What a prayer Jabez !!!

sermonindex Mar 23, 2014

1 Chronicles 4:10
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. ........

God delight to bless those who call upon him in faith and earnestly seek his favor
Jabez asked God to keep him from evil or harm so that he would not be a cause of pain to God, himself or others. Obeying God's commands, loving him and pleasing him are indispensable conditions for receiving answers to prayer.
1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

sermonindex Mar 23, 2014

What does God really want to bless us with?

What does it mean to us now in the New Covenant when we say "enlarge my territory"?

E

Elibeth Mar 23, 2014

Just-in,
To answer you question,

God wants to bless us with the WHOLE of Himself.
.....with the true love for Him,...All of my heart,my soul, my mind, my strength,....a hunger thirst for Him,..( Who is The Spirit / Word,...Him )

Then,as He being such a most precious Father,will take care of all of
our needs,.....He promised this.

He desires us in His Kingdom, where He is Lord

But what about that precious saint,Steven ?Yes ! Even then.

The Lord looks at things differently than we do,unless we are looking through the eyes of His Spirit,....( ' eyes to see ' )When He brought Steven all the way through and out the other side,..STILL IN HIM,He saved Steven to the utter most.

Being in Him,and His complete care,and all of this desire for Him and His
Kingdom,... is the blessing.

And also,isn't that an enlargement of my territory ?...to enlarge our heart ?

Lovingly,
elizabeth

sermonindex Mar 23, 2014

That is what I was looking for, Elizabeth. And He enlarges our borders (territory) by sanctifying us more and more for Him and increasing our faith.

Eph_5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
1Th_5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bringing more and more deliverance into our lives thereby giving us ever increasing spiritual capacity for Him (which is more faith and true security).

Exo_34:24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

Jabez may have been thinking of this promise:

Exo 23:31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

when he said this:

1Ch 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

S

Sidewalk Mar 23, 2014

Some years ago, some in the Word of Faith crowd grabbed onto this verse and suddenly it was on neck chains, bracelets, bible covers, and bumper-stickers. It was a sweet justification for the name it and claim its, or as we used to so irreverently say, Blab it and Grab it...

Bob Mumford once preached a sermon I remember, in the heyday of the Word of Faith explosion. He referenced where Jesus said if a son asked for bread the father wouldn't give him a stone, would he? Mumford went on to say that while in God's eyes it is bread, to the immature growing Christian child it was hard, cold, and heavy!

For us at first a stone, but in the end a sweet taste of bread from God!

We know little of Jabez- can only speculate. But he probably learned in those long ago times what Jesus meant by the admonition to seek first the Kingdom of God, freeing God to add good things, bread as it were, into his life.

A

a-servant Mar 23, 2014

Quote: "God delights to bless those who call upon him in faith and earnestly seek his favor. Jabez asked God to keep him from evil or harm so that he would not be a cause of pain to God, himself or others. Obeying God's commands, loving him and pleasing him are indispensable conditions for receiving answers to prayer.

1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."

receiving answers to prayer is always the line in the sand that divides the talkers from the doers. It is a matter of faith, and only our intellect would object to that, in defiance of the Spirit. I pray that my own intellect finally gives up the fight and accepts the authority of the Spirt. Amen.

sermonindex Mar 24, 2014

And what is it that we ask of God?

sermonindex Mar 24, 2014

"...I can of mine own self do nothing..." (John 5:30)

"...and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." (John 8:28)

"For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." (John 12:49)

"the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." (John 14:10).

With these verses in mind, coupled with the activity and divine functioning of Christ within, what kind of blessings do you think a Christian, prays for? The only kind of Christian I am talking about is one who is in union with the Lord, one who has been joined to His spirit.

sermonindex Mar 24, 2014

This has been a very good thread. There have been some excellent heartfelt posts.

As I think of the prayer of Jabez I am reminded of Eph. 3:20-21 which says,

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Amen and amen.

Blaine

sermonindex Mar 24, 2014

Amen, Bearmaster and what is that "power" that works within us?

A

a-servant Mar 25, 2014

Philippians 4:13 Â I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.