A Challenge to ALL Christians

[JoshMC]

Many bible scholars, pastors, and great men of God agree we fail as Christians by not spreading the word of God which is the one requirement of being a christian.
I would like to tell you a story of a briefly mentioned superman of god. Jabez which means "pain" is mentioned only once in the bible in the least read book of the bible ! chronicles 4:10. His mother for some reason named him Jabez because he somehow caused her pain whether it was physical, emotional, or spiritual who knows. This marked this child for life. Names in biblical times were closely related to the child's future. Solomon for example means "peace" and he was the only king to never go to war. Well you get my drift. Having this curse for a name Jabez decided to pray to the God of Isreal for help. He prayed:

"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 might not cause pain!"

Prayer sounds simple enough doesn't it? I'll show you it's more complex and Jabez asked for all the right things.
First "Oh that You would bless me indeed" here is the key so many christians me including me aren't selfish enough in their prayers. They pray for their church, friends, or their families but what about themselves. Don't you deserve to be blessed. Jabez realized this and asked for all God's blessings. There's a fictious story of Mr. Jones that pastor's use to illistrate the need for selfish praying. Mr. Jones died and went to heaven. At the gates Paul met him for his tour. After seeing everything he noticed a building with one door and no windows. He thought to himself what in heaven is good enough to be secret. So he asked Paul to see it. Paul hesitated then took Mr. Jones inside. There he saw millions of white boxes with red bows. He immediately asked Paul did he have one and Paul replied, "Yes but I wouldn't look inside" Before he could finish Mr. Jones was rusing to the J isle. There he found it and ripped it open. Inside was all kinda stuff he always wanted. Paul replied these are all the things God wanted to give you but you didn't ask for.
Second "and enlarge my territory" he wasn't asking for land here he was asking for God to make him a winner of souls, a fisher of men (which Jesus wants us to be anyway)to expand God's territory. Here is where as christian are too relaxed we let Satan get us in a comfort zone where we think we've done enough to get to heaven and we stop working for God. This is where we fail and this is sin.
Third "that Your hand would be with me" he is admitting with all these blessings and this new territory he is overwhelmed and needs God's help.
Last "that You would keep me from evil" this is another misunderstanding. It is good to be able to withstand sin and defeat Satan's temptations but why not just avoid temptation? That's what Jabez is asking for here!

So I challenge all who want to be spiritually closer to God to pray this prayer daily. Become fishers of men and enlarge god's territory, and become the righteous child of God he wants you to be.

[Rachel_E]

Josh! I just read that book "the Jabez Prayer"... I kind of didn't want to, cuz I knew I'd feel a bit convicted. ha ha.
IT's amazing how it's working though!

[TireGuy]

Originally posted by JoshMC

"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 might not cause pain!"

Josh,
My wife bought the book "The Jabez Prayer" a couple of weeks ago. I've been sincerly praying it every day since I read the book. I have the prayer written out so I can read it easily. I've also written it with my own words for easier understanding as I pray. There are changes in my life already. It is amazing. I now look forward to each day to see what it might bring. It is a wonderful way of praying to God.

[JoshMC]

I'm glad this has worked for you!!!!!

i have never heard of this
can some1 give me more info
willie

[gini]

Hey Guys! May I say something on the subject of "Jabez"? My pastor just finished a 4 week teaching on these two verses of the Bible. It is amazing what God will do if we only ask! Many of my friends had already read the book and the information that we had learned in the book "The Prayer of Jabez" seemed to be brought to more light for some of us. We've been praying this prayer for sometime and the results are phenominal!

[peresophone]

amen brither.

i just went to a conference and they taught on the prayer of jabez anfd i bought the book. and yes we have the word but yet so many die without knowing god. i would like to talk to you more. my e-mail is dorine@math.com that was a good message truly