Intro
Tonight we begin a new series based on a book by Bruce Wilkinson titled The Prayer of Jabez. When I graduated high school back in 2001, my church pastor at the time actually gave me a copy of this book as a graduation gift. I remember when I first read this how I was thinking “wow! I would have never thought that God wants us to think big and to bless us abundantly!” This book has been a huge encouragement to me in that none of us have to settle for a mediocre spiritual life.

I consider it a joy and a privilege to start this next series based on the Prayer of Jabez.

Scripture
Let’s begin by reading 1 Chronicles 4:9-10:

(NIV)

9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,[a] saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me 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.

(NKJV)

9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name [a]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 [b]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.

At first glance it may not seem like much, but we actually have a lot going on here in these two verses.

Jabez’s Name
We’ll start with how Jabez got his name. His name literally means “pain”. Keep in mind that throughout the Bible, names were often given based on characteristics, experiences, or circumstances surrounding the person’s birth. For example, Isaac literally means “laughter” since Abraham and Sarah laughed when they learned that they would have a son in their old age. In Jabez’s case, he got his name because his mother gave birth to him in pain. Now we don’t know the full story. It’s possible that maybe his mother had a medical condition that made the childbirth extra painful or she was dealing with some challenging circumstances at the time.

Rising Above Any Negative Labels
This could have been a disadvantage for Jabez, and he could have lived with this negative label. However, instead of letting this be a disadvantage for him, he used this opportunity to seek God’s intervention in his life. Since Jabez rose above the potentially negative label associated with his name and became someone who sought after God’s blessing and favor, he was ultimately blessed by God. We even see in the first part of verse 9 how Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. This should remind all of us who we are as well as whose we are.

Significance of What Jabez Prayed
Going back to 1 Chronicles 4:10, when we break down the prayer that Jabez prayed, we can see that it actually has five parts to it.

Number one: “Oh, that you would bless me indeed”

Number two: “and enlarge my territory!”

Number three: “that your hand would be with me”

Number four: “and that you would keep me from evil”

Number five: “that I may not cause pain”

As we go through this series, we will touch on all five parts and what they each mean to us. Just for tonight, we’re going to focus on the first part.

Get Ready to Receive God’s Blessings
In the 2nd chapter of this book, the author talks about how he was on a spiritual retreat in the mountains and how he was matched with a mentor in his 70s. I remember how surprised I felt when I read the next part.

As the author was passing by his mentor’s room to head to the showers, he noticed that he was beginning to pray. He overheard his mentor saying a prayer like this: “O Lord, I beg you first and most this morning, please bless … me!”

At first this might seem selfish and self-centered, but the truth is the Lord wants to bless each and every one of us.

In fact, we can see this in 1 John 5:14-15:

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

This is a key principle: when we pray according to God’s will, He’ll hear us and grant our requests. It is part of God’s nature to bless His children which is one of the reasons why Jabez asked confidently.

We also want to be careful that we don’t get this twisted. For example, if you pray to God and ask Him to bless you with a million dollars so you can buy a new sports car or a new house, He may or may not grant your request. However, depending on your situation, if you’re a business owner who needs a million dollars in order to meet payroll or if you’re a missionary who needs a million dollars to build a church and/or a well in a developing country somewhere, then this is a different story.

Additional Reminders Throughout Scripture About God’s Blessings
We can see several other places in Scripture that talk about God wanting to bless us. I’ll share two more verses.

The first one is in Psalm 84:11:

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

    the Lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

    from those whose walk is blameless.

So basically, as long as we’re walking blamelessly, we can look forward to receiving good things from the Lord. However, it’s hard for the Lord to bless us when we try to do things our way instead of His way.

Now we’ll take a look at our last verse in Matthew 7:11:

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Just as Jabez was able to confidently approach the Lord in prayer and ask to be greatly blessed, all of us can have that same confidence when approaching the Lord in prayer and asking for our blessings. No matter who we are, what kind of family we were born into, or if any negative labels were placed on us by ourselves or others, Jabez’s story should be a huge encouragement to us all. In spite of having a painful name along with any possible negative labels, the Lord granted his request and he was even regarded as more honorable than his brothers. 

If you don’t remember anything else, remember this: the Lord is a generous and loving Father ready to give good gifts to those who ask Him.

Conclusion
As we can clearly see throughout Scripture, God really wants to bless us, and He’ll be ready to bless us when we approach Him and ask with confidence. Tonight we only touched on Jabez’s background as well as the first part of his prayer where he says “oh that you would greatly bless me”. As our series continues, you’ll find out the significance of the other parts of his prayer. 

