I’ve entitled our message this morning “A Prayer for God’s Will.” When we think of God’s will we often have in mind how the Lord wants to use us for His glory; how God wants to include us in His plans and work through us to make an impact for the kingdom. But when it comes to praying for God’s will, we often find ourselves at a loss for words. Sometimes all we can muster up is, “God, please use me!” Some of us, in going a little deeper, might pray for the salvation of others, and ask God to lead us to someone with whom we can share our faith? But how many of us have considered that, perhaps, the way to make the greatest impact is to pray for ourselves; for the spiritual and material resources we need to enlarge the kingdom? Well, this is what we’re going to discover as we look at 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.
The Prayer of Jabez (vv. 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.
Here, we encounter what’s called “The Prayer of Jabez,” which was highlighted a few decades ago by an author named Bruce Wilkinson. This prayer is quite interesting, for it’s nestled in the middle of a very long genealogy. The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are taken up with the official family tree of the Hebrew tribes, beginning with Adam and proceeding through many hundreds of years. After forty-four names into the genealogy the short account of Jabez appears; and as soon as the two verses about Jabez are completed, the genealogy resumes in listing names. “Something about this man Jabez had caused the historian to pause . . . clear his throat and switch tactics. ‘Ah, wait a minute,’ he seems to interject. ‘You’ve just gotta know something about this man named Jabez’.”(1)
Apparently Jabez was important, but strangely he is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. “All we know is that things started badly for a person no one had ever heard of. He prayed an unusual, one-sentence prayer. And, things ended extraordinarily well. Clearly, the outcome can be traced to his prayer. Something about Jabez’s simple, direct request to God changed his life and left a permanent mark on the history books of Israel.”(2) This morning, we are going to learn about four things for which we should be praying – or four prayer keys – if we desire God’s will and want more of His power in our life.
Key # 1: Asking for a Blessing
The first key that we are going to look at in the Prayer of Jabez is “asking for a blessing.” In verse 10, we read, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed.” Is it selfish to ask for a blessing? Well, to answer this question, we need to understand the biblical meaning of the term “blessing.” “To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for, or to impart, supernatural favor. When we ask God for God’s blessings we’re not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves. We’re crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God has the power to know about or give to us.”(3)
Something unusual we notice about Jabez’s request for a blessing is that he didn’t ask for anything specific or selfish. “He left it entirely up to God to decide what the blessing would be, and where, when, and how Jabez would receive it. This kind of radical trust in God’s good intentions toward us has nothing in common with the popular gospel that you should ask God for a Cadillac, a six-figure income, or some other material sign that you have found a way to cash in on your connection with Him. Instead, the Jabez blessing focuses . . . on our wanting for ourselves nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us.”(4)
“When we seek God’s blessing . . . we are throwing ourselves entirely into the river of His will, and [His] power, and [His] purposes for us. All our other 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.”(5)
Let me ask you, “Do you ever feel as though you are not worthy of the Lord’s blessings?” Maybe you’ve undergone some difficulties where life has dealt you a bad hand, so to speak. Perhaps, trials have led you to believe that God doesn’t work on an individual level to protect us, let alone care enough to bring good things, or “blessings,” to our life. Jabez certainly could have felt that he got the short end of the stick.
In Hebrew, the word Jabez means “pain.” We don’t know what caused the pain of Jabez’s anguished mother that resulted in her naming her child “pain.” But, what we can surmise is that Jabez likely had a rough life because of it. He was probably teased about his name when he was a child, and his very name probably made him feel that his life would be full of pain and hopelessness. You see, in ancient Israel a man’s name defined and determined his destiny. “A name was often taken as a wish for, or a prophecy, about the child’s future.”(6)
“Weighed down by the sorrow of his past and the dreariness of his present, he sees before him only impossibility – a future shut off. But raising his hands to heaven, he cries out, ‘Father, oh Father! Please bless me! And what I really mean is . . . bless me a lot.”(7) You see, “In Hebrew, adding ‘indeed’ to this prayer was like adding five exclamation points, or writing the request in capital letters and underlining it.”(8) So, let me ask again, “Is it wrong to ask for a blessing?”
