10. And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "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!'' So God granted him what he requested.

It's noteworthy for a few reasons:

If you really know God then these are a guide for your prayer life. Have you ever sat down and thought about your prayer life? How would you describe it? Is it dry? Boring? Weak? Lacking enthusiasm? Stale? A struggle? Filled with anxiety? Or perhaps its Exciting, Meaningful, or Encouraging. What do you think Jabez thought about his prayer life?

This prayer is not just any prayer, it expresses Jabez's most important goals in life. If you are not a believer tonight or even if you are a believer, I ask you, "What are your goals in life? What do you really want out of life." Since we know that God answered Jabez's prayer, we know that the goals that Jabez had for his life were noble goals, goals that were pleasing to God, who will be the one we answer to at the end of our lives. But even more than that, the one who is willing to give us all his good gifts, who promises to go with us where ever we go and who will bring a good outcome to our lives if we let him.

We all know that when we pray we ought to be praying about God's work--that's what Jabez was doing. If we aren't praying about God's work then we're not praying about the right thing. The Bible says to pray about everything. And "everything" means everything--everything we do. We see that Jabez prayed about the work God might have him do in statements like "enlarge my territory" and "your hand should be with me" and "keep me from evil" and "not cause pain." But we also see that he counted on the fact that God would be with him because God answered his prayer and the Bible says that the prayer prayed in faith, confident assurance, will be answered by God. Everything we do should be the work that God has for us to do.

When we look at the lives of the Apostle Paul and Jesus we see that they, too, were aware of God's working in them. In Injil, Colossians 1:27-29 it says,

29. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

We have seen that both Paul and Jesus were aware of God's working in and through them. But can we be aware of that working in us? Should we be aware of that working in us? I believe we should count on that fact but we also need to insure we do our part so it happens. One thing that hinders this from happening is that I might think I'm just as concerned about God's work as He is, but the reality is that if I was that concerned on a consistent basis, I would be perfect and I'm not. So, the reality is that God is more concerned about His work than we are. My question for us is this, "Do we live in that way?" Do we live so that it is evident to people around me that God is in control?

Do you ever find yourselves more concerned about His work than He is? If we do then you know you've got something wrong. You may be thinking, "How will I know if I'm more concerned about his work than he is? The way to tell is to see if we are worrying about God's work. If we are, then we've got the wrong perspective and we are not only going to be working in the wrong way but also we are going to be praying in the wrong way. We need to work and pray counting on God at work with us and then conforming our lives the best we know how to what we know about God, but we should never worry about God working in and through us. And since the work God has for us should begin with prayer, our prayer shouldn't contain any hint of worry. Passion, concern, anguish? Yes, but with joy, counting on God to work out the situations we are praying about.

You may be saying, "But it's alright to worry about God's work." Do you think Jabez was worrying about God working through him to bless others? We may have heard the term Godly anxiety, or being anxious for a person's soul. Do you think that God is anxious about anything, much less someone's soul?

God says,

Now let's look more closely at Jabez's prayer. There are 5 elements in this prayer:

1. Oh, that You would bless me indeed,
2. and enlarge my territory,
3. that Your hand would be with me,
4. and that You would keep me from evil,
5. that I may not cause pain.

The blessing that he asks for is not a material blessing. This is not a name it claim it kind of prayer or theology. Jabez realised that he needed God's blessings, not his own or anyone else's--but God's.

He realised that only then could he deal responsibly with larger privilege and responsibility.

Even while thinking of more privilege and responsibility he was conscious of the fact that he needed God's hand to hold and steady and guide him.

In all of this it was essential that he be kept from evil.

And the goal was that he would not cause pain to anyone. Actually in most translations this is rendered that he would not experience pain or harm or distress. I think in light of other scripture passages we can safely say that he didn't want the storms of life to leave pain in the form of lasting marks of anger and bitterness in him that would actually spill out in pain to others and more pain to himself.

Have you found yourself saying, "How could Jabez pray this prayer? Did he really have the right to pray this prayer?" Obviously, he did because God answered it. The challenge for us is, "Can we pray this prayer?" God says:

22. "And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.''

Injil, Matthew 17

Earlier we read Injil, Philippians 4:6 where it says that we are to pray with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is an important part of belief and faith. In fact, thanksgiving is a significant part of the faith of a mustard seed described in Injil, Matthew 17:20 because when we are thankful, we realize that we don't need a big faith because we already know that we have a big God. And our big God is someone who knows what we need and someone who looks after us.

In Injil, 2 Chronicles 16: 9a it says,

If you're not sure that I'm right in saying that thanksgiving is the faith of a mustard seed, let's first look at another verse:

2. Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Here again we see that thanksgiving is supposed to be a vital part of our praying. Now let's look back at Injil, Matthew 17:20-21 and see what it says about the believing faith--the faith as a mustard seed. It is accompanied by genuine prayer. And we just saw in Injil, Colossians 4:2 that prayer (which must be fueled by the faith of a mustard seed) must be accompanied with thanksgiving. At this point let's think--what does the Bible say we are supposed to pray with any? I did a little study and I found that we need to pray with (faith, Injil, James 5:15; spirit and truth, Injil, John 4:23, in the Spirit, Injil, Romans 8:26.27, Injil, Ephesians 6:18, Injil, Jude 20) The fact that thanksgiving is specifically mentioned as one of those things is significant. At the time the Bible was written a mustard seed was the smallest known seed and it is generally agreed that this is the meaning of "faith as a mustard seed"--something small. Have you ever been given something and you forgot to thank the person and later someone asks you, "Did you tell them, 'Thank you?' " When you say, "No", they may have said, "Well at least you could have said, "Thanks". Saying thanks is seen as a small thing and yet it has big ramifications. Even though the mustard seed is a very small seed, it grows into a tree. In the same way, even though we may think that our faith is small, simply trust in what you know, with joy seek to know more and see what God begins to do--build a large joyful faith in your life.

But let's think further about that. What does it mean to give thanks? When do we thank someone for something? How do we pray with thanksgiving? I believe that we can only pray with thanksgiving . . .

So when we pray we ought to focus on what we do have and thank God for that. Then we will have the faith of a mustard seed because we know that God is at work. Our God whose eye is upon us will strongly support us. Rejoice! God is at work! And because He is at work, we too can work with Him and pray with lots of thanksgiving even if we feel we have a small faith, because we know we have a BIG GOD and he's in charge of everything!

If you have never experienced this work of God in your life it may be because you have never admitted that even the best efforts you make to live a good life fall short of what God expects. And having admitted that, you may never have realised that, that is why God sent Jesus Christ to this earth--because all of us fall short of what God expects. But God wants you to know that Jesus Christ has lived a perfect life and paid for your sin. And he wants you to know that because of that, you are accepted and loved by God. God will do the rest--as you continue to trust him, he will continue to show his love to you and show you how to live.

If you have done this, you may not have realised the greatness of God love for you. You may have thought that because of things that have happened in your life since you trusted God to save you, God doesn't love you anymore. As a result you have failed to give thanks for everything and you are no longer experiencing the joy you once had. I ask you tonight to trust God. Simply take him at his word. Desire his blessing. Trust him in every situation and study his word and ask him in prayer so you will know how to trust him in every situation, so you will have a vibrant, meaningful life trusting in God.