The Jabez Syndrome

For a few years now people have been praying the prayer of Jabez made popular by Bruce Wilkinson’s book The Prayer of Jabez. Based on 1 Chron 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.

It works because God desires to “Bless you” “Expand your Territory” “have an intimate relationship with you” and “keep you free from evil”.

There are a number of folk who have prayed this prayer for a number of years who are now wondering what has happened to the initial outpouring of blessings, or the receipt of things, they received as a result of asking for blessings.. Questions arise in their heart like has God now abandoned me? The answer is of course not, He is taking us into His ultimate blessing and expansion of our territory. Into the realm of Glory, into the full revelation of the love of the father for His Children.

The natural outcome of a prayer asking for blessings is that God will take us into His rest. Or into the realms of His Glory. We can choose to abandon ourselves to his blessings or we can go through the fire with kicking and squealing, either way we will enter his rest, if we truly want to have our territory expanded and His full blessings.

This is a season when we will get beyond our earthly requests and desires, to a place that starts to shake us free of religious mindsets and remove things that are in the way of God in order to bring us where He wants us. We know it is God in our heart of hearts and we have to make a choice, Are we going to expand into all that God has for us, or will we wallow in the frustration of our comfort zone?

How many times have you had a breakthrough and then reverted back to the way things were? We worry about receiving the approval of man rather than expanding beyond our current limits. But expand we must, into the freedom of rest in the Father. Freedom from religious mindsets and heavy yokes of dead works.

God’s word for 2008 is clear. Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

Religion hates it when anyone is set free. Present things are being challenged by the eternal Father. “Let them stretch forth the curtains of His habitations” Make room for the heart of the Father and enter His rest, be seated in heavenly places with Jesus our saviour.

Many churches preach that we should conform to a traditional or religious image. But the eternal Fathers message to the world is transformation, not conformation. Therefore those who pray “God expand my territory” will soon come into conflict with a conforming church. We have to stop being held back by the traditions of men and break out into the Kingdom of God. For the hour is at hand when; “the Kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever.” (Rev 11:15)

You can’t qualify for further expansion, because the love of God has already qualified you as a Son or Daughter. The expansion of territory opens our eyes to the love of God, and the love of God reveals blessing untold. The love of God Transforms and draws us into His breast, to a place where the heart beat of God is heard, so that our heartbeat and Gods heartbeat, beat as one.

Eph 3:17-18

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.

Systems, programs and religion don’t transform. Only a revelation of the love of God as expressed in Jesus truly brings transformation in our world and in our surroundings. That revelation only comes as we enter His rest and lean against his breast.

Eph 3:20

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.

The Church knows about the love of God; but few are experiencing it because we get stuck in the limits of religion. We have set ideas of how the Kingdom works, but its time to expand our thinking, to dwell in the heavenly realm. To move our tent into the glory cloud to the place of infinite Glory, and supernatural food and supernatural drink that satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst.