Topic: God and Effective Prayer. Categories: Know God> Power>
Bible Scriptures: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, Genesis 1:28.
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In the days of the Old Testament, before Jesus walked the earth, there was a man whose name was Jabez. The life and prayer of Jabez, reveals much about the Eternal One who created heaven and earth and all things good.
The birth of Jabez caused his mother great pain. The pain in giving birth to Jabez was so great that his mother gave him a name which means to grieve or be sorrowful.
So every time Jabez’s name was called, he would receive a negative emotional image of himself and take on the blame for something that was not his fault. His own mother, his own family, his own people and the world when calling Jabez’s name, would reinforce these negative words. For Jabez means to grieve or be sorrowful.
Yet God said something very interesting of Jabez that speaks light and life into Jabez and to us today.
Yet God said something very interesting of Jabez.
1 Chronicles 4:9 ‘Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”’
God said of Jabez he was more honourable than his brothers. Let us discover why.
1 Chronicles 4:10 ‘And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.’
effective prayer
Jabez called on the God of Israel, the Eternal One, the great I Am, who created the heavens and the earth and all things good. The God of Israel is the God of all people. The God of everywhere and everything. The Eternal One who is not limited to time or region for He created it all out of nothing. He spoke the light into existence and filled the heavens with the governing lights of the sun, moon and stars.
The God of Israel is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Who delivered The Ancient Israelites from slavery to the Egyptians. He provided everything for them even in their rejection of Him in their wilderness journey.
For a greater revelation of this please listen to our jesus loves : the world podcast series titled, The Miracles of the Wilderness Journey.
So God honoured Jabez because that is who He is. He said of Jabez that He was more honourable than his brothers because Jabez acknowledged God. Jabez called on the living God. He personally engaged with Him and entered into a personal relationship with Him. Jabez chose to give his allegiance to God. As a result Jabez received his identity from God and not from the negative words spoken over him from his birth.
Only God can heal and transform the deep rooted negative image of self and transform shame into honour.
Jabez knew God and became one with God’s heart. His prayer to God testifies.
prayer of blessing
First thing Jabez asked God for was that you (God) would ‘bless me’ (Jabez).
In the original Hebrew language in which the Old Testament was written, this word translated as bless is the exact same word that God declared over the first man and woman. It means because of ones love for another, honour is given.
So let us go back to the beginning of human history, when God out of His great love created both male and female in His own image. Back to a time when everything was very good.
This was before the first man and woman chose to become one with evil and good, activating evil into God’s perfect world.
Genesis 1:28 ‘Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God created them, both male and female in His own image and blessed them both equally.
Remember this word translated as blessed or bless means that because of ones love for another, honour is given. Because God so loves, He created the first man and woman and gave His honour to them.
His honour
God honoured the first man and woman and gave His image, His identity, His love, His joy, His peace, His goodness, His kindness, His gentleness, His self-control, His patience, His faithfulness, His power, His authority and His perfect world. He gave the first man and woman everything of Himself. From the depths of His pure selfless love He gave to them. That is the heart of God because God is love and so loves.
Jabez’s heart and God’s heart were one.
God’s love is unconditional toward all people and His own creation. He gives of Himself to all who are willing to receive Him. Jabez knew that God was the source of all things good and cried out to Him.
Jabez asked God for the restoration of God’s identity and honour to him. For the first man and woman chose to become one with both evil and good and marred God’s identity in them. They now had their identity in both evil and good.
Yet everyone has free choice and Jabez chose to become one with only good, one with God. In doing so Jabez asked God to restore in him what was given away by humanity. The identity of God.
The first thing Jabez asked of God was to restore the honour of having his identity in God.
prayer of mission
The second thing Jabez asked God for was to ‘enlarge my territory.’
This Hebrew word that has been translated as enlarge, is the same word that God declared over the first man and woman when He said to multiply, increase, be in authority, to grow.
Let us read again. Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed (because I love you I give my honour) them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply (increase, be in authority, to grow); fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Once again it is revealed that Jabez’s heart and God’s heart are one.
