1 Chronicles 4:9-10Amplified Bible (AMP)
9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez, saying, “Because I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my border [property], and that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil so that it does not hurt me!” And God granted his request.
Shalom and Good Morning,
Yesterday I went to buy some bibles at the Christian book store and I was looking around to see what interested me for other people. I came across a book Authored By Ann Graham Lots , who is the famous Billy Graham’s Daughter. I have listened to her speak several times, she is a powerful woman of God. So on the shelf was a book she had written called the Prayer of Jabez. I am very Familiar with this scripture but never really dove into it before as a study
I didn’t buy the book for the simple reason , when I was being mentored, I was taught a very special lesson ; the best book to refer too is the bible itself and the best teacher is the Holy Spirit . This doesn’t mean that other people cannot help with their experiences and revelations of these things it means allow God to do a work in you first, then allow others to either help confirm these things that your being taught by God, the Holy Spirit through His Son Jesus Christ.
So this morning I woke up early with hearing the word “the prayer of Jabez.” I decided to look it up and do a small study on it. What I learned is very deep and powerful and extremely helpful. I've learned in prayer and fasting but didn’t realize that the lesson of Jabez could of been assistant to us if only we dig deeper and strive harder into God and His word.
Through reading and studying this , I was reflecting on my own struggles I have went through and what I was led to do and because of going through a great time of tribulation. This is where The prayer and understanding of the Prayer of Jabez comes to life.
This prayer of Jabez seems very unlikely to be a prayer that helps people in great distress and needing great miracles in there life that are going through great tribulations and sufferings . It seems like a prayer that would be very selfish in fact, and especially today , it would seem like a part of scripture that people would use to tickle the ears to get God just give them what they want.
However, let me assure you from what I learned from this very short passage of scripture its quiet the opposite……
If I could do anything to help you understand the importance of Gods great love and understanding in the power of prayer fasting and petition what it does, comes from this man, Jabez and the account of this man, his prayer to seek God with fervent prayers and petitions. Unlike everyone around him, that brought him up and above everyone else, God breathed a great and important passage of scripture, to greatly understand in such a way, the writer had to acknowledge it.
The only other person I could think of who fulfills this, in any example, is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Goes away to pray and fast for 40 days and goes through great trials and tribulation as outlined in scripture, defeats satan at every crossroad. Here , its not told what Jabez actually did in this short passage , to catch Gods attention, but the writer deeply extenuates this description as the prayer of Jabez, as very heavy, in the translation in the Hebrew context. To understand this in context you would have to study the traditions of these people and their pray time to get a greater understanding of this . Their fast was prayer and fasting. It was not watching tv for certain time frame or giving up coke products for a week or smoking. Their prayer time was for the whole day on the short side, if not for several days weeping and petitioning GOD .
So without going into a long dissertation about this man and the prayer I will jump into the points that is important to God and how Jesus broke it down in Mathew Chapter 6.
1st…..the only way I can point to this prayer to summarize it very quickly is I would have to rename the passage of scripture and call it something else , i would call it the "Prayer of Tribulation.”
You see Jabez was struggling with great tribulation. He understood that he was part of the plans of God, however he was faced with great struggles of his time and that he sought God for help. He understood that he was going to Have to go through somethings that God either allowed and or orchestrated. He wanted to be on the proper side of God for this and instead of doing it the hard way , He wanted Gods favor. Jabez didn’t know how he was going to do it all , he knew that he was going to face things in such a way, it could be His own death as well, and possibly his family too if he didn’t seek God on this with great morning, petitions and prayer. Gods plan would be fulfilled anyways, Jabez would still part of the plan, but it may not end good for him, he would just be a blimp on the radar screen and that would be it. Yet Jabez knew this, so he went and sought God out heavily . As I study to understand what was the meaning to all this , it shows that Jabez travailed, mourned and cried out to God heavily, greater then many of his time, God himself wanted us to know what caught his attention .
