I'd like for us tonight to look at
a passage that is found in 1 Chronicles
chapter 4.
I'd like for us to think about the
subject of prayer.
I think it was about a year ago,
not quite a year ago, that my wife
and I, in discussing the subject of prayer,
realized that there were a lot of unanswered
questions regarding prayer, as we understood it.
We well recall that the first conscious act
of anything spiritual that we ever did after
we were saved was to say, Thank you,
Lord, for saving my soul.
That's what I remember.
And, of course, that's the, I think, very
appropriate Thanksgiving.
But there are a lot of areas in
this matter of prayer that I believe are
misunderstood, and it's more than just doing it
by the numbers.
It is really a deep spiritual exercise of
soul that requires that we know, I believe,
a lot more than most of us know
about.
So I'm going to use this passage tonight
just to point out one aspect of prayer,
and I think it will alert us to
the fact that things can happen when we
pray.
But we have to be sure that conditions
are right, and we have to be sure
that we understand what's happening.
So I'm going to read this account, 1
Chronicles 4, about a man named Jabez and
his prayer to God.
Verse 9 says, And Jabez was more honorable
than his brethren, and his mother called his
name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him with
sorrow.
And Jabez called on the God of Israel,
saying, O that thou wouldest bless me in
thee, and enlarge my border, and that thine
hand might be with me, and that thou
wouldest keep me from evil, that it may
not grieve me.
And God granted him that which he requested.
I know in our search through the scriptures
about this matter of prayer that a question
was raised, what is the aim of prayer?
There must be some objective in view.
A lot of times you go to the
prayer meeting and you may not be aware
of this, but it's a praise meeting.
The brethren are praising God for what he
has done.
That's good.
I love that.
We can tell the Lord many wonderful things
and how we appreciate what he's done, how
we appreciate him.
And we can worship him and praise him.
But actually, that's not a prayer meeting.
A prayer meeting or prayer is asking God
for something.
There has to be something very definitive about
it.
That's the reason I selected this one little
story in the scriptures, is because here's a
man that he made four requests and the
Lord answered every one of his prayers.
Every one of those requests were granted.
And I know prayer meetings that you ask
the question, what are y'all praying about?
Oh, we pray about a variety of things.
Well, what's happening as a result of your
prayer meeting?
That usually draws some blank stare.
How many prayers have you had answered in
your prayer meeting?
More silence.
Nothing really definitive about what we're praying about.
And seemingly not really expecting anything to happen.
Sometimes the prayers may be almost on the
verge of desperation, crying out for something.
And you never hear it mentioned again.
You never hear anything happening as a result
of that prayer.
No real sharing as to what the consequences
of our praying, what happens.
Now, that seems to me to be rather
tragic.
If our prayer life is only a devotional
exercise in which we talk to the Lord
and we thank him and we praise him
and we worship him, I'm quite sure that
we benefit from that.
It warms our hearts.
But I don't think we are praying effectually
until something happens as a result of our
praying.
We have the little mottos that we sometimes
paste around the house.
Prayer changes things.
They're just words.
How many of your prayers have changed anything?
Are you consciously aware of any prayer that
you prayed changing anything?
All of those things that you had upon
your hearts, when you prayed about those things,
do you have any assurance that God heard
you or answered your prayer?
There are a lot of conditions that have
to be right.
I can think of one.
It's found in Psalm 66.
It says, If I regard iniquity in my
heart, God will not hear me.
God never hears the prayer from that individual,
that saint of God that prays with unconfessed
sin in his life.
God never hears that prayer.
He gives no regard.
He doesn't listen to that prayer.
That individual is completely out of tune with
all that God is.
And there's been transgression, and that sin has
been taken lightly, and it's been passed over
without confessing it.
If I regard iniquity, if I give any
place into my life for sin, God will
not hear me.
There is a beautiful, beautiful verse found in
Psalm 37 that tells us, Delight thyself in
the Lord, and he will give you the
desires of your heart.
There are conditions that must be right if
we are to enjoy the blessings of God.
There is a verse found in Romans 8
and verse 26.
And indeed, this verse, I think, is so
misunderstood by many, many believers.
It says, Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmity, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought.
Oh, that shocks me.
That makes me aware right away.
I have a weakness.
It's possible for me to say words.
It's possible for me to come boldly to
the throne of grace and say things, ask
for things.
That because of this weakness that's inherent in
the soul of every human being, I may
be asking something absolutely contrary to the will
of God and be ignorant of what I'm
doing.
And the Spirit of God is there to
help that weakness and that infirmity that is
common to all men, even to those of
the household of faith, not knowing what we
ought to ask for, being completely out of
accord with the will of God.
If you ask anything in my name, he
will grant that request.
We preface our prayers, we close our prayers
with, Thy will be done.
And in between those remarks that we make
that preface our prayers and those closing remarks,
very often filled in things that are completely
contrary to the will of God and the
way of God.
I don't say these things to try to
discourage you, fellow believer, from praying.
I just trust that it will send you
searching and looking in the Bible for things
that will help you to more intelligently pray.
And there is found within the Word of
God all that we need as far as
learning and understanding the will and the way
of God.
That life that is controlled by the Spirit
of God, that life that is yielded to
God's will and way and seeks day by
day to know more perfectly the will and
the way of God, will most certainly have
that wisdom and understanding as to how to
pray.
Definitive answers are needed when God's people pray.
I don't have to tell you, I don't
know what the attendance is at your Wednesday
night prayer meeting, but if it's like most
places that I know, you can have 200
people in a congregation at 11 o'clock
service on Sunday morning, and if you get
50 back to your prayer meeting, that's a
pretty good percentage.
You get back about 25 percent.
And these people are gathered together on Sunday
morning to fulfill a commitment, a religious commitment,
whatever it is.
