The Prayer Of Jabez !!!

1 Chronicles 4:9, 10 talks about the Prayer of Jabez. Very significant Prayer by an insignificant individual. The name of Jabez appears only twice in the Bible, yet his Prayer is well looked upto. In 1 Chronicles 2:55 the term Jabez is referred to a place.

The literal meaning of the word Jabez means "Pain". His mother named him Jabez because she bore him in pain. I remember during my school days we used to ridicule students with funny names and weird meaning of their names. Sometimes I wonder what would have been the plight of Jabez among his relatives and his friends circle. But the most important thing that caught my attention is his Prayer. And the most powerful thing is that God granted his request. There could be nothing greater that God answering our Prayers. That is what we all look forward to.

Let us look into a few detail of his prayer.

1. Oh that you would bless me indeed.

Every human deserves the blessing of God. It is every individual's birthright to receive blessings from God. The Bible says we do not receive because we do not ask (James 4:2). Unless we are blessed how can we be a blessing to others. I urge that every Child of God should pray this Prayer.

2. Enlarge my territory.

The second part of his prayer is that he asks God to enlarge his territory. The blessing of God brings us increase and growth. It is God's will that we see increase and growth in our lives. We cannot remain in the same place for many years. We need an increase. We have to expand. We have to enlarge. And only God could do that.

3. Your Hand would be with me.

God's Hand is a must on our lives. If we do not have His Hand upon us survival would be impossible. We need to pray that we always remain under His gracious Hand. His Hand brings Provision, Protection, Deliverance and so on.

4. Keep me from evil.

It is God alone who can protect us from the evil one. The Bible says that the devil is like a roaring lion always seeking whom to devour. But our Lord Jesus is the Lion of Judah. He is our only Protector. He alone can deliver us from all evil.

5. I should not cause pain to anyone.

We are called to be a blessing to one another. We should never cause hurt or pain to anyone either by word or deeds. We should never discourage anyone but rather be a source of encouragement to somebody. We should always build and not pull down anyone.

After all these prayer petitions the beauty of the Scripture is that God granted his request. Our God is a prayer answering God. Let us prepare ourselves to meet our God and develop that intimacy with Him through Prayer.

God bless you abundantly !!!