Everybody wants to know what purpose they have. Does God really have a plan for each one of us? The Bible says God knew us even before we were born and that He has a unique and distinct plan for each one of us.
JEREMIAH 29:11 says,
‘I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.’
We want to find out what our unique plan is, but sometimes we try to find it without using the road map that God gave us. We get so caught up in daily activities that the only thing that suffers is our relation to God.
What if I were to tell you today how you can find out what your purpose is and also learn how to attain it – would you be interested? In a few minutes I will tell you what your purpose in life is, but until then I want you to think about it and await that answer with eager anticipation. And if you do what I talk about this morning, you will not only understand your purpose, your Godly vision will grow stronger and clearer, too. Speaking of vision, did you know that vision is a necessity for life? It is.
In PROVERBS 29:18 it tells us,
‘ … where there is no vision, the people perish.’
We have come together to start a new work for the Lord by planting CrossRoads Church. Each one of you have expressed excitement about doing so and we all believe that God is going to use this church, and use us, in new and exciting ways as we step out in faith for His glory.
Are you ready for the adventure of your life? Are you ready to leave the humdrum and step into the amazing? That is what happens when you discover your Godly purpose. And that is what I want to talk to you about this morning.
In the Old Testament, you will find the book of 1 CHRONICLES. The first nine chapters deal with genealogy. You know, the ‘who begot who’ list. Unless you are into genealogy, you would probably skim over this information, but I want to warn you to be very careful if you do. For right in the middle of this list in chapter four, are two small verses that have the power to shake your world!
In 1 CHRONICLES 4:9-10 reads,
‘Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
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!” And God granted his request’
We are going to break this simple and short prayer down to find out just why it is so remarkable and how you can use it in your life to produce some extraordinary results.
Let’s begin by finding out who Jabez was. Today we name our children with names that are popular or after someone who has left an impression on us. In biblical times, however, a person’s name often described their character or some situation in their lives. Jabez meant ‘pain.’ How would you like for your mother to have named you ‘Pain’? Jabez grew up with a name anybody would love to hate. Pain.
All babies cause their mothers a certain amount of pain during childbirth, but it seems that Jabez may have caused his mother more than the ordinary. We don’t know if the pain was physical or emotional, but his mother decided to memorialize it by naming her son ‘Pain’. One would think that having to carry the name of a pain giver would have a very negative impact on his life, but you just can’t keep a good man down. God said Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.
Why was he considered more honorable than those around him? It was because of his prayer life. He not only had one, he was a true believer in answered prayer. But Jabez didn’t just say a prayer; the Bible says he cried out to God! When you cry out to somebody, you are being very bold about getting their attention, aren’t you?
1. JABEZ ASKED GOD TO BLESS HIM
There was once a king who noticed that a particular man in his kingdom that was always doing things for others, and everybody liked him. The king sent for him and said he was very impressed with the way he lived his life. For his reward, the man could take a full day and walk around any amount of land and the king would give it to him.
The man immediately took his staff and drew a small circle around himself. The puzzled king asked him if he only wanted the land inside the circle. The man said, “No, Your Highness. I want everything outside the circle!”
That man was bold in declaring what he wanted. And we must be the same way when we tell God what we want. Jabez cried out to God with his request that God would bless him! Jabez wanted every blessing that God would give him.
I used to think it was selfish to ask God to be blessed. Then I realized that the word “blessed” means to have God’s favor upon your life. It isn’t selfish to ask for that; in fact, all Christians should be asking God to have favor upon their lives.
Jabez wanted to have God’s favor in his life. That meant that he had a relationship with God and he also had a very effective prayer life. He not only believed that God would hear his prayer, he believed that God would answer it, too.
God wants to bless us.
In GENESIS 12:2, God told Abram –
‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.’
Then God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means, “Father of many nations.” It is through the blood of Jesus Christ, that we have become Abraham’s seed, which means we also receive the blessings God gave to Abraham.
I told you a few minutes ago that I would tell you what your purpose in life is. Most of us have heard of Pastor Rick Warren, the author of the “Purpose-Driven Life.” He knows what he is talking about when he tells us about our purpose in life. Here is what he says:
“It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God.”
And there is no better way to begin with God, than to begin with Him in prayer.
God told Abraham that he would be a blessing. That is your purpose. You are to be a Godly, or God-sent, blessing to others. That is the only way you will be able to take God to others. We have this tendency to think everything is about us. We tend to think the universe revolves around us. But we are called to be nothing more than a reflection of Jesus Christ so that others might come to know Him, too. Everything we do should be in accordance with that purpose.
We are to bless others by taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to others. That is called evangelizing. Remember what I said last week: Evangelizing is just one poor beggar telling another poor beggar where he found the bread. We should be blessing others by showing somebody every day where they can find that bread so they can live.
2. JABEZ ASKED GOD FOR MORE
Jabez prayed that God would enlarge his territories.
How many ways can you think of that God could enlarge your territories? He could give you more land. He could give you more responsibilities and a promotion on your job. But He can also give you more success in being a Christian, too.
I pray that God will enlarge my territories. I pray that God would let me do more for this church. I pray that He would let me touch just one more person for Jesus as I walk through life. If God would answer but one of these prayers, I will have had my territories enlarged.
