"Lessons in Prayer from an Unlikely Teacher" 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

"9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." 10Jabez 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."

An ordinary guy, whose life was filled with pain, experienced the extraordinary presence of God because he was willing to step out on faith-and pray. What about you?

The next thing we learn about Jabez is that he was not ashamed to ask for God's favor in his life. Jabez cried out, "Oh that you would bless me indeed!" What does he mean, bless? We've kind of decaffeinated that word; we've stripped it of meaning. We ask God to bless our missionaries and our meals. We use it as a innocuous greeting: Bless you! It's something Grandma says when you sneeze.

What does it mean? Try this definition: Bless means to receive God's supernatural favor. Jabez isn't asking for what he can get on his own, he is crying out for God to give him His divine, supernatural favor that Jabez can only receive from God. Proverbs 10:22, "The Lord's blessing is our greatest wealth. All our work adds nothing to it!" Jabez wants what only God can give.

Now let's take a little time-out here. Blessings from God can be physical, material, or financial-but that's not necessarily what Jabez is wanting and that's not necessarily how God blesses. God's blessings go far beyond the physical realm. Understand this isn't some kind of health and wealth prayer. This isn't Jabez's way of cornering God with enough faith so he can force God to bless him. Notice, Jabez doesn't even define what kind of blessing he needs. He just prays, "Oh God, please bless me. Don't overlook me. I want your divine, supernatural favor on my life."

The Bible teaches if you want God's blessing, if you want God's favor, you must ask for it. In Matthew 7 Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  

Remember Jacob, the grabber? There was a season of pain in his life. He was coming home to face Esau, the brother he'd ripped off. Last he knew Esau was continuing to hunt him down. So the night before he met Esau, Jacob met with God. Look at what he prayed, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." That's the exact same spirit of the prayer of Jabez, "Oh that you would bless me, indeed! I won't let go until you do!"

Jabez understood that he needed God's blessing. Have you ever craved God's blessing in your life to the point that you storm the gates of heaven w/ such determination that you just will not give up? When things are going okay, it's easy to forget about God's blessings-you can get by without them. But when you come up against a wall, a crisis that you know you can't handle alone, that's when we cry out.

Do you storm the gates of heaven asking God's blessing in our church? When things are going good, it is easy to slip into cruise control and just trust that things will always be good.

Why don't we pray like that every day? Why do we wait for desperate days before we turn to God? Why do we settle for ordinary living when we have a heavenly Father who is waiting to bless us? Just after Jesus said "ask and it will be given you" he said, 9"Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

God wants to bless us, but unless we ask, some blessings we will never receive. We settle for mediocrity. We grow comfortable with the ordinary. We are too afraid to ask for the extraordinary-God's supernatural favor; because we think we don't deserve it.

Would you pray today for God's blessing/favor in your life? What about praying for God's blessing/favor in your family? Don't stop there! Pray for God's blessing/favor, in your church family.