The Prayer of Jabez
1 Chronicles. 4:9-10
Are you living the life God wants you to live or you just living life? God wants you to live a life of blessing.
In the Old Testament we discover a man who moved beyond living a life of everyday blessing, to living a life of abundant blessing. His name is Jabez. His name appears only 3 times in the Bible, in 2 verses, and in the long list of the genealogies, the who begat who’s. It is significant that what Jabez is remembered for is not some outstanding achievement, but a prayer. But out of all the people in this 9-chapter list of characters, he alone is lifted out because of the prayer that he prayed.
V.9 “ And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
V.10 And Jabez called upon the God os Israel, saying,Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast,and that thine hand might be upon me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And god granted him that which he requested. ”
What is so unusual about this prayer? Let’s look at the prayer piece by piece in order to discover why God was pleased enough with his prayer to have it forever recorded in scripture for our attention and instruction.
His prayer consisted of 4 parts:
1)He prayed that God would bless him.
2)He prayed that God would enlarge his coast.
3)He prayed that God’s hand would be upon him.
4)He prayed that God would keep him from evil.
The first point of his prayer is:“Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed.” What is a blessing? It is a specific gift from God, for a specific time and a specific purpose, to bring increase into our life.
Jabez sought God’s blessing on his life, he was not asking for more of what he could get for himself, he was crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God can give. He wanted God’s best and believed that God wanted to give it to him. He remembered what the Lord said unto Abraham, (Gen. 12:2),“ I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing.” And when Jacob wrestled with God, (Gen.32: 26), when God told him to release him, Jacob said,“ I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” God wants to bless us, but we have to want the blessing. We need to wrestle with God and not let go until he blesses us.
Jabez simply asked God to bless him indeed. Jabez did not tell God how to bless him. There is a form of prayer we call supplication—that is asking God for a specific need to be granted.We might ask God to heal us, forgive us, repair a broken marriage, keep our children safe from harm and so on. That is a prayer of supplication—asking God to supply our need—and we should pray those sort of prayers. But when we ask God to bless us, we are opening ourselves up to receive whatever God wants to give us!
And the only way we will receive the blessing God wants to give us is for us to ask for it. In (Matt. 7:7) Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”(James 4:2) tells us, “ye have not, because ye ask not.” We have heard, “Good things come to those who wait”; but God’s word tells us: blessings comes to those who ask! Just think, what wonderous and unlimited blessing we miss out on if we don’t ask God to bless us everyday. In (I Cor.2:9),“ But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that Love him. ”
The problem is that we have come to a state of complacency in the Church, (Complacency: is a lack of feeling or interest, a place of satisfaction), that we don’t seek God’s blessing. We are preoccupied with ourselves, it’s all about us, we want more, and we want it faster, better and cheaper. Our lives have become shallow and self-centered; we worry about how we look,and what we have. So many people never have a purpose larger than themselves. We are too busy to be concerned with the things of God.
Let me ask a question, and be honest with yourself and with God, are you closer to God today than you were at the beginning of last year? If you are not any closer, you have missed the blessing! You need to pray that God would bless you and bring a new fire in your soul; a new passion for God; a new zeal for serving Him, a new desire to have your life be a blessing to the world. The surest sign that you are a growing Christian is that you have a growing desire for your life to be used by God.
A Poem of Prayer
* Oh, bless me today Lord like never before. Open the flood gates and flow to my door. All your power and wisdom and I will go forth, Praying the Prayer of Jabez.
Lord, let me do more for your kingdom I pray. Widen my boundaries and show me the way. Bring the people you want me to comfort today. Through your spirit their lives will be changed.
May your hand be upon me, stay close by my side, Give me courage and strength for the task You decide. Keep me from the evil one, and protect me from sin. Guide my heart and my mind with your truth.
And I’ll witness the miracles along the way, I’ll give my testimony of your mercy and grace. Let me not take the credit for something You did. I’ll proclaim “ All the Glory is His! ” *
If you will this morning please answer the following questions.Do you believe that Jesus never changes? (Hebrews 13:8),“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Do you believe that God’s Word never changes?(Psalms 119:89),“ For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” Do you believe that God will be faithful? (I Cor. 1:9),“God is faithful, by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” Since last Sunday, who has been praying that God would Bless them and Bless them indeed?
The 2nd point of his prayer: Jabez prayed that God "would enlarge his coast." Jabez was from the tribe of Judah, which was the ruling class among the Hebrews. To enlarge his coast meant that his people would have more area to live in and that he would have more people to serve as a leader. He was not thinking of himself, he was thinking about the welfare of others.
A leader is a servant of the people. Jabez wanted more influence, more responsibility, and more opportunity to make a mark for the God of Israel. Insert here from “The Prayer Of Jabez. (In Jabez’s time part of Israel’s recent national history was Joshua’s conquest of Canaan and the partitioning of the Promised Land into chunks of real estate for each tribe. When Jabez cried out to God,“Enlarge my coast!” he was looking at his present circumstances and concluding,“Surely I was born for more than this!” Everything you’ve put under my care, O Lord—take it, and enlarge it.
