The Prayer of Jabez, Part 3
". . . 'and enlarge my territory,' . . . " 1 Chronicles 4:10.
In Jabez 2, we talked about how God desires to bless us and how He is waiting for us to simply ask for those blessings.
With this in mind, lets continue our study of the prayer of Jabez. One thing that has bothered me about my Christian
experience has been the fact that I have always settled for whatever comes my way. For example, if I prayed about having
enough money to take my wife to the Olive Garden (our favorite restaurant) and God answered my prayer by providing a little
extra work that week, in the past, that would have been it. I used to think, "I better not press my luck and ask for anything
else this week".
On other occasions, I would pray for God to lead me to someone I could share my faith with. Surely that is a worthy
request! True, but after sharing my faith for 30 seconds or less, I would be so content with this experience that I would
miss another opportunity two minutes later. Can you relate or am I the only one with such a limited view of God's Character?
My point is that God really does want to enlarge our territory, but often we are so content with the little blessings
(rightly so) that we miss the bigger blessings that He desires to pour out to us.
Recently, my wife and I were talking about moving across the country so we could be closer to her
siblings and other family members. For various reasons, we were concerned about the move but
decided to push the limits
of our faith and move. Some amazing things have happened since our decision to move and we are safe in our new home. God
has been so faithful to us. We had a safe trip and nearly everything we were worried about has been falling into place
for us. Not only has God taken care of all our needs even before we thought to ask, He has enlarged our territory. No,
we do not live in a bigger house. In fact, we don't even have a bigger yard. "Then what are you talking about Jason",
you ask?
On our second day in our new town, we went grocery shopping. After we got home and put the groceries away, my wife was
looking at the bill and noticed that one of the items we purchased didn't get scanned. So the next time I went for food, I
mentioned it to the cashier and asked to pay for the item. She was floored! "What? An honest person!" God really
blessed our honesty for the item happened to be on sale (50% off). After the cashier was done telling everyone around her
about how rare honesty is anymore (God enlarging our territory for Him), she asked the manager (even more territory for
Christ) to give us a coupon which was worth three times the price of the item we
paid for. In the end, we actually ended up making money for being honest about a "little" thing and
everyone around us saw that God still honors honesty and integrity.
God wants to enlarge the territory and influence of every Christian. You do not have to be a minister or church leader to
share your faith. In fact, you may not even need to open your mouth to be a witness for Christ. Simply by living a
consistent lifestyle that represents the One you claim to serve, you can shed light in darkness and inspire hope in those
who have given up on the idea of a brighter future.
I realize things don't always turn out the way they did at the grocery store. Sometimes we do the right thing and end up
in what seems like a really bad position. It is then that our faith is pushed to its limits. But we have many records in the
Bible about those who were faithful even though it meant imprisonment or death. Sometimes we may wonder how God could use our
current situation for good or how our trials can bring glory to God. After all, we would be able to accomplish so much more if
only . . . The reality is, however, that God does not view things the same way we do. Often, He allows these challenges to
prepare us for even greater experiences.
Just as God honored Jabez as he pleaded for enlarged territory, so He will honor those who will ask in faith believing He
is able to do exceedingly above that which we could ask or think.
Written by Jason P Knarr
Continued to Jabez, Part 4
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