manifesting Himself the same everywhere? No … because not everyone is desiring the work of God in their lives.
Oh God keep Your hand on me … that I might keep desiring Your good work in me and through me.
3. Keep Your Hand on Me: To Keep Me Devoted
The last thing Jabez wanted was to become complacent in his walk with God. He was an honorable man … one whom God was able to honor. His devotion to God was strong.
· Devotion to God bears out contentment.
Contentment is the ability to stand constantly and consciously in the presence of God so that he can transform any task into something meaningful. -- Richard Nelson Bolles
Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
· Living within our man made boundaries breeds discontentment.
· Discontentment leads to getting out from under the hand of God.
· Learn to blossom where God has planted you.
Isaiah 41:19-21 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, The myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine And the box tree together, 20 That they may see and know, And consider and understand together, That the hand of the LORD has done this, And the Holy One of Israel has created it. 21 "Present your case," says the LORD. "Bring forth your strong reasons," says the King of Jacob.
God can take even the dry times of our lives and make them prosperous … as we are devoted to Him.
· We must learn to wait on God … being devoted to Him no matter what.
Oh God … keep Your hand on me to keep me devoted to You.
Conclusion:
Praying the prayer of Jabez is not some magical formula to get what you want … but rather dedicated desiring that devotes oneself to God and His will being accomplished in and through your life.
2 Chronicles 16:9a "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him …"
By His touch you can experience the unexplainable, inexplicable supernatural power of God.
It’s up to you to ask.
Jabez prayed, "that Your hand would be with me,
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. Outlines are original with R. AuBuchon Jr, Other materials from various sources have also been gleaned and added.
This sermon was preached by Robert AuBuchon at Trinity Baptist Church in 2001. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