In fact, in my next message, we’ll touch on the second part where he prays “and enlarge my territory!”. In a nutshell, it will be about living large for God. We’ll talk more about all of this next time. 

At this time, you can bow your heads and I’ll close us out in prayer:

Father God, we come before you now. I thank you for being a generous and loving father who lavishes His love on all His children. Just as Jabez prayed that you would greatly bless him, I pray that you would greatly bless each and every one of us tonight. I for one thank you that you withhold no good thing from those whose walk is blameless. Help us all to walk blamelessly and in accordance to your will. If someone needs a breakthrough in their health, in their finances, or any other area of their life, I pray that you would show up in a mighty way. I thank you for how you have blessed us in the past and for the blessings on the way. In Jesus’ name.

Intro
In case you missed my previous message, we have started a new series based on The Prayer of Jabez book by Bruce Wilkinson. We looked at 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 where it talks about Jabez’s story and the prayer he prayed. There are five parts to his prayer and I’ll go ahead and give them to you again.

Part one was “Oh, that you would bless me indeed”.

Part two was “and enlarge my territory!”

Part three was “that your hand would be with me”.

Part four was “and that you would keep me from evil”.

And part five was “that I may not cause pain”.

Tonight we’ll cover part two and part three of Jabez’s prayer. 

Part 2: “and enlarge my territory!”
Let’s begin with part two where Jabez asks God to enlarge his territory. Your Bible might say something different depending on which version you have. For instance, the NASB version will use the phrase “extend my border” while the Message version will say “give me land, large tracts of land.”

But Jabez wasn’t asking just for physical expansion. He was also asking for an increase in influence, responsibility, and impact. When Jabez was asking God for enlarged territory, he was looking at his current circumstances and thinking, “surely I was born for more than this!” He was all about wanting to make a larger impact for the Lord.

As mature and growing believers, and also as a church, we should also be asking the Lord for this kind of increase so that we can make a larger impact for Him. Think of it this way: would you prefer to see the people in just your local neighborhood receive the love of Christ and get saved or people all over the world receive the love of Christ and get saved?

At the same time, the Lord is not going to give us more than we can handle. Matthew 25 talks about the parable of the talents and how three people were each given a talent according to their ability. Keep in mind that in this context, when the Bible talks about talents, it doesn’t refer to literal talents like the ability to sing or play a musical instrument. Instead, it refers to a measurement of weight and money which would be about 15 years worth of wages for a laborer. Thus, a talent was a huge amount of money entrusted to servants by their masters. In today’s dollars, one talent would probably be around the one million dollar mark.

Let’s take a look at Matthew 25:20-21:

20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

This is a lesson on being faithful with what the Lord has entrusted to you. In modern day terms, a talent could refer to any abilities, resources, or opportunities entrusted to you by the Lord. No matter how much or how little the Lord has given you, He wants you to use your blessings to glorify Him, serve others, and grow His kingdom. If we’re faithful in the few things, then we can look forward to becoming ruler over more and bigger things.

No matter what your gifts are, what your career is, or what your level of education might be, we are all called to do God’s work here on Earth. In my particular case, my gifts are teaching, compassion, and administration in addition to being computer literate and tech savvy, and I consider it a joy and a privilege to put them to very good use here at Reconnect Fellowship and wherever else the Lord leads.

Many believers have a tendency to limit what God can do in them as well as through them. When determining the amount of territory or influence that God has in mind for us, many of us have an equation in mind that goes something like this:

My abilities + experience + training + my personality & appearance + my past + the expectations of others = my assigned territory

The problem with this is that it leaves out the fact that God is looking for normal everyday people who will let Him work through them. God doesn’t want to work by us or in association with us. Instead, He wants to work through us.

With that said, God’s equation looks more like this:

My willingness & weakness + God’s will and supernatural power = my expanding territory

When we start really asking for more influence and responsibility for making a greater impact for the Lord, He’ll bring opportunities and people into our path. We can have faith that He’ll never send us someone that we cannot help or give us more than we can handle.

Also keep in mind that Christ tells us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We see this in Matthew 5:13-16:

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

You’ll notice how Christ wasn’t saying how we are the salt and light of our local area. We’re not the salt and light of the Monte Vista neighborhood, nor of the city of San Antonio, nor of the state of Texas, nor of the United States of America. We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. 

Obviously, enlarged territory is going to look different for each of us. I would encourage everyone to pray for more influence and the ability to bless more people and make a greater impact for the Lord.

The author shares a suggested prayer you can pray. This is a direct quote from page 32 of The Prayer of Jabez book:

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!