Well, listen as I read Matthew 7:7-11: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” According to this passage from Matthew, God is longing for us to ask Him for what we need; and like a good father He will bestow unto us freely good things or blessings.
If we fail to ask for blessings and God’s anointing in our life, then we won’t receive them. In James 4:2, we read, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” “Even though there is no limit to God’s goodness, if you didn’t ask Him for a blessing yesterday, you didn’t get all that you were supposed to have” today.(9) “God’s bounty is limited . . . by us, not by [God’s] resources, power, or willingness to give. Jabez was blessed simply because he refused to let any obstacle, person, or opinion loom larger than God’s nature.”(10) And God’s nature, as our heavenly Father, is to bless His sons and daughters.
Key # 2: Asking for More Influence
The second key in the Prayer of Jabez is “asking for more influence.” In verse 10, we also find the statement, “enlarge my territory.” What did Jabez mean by enlarge his territory? “A plea for more territory is where you ask God to enlarge your life so you can make a greater impact for Him. From both the context and the results of Jabez’s prayer, we can see that there was more to his request than a simple desire for more real estate. He wanted more influence, more responsibility, and more opportunity to make a mark for the God of Israel.”(11)
“As a farmer or herdsman, he looked over the spread his family had passed down to him, ran his eye down the fence lines, visited the boundary markers, calculated the potential – and made a decision: Everything you’ve put under my care, O Lord – take it, and enlarge it.”(12) Now, Jabez’s territory was actual land, but our territory doesn’t have to be land. It can be our business or occupation. We can be a businessman, farmer, or high school student, but we still have territory. A businessman’s territory is his office. A farmer’s territory is his farm and local feed store, and a high school student’s territory is the hallway and classrooms. Our territory is our social sphere of influence in which God has placed us to impact the lives of others.
“No matter what your vocation, the highest form of Jabez’s prayer for more territory might sound something like [this]: ‘O God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I touch more lives for Your glory. Let me do more for You’.”(13) If most of us were asked to define our main goal and purpose in life as a Christian, we would probably answer with “To give glory to God,” or “To give glory to Jesus.” Perhaps we need to view our purpose like this. We are here on earth “because God wants us to be moving out our boundary lines, taking in new territory for Him, and reaching people in His name.”(14)
Key # 3: Asking for God’s Help
The third key in the Prayer of Jabez is “asking for God’s help.” We also read in verse 10, “Oh . . . that Your hand would be with me.” Why would Jabez feel the need to ask that God’s hand be with him, or why might anyone who asks for more territory require God’s hand to with him or her? The answer is that whenever our territory increases, we are placed in a position in which we cannot handle the responsibility on our own. It seems like it is too much or too overwhelming; and it is at times like this that we need God’s help, or rather His hand.
If we ever find ourselves in a situation in which we feel like we have too much to handle in God’s work, does this mean that we have done something wrong and we need to back out of something? Keep in mind that if we have just asked for more territory then God will give it to us. Sometimes we might feel like we’ve bitten off more than we can chew; and at times like this we are tempted to back out. We usually want to do only what we know we can handle; and we often try to do for God what we can do by our own means, through our own talents and abilities. But if we behave like this, then we are running from dependence. “The second you’re not feeling dependent is the second you’ve backed away from truly living by faith . . . Feeling that I just can’t do it is what I’m supposed to be feeling.”(15)
“It’s a frightening and utterly exhilarating truth, isn’t it? As God’s chosen and blessed sons and daughters, we are expected to attempt something large enough that failure is guaranteed . . . unless God steps in. Take a minute to prayerfully try to comprehend how contrary that truth is to everything you would humanly choose: It goes against common sense; it contradicts your previous life experience; it seems to disregard your feelings, [your] training, and [your] need for security; and it sets you up to look like a fool.”(16) But the apostle Paul said, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise . . . that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:27a, 29).