Jabez knew that ultimately, the land didn’t belong to him; it belong to God. He knew that he was just a steward, a trustee. And so when God answered his prayer for more land, it meant that God was entrusting him with opportunity to do good.)In (Matt.25:21), “His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” In the same way, when we pray for God to enlarge our “Coast,” what we’re asking for is a greater opportunity to influence people for Christ. We’re asking that God would enlarge our ministry and amplify our testimony. Of course, in your life, the answer to this prayer is going to look very different. Because each of us has a unique area of influence—at work, in our families and extended families, in our friendships and acquaintances, even in our neighborhoods. People who, at one time or another, might be receptive to discussing the Bible, or Christianity, or Spiritual matters in general.
What would happen if you prayed that God would enlarge your coast; if you prayed that He would begin to bring people into your life and into your area of influence who were primed and ready for that kind of conversation? What would happen if you asked God to open doors for you to talk about Christ, as Paul did? Why not try it? Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers. Just pray that God would put people in your path who need what you’ve got. And then don’t be surprised if suddenly you start bumping into people who want to talk about the Lord. And when it happens, come back Sunday morning and tell us about it.
The 3rd point of his prayer is:“ and that thine hand might be with me.” What is the meaning here? Jabez is asking God, for His power, for His strength, and for His ability. All through the Bible we find references as; the arm of the Lord, the finger of God, and the eyes of the Lord, in regard to the totality of the Supremacy of Almighty God. We think of “God’s Providence” or God’s actions within creation as He holds up everything. He makes the sun to rise, He causes it to rain on the just and the unjust, He feeds the beast of the field and the fowl of the air. Give reference here of (Ps. 104:10-28.)
(Ps. 145:15-16.) “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” He holds everything together.(Col.1:17) “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (Ps. 119:73) “ Thy hands have made me…” Jabez is asking for the benefits of Almighty God’s to be with him.
Jabez is humble in asking to be under the mighty hand of God. And we are given instruction in the word of God to be humble before the Lord our God. (I Peter 5:5-6), “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” God is still able to strengthen, He is still able to deliver, He is still able to help His people. Jabez was asking to experience God! Jabez knew that what he was praying for was bigger than what he could accomplish himself. He was praying for something so big that only the hand of God on his life could accomplish it. He was acknowledging his dependence on God.
Insert from page 48-49 of “The Prayer of Jabez”. Notice that Jabez did not begin his prayer by asking for God’s hand to be on him. At that point, he didn’t sense the need. Things were still manageable. His risks, and the fears that go with them, were minimal. But when his boundaries got moved out, and the kingdom-sized tasks of God’s agenda started coming at him, Jabez knew he needed a divine hand and fast. He could have turned back, or he could have tried to keep going in his own strength. Instead, he prayer! Your surrendered need turns into his unlimited opportunity.
In Acts, the phenomenal success of the early church was attributed to one thing: (Acts 11:21),
“The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” The early church continually prayed to be filled by God. (Acts 4:23-31.)They were known as a community who spent hours and even days in prayer together, waiting upon God and asking for His power (Acts 2:42-47.) How long has it been since you prayed to be filled by God? Paul exhorted the Ephesians to be “filled with all the fullness of God”(Eph. 3:19). When was the last time Maple Grove got together and pleaded for the filling of the spirit?
The 4th point of his prayer is: “and that thou wouldest keep me from evil.” Jabez’s name meant pain. He had caused pain, but he didn’t want to cause any more pain. Jabez wanted his life to be a blessing. Jabez wanted to be protected from the harm of evil, and he also wanted to be kept from sinning, because he knew that sin causes pain. Sin brings pain into the world, sin causes pain in the life of the sinner, and as well as those against whom it is committed. But more especially, sin causes God pain. Remember the condition of the world before the flood. The Bible says, "The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." Sin brings pain to the heart of God. Sin causes pain! David said, "Thy word have I hid your in my heart, that I mught not sin against thee." Jesus taught us this point of Jabez’s prayer in (Matt.6:13), "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil..." Sin is like a cancer, it will eat its way through your life, Sin will deprive you from the blessings of God. Sin will weaken and even destory your Christian influence. Sin will cause the hand of God (the power of God) not to be upon your labor and effort for him. Sin will turn your success into defeat, and bring evil and wickedness against you, Sin will cause pain to be in everything that you say or do. "...sin when it is finished, it bringeth forth death."(James 1:15).
God is in the blessing business. (Isa.43:1-3), "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame be kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransome, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."
Let us take God at his word and believe, ask, and get ready to receive from God the blessing of the Prayer of Jabez!
I have used some of the excerpts or nuggets from other sermons and with my additives this is the end result of my sermon.