Jabez knew that only God is the source of all things good. He knew the story of old and how it all began. Jabez knew it was God’s heart for humanity to be fruitful, multiply, increase and to be in authority and to grow only good. To reproduce only good.
the choice
The first man and woman chose to become one with evil and good. In doing so they gave over their power to increase, grow and multiply only good to that of evil and their selfish desires. As a consequence humanity is trapped in reproducing both good and evil. From generation to generation, each one has born of the corrupted seed of humanity. Throughout history we see the consequences of giving power over to evil and the selfish desires of humanity. However the good news is that God gives each one free choice.
To choose to become one with only God and give allegiance to God. Or to become one with only evil and give allegiance to evil.
Jabez chose to become one with only good, one with God and asked God to restore in him what was lost by humanity.
Only God can restore to humanity His authority to multiply His goodness.
The second thing Jabez asked of God was to restore God’s authority and reproduce only good.
prayer of intimacy
The third thing Jabez asked of God was to restore intimacy with God. He requests that ‘Your hand would be with me’.
Once again Jabez’s heart and God’s heart were one. Jabez knew that only God has unconditional love and mighty power to walk beside him. For God to be with him wherever he went. God’s hand is a beautiful picture of intimacy and strength. As a loving parent would take the hand of a young child to walk together and lead and guide. This is what Jabez asked of God.
The first man and woman chose to become one with both evil and good, rejecting the intimacy they had with God. Once the first man and woman chose to become one with both evil and good they became consumed with guilt and shame. As a result they ran away from God.
God never ran from them or hid Himself from them. For He is greater than any evil, any guilt and any shame. God’s love is pure and He is never one with evil. He is without guilt or shame.
In guilt and shame the first man and woman hid from God. They ran from His intimacy and presence. Yet God in His great love ran after them and personally covered their guilt and shame.
God protected them and provided for them. He continued to pour out His love toward them.
In Jesus God takes away the guilt and shame of humanity. In receiving Him, receiving God, giving total allegiance to Him, all guilt and shame is purged out of all who receive Him.
the choice of only good
Jabez chose to reject evil and become one with only good. Give His allegiance to God and as a result be one with Him. So Jabez asked God to restore in him the intimacy with Him that was lost by humanity.
Only God can restore to humanity intimacy with Him and the deliverance from evil.
The third thing Jabez asked of God was to restore God’s intimacy with Him.
The fourth thing Jabez asked of God was to ‘keep me from evil.’
Jabez had made his choice. He gave his allegiance to God and desired deliverance from evil.
Jabez knew God is greater than any evil and is the one who can provide deliverance from it. God did not create evil. He created everything good. There were only good spirits, angles.
However one spirit wanted to be God and in fact above God, so he declared war against God and His angles. His name became satan. All the spirits who chose to align themselves with satan became one with evil. They are bad sprits known as demons.
It is humanity who activated evil into God’s once perfect world. Humanity chose to listen to the lies of the evil satan and became one with good and evil.
Jabez knew that only God could save him from the consequences of humanity choosing to be one with both good and evil. Activating death and giving power to evil and humanity’s selfish desires has corrupted God’s once perfect world.
Jabez knew it was God’s heart for humanity to be saved from evil and prayed according to God’s will.
Only God can give deliverance from evil.
The fourth thing Jabez asked of God was God to keep Him from evil.
jabez’s prayer
The fifth thing Jabez asked of God was that ‘that I may not cause pain!’ Given that his name means just that, Jabez knew the pain humanity causes to each other and as result to God. With a revelation of God’s heart for every individual, Jabez requests he would not reproduce the hurt and pain of humanity. He would only reproduce the goodness of God.
The fifth thing Jabez asked of God was that he would not cause pain.
So in conclusion, the first thing Jabez asked of God was to restore the honour of having his identity in God.
The second thing Jabez asked of God was to restore God’s authority and reproduce only good.
The third thing Jabez asked of God was to restore intimacy with Him.
The fourth thing Jabez asked of God was God to keep Him from evil.
The fifth thing Jabez asked of God was that he would not cause pain.
What was God’s response to this prayer?
Scripture tells us, ‘So God granted him what he requested.’
Effective prayer is engaging with God, the creator of heaven and earth and all things good, choosing to become one with God’s heart, mind and salvation mission.
Only God can transform shame into honour, restore identity in Him, take away the power given to evil by humanity and save humanity from evil and their own selfish desires. It is only in the full restoration will we no longer cause God or each other pain.
It is only God who can provide what humanity needs. That is God Himself and intimacy with Him.
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