Chapter One
Little Prayer, Giant Prize Jabez called on the God of Israel.
The little book you're holding is about whathappens when ordinary Christians decide toreach for an extraordinary life-which, as itturns out, is exactly the kind God promises.
My own story starts in a kitchen with yellow countersand Texas-sized raindrops pelting the window. Itwas my senior year of seminary in Dallas. Darlene, mywife, and I were finding ourselves spending more andmore time thinking and praying about what wouldcome next. Where should I throw my energy, passion,and training? What did God want for us as a couple? Istood in our kitchen thinking again about a challenge I'dheard from the seminary chaplain, Dr. Richard Seume."Want a bigger vision for your life?" he had asked earlierthat week. "Sign up to be a gimper for God."
A gimper, as Seume explained it, was someonewho always does a little more than what's required orexpected. In the furniture business, for example,gimping is putting the finishing touches on the upholstery,patiently applying the ornamental extras that area mark of quality and value.
Dr. Seume took as his text the briefest of Biblebiographies: "Now Jabez was more honorable than hisbrothers" (1 Chronicles 4:9). Jabez wanted to be moreand do more for God, and-as we discover by the endof verse 10-God granted him hisrequest.
End of verse. End of Bible story.
Lord, I think I want to be a gimper foryou, I prayed as I looked out the windowat the blustery spring rain. But Iwas puzzled. What exactly did Jabez doto rise above the rest? Why did Godanswer his prayer? I wondered. For thatmatter, why did God even includeJabez's miniprofile in the Bible?
Maybe it was the raindrops running down thewindowpanes. Suddenly my thoughts ran past verse 9.
I picked up my Bible and read verse 10-theprayer of Jabez. Something in his prayer would explainthe mystery. It had to. Pulling a chair up to the yellowcounter, I bent over my Bible, and reading the prayerover and over, I searched with all my heart for thefuture God had for someone as ordinary as I.
The next morning, I prayed Jabez's prayer word forword.
And the next.
And the next.
Thirty years later, I haven't stopped.
If you were to ask me what sentence-other thanmy prayer for salvation-has revolutionized my lifeand ministry the most, I would tell you that it was thecry of a gimper named Jabez, who is still rememberednot for what he did, but for what he prayed-and forwhat happened next.
In the pages of this little book, I want to introduceyou to the amazing truths in Jabez's prayer for blessingand prepare you to expect God's astounding answersto it as a regular part of your life experience.
How do I know that it will significantly impact you?Because of my experience and the testimony of hundredsof others around the world with whom I've sharedthese principles. Because, even more importantly, theJabez prayer distills God's powerful will for yourfuture. Finally, because it reveals that your Father longsto give you so much more than you may have everthought to ask for.
Just ask the man who had no future.
The Prodigy of the Genealogy
Someone once said there is really very little differencebetween people-but that little difference makes a greatdeal of difference. Jabez doesn't standastride the Old Testament like a Mosesor a David or light up the book of Actslike those early Christians who turnedthe world upside down. But one thingis sure: The little difference in his lifemade all the difference.
You could think of him as theProdigy of the Genealogy, or maybe theBible's Little Big Man. You'll find him hiding in the least-readsection of one of the least-read books of the Bible.
The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are takenup with the official family tree of the Hebrew tribes,beginning with Adam and proceeding through thousands of years to Israel's return from captivity. Talkabout boring! The long lists of unfamiliar and difficultnames-more than five hundred of them-are likelyto make even the bravest Bible student turn back.
Take chapter 4. The descendants of Judah: Perez,Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.... And that'sjust the beginning.
Ahumai
Ishma
Idbash
Hazelelponi
Anub ...
I'd forgive you if you suddenly considered puttingthis little book aside and reaching for your TV remote. Butstay with me. Because forty-four names into the chapter,a story suddenly breaks through:
Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." 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 4:9-10)
In the next verse, the roll call for the tribe of Judahpicks up as if nothing has happened-Chelub, Shuah,Mehir....
Something about this man Jabez had caused the historianto pause in middrone, clear histhroat, and switch tactics. "Ah, wait aminute!" he seems to interject. "Youjust gotta know something about thisguy named Jabez. He stands head andshoulders above the rest!"
What was the secret to theenduring reputation of Jabez? Youcan reach from front to back in your Bible, as I have,and you won't find any more information than wehave in these two brief verses:
Things started badly for a person no one had ever heard of.
He prayed an unusual, one-sentence prayer.
Things ended extraordinarily well.
Clearly, the outcome can be traced to his prayer.Something about Jabez's simple, direct request to Godchanged his life and left a permanent mark on the historybooks of Israel:
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.
At first glance, the four requests may strike you assincere, sensible, even noble, but not terribly remarkable.Yet just under the surface of each lies a giant paradigmbreaker that runs exactly opposite to the wayyou and I usually think. In the pages to come, I wantto show you just how dramatically each of Jabez'srequests can release something miraculous in your life.
Living beyond the Limits
When was the last time God worked through you insuch a way that you knew beyond doubt that God haddone it? In fact, when was the last time you saw miracleshappen on a regular basis in your life? If you're likemost believers I've met, you wouldn't know how to askfor that kind of experience, or even if you should.
What I have to share with you has been opening uplives to God's mighty working for many years. Recently,I was in Dallas to teach on the Jabez blessing to an audienceof 9,000. Later over lunch, a mansaid to me, "Bruce, I heard you preachthe message of Jabez fifteen years ago,and I haven't stopped praying it. Thechange has been so overwhelming Ihave just never stopped."
Across the table, another friendagreed. He said he'd been prayingJabez's little prayer for ten years withsimilar results. The man next to him,a heart surgeon from Indianapolis, said he had beenpraying it for five.
I told them, "Friends, I've been praying Jabez formore than half my life!"
Because you're reading this book, I believe youshare my desire to reach for a life that will be "more honorable" for God. Not that you wish others to reach forless, but for you, nothing but God's fullest blessing willdo. When you stand before Him to give your accounting,your deepest longing is to hear, "Well done!"
God really does have unclaimed blessings waitingfor you, my friend. I know it sounds impossible-evenembarrassingly suspicious in our self-serving day. Yetthat very exchange-your want for God's plenty-hasbeen His loving will for your life from eternity past.And with a handful of core commitments on your part,you can proceed from this day forward with the confidenceand expectation that your heavenly Father willbring it to pass for you.
Think of it this way: Instead of standing near theriver's edge, asking for a cup of water to get youthrough each day, you'll do something unthinkable-you will take the little prayer with the giant prize andjump into the river! At that moment, you will begin tolet the loving currents of God's grace and power carryyou along. God's great plan for you will surround youand sweep you forward into the profoundly importantand satisfying life He has waiting.
If that is what you want, keep reading.
Continues...
Excerpted from The Prayer of Jabezby Bruce Wilkinson Copyright © 2001 by Bruce Wilkinson. Excerpted by permission.
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