Those days it wasn’t uncommon for a man like Jabez to pray for the whole day and weep unending from morning to night . He was faced with certain death for everyone in his family if he didn’t seek God out .
What was the issues he faced? See during those times God ordained that Israel was to be blessed and that he was apart of those times and plans. The land that he was occupying and to be occupied by him were full of people who were pagans and under his leadership, was telling them to go into the areas and take what God has given over to them. However, you have to see it for what it is ; this wasn’t something that could be googled and how many people lived their or the maps of the areas . They didn’t have tanks and guns . They had to spy the land for months at a time, make elaborate plans and go into those areas, and defeat them and get them to leave. This was a great undertaking.
So how does this pertain to you, today? How do I tell you that your situation can be defeated if you seek God in this same way? How can I understand you ? I'd have to be very cold and unsympathetic to you, to tell you something that I don’t have a first hand experience with, right?
Well the only thing I can tell you in my experiences is this , when I was at a very low point, I knew I had to seek God Fervently like at no other time . He even let me feel what its like when heavens doors are shut to my prayers . It is the worst time ever, especially for someone like me , who claimed to be a christian .
The only thing I knew to do was to continue to seek Him fervently through fasting and praying. To continue to purpose everything in my life to be for His purpose ,not mine any longer. That He would hear me, restart me again and let me break thorough those times that were very dark and hurtful. He allowed me to get back up in Him and start over. But my story is not over , he has allowed me much breakthroughs but I still have much to breakthrough in Him and continue to seek him in. These things I need help in are not hills in my life , they are mountains I still have to climb.
Jabez knew that he was not a mistake in God's overall plan. Like a runner who needed that extra push to finish, He dug deep within himself, to dig deep into God, the only way he understood how.
Jesus states in Mathew 6 , don't be like hypocrites in prayer and fasting. Don't do it to be seen by others. For their reward is on earth and not in Heaven. Don't pray with many words and repetitions. For they think that many words and repetitions will be heard.
So Jesus Gives us a template of prayer. He tells us what not to be in prayer and fasting. So the opposite has to be true for it to be a genuine prayer and fast. The words and actions must be from a deep place in your heart . it must come from a place of much feeling . It must be open and honest to God . Even if the feelings are of a place where your struggling with sinful desires in your heart. This must be exposed with your prayer and fasting to God. The scriptures state that God already knows your need. If this is true , why prayer and fasting?
The only way I understand this myself , is using a court of law as an example. There you are , in Heavens court, your on trial. God is sitting on the Judgment seat. The angels are in the jury box. Jesus is your attorney and the Satan is the prosecuting attorney. Satan opens up with Charges against you. God asks Jesus what sins has your client put under the blood. Jesus goes down his list of sins that you have prayed and petition the Lord over and the sins that you have committed and repented for. Then Satan then steps up and states that you may have prayed with words about some sinful desire that you have a problem with but still engaged in without remorse and repentance. So Even though in the early stages of your walk with Christ you did repent of that sin(s), However you re-engaged in those things which constitutes repeat offender. Although , you go to church and look like a Christian there is a hidden thing you have been warned about and continue to engage in. God then questions Jesus about these charges. Jesus will either state that these things are covered by His atonement blood , this man does struggle with that sin and has prayed to me about it and its struggles and I have heard his prayer and I have been working with him on this direct issue so his heart has been changing and so has actions and he has been a great testimony to the Kingdom of heaven; or he will say , No that they haven't been brought to his attention in that way and no there has been no verbal repentance , so there has been no change in his heart and there has been no change in this sinful action and is not worthy of the Kingdom of heaven .
In my experiences, God will do something supernaturally and meet you where your at with a sincere prayer. Within a sinful desire exposed in prayer , will allow God in to do a work in you. It removes any obstacles from God working with you and you being stubborn and stiff necked to allow God in. I believe Jabez knew this. His Prayer was within all His Might and sincerity from within Him and God wanted you to understand that in His prayer.
Jabez knew that he was not a mistake in God's overall plan. Like a runner who needed that extra push to finish, He dug deep within himself, to dig deep into God, the only way he understood how.
