The Prayer Of Jabez: How To Pray By His Example
Who was Jabez?
Jabez was a Ceneo descendant who later became part of the tribe of Judah, which means that at the beginning, he was not a member of the people of God.
He was away from the covenants of promise and his citizenship, leaving him without the hope of an almighty God by his side.
This man, who was the most illustrious of his brothers, was named after his mother, who claimed that he should be called because he was given birth in pain. If you want to verify, you can look in your bible in 1 Chronicle 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 Jabesh not with prosperity in exchange for his prayers but with provision for the will that God wanted to carry out throughout his life.
We should not read Jabez’s prayer as a request for a personal blessing but rather 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 would be 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. The city where the scribes lived is named after Jabesh due to his law knowledge.
His legacy lasted long because of the many disciples he left behind. There were rules to follow in the Old Testament for approaching God’s presence and sacrifices for confession and thanksgiving.
What is Jabez’s prayer about?
The prayer of Jabez was basically carried out in the following way: “This person invoked God, imploring him to bless him and expand his territory or his border, in addition, he 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 (1 Chronicle 4:10).
Of course, God fulfils everything we ask of him if it is His will to do so. He says it in the bible: “whatever you ask with your mouth and believes in your heart, that will be done.” man of faith, he believed God, and God blessed him for that.
The book of 1 Chronicle of the Old Testament is a genealogical record written by Ezra after the Babylonian exile of God’s people. In a single sentence added to his lineage, Jabez demonstrated how to pray for God’s will to be over our lives.
Also Read:
- Miracle Prayer for the Impossible
- Short and powerful Prayers for healing and recovery
- Prayer of repentance and forgiveness
What were the outstanding characteristics of Jabesh prayer
If we break down the prayer of Jabez, 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 on high, that is, from almighty God. (James 1:17)
- He prayed that his territory would be expanded: this is something to which every person who accepts Christ in his heart and believes in his sacrifice has the right since the sacrifice on the cross granted it. As stated in (Joshua 1: 3)
- He asks for the hand of God in his life: he does not trust that if the hand of God were on him, he would be safe. He knew that in God, a supernatural force surpassed his and that he could achieve anything, for more impossible than it was. (Numbers 11:23)
- Jabez, in his prayer, also tells God that he would hopefully rid him of all evil so that he could not harm him. We must also keep this in mind in our daily life, and it means being free 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 the prayer of Jabez leave us?
This prayer cannot be applied directly to us without seeing how it relates first to your own situation and then to Jesus Christ, without looking for the context of the situation.
God promises us provision, not prosperity, as some mistakenly believe. We are in Christ does not mean that we will not have problems. But he promises us that he will give us everything 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, the provision was prosperity.
The goal is for God to transform our hearts so that we can endure the trials of this life. The critical thing to remember when studying Jabez is that God answers people’s prayers by His will, not by our wishes.
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 provide it to him ?: no, right? Because you know he’s going to get hurt. Well, that’s precisely the way God works when we pray about something.
What does it mean to pray like Jabesh 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 walk.
It is sincere devotion to put our wants and needs at his feet, knowing unequivocally that he will put us on the right path. Through our personal relationship with Jesus, we must faithfully pray 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 out and God granted his request.”
We must establish and maintain endless prayer in our daily life. Jabez was not using prayer as a formula to get something from God; Rather, he was calling on God to help him keep the promises he had made.
We can not only pray like Jabesh 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 our help.
How to pray?
James reminds us: “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4: 2). However, this is not asking for asking because it also tells us that we will not get anything if we ask badly.
We should not cry out to God to spend on vanities, he says it very clearly in the word, because such requests are not pleasant in the eyes of God.
6 tips for praying like Jabez
- Remember specific answers to prayer, list your character’s virtues, and ask him to reveal more.
- Ask God to give you a new heart, one that is like Jesus’, content and agreeable in his presence. Increase the use of this example to spread the gospel in your life.
- Recognize the power and kingdom of God. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to manifest in your daily life.
- Pray for God to guard your heart and to protect you from all evil, both visible and invisible.
- Very important: always, when praying, you must 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 for him.
- At the end of the prayer, always say Amen. By doing so you are speaking 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 follows the will of the Highest, it will be done (1 John 5:14).
- “Look at the LORD and his strength; always seek his face” (1 Chronicle 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, and you must seek to be transformed. If you have an excellent communion 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).
The Prayer of Jabesh 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 it with all our hearts, we will find it. He will faithfully guide us through his plan for our lives. We are never alone, and that makes us blessed and prosperous. The mighty spirit of God lives in us, despite what we are!
