1 Chronicles 4: 9-10
By reason of circumstances and birth, the man Jabez should not be listed among the honourable people of his generation. We may not know what his mother went through before his birth that led to the name Sorrow! All we know is that the name “Sorrow” followed him everywhere he went until the day he called on the Lord and prayed his notorious prayer:
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying Oh that thou would
bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be
with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! VS 10.
This prayer was and is still very potent. Up till this prayer, Jabez was a man without blessing, dwelling in a suffocating space (his potentials were not showing while evil was his constant companion. It was evident that the hand of the Lord was against him. He identified these issues and tackled each of them in prayers. And the Lord granted him that which he prayed for.
Beloved, what is your prayer life like? Prayer life refers to two types. There is the one you pray regularly, day in day out. This takes care of devotion, interceding for church, other family members, nation and others. This is not dependent on whether you have issues or not. After all, Jesus taught us that “(wo)men ought always to pray “ (Luke 18:1). But there is another prayer! The one you pray when fire is burning you; when it looks like a matter of life and death! This is what Jabez prayed here. “Lord I am not leaving here until you bless me! It is situational.
Have you ever have occasions that confront you and you are down? And it looks like there is no way out? That is the time to cry out to God in prayers. In many cases, no one can address the situation the way you will because you are the one that knows where the shoe is pinching you. Precious child of God, as someone said before, “as long as there is someone to pray, there is a God ready to answer“. Don’t leave your matter in the hands of the church prayer warriors alone. Get up! Go to God in prayer. He is your Father. He is willing and able to turn the situation around in your life. Get up! Pray it up! And get going.
PRAYER: Start dealing with that issue right now.