Jesus states in Mathew 6 , don't be like hypocrites in prayer and fasting. Don't do it to be seen by others. For their reward is on earth and not in Heaven. Don't pray with many words and repetitions. For they think that many words and repetitions will be heard.
So Jesus Gives us a template of prayer. He tells us what not to be in prayer and fasting. So the opposite has to be true for it to be a genuine prayer and fast. The words and actions must be from a deep place in your heart . it must come from a place of much feeling . It must be open and honest to God . Even if the feelings are of a place where your struggling with sinful desires in your heart. This must be exposed with your prayer and fasting to God. The scriptures state that God already knows your need. If this is true , why prayer and fasting?
The only way I understand this myself , is using a court of law as an example. There you are , in Heavens court, your on trial. God is sitting on the Judgment seat. The angels are in the jury box. Jesus is your attorney and the Satan is the prosecuting attorney. Satan opens up with Charges against you. God asks Jesus what sins has your client put under the blood. Jesus goes down his list of sins that you have prayed and petition the Lord over and the sins that you have committed and repented for. Then Satan then steps up and states that you may have prayed with words about some sinful desire that you have a problem with but still engaged in without remorse and repentance. So Even though in the early stages of your walk with Christ you did repent of that sin(s), However you re-engaged in those things which constitutes repeat offender. Although , you go to church and look like a Christian there is a hidden thing you have been warned about and continue to engage in. God then questions Jesus about these charges. Jesus will either state that these things are covered by His atonement blood , this man does struggle with that sin and has prayed to me about it and its struggles and I have heard his prayer and I have been working with him on this direct issue so his heart has been changing and so has actions and he has been a great testimony to the Kingdom of heaven; or he will say , No that they haven't been brought to his attention in that way and no there has been no verbal repentance , so there has been no change in his heart and there has been no change in this sinful action and is not worthy of the Kingdom of heaven .
In my experiences, God will do something supernaturally and meet you where your at with a sincere prayer. Within a sinful desire exposed in prayer , will allow God in to do a work in you. It removes any obstacles from God working with you and you being stubborn and stiff necked to allow God in. I believe Jabez knew this. His Prayer was within all His Might and sincerity from within Him and God wanted you to understand that in His prayer.
So I tell you all this for this reason. Your not a mistake in His overall plan. He loves you as much as He loves me or anyone else. You are here for a great reason . Yes you are going through much and seems like the impossible to Get through. But the scripture and His promise states this very specifically , that what is impossible for man is possible for God.
Your mistakes in sin has many consequences that you are dealing with today. I can’t tell you what to do or how to do it. All I can tell you is what you already know . Is that God has a plan for you . I can’t take away your pain but what I do know from reading the bible and praying , that in pain, sorrows and fear is to praise God for this time. What ever the reason you are dealing with these things, God is reaching out to you greater the you have ever known before . It is in these times God has defeated all of them . He is wanting you to seek at a greater level of crying out and mourning and weeping and heaviness . So that He can bring you forth and show His strength in you and through you. Your blessing is greater then you can see and He has you in His hand , even if you don’t feel like He is there . This is his promise for you in this life and the next .
Psalm 88 seems to be a horrible horrible scripture to give someone for encouragement and promise. It was at this time in Psalm 88 , that seems most depressing prayer and loss of Hope , However, it was the closest time that King David was to God. In this Psalm unlike all the other prayers this is where the writer understood that not only was King David the closest to God but this is where King David understood God was very specifically hearing from God.
Maybe we cant see all that Jabez prayed and how long he prayed , we can understand that through King David's prayer in this Psalm 88 , we can understand , the drive of the prayer and the understanding of the result. That is the application God wants you to understand. It is what is needed today in such and terrible time of trouble, that seems to be getting expounding worse by the day. Our prayers and petitions must be like How Jabez, King David and Jesus all Prayed. Amen!
In the Ministry for Yeshua Hamoshiach
Jay
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