"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."

So this is the end of the prayer journals on these important prayer lessons from an unlikely prayer teacher. And I think the final lesson is the most important of all.

We need to be Praying-KEEP-AWAY!

I suspect at some point in your life, you played that game of childhood: keep-away. Maybe you called it monkey-in-the-middle! In prayer, we also need to pray a version of "Keep-away". Because as soon as God blesses you, as soon as God expands your influence in His Kingdom, as soon as God shows up and touches your life...guess who is going to raise his ugly head? Our adversary! Satan.

As long as you just quietly drift along making no waves he's content to leave you alone. But if you pray this prayer you better pray that last line, "keep me from evil!" (Now looking at the New International Version translation, you might say, "I don't see evil in that word-it says harm". True enough. But the Hebrew word is "rah". It is a lot like our word "bad". Bad can mean harm, or it can have that ethical meaning of evil; so too with the Hebrew "rah". The ultimate source of 'bad'/evil, in this world is also the same source of harm/pain. It is the adversary).

Look at 1 Peter 5:8, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour!"

Verses like that one can be scary! Satan wants to destroy you! Make no mistake about it, Satan is looking for you, and me. And he likes nothing more than to bring pain, harm, and evil into our lives. So it really is important that we learn to pray for protection.

Interestingly, isn't that exactly what Jesus taught us as he ended His lessons on prayer? This is how you pray...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That prayer needs to be on your lips and in your heart because when God blesses you, Satan will be there to knock you down. Right now, some of you are feeling the hot breath of Satan on your life. You feel him closing in. Satan has a strong desire to undermine whatever it is that God wants to do in your life and in the church.

So God's word throughout the scripture is that we need to BE ALRERT! BE READY! DON'T GIVE IN TO HIM. Ask God to keep you from evil. Because in reality, it's not just you that Satan wants to snare, last phrase, "keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain." If Satan can trip you up, if you bite on his temptation lure, it won't just be you who gets snared. Your failure/sin/evil will bring pain to others. If you want to honor God, you must remain pure.

Psalm 86:11, "Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth. Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you."

That's not a bad lesson for all of us who are often defined by a life of pain.

As we wrap us this study I want to remind you of a more contemporary guy who's name was "pain"-Payne Stewart. You may recall the bizarre story of his private jet flying cross-country on automatic pilot until finally crashed in South Dakota. Payne and five others died. Payne Stewart was a relatively new believer; and had been baptized First Baptist Church of Orlando. His walk w/ the Lord was growing. His influence on fellow golfers was growing. Just months before death started wearing the popular, WWJD bracelet. He shared his faith with fellow golfers. Authentic prayer was part of his daily routine. After his death, his wife said that every night, Payne spent time with God.

But just when it seemed he was ready to make a huge impact for God through golf, he tragically died. But even so, God enlarged his territory. His funeral was broadcast live on ESPN and included the message of Christ. In twenty-four hours, basically every professional golfer heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the months following many of those same athletes trusted in Jesus. They wanted what Payne had.

Now it is important that you understand that I'm not blaming God for his plane going down. But because Payne lived in a way that honored God, God could use even the most tragic event to enlarge his influence, so Payne would be a blessing. Romans 8:28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

All of us are going to have pain. Our prayer needs to be that God would use our pain/life to bless others. Would you pray, "God take my ordinary life and let me do extraordinary things for you"?