The Prayer of Jabez
Rev. Marcos Gladstone
Pastor of MCC Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
From a series of sermons preached in January and February of 2005
Translated from the Portuguese by Geraldine Wright
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." 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. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NIV)
The story of Jabez (or Jabes) appears in scriptures a single time. It appears in the middle of a geneology in which, after 40 names are cited, the continuity of the geneology is interrupted by a degression to highlight a little of his life and his prayer.
His prayer reveals to us some spiritual truths which we will be sharing for at least 2 weeks in Sunday sermons this year. We believe that God will do grand marvels in our lives and it is through this anointing that our community will be uplifted. "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." John 14:12 (NIV)
Jabez Was More Honorable Than His Brothers
Logically thinking, what is before us is a contradiction, or one more of the contradictions which only in God can we attempt to explain or find that we understand. The name "Jabez" means precisely "pain", "struggle"... Jabez grew up being called "pain". Imagine when he was a child: "My Pain is coming!" "Here comes Sorrow!" Imagine those situations he would have had to endure among his young companions. Perhaps this is why, in his prayer, one of his petitions is that he will be blessed by being "free from pain".
It was the "karma", the curse, the burden, this pain he carried...However, he did one thing in his life which completely changed his story. Jabez prayed to the God who can do all things, to the God in whose hands are both the will and the way, and God granted him what he had asked for.
Did you know that with one prayer you can completely change your life, in this very moment? Take advantage of this new year to have your life changed by God. God wants to start writing a new story of your life.
Perhaps today your situation is similar to that of Jabez before his prayer. Even more, maybe today you believe you have a hereditary karma, or that unsolvable calamities were called down on you, that you are forever cursed. This can happen because of words or situations you have endured.
Many people carry an enormous pain in their souls because, for example, they think their sexual orientation is pain, is sorrow, is a struggle for themselves or for a loved one. Maybe your sexual orientation causes pain to your mother, like what happened with Jabez's mother, for a different reason. But, as in the example of what happened to him, you are not destined to be in or to live in pain for eternity. You can change the situation with faith, in prayer and dedication of your life to God.
One thing that blessed my life tremendously, even being one more confirmation of our ministry, was this: Last Sunday, after the Christmas service, a mother came up to me. Moved by the songs and Rev. Caio's sermon and by the spiritual atmosphere in our church, she said, "Pastor Marcos, the 'church' never allowed me to love my son until today. Thank you, because this ministry was truly used by God so that I may love him. From this night on, I can say that I love my son."
God changes history, changes a curse into a blessing, calls the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, isn't that right? Jesus himself was an incarnated contradiction. After all, how could there exist a God-man and man-God at the same time, who died for the sins of humanity, being made a curse in order to bring abundant life? Anyone who thinks about this a little will be confused by the story, won't they? But we also carry this trait of Jesus, seeing that we give off his perfume and are made his creatures. I believe that in a family, you who are the "contradictions" can be transformed into the most illustrious of the house, to the glory of God.
God Wants To Bless You
The reason God doesn't grant us things is precisely because we have believed that God doesn't want to bless us. The church itself constantly drums this into our heads.
The funny thing is, Jesus said, “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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-11 (NIV)
God wants to bless you, wants you to be prepared to receive these blessings. What you need to do today is to start praying and have the maturity to receive God's blessings. A father who loves his child wouldn't give him a car to drive by himself at 7 years of age, would he?
What Does It Mean To Be Blessed?
Among the various Biblical texts which speak of God's blessings, I have picked out this one which I dearly love and I would like you to read it as a prayer, believing that God wants to bless you:
If 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. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The 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. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The 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. The 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. The 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. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD , and they will fear you. The 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. The 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. The 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. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (NIV)
It's clear that we are living a New Alliance, a new pact through the blood of Jesus, but let us think about the new commandment which is: "Love God above all things and your neighbor as yourself". What this means is that being blessed by God implies being a blessing to your neighbor.
Much more than being a blessing to a friend or to those who love us. In Jesus and in the new pact we have to go much further. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)
Remember when God changed the fortunes of Job, who was a good man, someone of whom it was well known that he was not an evildoer...with virtues which are hard to find in any of us. Total disaster befell him. He was left with no worldly goods. He lost his children. He became ill, a leper. His wife left him, telling him to curse his God and die. His friends were like the Devil (the accuser) himself. "You are in this situation because you have sinned. It's because of your transgressions. It's the hand of God pressing down on you." But look at the text. God changed his life completely exactly when he prayed for his "friends", who at that moment were doing him nothing but evil: "After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." Job 42:10 (NIV)
A tradition began in the Old Testament, in which a sign of blessing others' lives was represented by extending a hand over the heads of those who were being blessed. Following this tradition, in these 2 Sundays in the house of our church in Rio, we will anoint with oil, as a sign of transferring the blessing of Jabez.