But, doing things for God is a responsibility, and when you have a responsibility you cannot just sit and relax; you have to get up and go. And you have to get up and go when God says get up and go.
And when we are in service to God, we do what, and when, He says do. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Diana and I left our children, our grandchildren, our home and our friends to come to Oklahoma.
I took an early retirement and actually put off receiving any retirement checks for 5 years, and Diana took a change within the Postal Service to a less paying position. Why did we do that? We did that because God said, “Go!” and we went. But because we blessed Him by doing so, He has blessed us in more ways than we can count. And He surely enlarged our territories within His kingdom.
Let me share with you how I have seen God bless each one of you recently. Most churches expect their members to show up each week, listen obediently to the songs and sermons, tithe their money, and then go home and be nice people until they repeat the scenario the next week.
They do not expect, encourage, or teach their members to be actively involved in God’s kingdom, and they certainly spend little time trying to create an excitement for God in the members’ hearts. But from the very beginning when it was suggested that we start a church plant, each one of you have shown an excitement that you didn’t feel before. You have taken on boldness that I have not seen in any of you before.
You are very excited about working for the Lord now, and that excitement is calling you to be involved more than ever before. What I have seen is the Lord has touched all of you and you have His favor upon your lives right now. I have said before that we are all called to implement the Great Commission into our lives, but less than 2% of all Christians have ever done that. But you have! Each one of you have come together to grow this church so that it can touch the lives of people in this area … and God has given you a new passion in your soul to work for Him. He has given you a new fire that has refined you. He has enlarged your territory. And it is a blessing for me to just be around you!
Jabez was from the tribe of Judah, which was the ruling class among the Hebrews. To increase his territory meant that his people would have more area to live in. But that also meant that more people would end up living there, giving him that much more responsibilities. Jabez wanted to be used by God more than anything else.
Let that be your prayer. Let that be a passionate longing inside you – that God would enlarge your area of responsibility so that you could serve Him even more.
In a time of great discouragement for Israel, God gave them a promise.
In ISAIAH 54:2, God said,
‘Enlarge the place of your tent – stretch your tent curtains wide; do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left.’
God wanted them to know that they would receive the promise He had given to Abram those many years before. He wanted them to see beyond their present circumstances and look to the future that God was preparing for them. God wants us to get ready to receive that same promise today. He is going to enlarge our borders and give us that blessing, but we need to focus on Him and not our daily circumstances.
3. JABEZ WANTED GOD IN HIS LIFE
Jabez prayed,
‘Let Your hand be with me …’
He knew that what he wanted was impossible to get without God in His life. As a matter of fact, He didn’t just want God in his life - he wanted God to BE his life.
What would you pray for if you knew without a doubt that you would get it? Is there something you have wanted, but have chosen to ignore it because you thought you would probably not get it anyway? I want you to think about that right now. And I want you to see if that desire is you-centered, or if it is God-centered. If it is you-centered, I would suggest you figure out how to make it God-centered before you pray in earnest for it.
If, however, it is God-centered, pray for it again. But this time, pray in the context of the Prayer of Jabez. Ask God to give it to you, and know that when He does, you will be using it to bless others in His name. And then fully expect to receive what you ask for.
JAMES 4:2-3 explains this to us.
‘You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.’
That is pretty straightforward. Take all your desires to God. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Be sure that they are going to be used to bless Him and not yourself.
4. JABEZ WANTED GOD TO PROTECT HIM
Jabez prayed, ‘ … and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’
I like the way the New King James version puts it.
‘Keep me from evil that I might not cause pain.’
He had probably heard all his life how much pain he caused his mother during childbirth, and he didn’t want to be the cause of any more pain. He knew that sin causes pain and he wanted God to protect him against it.
Sin brings pain into the world. Look at how sin has brought pain into our nation. And sin brings pain into each life it touches. But out of all the pain it causes, sin causes the greatest and deepest pain to God. Jabez asked God to keep him away from that kind of pain.
In MATTHEW 6:13, Jesus was teaching us to pray the Prayer of Jabez.
‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
I think the Prayer of Jabez is of utmost importance to all Christians because it shows us the right focus we should have when we pray. But as important as each part is, the most important part is the last sentence in verse 10. In a very simple, yet very profound statement, it says –
‘And God granted his request.’
Why have we covered this prayer today? Because sometimes small churches look at themselves and say, “Oh, we can’t do this and we can’t do that because we are too small and don’t have the resources.” Their vision gets limited by their circumstances, and instead of taking giant steps in faith they take baby steps in unbelief.
Remember the man who drew a circle around himself and told the king he wanted everything outside the circle? What if we were that bold?
What if we drew a line around this building and said we want to claim all the territory beyond this place for God? Why can’t we do like Jabez did and look beyond our present circumstances and look to where God is and what He is doing? There is an old saying that says if we want the favor of God in our lives, we don’t stay and pray for it; we search to see where God is and what He is doing and we get involved in His activities. Then and only then will we find the favor of God upon our lives.
May I have the singers come forward?
Let us be bold in asking God to give us more so that we might be more of a blessing to others.
‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.
And God will grant our request, too.
INVITATION
