The Prayer of Jabez 2022

The Prayer of Jabez 2022

Introduction

I want to be an Edith's prayer journal.

Who do you have in your prayer journal?

Welcome

Good morning, My name is Troy, and I’m the Lead Pastor hear at FCCCB

Welcome Guest

Welcome those that join online

Jab 1

My Family Tree

Crazy uncle or aunt

Patrick Henry Governor of Virginia

Prentice Stanley

Faithful grandparent

Jab 2

Recap

The Lord's Prayer

Nehemiah’s Prayer

We must pray in secret before we pray in public

We must pray sincerely

We must pray seeking God's will

We must pray having a forgiving spirit

Right Hook

Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

This week we're going to take a look at a prayer by a little known person in the Bible.

A persons who only has two verses talking about him in the Bible

A prayer that is only 29 words long

A prayer important enough to stand out in the recording of the genealogies of the Jewish people to tell a little bit about him

A little info about a faithful person in their family.

All this in a book of the Bible that most people don't spend much time reading

1st Chronicles

When was the last time you spent your daily devotions in the book of Chronicles?

Set up Chronicles

FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES The last two books of the Hebrew Bible. Tells the history of Israel from the beginning of the world until the beginning of the postexilic period. Main focus is on the monarchical period of Israel’s history

In most English Bibles, the books of Chronicles are positioned after the books of 1–2 Kings and before Ezra—Nehemiah, reflecting the order of the Old Testament books in the Septuagint. The Hebrew title is “the events of the days. The title “Chronicles” derives from Jerome’s title for the books “Chronicle of the Entire Divine History”

Who is Jerome

JEROME (ca. 347–419/420). A church father and biblical scholar who produced numerous commentaries and homilies on Scripture, historical treatises, theological essays, a vast correspondence, and other miscellaneous works. He is most noted for his translation of the Bible into Latin, later known as the Vulgate.

What is the Septuagint

SEPTUAGINT (Latin, septuaginta; “70”). The translation of the Old Testament into Greek; read in the early church and often quoted by the New Testament writers. LXX

Chronicles as the concluding book of the Old Testament was likely the order in which Jesus knew the Bible, as evidenced by Jesus’ commenting on all of the martyrs in the Old Testament (Matt 23:35; Luke 11:51). Referring to all martyrs from beginning to end, Jesus says “from the blood of Abel,” who is murdered in Gen 4:1–16, “to the blood of Zechariah,” who is martyred in 2 Chr 24:17–22.

Matthew 23:35-36 “And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

Does anyone know who I am talking about?

The person I’m talking about is Jabez

Explanation

Get out you Bible and turn to 1st Chronicles

1st Chronicles 4:9-10

“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, 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.”

Talk about the Jabez Prayer book

Bruce Wilkinson

Printed in 2000

I first prayed it on deployment and God answered my request

We captured a billion dollars of drugs headed to the states.

Let's unpack these few verses and see how it applies to our lives today

9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.”

The Hebrew word translated honorable here is (kaved)

And denotes weightiness—both literal as the weight of a physical object and metaphorical as honor, glory, or wealth. Most translations follow the latter sense and indicate Jabez was more honorable than his brothers

So Jabez could've just been a large baby or he was just more honorable than his.

We really don’t know which it is.

I like to take the more simple explanation to things that are in dispute

His mother said she gave birth to him in pain so I think he was a large baby

31 years ago today, Valerie gave birth to a large baby

Jabez’s prayer is just 29 words long.

Definitely not babbling.

Jabez prays to God

“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.

“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!

Think about this request for a moment

This is definitely a bold prayer

God bless me!----This is not a selfish prayer

Because he also seeks God’s will

This could be a dangerous prayer because who knows what an enlarged territory could bring

But praying dangerous prayers is OK

God will always come through for you

Imagine also if Jabez did not ask God to bless him. He might have missed blessings that God had hoped he would ask for.

Jabez’s Prayer is asking for a miracle.

He prays “Let your hand be with me,”

He sought God’s will

Jesus prayed “...yet not my will, but yours be done.”

We see this example over and over when it comes to prayer and how to pray

Having this mind set when it comes to prayer can be something that takes work

We/people are stubborn

We want our own way.

It can be hard to submit to God’s will

We are this way even as toddlers

Have you ever tried to teach a toddler something that they believe they already know?

It is the mature Christian that can accept God's answers Yes, No or Wait

Edith the lady in the video probably had prayers in her journal that took years to be answered

And I would guess she had the maturity to accept God's answer of no or wait to some of her prayers.

She also probably had prayers that were answered yes and answered quickly.

Jabez prays: Keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain or keep evil from me

I believe praying for our own safety comes easy to us.

Fear often drives us to prayer

This would have been no different for Jabez

We need God’s help for physical safety and spiritual safety

When God enlarges your territory or influence, guess who else is watching? Satan

If you think you have it all together and Satan is not after you be careful.

When you are having success spiritually Satan will come after you. That's a fact!

Some believe that Jabez in the section is praying to not cause harm also

Either way is a good thing

On Sundays before I come up here I'm sitting in the front row praying that God will help me to do a good job. I want to speak the truth to you.

I don’t want to cause pain or harm.

If I do either I ask your forgiveness and God's forgiveness

We should all pray for safety both physically and spiritually and to not cause harm.

There it is, 29 words that you can pray everyday.

29 words that can change the way you think about prayer

29 words of blessing

Application

I have been familiar with this prayer for almost 20 years.

I can tell you that it is a good prayer to pray.

Also because this prayer is in the Bible. I believe we should pray it also.

Will you begin to pray boldly like Jabez in this prayer and I like Nehemiah did last week's prayer

Will you ask God to bless you?

Will you pray that God will enlarge your territory and increase your influence?

Last week we saw Nehemiah pray and rebuild the walls in 52 days

We got see how God answered his prayer

He prayed boldly

We don’t know how God answered Jabez’s prayer only that He did answer it

(And God granted his request)

Will you pray seeking God’s will not your own.

Will you work at not seeking your own way

Will you accept God’s answers whether yes no or wait

Will you pray that God will keep you from harm and evil.

I believe that if you answer yes and faithfully increase your prayer life your life will never be that same again.

We serve an awesome God that loves us in ways we struggle to understand.

The writer of this little book about a short prayer tucked away in the genealogies of the Jewish people says this:

I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers. It is brief, only one sentence with fore parts and tucked away in the Bible, but I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God.

This petition has radically changed what I expect from God and what I experience everyday by His power. In fact, thousands of believers who are applying its truths are seeing miracles happen on a regular basis.

Will you join me for a personal exploration of Jabez?

I hope you will! Bruce Wilkinson

And hope you will also.

Call to action

Let Me Pray For You