Now, let us talk about being blessed by having:
FIRST BLESSING: INCREASED TERRITORY
What Does It Mean To Have Increased Territory?
For Jabez, the petition to be blessed with increased territory most likely meant a physical expansion: to suddenly have his lands expand. To have more green pastures, and to have springs, water falls and streams on his farm, to sustain his cattle and crops.
Maybe this is all you want to hear today, or probably this is what you heard in some churches. What I hope happens is that you believe that a prosperous life should be a consequence of blessing, and not an incessant blind search for materialism. Jesus said, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
Now look at the entire passage: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
God doesn't want you to suffer in misery. To the contrary, God most certainly wants to bless you abundantly. What you can't do is have your life guided by an obsession with wealth. "God gives to the loved ones as they sleep." God knows everything, knows all your requirements. When you place God in first place, you will never again be in last place.
I don't want to be a demagogue, nor create in you the illusion that you can go to the beach every day, can stop studying, can stop striving to succeed, as if from now on everything will fall from the sky (unless you marry someone very rich and become a socialite).
Rather, in general, you must continue pressing ahead, studying, searching for a good profession that you will continue to master. Generally, it's a case of: you planted, you reaped.
What we have in Jesus is the confidence that when we trust in God and seek the Kingdom of God, we can be free of all anxiety, which is a major source of problems in our lives.
In Jesus, we can simply relax, knowing that if God takes care of the birds and clothes the lilies so beautifully, how much more God will take care of us. This is the first lesson God has for us today.
If we believe in a God who can fill and overfill, almost as if a consequence of simply putting the Kingdom of God in first place, today our concern with the "increased territory" should imply another truth. The parable of the talents, which Jesus teaches us, can very well illustrate this new vision. Open your Bible to Matthew 25: 14-30:
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’ The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’ Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)
Studies compare 1 talent to 15 years salary for a worker. Studies also show that in that era some servants were capable of managing the finances of the master. Five talents would have been the equivalent of 30,000 denarii, and 1 denarius was the equivalent of 1 day's salary.
It's important that we realize that many gifts and capabilities are given to us, talents from God, in a way of thinking, for us to use and multiply through our work.
There are many gifts and natural talents which God has deliberately distributed to all. You may have the gift of prayer, of music, of dance, and there are those you may not even know you have.
Just imagine the contributions you could make in the church by helping with the cleanup, in hospitality, in hospital chaplaincy for seropositives, for evangelism in the beaches and bars. Today the world is so bereft of God that 1 smile of love, of the love of God, would do all the work. There would be no need for a sermon or a Bible study...
Just think, for an inclusive church like MCC, the time has passed to just come to church and warm the pew. Understand that the church is a place to multiply the talents that God has given you.
In Isaiah 61:1 - "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners," Isaiah 61:1 (NIV)
SECOND BLESSING: GOD'S HAND GUIDING YOU
What Does It Mean To Have God's Hand Guiding Us?
If you wake up this morning, arise knowing that the Spirit of God is over your life. It doesn't matter the moment or situation you are passing through, you can have the certainty that God can see the storm coming. Your life is in God's hands...
This hand, this care is the selfsame Holy Spirit, who today inhabits all the days of our lives. Before being taken up into the heavens, Jesus said, "I will leave the Counselor, who is the Holy Spirit who counsels, who guides, who leads..."
Do you want God to be with you, caring for you and your needs? Then pray, asking that God remembers you and that God doesn't let us forget the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, our tendency is to forget the Holy Spirit, forget God...No one likes being put aside, not in friendships, not in romances, not at work. But just think, how many times have you put God aside?
How many times have you left God by the wayside? How many times did you forget to be thankful for the things God has done in your day to day life, or even to notice them? How many times this new year have you thanked God for the things God has done in your life?
