Pray First Part 4
The Prayer of Jabez
Sunday, May 19, 2024
I. Pray First
A. Teach Us to Pray – Download the Pray First App
1. We’ve been talking about the purpose, priority, perpetuity, place, plan, power and Persons of prayer.
a. Make prayer your first response not your last resort
b. Prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do.
2.Some prayer models and prayers in the Bible:
a.The prayer of Jesus (the Lord’s Prayer)
b.The prayer of Moses (Tabernacle Prayer)
c.The prayer of Jabez (ref. 1 Chron. 4:9-10)
d.The prayer of the sheep (ref. Ps. 23)
e.The prayers for the lost (ref. Luke 10:2)
f.The prayers of warfare (ref. Eph. 6:12)
g.The prayer for you (ref. Eph. 1:16-19; Ps. 91)
B.The Prayer of Jabez
1. (1 Chron. 4:9 NIV) Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.”
a. If your name was “Pain” or your life was marked with pain, what would your prayers look like?
~Jazeb didn’t focus on his pain, he focused on what God wanted for His life.
-Blessing/Influence/Presence/Protection
~For most your problem isn’t your problem! The fact that you aren’t focused on something bigger than your problem is your real problem!
2. (1 Chron. 4:10 NIV) Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that You would bless me, and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”
#1 “Oh, that You would bless me” Pray for blessing.
a. (Ps. 5:12) For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.
b. (Gen. 26:12-13) Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.
~Prosper in the Hebrew means – you’re able to go to a certain point and then God pushes you further. (ex)
c. (3 John 2) Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
d. Prosperity is having more than I need so I can make an eternal difference in the lives of others.
~(ref. Gen. 12:2) “I will bless you…and you shall be a blessing.” Blessed to be a blessing!
Pray: Lord, bless me with more than I need so I can be blessing to the world around me.
#2 “enlarge my territory” Pray for influence.
a. Ministry is living out my faith for the benefit of others. (kingdom of priests)
b. (Eph. 4:11-12) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
c. (Eph. 3:20 AMP) Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do abundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us.
~How does God show me what He has for me?
d. (Acts 2:17 NIV) In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
~Are you dreaming? Your life can be as small as you are or as big as God is?
Pray: Lord, let me see what You see so that I can pursue all that You have for my life.
#3 “Let Your hand be with me” Pray for presence.
a. (Acts 11:21 NIV) The Lord’s hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
b. Anointing: Living my life with God’s power so I can live a supernatural life.
c. (Exo. 33:15 NIV) Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”
Pray: Lord, let Your hand be on me because what you’ve called me to is too big for me.
#4 “keep me from evil” Pray for protection.
a. (Eph. 6:11-12 NIV) Put on the full armor of God, so that you take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the auto
b. (1Pet. 5:8-9 NIV) …Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…
c. Spiritual Warfare: Confronting the enemy with the authority of God’s Name, the truth of the Word, and the power of the Cross.
d. (Luke 10:19 NIV) I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you
Pray: Lord, strengthen me in and rescue me from every attack of the enemy.
[Pastor Lee Stokes]