Prayer: Father, thank You for the inclusion of prayers which model faith in You. Teach me to pray! Amen.
Reading: 1 Chronicles 4 key: vs. 9-10 “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” Jabez called out to the God of Israel, saying, “If only You would greatly bless me, and enlarge my territory. Let Your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I might not suffer pain.” Adonai granted what he asked.” TLV
Attention: If you are interested in more insight into the Prayer of Jabez, I encourage you to purchase a copy of Bruce Wilkinson’s book by the same title, Prayer of Jabez. Mr. Wilkinson also has a book titled, Secrets of the Vine. If you have been following the Choose Life Journal, you have noticed that I end every journal with, “Remember, ‘Abide in Yeshua, today.” Bruce has much to say about chapter 15, where the term “abide in Me” occurs repetitiously.
If we use the prayer of Jabez as a model, one of the first observations is the brevity of the prayer. The entire prayer is only two sentences long. Jabez has a specific request of Adonai, which is another key insight. In fact, the apostle Matthew records these words by Yeshua, “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).”
Adonai requires us to ask and Jabez did just that. He asked and the scripture says, “Adonai granted what he asked.” I wish I could say that everything I asked for, Adonai gave me. The scriptures tell us that our requests must be in accordance with His will (1 John 5:14-15). So, we must get in alignment with God. Our requests must align with His will.
I also want you to know that if you are asking Adonai to teach you to pray, you are in good company. The apostles also asked Yeshua, to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1). He then lifted up what we call, the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).”
I hope you spend time with the Holy Spirit and ask Him to teach you to pray through the prayer of Jabez.
Action: I choose to embrace the actions of scripture as shown by Jabez and Yeshua.
Yield: I choose to submit to the Holy Spirit and His mentoring.
Engage: I choose to engage with scripture in providing me instruction and wisdom.
Relationship: I choose to live in holy, intimate, obedient relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, teach me to pray in the way of Jabez and Messiah. Teach me to pray in faith and according to Your will. Amen.
Memory Verse: 1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence we have before Him—that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him.”
Music Video: Hillsong—You Said https://youtu.be/MM6IhibJfwE?si=SmvYlgSeqsmuxbc8
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”