If you really want to blessed, like Jabez was, you need to believe in and become intimate with the Holy Spirit of God. You need to keep searching for the Kingdom of God in first place, you need to multiply the talents of God in your life...In the end, to be blessed is to live with Jesus. There is no greater miracle in the human life than to encounter Jesus, than to give your life to Christ. To be blessed is so much more than possessing great wealth, than being cured of uncurable diseases, than having the most fabulous person by your side. Rather, it is to give your life to Jesus and to the Kingdom of God here on earth. It is to live as Christ wishes. It is to multiply your talents and have a life full of the Holy Spirit every day, as a constant sign of God's blessing.
THIRD BLESSING: EVIL REMOVED FROM YOUR LIFE
Evil Is Removed When You Choose To Be A Blessing.
I hope that through this message you have allowed yourself to be truly moved by the Holy Spirit to have a transformation in your life. Remember this as a "D-Day" in which you looked inside yourself and said, "Today I will be changed. I want to be a new man, a new woman. I want to be restored, to be repaired..."
However, this process of inner healing, of transformation, of change, is often somewhat painful, because in the majority of cases it will demand that you work in areas that you never admitted were sick and infirm in your life.
In reality, these are the areas that you don't want anyone poking into, or finding. These are hidden areas, protected by armor from everyone. But this is self deception. No matter how well hidden they are from everyone, or at least from everyone else, they are very much alive inside of you and, in fact, make your whole life sick.
Nothing is hidden from God, is it? I would like firstly that you read Psalm 139 as a prayer of discernment, of comprehension of the greatness of God in your life. Move your heart to be open to the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit. "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:1-16 (NIV)
How Can You Have The Evil Removed From Your Life?
Jabez was blessed, was the most illustrious of his house, even with his apparent "destiny" set out to be the sorrow, the weight of his house... In his prayer he asked that the evil be removed from his life. To have the evil removed from his life was a sign of God's blessing on him.
And the first question I ask is: "Do you want to be blessed?" Do you want to have success in everything you do, to be a blessing in your coming and your going? To be victorious, to have the pleasure of living the grand dreams of your life, to have a happy family? Do you want to live in the peace which we can only have in Jesus, even when the world is collapsing at your feet? Do you want to be the most illustrious of your house, to be, in the final analysis, truly blessed? To truly have the evil removed from your life? Is that what you want?
This day God places in front of you, at your disposal, a blessing and a curse. Which one do you want?
Happily, or unhappily for some people, to follow Jesus and be blessed by Him implies firstly being a blessing, in order to then be blessed by God. If you think you can separate the one from the other you are greatly mistaken. There is no way to separate being blessed from being a blessing.
In truth, one of the greatest mysteries that you will encounter in your walk with Jesus and being guided by the Holy Spirit is that, in fact, you will have to be a blessing, and as a consequence of being a blessing you will be blessed.
This means that in the Kingdom of God there is no "me, me, me, mine". In the Kingdom of God there is love towards others as toward yourself. There is the desire for others what you want for yourself. There is doing unto others what you would have done unto you.
At this point, most people give up, don't they? You can remember many names and say, "You imagine that I would behave with love and compassion toward this lazy, idiotic person, who humiliated me, who stepped on me, who treated me with disrespect, who did this or that to me? You think I am going to bless them? What I am going to do is 'tear them limb from limb'!"
There is a fairy tale that once a boy who was walking through the forest came upon God and said, "Oh, great! Here's God! This is fabulous, because I have 2 questions and a request for the Lord." God said, "Okay. Go ahead." The boy asked, "Since you are the creator of all that exists, I would like you to tell me how much 1 million dollars is worth?" "A million dollars to me is like 10 cents," said God. Then the boy asked again, "How long is 1 million years to you?" And God said, "One million years is like 1 day to me." The boy very smugly then asked, "God, since 1 million dollars is no more than 10 cents, will you give me 1 million dollars?" God said, "Certainly, my son. Just wait one day."
The moral of the story is: It's no use trying to trick God. There is no way for you to run away. God knows everything, every single thing. With God you plant, and reap what you sowed. If we want to be blessed, we must first allow ourselves to be used by God as a blessing.
Recognize that in your life there is a constant interaction between good and evil. In one moment you can be a blessing and in the next be a curse. In James 3:10-11: "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?" James 3:10-11 (NIV)
Thoughout your life operate forces for evil or for good. Because of this you can become an instrument of blessing or of curse. The choice is yours.
Look at the great truth at the ending of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:13: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Matthew 6:13 (NIV)
To have evil removed from your life, to avoid doing evil, to avoid being a curse, you have to ask God to not let you fall into temptation because, in order to "free you from evil", it's necessary that you don't fall into temptation.
