One of the virtues of scripture is it is God’s Word to reveal to us what to pray and how to pray. I enjoy praying scripture, not only the prayers found in scripture as stated in the previous post on this blog. Praying the prayers of scripture affects my life on various levels and enhances my spiritual walk. There are many prayers in scripture that we can pray, applying them to our lives. One I pray quite frequently is the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10).

Here is a man otherwise obscure in all of scripture. However, his prayer is noteworthy enough to God that He, God, stops the roll call of the genealogy of the Hebrew people to list this single prayer. Right in the middle of 500 names is this prayer of this otherwise unknown man.

“O Lord, bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, and keep your hand upon me. Keep me from evil that I might not cause shame.”  I Chronicles 4:10

When I pray the prayer of Jabez I am not praying for God to give me more wealth or material things. God provides all my needs and more. When I pray the first line of this prayer, I do not desire more material possessions. I count as my greatest blessings from God the opportunities to do something for Him. Every time I can serve God by working with Him, I am truly blessed and have a joy well up inside me that no amount of wealth or material possessions could compare.

As a young child my family would go to visit my grandparents just outside of Lewisburg, Kentucky. On Saturday afternoon my grandfather would take one or two of us kids and drive down to the local country store (Well’s). This was a highlight of the whole visit. And so, each visit, when I knew “Papaw” was getting ready for that afternoon trip, I would be following him around the house, hoping he would pick me to go with him. It was such a treasured time I still remember it today some fifty years later. When I pray that first line in the Jabez prayer, I am asking God please, let’s do it again. Only now I am no longer eight, I am fifty-eight and I want more. I want to go again and again. The more God takes me along, the more I want to go and do. The blessing is in getting chosen to go with God, and that is what leads to the next line of the prayer.

Enlarge my territory. Again, this line is not asking God for more land (although I wouldn’t mind having a few more acres). With this request I am asking God to allow me even more time with Him. Why? Because I am blessed when He allows me as revealed in the first line of this prayer. I am blessed so much that I not only want to go again and again, I want to go more. I want to do more with God. If blessings could be measured in gallon buckets and going with God on one venture equaled one gallon of blessing, then I am asking God, why not five gallons. Enlarge my territory.

To serve alongside God always brings blessings this world cannot measure. I do not know about you, but the greatest things in life bring pleasure and I always desire more of those pleasures. The same is true when serving alongside God. I want God to bring me into His service more, because I want more of the pleasure of His blessing.

Along with His blessings and an enlarged territory, I realize a need for caution. Jabez knew this as well. Hence the third line in his prayer.  “Keep your hand upon me.” Jabez knew that even in the midst of God’s presence and doing His work, it is easy to get sidetracked and self-reliant. If God brought me to it, I do not want to try to accomplish it in my power. I will surely mess it up. Instead, like Jabez, I ask God to keep his hand on me, so that I will not mess it up. The blessing comes in doing things God’s way. “Keep your hand upon me.”

The fourth and last line of Jabez’s prayer is precautionary. The third line was for God to keep His hand on me. The fourth line is ‘and don’t let me stray’. Whenever doing something good for and with God, someone will be upset. If not someone you see, certainly Satan, the devil himself will not like it. And He will attempt to keep you from serving God and accomplishing God’s assignment. Satan is very conniving. And he can be very convincing. He is the father of lies and will stop at nothing to cause you to stumble and fall when serving God.

I add to Jabez’s fourth line when I pray this prayer. My prayer is, “God, keep me from evil and keep evil from me that I will not bring shame.” I will even extend that line of thought to say, “I do not want to bring shame against you, your church, my church family, my family, my wife, or me.” I know that without God’s hand, His guidance, and protection, I am prone to fall. I want all God’s protection and defense against the flesh, worldly pleasures, and Satan himself.

“O Lord, bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, and keep your hand upon me. Keep me from evil that I might not cause shame.”  I Chronicles 4:10

Enrich your life. Pray scripture. Pray the prayers found in scripture. Write to me and let me know how prayer affects your life.

For more on praying scripture contact George Yates and be sure to visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries on the web.