First Baptist Church
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
The Prayer of Jabez (#3)
June 9, 2002
I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like to talk to answering machines. Even when you just wanted to say hello, answering machines can leave you speechless. At the same time, it’s fun to listen to unique messages on answering machines. Here are a few —
· Hi. Now you say something.
· Hello. I’m David’s answering machine. What are you?
· Greetings, you have reached the Sixth Sense Detective Agency. We know who you are and what you want, so at the sound of the tone, please hang up.
· I can’t come to the phone now because I have amnesia and I feel stupid talking to people I don’t remember. I’d appreciate it if you could help me out by leaving my name and telling me something about myself. Thanks.
· Hi. I’m probably home; I’m just avoiding someone I don’t like. Leave me a message, and if I don’t call back, it’s you.
Over the past two weeks we’ve been looking at the prayer of Jabez. Jabez was so eager to have God answer his prayer that scripture tells us he cried out to the God of Israel. You see, Jabez wanted God’s full attention and thankfully, he didn’t receive a recording from God. Instead, Jabez received the answer to his prayers.
Thus far we’ve seen that Jabez overcame his early childhood stigma of being considered a pain to becoming the most honorable of his brothers. In the first 2 parts of his prayer request, Jabez cried out to God asking to be blessed by God — meaning Jabez wanted God to bless Jabez in a way that it would have been obvious that only God was behind the blessing. It would be a blessing that would be way above anything Jabez could do himself.
Last week we spoke about the 2nd request of enlarging his borders. In other words, Jabez wanted to have a greater opportunity to make an impact in his world on behalf of God. Jabez wanted to take the blessings of God and extend them to others so that they could experience the amazing grace and power of God. Of course, it takes our trust and belief that God can do amazing things through us.
Today, we enter the 3rd part of the prayer — as Jabez asks God to stay with him, that ‘God’s hand would be with Jabez.’
Jabez didn’t want to stay where he was. So he asked God to break the cycle of dysfunction and despair that hung over his family. Instead of settling for mediocrity and the status quo, he asked God to unleash cloudbursts of blessings in his life. And, the showers of divine favor came pouring down like a torrential rainfall! The same thing will happen in our lives when we ask God to bless us.
I am really hoping that everyone is praying the Jabez prayer. One way to remember it is to use the acrostic B.E.S.T. —
· Bless me "Oh, that you would bless me!"
· Expand my ministry "Enlarge my territory."
· Stay with me "Let your hand be with me."
· Take evil away "Keep me from harm…"
If you want to pray like Jabez, then ask God to bless you. After you do that, then plead with Him to expand your ministry. The third request is to ask God to stay with you. We see this in Jabez’s request, "Let your hand be with me…"
The progression of the prayer makes a lot of sense. When we ask God to send spiritual favor, He will shower us with His blessings. Our job is to take these blessings and with the help of God’s supernatural power, transform them into ministry opportunities. When God expands our ministry, the odds are, we’ll become overwhelmed and we need the hand of God to help us handle the new possibilities, joys and trials.
It’s at this point that we need to increase our reliance upon God. Wilkinson puts it this way: "If seeking God’s blessings is our ultimate act of worship, and asking to do more for Him is our utmost ambition, then asking for God’s hand upon us is our strategic choice to sustain and continue the great things that God has begun in our lives" (Page 49).
Isn’t it a great request from Jabez? Think about praying it like this — "Oh gracious Lord, you have blessed me beyond what I could ever imagine, you have expanded my ministry and the opportunities to touch other lives in your name, now O Lord, I pray that I would experience your touch of love, let your hand, your majestic and holy hand touch my heart, touch my soul and spirit, in fact, O Lord, touch my whole being, let me follow your ways so that I know that your hand is leading me, carrying me, guiding me and even pushing me to bring glory to you."
Wouldn’t it be amazing to experience God that way, even when He’s pushing us forward, {sometimes against our will}, we would still know that it’s God who’s doing the pushing, and then we could relax and trust that if God is my pilot, not my co-pilot, all will be well.
The word hand is used over 500 times in the Bible, many times it refers to God and some aspect of His character. So, when Jabez asked for God’s hand to be upon him, Jabez was also asking for God’s —
· Power ~~ Exodus 15:6: "Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power."
· Presence ~~ Psalm 18:35: "…your right hand sustains me…"
· Protection ~~ Psalm 139:10: "your right hand will hold me fast."
· Provision ~~ Psalm 145:16: "You open your hand and satisfy…"
· Righteousness ~~ Isaiah 41:10: "do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Think about it, God is powerful. I believe in a big and mighty God!! Our God is an awesome God!! Remember, Scripture doesn’t exalt God all-wimpy! He’s not God halfway-kinda strong! What is one of the ways Scripture describes God? As God Almighty!!
That’s one of His names. In Genesis 17:1, God tells Abraham His name is God Almighty. In Exodus 6:3 He tells Moses His name is God Almighty, and there are hundreds of other instances where God is described as Almighty.
We also know His presence is always with us. He protects us. He is righteous, just and fair. And He provides for us with an open hand. Friends, God has His hands full of good things to give us. His power, presence, protection, and provision are available – if we will only ask for them. Jabez is praying, "Lord, be with me. Go into the future with me. Remind me that you’re there. Give me your power. Protect me and provide for my needs." It’s comforting to know we aren’t out on our own trying to make a difference in the world, but we have been chosen, appointed, and sent by the King of Kings to be His ambassadors.
If we want God’s blessings and we want our ministry expanded, then we must ask for His hand to be with us. As someone has said, "Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power." Some of us get in trouble because we try to do everything in our own strength. Sooner or later we come to the place where we realize we can’t do it on our own. God never intended for us to do it that way.
He blesses and expands so that we will rely upon His gracious hand. His hand is open and is ready to take ours and lift us up when we’re down, and give us strength when we’re weak. Recall the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
For some of us it’s really pretty rare that we ask for God’s hand to be with us. We’ve become used to living on our own power. And, when we get overwhelmed, we bail out. In a strange way, it’s more comforting to think we’ve attempted to do too much than it is to reach out and grab God’s open hand. We don’t experience God’s power, feel His presence, enjoy His protection, or see His provision. Why? Because we’re not asking for His hand to be with us. We’re trusting our weak limited power and not God’s supernatural power that is available to all who ask. And the saddest aspect of all is we don’t even know what we’re missing.
Jabez sought God’s hand in his life because he knew how desperately he needed it. He knew his limitations. Jabez knew his strength alone was insufficient for the journey. So he pled with God for His presence to be experienced in his life, for God’s divine strength, guidance and protection
I’m convinced that God is blessing our church, and that He is beginning to expand our territory, expanding our borders as well. It means that we as a church must be more reliant on God in order to accomplish our mission of making disciples of those in our community.
What would you pray for if you knew that you could not fail? What is God speaking to you about which you have been ignoring? What have you dreamed about, but dismissed because you thought it was an impossible dream? Pray for the hand of God to be upon your life so that you can accomplish something great for Him. I believe it will be something so great that when it comes to happens, you and everyone else will have to say, "This had to be the hand of God, because there is no way I could have done this by myself!"
Wilkinson urges us to ask for God’s mighty presence like Jabez did. He says "You and I are always just one plea away from inexplicable, Spirit-enabled exploits. By His touch you can experience supernatural enthusiasm, boldness, and power. It’s up to you. Every day, ask for the Father’s touch." (Page 61)
