FAITH CAPSULE: Jabez deny assumption for changes, he went forward and asked God for changes
1 Chronicles 4:1-12
Throughout the Bible very few individuals were singled out with great identity like that of Jabez. Job was referred to as, “…blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Samuel identifies David in 1 Samuel 13:14, “…The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…” King David was a man after God’s heart. It is recorded in 1Chronicles 4:9, “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” By virtue of how the bible identifies Jabez, it is clear that he had every reason to make it in life but then there was a need for a change of name. Jabez was an honorable man living a degenerated life; not living up to his potential and what the Lord had called him to be. When Jabez recognized the meaning of his name as what needed to change. The Bible recorded, “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. ” (1 Chronicles 4:10) God is the only Unchanging changer and the only One who reverses the irreversible.
Jabez (meaning sorrow) called on God and specifically requested for what could be his blessings as one that is identified honorable by the word of God. Jabez, in his prayer, specified his need and asked rather than assume. Jabez wanted to be blessed, he did not pray “bless me Lord” but he specified the kind of blessing that he wanted. An honorable man deserves a large territory. Jabez asked for the blessing of a large territory. Above that, he prayed for the hand of God to be with him just in case the evil one attempts him. He called on God to help change him from being a vessel of pain to a vessel of gain. What area of your life needs to be changed for you to enter into what the Lord has called you to be? Jabez deny assumption for changes, he went forward and asked God for changes to manifest in his life. Jabez asked and he did not ask a miss. Jesus encouraged us in Luke 11:9, “…Ask and it will be given to you: seek, and you will find; Knock and it will be opened to you.” Is it your name that needs to be changed for changes to be able to locate you? Seek God for your change in life and you will found changes from Him.
Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of deliverance against the traps of stagnation in your life that you may breakthrough.