As is the case with all my messages, I am glad to provide my Power Point slides so you can use them as a help for your own.
This sermon series was “Team Preached” by my wife (Becky) and I
The Salvation Army
Herkimer, NY
The Prayer of Jabez:
Part 2:“Bless Me”
1 Chronicles 4:9 & 10
9: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.
NKJV
To Review:
• Jabez = Pain/Misery
– We don’t know why/what
– We have hurts & pain too
• He was also
– “Most honorable”
• Because of …
• Jewish tradition holds that he was a well known & respected “doctor of the law”
Bless Me Indeed
• It is found 415 times in the OT
• Hebrew word barak (qr;B;) “to kneel”;
• The word means: “To endue with power for success, prosperity, longevity,” etc.
• According to God’s instruction, blessings were pronounced by the heads of households
– In receiving the blessing, they would kneel before them
– they would usually “touch the head”… “lay on hands”…or “raise the hands above the person” while the blessing was pronounced;
Bless Me Indeed
• Upon first reading - that sounds like a pretty selfish prayer! “Oh, Lord, bless me indeed!” (“wonderfully” LB)
• On the surface it seems like Jabez was very self-centered;
• It seems like he is only concerned about himself;
• He only asks God to bless him – no one else
• Why?
– To bless others! (like Abraham)
– O2
Bless Me Indeed
• Didn’t pray that prayer casually or half-heartedly
– He prayed it with fervency!
– He prayed with passion!
• “Indeed” is ‘amen’
• (“so be it” .. “Do it, Lord!”)
“Bless Me …” How??
• “Bless Me” … but how?
– Money?
– Possessions?
– Wisdom?
• Left it up to God!
– ‘blank sheet’
• God will bless us but … we need to ask!!
• James 4:2&3 “the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
Have to “Make Room/Time”
• Many don’t ask for God’s blessing because
– ‘their schedule is already full!’
• This week we have seen many people give sacrificially of their time and talents .. they recognized that God blessed them with abilities & talents to help others!
• We should pray like Jabez
– “bless me .. so I can bless others!”
We should seek to be blessed, "throwing ourselves entirely into the river of His will and power and purposes for us. All our needs become secondary to what we really want—which is to become wholly immersed in what God is trying to do in us, through us, and around us for His glory
“The Prayer of Jabez” is available “Online” or at Wal-Mart, etc
