Jabez Prayer

Dear Friends,

Greetings to all in the sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For past few days, I was meditating on prayers in the bible. The following prayer caught my attention. I Chronicles 4:10, “Now Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my border and that Thy hand might be with me and that Thou wouldst keep me from harm that it may not pain me. And God granted him what he requested.”

The most remarkable person in this chapter is Jabez. Much account had not been given about Jabez but he was more honorable than his brethren and I found that he was a praying man. Jabez called on the God of Israel to bless him. We could see this praying attitude in Jacob’s life too. Though Jacob was blessed with wives, children, flocks, servants etc, He was crying to God in a Jabbok river to bless him again. Genesis 32: 26, “ Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me”. Spiritual blessings are the best blessings: Gods blessings are real things and produce real effects in our life. Lord answered Jabez prayer, now the question is, how many of us are willing to come to HIS throne once again for this type of prayer attitude in our life?

Second part of Jabez prayer talks about enlarging territory. He was asking God of Israel to enlarge his tents or territory, it represents once again, we need to enlarge our spiritual walk, lets ask God to enlarge our bible reading, prayer time, sharing time etc in our earnest prayers. In Psalm 147: 13, 14 say that, “For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your sons within you. He makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with finest of the wheat.” Our God is sufficient to enlarge our borders and also He is more than sufficient to keep our borders in peace and prosperity. A re you not blessed to ask Him to enlarge our hearts to inherit His portions and goodness in our life?

Third part of his prayer is asking God’s hand to be with him. What a wonderful idea? Psalm 46:1 says that God is our refuge and strength. Jabez was asking God to keep him from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil design of his enemies that they might not hurt him. His mother named him Jabez because she delivered him in sorrow and pain; so basically, Jabez was a man of sorrow. Jabez aimed to live in Gods shelter where evil cannot enter in to it. Psalm 91 1: says that “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty”. Jabez wanted to dwell in a HIS Shelter. Are you ready to choose God’s protection and shelter in our daily life in the midst of all evil things?

I would like to encourage everyone to read this prayer and focus on the last line, “And God granted him what he requested. Wow, what a great assurance to every child of God. Our God is a prayer hearing and prayer answering God; He is God for all impossibilities. Psalm 20: 4 says that, “May He grant you your hearts desire, and fulfill all your counsel”. He is God for all mankind. Let’s pray earnestly in our Christian life to lead a victorious life because, our God is ever ready to hear prayer and his ear is not now heavy. May the risen Lord Jesus Christ help us to pray like Jabez in our life? Amen.