When we thrust ourselves into the mainstream of God’s plans for this world – which are beyond our ability to accomplish – and plead with Him, “Lord use me; give me more ministry for You,” then we release amazing things.(17) When we are forced to cry out to God, “Oh, that Your hand would be with me,” it is then that we release God’s power to accomplish His will and bring Him glory through all those seeming impossibilities. Asking for God’s hand upon us is our strategic choice to sustain and continue the great things that He has begun in our lives.(18)
Key # 4: Asking for God’s Protection
The fourth key in the Prayer of Jabez is “asking for God’s protection.” Finally we read, “Oh . . . that you would keep me from evil.” Why would Jabez have asked God to keep him from evil? “As your life transcends the ordinary and starts to encroach on new territory for God, guess whose turf you’re invading?”(19) The answer is the devil’s turf! Satan doesn’t want you to take territory for God; therefore, he will start tempting you to sin.
“The further along in a life of supernatural service you get, the more you’ll need the final plea of Jabez’s prayer. You are going to experience more attacks on you and your family. You are going to become familiar with the enemy’s unwelcome barbs – distraction, opposition, and oppression, for starters.”(20) Please note, concerning our Christian walk, that if we are not experiencing trials and temptations, then maybe we are not doing much for God.
The statement, “keep me from evil,” provides us with insight into our fight against Satan. We read in Matthew 6:13, in the New King James Version, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” According to Jesus, we are to ask for deliverance, not just from “evil,” but from “the evil one.” “Most Christians seem to pray solely for strength to endure temptations . . . Somehow we don’t think to ask God to simply keep us away from temptation and keep the devil at bay in our lives.”(21)
“With all the legions of heaven at His disposal, even Jesus prayed for deliverance. Even with all His divine insight, when He was tempted in the wilderness, He refused to engage Satan in a discussion about his enticing offers . . . As we move into the realm of the miraculous, the most effective war against sin that we can wage is to pray that we will not have to fight unnecessary temptation. And God offers us His supernatural power to do just that.”(22)
Time of Reflection
If you desire God’s will and want more of His power in your life, then there are four important things to be praying for: 1.) You need to ask God to bless you according to His will, and His will alone. 2.) You must ask the Lord to increase your sphere of influence, in order to bring glory to His name. 3.) You must ask the Lord for His hand to be with you, so that you’ll rely totally on His help instead of your own abilities; and 4.) you need to ask the Lord to block the devil’s temptations, so that he does not cause you to stumble. These are four keys that lead to a life of blessing and influence as you strive to walk in God’s will.
Now, in closing, I want to take you back to an account I shared from Matthew; but I want to instead read what Luke had to say about it: “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? . . . If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:9-11, 13).
If you’ll recall, Matthew spoke of praying for the blessing of having your basic needs met; but Luke spoke of praying for the blessing of receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into a person’s life as a result of confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. So, you see, the greatest blessing we can ask God for is the forgiveness of sin, salvation and eternal life; so according to Luke, if you will ask for salvation it will be given to you; if you will seek the Lord, you will find Him; if you will knock on the gates of heaven, it will be opened to you. But, in turn, Jesus is knocking on the door to your heart, asking to come in; and in Revelation 3:20, He declares, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.”
So, in closing, I want to encourage you to ask Jesus to come in to your heart by confessing Him as Savior and Lord. We read in Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” and John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
NOTES
(1) Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2000), p. 14.
(2) Ibid., pp. 14-15.
(3) Ibid., p. 23.
(4) Ibid., p. 24.
(5) Ibid., pp. 24-25.
(6) Ibid., p. 21.
(7) Ibid., p. 22.
(8) Ibid., p. 22.
(9) Ibid., p. 27.
(10) Ibid., p. 29.
(11) Ibid., p. 30.
(12) Ibid., p. 31.
(13) Ibid., p. 32.
(14) Ibid., p. 34.
(15) Ibid., p. 47.
(16) Ibid., pp. 47-48.
(17) Ibid., p. 44.
(18) Ibid., pp. 48-49.
(19) Ibid., p. 63.
(20) Ibid., p. 64.
(21) Ibid., p. 67.
(22) Ibid., p. 68.
