BLESSED INDEED 1 Chronicles 4:1-10
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” 10Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested. (vv9-10)
The name Jabez means “pain, sorrow,
suffering.” Every time someone said, “Hello, Jabez,” they were saying, “Hello,
sorrow. Hello, pain.” They were prophesying defeat and failure. You can imagine
how he could have let that make him feel inferior and insecure. But despite
what people labeled him, he had the boldness to ask big, that God would bless
him with abundance and protection. And God blessed him indeed.
Like Jabez, you may have reasons to settle where you are—what you didn’t get,
what people said, the odds may be against you—but the good news is that God is
for you. He can thrust you further than you ever imagined, but you have to pray
bold prayers. Ask in spite of the circumstances. Ask in spite of what people
are saying. Ask in spite of what the enemy keeps whispering in your ears. If
you’re going to reach your highest potential, you have to learn this principle
of asking big.
PRAYER LINE: “Father, thank You that when the odds are against me, You are for me. Thank You that nothing and no one is more powerful than You.
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