Part 3: “that your hand would be with me”
That was all part 2 of Jabez’s prayer. Now we’ll move on to part 3 where Jabez asks that God’s hand would be with him.

When God gives you that enlarged territory and opportunity for growth and increase, it will probably feel overwhelming at first. Just as Jabez knew he would need God’s guidance and power when the growth and increase arrives, we also want to make sure that we rely on God’s guidance and power for any similar opportunities that come our way. After all, if we try to do anything on our own strength instead of God’s strength, then we will surely fail.

Throughout the Bible, we can see the term “hand of the Lord” used several times. This refers to God’s power and presence in the lives of His people.

We’ll take a look at three places in the Bible that mention the “hand of the Lord”.

Let’s start with Joshua 4:24:
24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God [a]forever.”

Next we’ll go to Isaiah 59:1:

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

And lastly we’ll take a look at Acts 11:21:

21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

When Jabez asked that God’s hand be with him, he knew that he would need God’s power and presence if he wanted to make an impact for the Lord. Whenever the Lord gives us opportunities for more responsibility or more influence, we should also remember to pray that His hand be with us.

Also keep in mind that the enemy doesn’t like it when we do great and mighty things for the Lord. In fact, the enemy will do whatever he can to hinder God’s efforts including using the spirit of fear or overwhelm. 

When the Lord does bless you with some form of enlarged territory whether it’s a job promotion, an opportunity to share your testimony in front of a large crowd, or in my case, the opportunity to lead the midweek service one or two Wednesdays out of the month, there’s a good chance you might feel some initial fear or overwhelm.

I would like to encourage you with these three verses.

The first one is Deuteronomy 31:6:

6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

The second one is Psalm 32:8:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

The third one is Isaiah 41:10:

Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

When the Lord does bless us with some form of increased responsibility or influence, we can take heart that He will be with us every step of the way. When we have that full dependence on the Lord, the feelings of fear and overwhelm will greatly diminish.

Conclusion
We have now finished going over parts 3 and 4 of Jabez’s prayer. As mature and growing believers, we should be asking for opportunities for more responsibility and more influence especially since we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. When those opportunities do arrive and we start to feel overwhelmed or uncertain, we should remember to ask that God’s hand be with us always.

In my next message, we’ll go over the rest of Jabez’s prayer as well as how we can make the Jabez prayer a part of our daily spiritual life. Stay tuned!

Intro
Good evening Reconnect Fellowship! We are now on the third and final installment for the Prayer of Jabez series. After tonight, my three messages will be on the website like the Strategy of Satan messages.

We’ve been studying the passage for Jabez which is in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. Let’s go ahead and turn there now to revisit it:

9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name [a]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 [b]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.

There are five parts to his prayer and I’ll go ahead and give them to you again.

Part one was “Oh, that you would bless me indeed”.

Part two was “and enlarge my territory!”

Part three was “that your hand would be with me”.

Part four was “and that you would keep me from evil”.

And part five was “that I may not cause pain”.

So far, we’ve covered the first three parts. Tonight we’ll cover the last two parts along with the beginning of verse 9 where it says Jabez was more honorable than his brothers and the end of verse 10 where it says God granted him what he requested.

Part 4-5: “and that you would keep me from evil that I may not cause pain”
We’ll start with parts four and five where it says “and that you would keep me from evil that I may not cause pain.” I think almost all of us are very aware of the fact that when we grow, mature, and do great and mighty things for the Lord, Satan does not like this. As we talked about in the Strategy of Satan series, if the enemy sees an individual believer or a church growing, maturing, and making a positive impact for the Lord, he’s going to do anything he can to get in the way. Some of his weapons include lies, suffering, or creating division within the body.

Within the past month or so (August 2023), I think we’ve all seen evidence of Satan trying to take out Reconnect Fellowship. Honestly, this is no surprise to me because I feel that as a church, we’re committed to growing, maturing, and making a positive impact for the Lord. The enemy thought he could take out our Pastor and maybe shut us down or bring about great distress. 

This actually reminds me of a verse in the book of Genesis. Let’s turn to Genesis 50:20:

20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Instead of bringing about distress or causing the church to shut down, this situation has actually been an opportunity for the church to come together and become more united than before. For some of us, this has also helped to refine our faith even more.

In chapter 5 of The Prayer of Jabez, the author talks about a conversation he overheard between a seminary student and one of the professors who was also the author’s mentor. The student was saying how when he first arrived at seminary, he was so tempted and tested that he could barely keep his head above water. But after a while, his life at seminary started to smooth out and then he would hardly ever receive any attacks from the enemy.