I want to make it very clear that temptation has nothing to do with simple sexual desire. Rather, it has to do with the desire to do evil, to treat another in a way you would not want to be treated, to choose to curse rather than to bless. This is temptation.
You will not be blessed by God, will not have evil removed from your life, if you manipulate and betray people, setting traps, planning bad things for your neighbor, living in lies, doing evil the whole time. With God, you have to choose between being a blessing 100% of the time, or nothing.
In the name of Jesus, I reject these evils in your life and mine. In the name of Jesus, these conducts will come to an end in our church. Amen!
Every day you have many choices to make, and the chocie which God truly wants you to make is to be a blessing.
Since it is a difficult decision to be a blessing, many times a cure is necessary. I would like for you to meditate on the passage below, John 5: 1-8
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie–the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirtyeight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:1-8 (NIV)
Jesus knew that the paralyzed man had been in that state for 38 years. Jesus knows exactly how long you have found yourself in your state of sickness and infirmity of soul, of living a life with the choice of doing evil...
However, the question that Jesus asked and asks you is, "Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be healed?"
Do you really want to be transformed by God, or do you just want to continue with the same old excuses? To continue saying, "Jesus, I am suffering. I don't have anyone to help me go into the water when it is moved by the angel. Someone always gets there before me."
But the question Jesus asks you today is, "Do you want to be cured? Do you want to be transformed? Do you want to be blessed?"
Jesus doesn't want to know your motives or reasons that you find yourself in perhaps the most diverse situations, or why you fail to be freed from evil. The only question is, "Do you want to be cured?"
If you want to be cured, then rise, pick up your bed and walk!
You can see the earnestness of Jesus in asking. The question is: have you seriously decided to be cured? Do you seriously want to be blessed?
God will only commit to somone who in turn commits to God.
In order to attain a cure and a transformation, or a better understanding of this process of being a blessing in your life, work on these 3 points:
IDENTIFY THE AREA WHICH IS SICK IN YOUR LIFE, THE AREA WHERE YOU NEED TO BE A BLESSING, WHERE GOD AND YOU NEED TO COOPERATE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
Say, "God, my problem is in this area, and at this point. I need to decide to be a blessing here."
Pray that God will remove the veil in front of you. Recognize your problem as a problem.
Ask for discernment about your problem. Figure out in what area of your life you need to be freed from "temptations" or tendencies to do evil.
This first part is perhaps the most painful part, because, like I said at the beginning, it is an area that many times you don't want to change. But don't lose the opportunity. In the name of Jesus recognize the evil that must be extracted from your life.
STOP MAKING YOURSELF OUT TO BE THE VICTIM.
Recognize the evil, stop playing the victim. You don't need to say to Jesus, "Jesus, I am a sufferer. I don't have anyone to help me get into the water when it is moved by the angel. Someone else always gets down there before me. I can't succeed because I'm infirm. This is my sick area."
If you are permanantly or temporarily "sick" and have the full certainty that you are performing your part to the utmost in order to make a transformation happen, then continue doing all you can and go as far as you can. Then let God do what you can't. But make this decision. Say, "Jesus, I want to be cured. I have done all I can and that which I can't do is with the Lord!"
STOP LOOKING FOR REASONS IN OTHERS AS AN OBSTACLE TO BEING A BLESSING.
Don't justify yourself with things like this: I did evil to him because he did evil to me first. I took cruel revenge because he hurt me first. If you want to be a child of God, this is not an appropriate attitude. Remember what Jesus said, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." Matthew 5:41 (NIV) and "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:44-45A (NIV)
One day a man who mightily feared God lost his son to a brutal murder. He blamed God, saying, "God, where were you when my son was killed? What were you doing that was so important that you didn't see this happening?" God's response was, "And you. Where were you when my son was killed and crucified on the cross?"
Did you ever stop to think how egotistical you have been? How often have you only considered your own side? For how long has only your point of view had value?
Isn't the sacrifice of Jesus there on the cross, which was by grace, enough for you? A sacrifice that didn't look on your wickedness, your stinginess, your egocentrism, your sin... Can it be that the acceptance of this God of love, who shelters you, who gives you a new chance every day, who allows you to start and restart everything anew every day, even when the world seems to be ending, doesn't move you to decide to be a blessing?
May the Holy Spirit continue working in your heart.
