What's This "Prayer of Jabez all about?
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Have any of you heard of "The Prayer of Jabez"? Unless you are a
student of the Word or you listen to a lot of Christian Radio,
you may not have ever heard of Jabez. As for me, I've read 1
Chronicles before, though it is not on my heavy reading list!
😉 I'd heard veiled references to Jabez before, but I could not
say that I was intimately familiar with Jabez or what he said.
But recently, there has been much written on Jabez. "The Prayer
of Jabez, Breaking Through to the Blessed Life" by Dr. Bruce
Wilkinson, founder and president of Walk Thru the Bible
Ministries and popular Promise Keepers speaker, has been getting
quite a bit of attention recently. Focus on the Family has been
talking about this short prayer for three days this week.
I wanted to share the scripture reference and the prayer with
you, so that you can see why there is so much attention being
paid to it. Christian ministries have been embracing this short
prayer because it is a direct request to God, recognizing that
He, not any of us, is in complete control.
Notice how short the prayer is, but how powerful and direct it
is. First, Jabez asks for a blessing for him and for his
territory. Then he asks for God to be with him in his efforts,
and to protect him from harm.
Isn't that simple? But how often do we even neglect to ask such
simple things, and even when we do, how often do we fail to
believe that God will grant our requests?
The apostle James has plenty to say about why God does not
respond as we want Him to. First of all, He is God, and His ways
are right and true. To approach God, we must first recognize who
we are in relationship to Him. Then we have to straighten out
our motivation and our attitudes. If we have wronged others, we
need to make amends, if at all possible. If we are unwilling to
do all of that, how can we say that we love God, for those are
the things He asks of us?
I pray that each of us can approach God with humility and ask His
blessing. If we are having trouble getting the right attitude,
but we are willing, God will help us with that, too. I urge each
of you to get right with God, so that we can pray with confidence
and share in the work that God has given for us to do - to love
justice, show kindness, and be humble in our attitude toward God.
This is the way toward peace with God.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your
hearts and your minds, through Christ Jesus.
Brother Brian
9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had
named him Jabez, [3] 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. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
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Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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