Prayer of Jabez

When it comes to prayer, this is my favorite;

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.”

In the first part of this prayer, Jabez asked the Lord to bless him. What does it mean to be “blessed”? Well, I wrote a book titled “Blessed” and here is a bit of it:

    Although it may seem a little selfish at first glance, there is nothing wrong with asking the Lord to bless us - if our motive is right. Our reason for blessing must always be that others might be blessed through us… That we might be channels of God’s blessing; using our gifts, our talents, our material and financial blessings for God’s glory, serving Him and one another. Scripture tells us that God will not bless a selfish desire, however, He will bless those who have the right motives.

According to all these scriptures, and there are a lot of them, our blessings come from God!  And, we are created to be a channel through which His blessings can flow. God said to Abraham, “all nations will be blessed by you”… God wants to bless us, so we will spill over into the lives of others.

Blessed - Deuteronomy 28:1-13;

¹If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ²All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you  if you obey the LORD your God: ³You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. ⁴The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. ⁵Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. ⁶You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ⁷The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. ⁸The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

⁹The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.

¹¹The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

¹²The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

¹³The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

Now, that is a list of blessings! But, there’s more….

2 Corinthians 9:10-15 :

¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also (overflowing) in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

    As Christians, we will either live life from a loving relationship with God that spills over into all our relationships, or we will live on empty and have nothing to offer those around us. In order to live life out of the overflow of our relationship with God, we must love one another habitually, connect with God daily, and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us to overflowing with the love, joy, peace, and power of God.”

Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Mal. 3:10 – “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

Col. 2:7 – “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

1 Thes. 3:12 – “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”

Rom. 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

John 4:13 – “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 7:38 – “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Blessed to be a blessing!