You would think that the professor would be happy to hear this. In reality, the professor was deeply alarmed by this. He told the seminary student that that was about the worst thing he could have heard because that shows that he’s no longer in battle and Satan isn’t worried about him anymore. Whenever the enemy sees that you’re not really growing or making some kind of impact for the Lord, he’ll basically leave you alone and find another target.

As we ask the Lord for more blessing, more territory, and more power, we also need to make sure we ask for safekeeping from evil.

In fact, we actually see this near the end of the Lord’s prayer. Let’s turn to Matthew 6:13:

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

You’ll notice how Christ doesn’t mention anything about special powers or confrontation. This might surprise some of you, but the most effective war against sin we can fight is to pray that we won’t have to deal with any unnecessary temptations to begin with. God offers us His supernatural power to do just that if we ask Him for it.

Now let’s suppose temptation does strike in some way, shape, or form. This could be as minor as stealing office supplies from your employer or as large as cheating on your spouse while away on a business trip. 

God’s Word offers us a solution. We see this in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

So basically, whenever we are in the middle of a temptation, we need to ask God for a way out and be obedient when He tells us to flee. While we want to ask God to keep us away from any unnecessary temptations, we also need to turn to Him whenever the temptations do strike. Just as Jabez knew that he needed God’s protection in his daily life, we also need to pray for that in our daily lives. 

As we’ve also covered during the Strategy of Satan series, the Lord gives us the armor we need to stand firm against the enemy’s attacks. We see this in Ephesians 6:11:

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Just as Jabez knew that he needed God’s ongoing protection from evil, we should also be in the habit of asking God for ongoing protection from evil. While we want to pray that we’ll avoid unnecessary temptations, we also want to pray for the whole armor of God so that we can be on guard and ready for any possible attacks.

Verse 9
Now let’s focus on verse 9 where it says that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. We’ll start by talking about what honor is in the Biblical sense. In this context, the Hebrew word used for honor literally means “weight”. In Old Testament times, whenever you honor someone, you give weight to someone which is another way of saying you give someone a position of respect or authority. (source: https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/honor.html) 

In this case, Jabez was given more weight or more respect than his brothers. Keep in mind that when you understand Jabez’s life story, how he had a painful beginning, how he was given a name that literally meant “pain” possibly due to some painful circumstances his mother was dealing with, and how he most likely had to deal with ridicule from growing up with a painful name, it’s almost surprising that he was regarded as more honorable than his brothers.

However, Jabez’s honor was no accident. His honor was driven by his obedience to God. When we’re obedient to God, we can look forward to receiving honor from God.

I’ll go ahead and share two verses with you. The first one is in Proverbs 21:21:

He who follows righteousness and mercy

Finds life, righteousness, and honor.

The next one is in 1 Samuel 2:30:

30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

So basically, when we obey God and honor God, we can look forward to Him honoring us.

Some believers today might be able to identify with Jabez in that they might have to deal with negative labels or circumstances. They may not have a painful name, but maybe they were born handicapped or with a learning disability or something else that might cause them to feel not good enough. Just as Jabez was able to rise above any possible negative labels or circumstances and ultimately be seen as more honorable than his brothers, through Christ we can also rise above any negative labels or circumstances and receive God’s honor. 

End of verse 10
And now this brings us to the end of 1 Chronicles 4:10 where is says that God granted him what he requested.

This is an excellent example of God’s faithfulness. The fact that God answered Jabez’s prayer in spite of his humble and painful beginnings demonstrates his unfailing love and willingness to answer prayers.

Let’s take a look at two verses that talk about the power of prayer. The first one is in Matthew 7:7-8:

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Now let’s turn to Philippians 4:6:

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Just as Jabez was confident in making his requests known to God, we can also have that same confidence in making our requests known to Him. His prayer for blessings and protection was specific and heartfelt.

Also keep in mind that although God granted Jabez’s request, He will always answer prayers based on His will, timing, and what’s best for us. Just as a loving father wants the best for his children which may include letting them know that they’re not yet ready for certain things, our Heavenly Father also wants the best for all His children and may need to say “no” or “not yet” to some of our prayer requests based on his perfect will and timing for us.

Conclusion
We have now officially reached the end of the Prayer of Jabez three part series. Just as Jabez was regarded as more honorable than his brothers, we can also look forward to being honored by God when we obey Him and His commands. 

I would also encourage everyone to pray the Jabez prayer in 1 Chronicles 4:10 every day and then keep track of any changes that take place. Pray the Jabez prayer not just for your spiritual life but also for Reconnect Fellowship Church. If we could pray the Jabez prayer as a church, I have faith that we would see some remarkable changes and that they would happen in accordance to the Lord’s perfect will and timing.