Jabez’s prayer is a great example that we can follow in our lives, a lesson of faith, of hope, and of what it means to know how to seek and wait for the will of God, which is good, pleasant, and perfect. The main biblical basis can be found in the book of 1 chronicle of the old testament.
Who was Jabez?
Jabez was a Ceneo descendant who later became part of the tribe of Judah, which means that at the beginning, he did not belong to the people of God.
He spent a long time away from the covenants of the promise and his citizenship, which left him without the hope of an almighty God at his side.
This man, who was the most illustrious of his brothers, bore the name given to him by his mother, who argued that he should be called because he was given birth with pain. If you want to check, you can look in your bible at 1 chronicles 4:9
Although he had a difficult start, he was characterized by being honest, and having a good relationship with God. This is a valuable lesson for people struggling with their own identities.
Jabez’s inheritance was by faith. God blessed Jabez, not with prosperity in exchange for his prayers, but with provision for the will that God wished to execute throughout his life.
We should not read Jabez’s prayer as a request for a private blessing, but as a cry for God to bless him as part of God’s covenant people.
What does Jabez mean?
His name, ironically, means pain and sadness. “He seems to have lived in fear that his name was prophetic. So he prayed about it and God granted his request.”
Jabez diligently studied and obeyed the law and trusted God in prayer to direct his life. In fact, the city where the scribes lived is named after Jabez because of his knowledge of the law.
His legacy lasted long because of the many disciples he left behind. In the Old Testament, there were rules to follow for approaching God’s presence, and sacrifices for confession and thanksgiving.
What is Jabez’s prayer about?
Jabez’s prayer was basically carried out in the following way: “This person invoked God, imploring him to bless him and expand his territory or his border, he also tells him that he longs for his hand to be on him to feel safe not to suffer no harm. And God fulfilled what he was asking of him (1 Chronicles 4:10).
God fulfills everything we ask of him, of course, if it is His will to do so. He himself says it in the bible: “whatever you ask with your mouth and believe in your heart, that will be done” When we go to ask for direction from Our God we can find an example in the prayer of Jabez, which is proven to have been a man of faith, he believed God and God blessed him for it.
The Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles is a genealogical record written by Ezra after the Babylonian exile of God’s people. Jabez, in a single sentence added to his lineage, demonstrated how to pray for God’s will to be upon our lives.
What were the salient features of Jabez’s prayer?
If we break down Jabez’s prayer, we can realize that there are several important points to highlight:
- Jabez asked for a blessing: the Bible teaches us that all, absolutely all good gifts come from above, that is, from Almighty God. (James 1:17)
- He prayed that his territory would be enlarged: this is something that every person who accepts Christ in his heart and believes in his sacrifice is entitled to, since it was granted by the sacrifice on the cross. As stated in (Joshua 1:3)
- He asks for the hand of God in his life: he did not trust that if the hand of God was on him, he would be safe, that is, he knew that in God there was a supernatural force that surpassed his own and that he could achieve anything, for more impossible than it was. (Numbers 11:23)
- Jabez in his oracòn also tells God that he hopefully freed him from all evil so that he himself could not harm him. We must also keep this in mind in our daily lives, it means being freed from temptations, from what our flesh makes us commit many times to drag us into sin and make us lose the blessings that God has for us.
What teaching does Jabez’s prayer leave us?
This sentence cannot be applied directly to us without seeing how it relates first to your own situation and then to Jesus Christ, that is, without looking for the context of the situation.
God promises us provision, not prosperity, as some mistakenly believe. The fact that we are in Christ does not mean that we will not have problems. But he promises us that he will give us whatever we need to get out of bad situations.
Jabez lived in a time when God had promised destruction as a result of rebellion. He had a lot to fear. From his perspective, provision was prosperity.
The goal is for God to transform our hearts so that we can endure the trials of this life. The important thing to remember when studying Jabez is that God answers people’s prayers by his will, not our wishes.
Why this: we know what we want, but God knows what we need. For example: if your one or two-year-old baby asks you to give him a sharp blade, do you give it to him?: no, right? Because you know she’s going to get hurt. Well, that is exactly the way God acts when we pray for something.
What does it mean to pray like Jabez in our daily lives?
To pray like Jabez is to submit our lives to God like a blank canvas. Invoke the hand of God to obtain a great biblical vision of your life on this earth and never let go of it, it will be a great support in your journey.
It is sincere devotion to lay our wants and needs at his feet, knowing unequivocally that he will set us on the right path. We must faithfully pray, through our personal relationship with Jesus, for a holy perspective of our purpose on this earth.
Through the prayer of Jabez, God teaches the importance of the relationship with Him. “Jabez discovered that personal and ordinary daily needs can be brought to God: ‘he cried’ and God granted his request”
We must establish and maintain endless prayer in our daily lives. Jabez was not using prayer as a formula to get something from God; rather, he was calling on God to help him fulfill the promises he had made.
We can not only pray like Jabez but also expose his prayer. The Spirit of God lives in us and translates our prayers and murmurs to God in heaven! God has sent him as our comforter and helper.
How to pray?
James reminds us, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2). However, this is not asking just to ask, because he also tells us that if we ask wrongly we will not get anything either.
We should not cry out to God to spend on vanities, he says it very clearly in the word, because such requests are not pleasing in the eyes of God.
6 tips for praying like Jabez
- Remember specific answers to prayer, list your character virtues, and ask Him to reveal more.
- Ask God to give you a new heart, one that is like Jesus’, agreeable and pleasing in his presence. Increase the use of this example in your life, to spread the gospel.
- Acknowledge the power and reign of God. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to manifest in your daily life.
- Pray that God will guard your heart and protect you from all evil, both visible and invisible.
- Very important: when you pray you should always do it in the name of Jesus. Since God himself says in his word that Jesus is the way, he is the truth and he is the life, and no one, absolutely no one reaches God if it is not through him.
- At the end of the prayer always say Amen, by doing so you are saying to God “Lord, I believe you and I know that you are going to do the work in me”
Recommendations for prayer: Biblical bases
- If you ask for something that is in accordance with the will of the Most High, it will be done (1 John 5:14).
- “Behold the LORD and his strength; always seek his face” (1 Chronicles 16:11).
- You must always be attentive praying not to fall into temptation. Although the spirit wants the pure, the flesh is always weak (Matthew 26:41).
- Do not settle for what this world can offer you, you must seek to be transformed. If you have a good fellowship with God, you will be able to know what his will is. (Romans 12:2)
- God accompanies all who call on him in truth (Psalm 145: 18).
- “Devote yourselves to prayer, vigilant and thankful” (Colossians 4:2).
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The Jabez Prayer is a faithful submission to the firm establishment of God’s will in our lives. “The way to be truly great is to be truly good and pray a lot.”
When we seek him with all our hearts, we will find him. He will faithfully guide us through his plan for our lives. We are never alone, and that makes us blessed and prosperous. The powerful spirit of God lives in us, despite what we are!
