7/5/2022 • Desk of Dennis Piller
Pastor Brian's The Prayer of Jabez Part II of II
“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying: "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from the evil one."
And God granted his request.” (NIV)
“Oh that your hand will be upon me!” What? Risk a big prayer? … that means that we would have to be dependent totally on God. Totally dependent, I’m not sure I know what that means or if I can really do that! One thing I do know is that if we could do it ourselves, we don’t need a miracle. I find it interesting that Jabez asked for that miracle early on, he didn’t wait until the last minute, and it was certainly not a last resort.
3. God‘s Power; “That your hand would be upon me”. That completely represents his power and his presence. Keep a hand on my life Lord. Pray with audacious faith, to expect much,…we need to pray much. “ The Lord’s hand was on him!” What else do you need? Who else do you need?
My kids have never thought twice about saying: daddy help me – daddy I need you, and, we just do it. Daddy says, my hands are on you. God too puts his hands on us, when we ask…and when we depend on his power and his presence. We don’t become great, rather he becomes great in us and through us!
4. God‘s Protection: “Oh that you would keep me from evil”. The bigger we get…the more we are blessed – the bigger the opportunity to fail or to fall. But God protects us when he calls us. And when we start winning, the enemy starts taking notice… but God’s promises to keep his hand on us. What greater protection is there!
5. God’s promise: "He granted him what he asked for." I feel too many of us don’t ask. But we still ask…why doesn’t God answer? I think the majority of the time it’s because people don’t ask. We pray selfish, small-minded prayers. He is waiting for you to ask, in the spirit, according to his will! Why do we pray so small? When he wants to put his hands on his kids?
God wants to step in when his kids ask for a blessing. We have a Bible that’s full of God‘s promises. “The prayer of the righteous availeth much”. Matthew 7:7–11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. … For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; he gives gifts to his kids-
how much more does he want to give those who ask?”
James 4:2 “You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want”.
Sadly most prayers are born out of our pain. Jabez’s was not. We seem to have this mentality to not ask for things. Perhaps it’s because we don’t believe. Or we keep trying to do it ourselves, alone!
I think it takes a paradigm shift to ask for more. It’s something that’s very foreign to us in our self-sufficiency. We have this tendency of seeing the glass as half empty and we have this mentality of just not wanting to ask for help.
But I say you have to be humble to ask for help. You have to be humbled to ask God for more. You have to be humble to let go of what you think you can do. And ask God for something bigger… ask God to bless you… indeed… ask God to enlarge your territory… ask God to put his hand and Spirit Upon you.
Phil Driscoll You Deserve The Glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmdaV0ES8MU
