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This is an obscure passage of scripture.
We know very little about the man Jabez, where he came from or why his prayer is even mention in the midst of a long list of ‘Genealogy.’
In the year 2000 Bruce Wilkinson made it popular through a little book called, “The Prayer of Jabez” that sold over 9 million copies.
Up until then, very few people had ever noticed it or heard of it.
It became so popular that a number of marketable products were produced and some people were using it as a wealth and prosperity prayer, which isn’t what is about at all.
In spite of this, it is a prayer worth looking at for the right reason.
It is a prayer that helps us understand that the person who prayed it, was someone who face a great deal of pain in life or so it seems.
It is a prayer that seeks God’s blessing for a specific thing and also for God’s presence in the midst of whatever his future might hold.
The Meaning behind the name
Names carried a lot of meaning in biblical times.
Sometimes a name could even be prophetic.
When Rebekah gave birth to her twins she named one of them Jacob, which means he deceives.
A number of years later he tricked his brother Esau into giving him his birthright and he deceived his Father Isaac into giving him the inheritance of the firstborn.
Esau got upset and said, "isn't he rightly named, Jacob?"
Today’s Text clearly tells us that Jabez mother gave birth to him in ‘Pain’ and she named him ‘Jabez’ which in the Hebrew means ‘Pain.’
What a reminder… Perhaps when people saw him they responded by saying “Here comes Jabez… what a pain he is to me.” or maybe Jabez himself thought that his life was going to be filled with pain; suffering and hardship.
We really don’t know.
We know what his mother meant, but not necessarily what others thought.
Here is what we do know about him… he chose to live a life of ‘Honor’ before God.
I still remember taking out a dictionary in 8th grade and looking up the meaning of my name.
In the Greek it is Τιμοθεος (Timotheos) meaning "honouring God", derived from τιμαω (timao) "to honour" and θεος (theos) "god"
At that time in my life it began to means something, and ever since I’ve tried to live up to it’s meaning.
I wish I could say I’ve always succeeded, but God has never allowed me, nor would I want him to, forget who I am and what my purpose is in life through that name.
Jabez, never forgot his name.
Regardless of what it meant to his mother and others, he made up his mind to ‘Honor’ God.
That’s why it says in verse 9 “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.”
When a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, they acknowledge themselves as sinners in need of a Savior.
They ask him to forgive them for their sins and to come into their lives.
By definition, they are called “Christians.”
It means they are ‘Follower’ of Christ.
Here is an interesting side-note statistic… the word ‘Christian’ is used only 3 times in the Bible.
In comparison, the word ‘disciple’ is used 262 times.
Note in
Acts 11:
Whatever your name is or may mean, when you became a Christian, you became a “Follower of Jesus” A disciples of Jesus… One who learns from Him, follows his example of how to live and treat other people.
Jabez was a disciple of the Living God.
His prayer was that he wanted to be the best disciple God wanted him to be.
Remember I said earlier that this prayer wasn’t about wealth and prosperity?
Here is what it is about… Wilkinson writes: “It’s radically believing in God and wanting for ourselves nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us.
When we seek God’s blessings as the ultimate value in life, we are throwing ourselves entirely into the river of His will and power and purpose 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.
(Pg.
24) Which leads us to our second point…
The Movement behind the name
“O Lord, that you would Bless me… What does this mean?
To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.
When we ask for God’s blessing, we’re not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves.
We are crying out for the wonderful unlimited goodness that only God has the power to know about or give us.
This is what the writer is referring to in
Do you want the Lord to bless you?
Do you want him to grant you favor in your life so that other may know Him and become followers of Jesus?
It’s like saying to God, “Let my light/life shine for you.”
OR “May others see Jesus in me!” May they know that you are my provider, my joy, my peace, my hope, my security, my everything!
May they want you Jesus.
If that is what you desire, then you will prayer like Jabez… “Lord Bless me indeed.”
And you will ask the “Lord, enlarge my territory!”
To enlarge means “To increase.”
It is possible that Jabez was asking for God to literally enlarge his boundaries.
It could also mean that he wanted to become much more influential.
Why would he want this?
Well at this time in his life we know that he was “More honorable than his brothers.”
So if others saw this in him and he knew it, he wanted to be a man who honored God and wanted people to see it in him… he wanted people to know God!!!
As a Person; a Christian, a husband, father, grandfather, leader, I want to influence people for God; for Christ.
At first this prayer may seem selfish and arrogant.
But it’s not!
He wanted to be a person who was blessed by God so that he could bless others.
His motive was not for himself, but for God.
Earlier in the message I said that disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
The word ‘Christian’ is used only three times in the Bible.
On the other hand, the word ‘Disciple’ is used 262 times… so the point is, yes, Disciples are called Christians, but you are a ‘Disciples.’
This week I did a simple Bible study from Lamplighters on Discipleship.
In one of the lessons it talked about seven principles of Discipleship.
At the end it asked the question, “Which of the seven principles of disciple-making did I find most enlightening and helpful.
For me it was “helping people understand the “Three Deaths” of a disciples (Christian)
Christ Died for us -
Dying with Christ - (my life’s theme verse)
Dying Daily -
Paul said, “I am willing to die for Christ!”
For Paul it was a physical death that would have been more of a reality.
Spiritually speaking, it is dying to self - being unselfish.
Jesus said in
It is saying, “I want to die to self - (My desires, my pleasures) today so that Christ may live through me.
Which leads us to the next part of Jabez’ prayer… “Let your hand be with me.”
If God was going to grant Jabez his request, he knew that “He needed God” for him to handle whatever came his way!
For God to have his hand on you to to receive his blessing… his favor … that leads to genuine success in influencing people for Jesus.
There is power in the hand of God!
In the OT
Paul wrote in
He also wrote in
God has created you for good works and he wants you to succeed in everything you do for him.
So, Yes we should pray for God’s blessings and we should ask him to increase our influence and we should ask for his hand to be upon us!
Illustration of President Woodrow Wilson
4550 Pres.
Wilson’s Example
In the midst of President Wilson’s difficulties in international negotiations he, too, felt the need of divine guidance.
When Mr. Wilson arrived at a cabinet meeting his face wore a solemn look.
It was evident that serious affairs of the nation were on his mind.
He said to the cabinet members: “I don’t know whether you men believe in prayer or not.
I do.
Let us pray and ask the help of God.”
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