“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 may not cause pain. Amen.”
The Prayer of Jabez is a powerful one. In 2000, Christian author Bruce Wilkinson wrote a book called The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to a Blessed Life. In this book, Wilkinson discussed the importance of praying like Jabez. Jabez prayed that God would bless him. That He would expand his territory. That God would keep His hand upon him and protect him from harm. A simple prayer, but a powerful one. It asks for divine favor, anointing, and protection–a life free from sorrow. These are the things we all seek from God. Jabez, a relatively obscure Biblical hero, teaches us that we “have not, because we ask not.” We don’t know much about Jabez, except that he prayed this prayer and that he was more honorable than his brothers. But one thing we do know, however, is that God heard him and answered his prayer. Let us commit to praying these things over our own lives. If God did it for Jabez, surely God can and will do it for us as well, Amen.
Are we asking?
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” ~ Matthew 7:7 KJV
In John 16:24, Jesus stated, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete”.
Our prayers to God are not unlike our requests of men. Our prayers are based in a relationship, as Jesus points out in Matthew 7:8. If a child asks his father for something the father knows to be hurtful, the request is denied. The child may be frustrated and unhappy when he doesn’t get what he asked for, but he should trust his father. Conversely, when the child asks for something that the father knows is beneficial, the father will provide it eagerly because he loves his child.
We have another condition to the promise of “ask and receive” in John 14:14, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Here, Jesus does not promise His disciples anything and everything they want; rather, He instructs them to ask “in my name.” To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray on the basis of Jesus’ authority, but it also involves praying according to the will of God, for the will of God is what Jesus always did (John 6:38). This truth is stated explicitly in 1 John 5:14, “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Our requests must be congruent with the will of God.
The promise of “ask and receive,” even with its conditions, can never disappoint. There is no chance of things we need not being in God’s will. He promises to supply what we need when we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Of course, what we want is not always what we need. If what we want is not in God’s will, then we really don’t want to receive it. God knows what is good for us and is faithful and loving to say “no” to selfish and foolish prayers, no matter how much we want what we’re asking for.
And we pray:
Father, I ask Your blessings on my life and the life of my family. I pray that You give me all that I need and, even more, that You prosper me. I pray for Your guidance, Your strength and Your protection. I thank You for hearing my prayer. Amen.