But they have no, no commitment as to
gathering together with God's people and praying.
And yet there's a blessed promise.
Where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst.
That wonderful personage of our Lord Jesus Christ
has promised where two or three meet together
to pray.
When they come together in my name, meet
unto my name, there am I in the
midst.
You know, I'm convinced that there was a
greater consciousness of that presence of the Lord
Jesus with us when we pray, knowing that
he's there, knowing that he's a part of
that heart exercise to pray, to entreat God,
to entreat God to do things, that there
again there's that perfect involvement of the Spirit
of God in reconciling our wills, our way
to the will and the way of God.
So important, I think, that we know this.
So J.
Bez is an honorable man.
And the very fact that he is honorable,
I would expect something to follow after a
man has such a commendable thing said about
him, that he was honorable.
I would expect something good to be said
about that man.
It doesn't say that his brethren were not
honorable, too, but he was more honorable.
And he was more honorable for a specific
reason.
There was a reason for that.
I believe this was a man that God
was first in his life.
And that's scripture.
The Word of God says that Paul, writing
to the church at Colossae, says the Lord
Jesus should have the preeminent place in our
lives.
He should have first place in our lives.
And I believe J.
Bez was a man that honored God in
his life above all else.
That's what made him so distinctively different from
his brethren.
The very fact that he had a name
that was associated with sorrow, grief or sorrow.
Grief and sorrow were associated with this man's
name, his very birth.
In fact, his mother called him J.
Bez, saying, because I bore him with sorrow.
But God declared him more honorable, worthy of
honor above his brethren.
It could be, and I think this is
true, that his brethren perhaps failed to take
very seriously all the things that God had
declared.
There are all kinds of degrees of dedication
and loyalty to the cause of Christ, even
among the Lord's people.
And very often we may become content with
just measuring up to the standard that exists
in a local church gathering or fellowship.
We feel no peer pressure when we've reached
a stage in our development as Christians and
when we say, I'm on a par with
everybody else and we just relax and we're
content.
Well, the sad thing about it is that
you never stand still.
If you're not progressing, there's retrogression.
You're losing.
Now, this man was a man, I believe,
that recognized that honoring God in his life
every day, obedience to the will and the
way of God was very important.
And so the Spirit of God has very
carefully singled him out and said he's more
honorable than all of his brethren.
He was doing something they weren't doing.
And God's people are to be a peculiar
people.
That doesn't mean they're eccentric.
They're different.
And where you find faithfulness and loyalty to
the cause of Jesus Christ, you're looking into
the faces of a minority among professing Christians
today.
Good old-fashioned faithfulness and loyalty to the
things of God, it's become a rarity even
among the Lord's people.
The 11 o'clock service on Sunday morning,
that suffices for so many.
All of the other things that are provided
in the way of corporate gatherings, that remembrance
meeting around the table, remembering our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Many would glibly say, Oh, how I love
Jesus.
The Word of God tells me if you
love me, you will keep my commandments.
How could one say he truly loves Christ
when he will not avail himself that wonderful
divine privilege of breaking the bread and drinking
of the cup in remembrance of him that
loved us and gave himself for us?
Faithfulness and loyalty to the cause of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, J.
Bears called on God.
I don't know if he got down on
his knees to pray.
I think getting on your knees to pray
is a good way to pray.
There are all sorts of positions that you
may occupy in praying.
I found out some people say they lie
down upon the bed at night and they
pray when they get under the cover.
That don't work for me because I wake
up sometime and no prayer.
I don't even remember what happened.
So I've got to stay on my feet
or stay on my knees or do something
in order to stay alert so that I
don't pass out on the Lord.
And I would certainly advise that you assume
a position in which alertness.
And don't wait until you're dead tired and
say, well, I didn't pray today.
Maybe I'll say a few words and you
find that you're so weary that you can't
collect your thoughts and it really becomes just
a sham.
Let's devote that time and the day in
which the mind is fresh and which we're
able to communicate with the Lord to the
very best of our mental ability.
Everything is sharp and clear rather than to
wait until all the senses are dulled and
we've exhausted ourselves doing everything else in this
life and finally at the close of a
day we say, I just feel guilty if
I don't say at least a few words
of prayer today.
I don't think it was that way with
Jabez.
I believe Jabez was a man that, like
Daniel of old, he purposed in his heart.
There was purpose of heart.
He prayed regularly.
He had a time for prayer.
And he called on the God of Israel
saying, oh, that thou wouldst bless me.
That's his first request.
Bless me, Lord.
If we were to have a testimony service
tonight and say, just share with us how
the Lord has blessed you, I'm sure we
would hear many things that would just delight
our souls as we heard from different ones
about how wonderful the Lord has been to
them.
Pouring out his bountiful gift.
That's what he's talking about.
Promises to God's people.
I think about Deuteronomy 7, verse 14.
Thou shalt be blessed above all people.
He's speaking to his covenant people, the people
of Israel.
I'm going to bless you above all the
people that are upon the face of the
earth.
Jabez is consciously aware of that.
And he says, Lord, I can't be content
with just that general blessing that you're going
to bestow upon your people.
Lord, I'm being very specific.
Bless me!
You know, we can be so general in
what we pray about.
Oh, bless the world.
Bless the world.
Be more specific.
What is it you really want?
What is it you really desire within your
heart?
That you can say, I want this, but
I want it for the glory of God.
You know, many people pray that, and this
is something that's very real, because this is
how someone analyzes the prayer of a dear
brother.
He always prays that circumstances will be changed
in his life, but he never asks God
to change him.
You just don't realize how important that is.
Lord, change all these things, but don't bother
me.
There's no need for any change in my
life.
I'm all right.
Change the circumstances, but leave me alone.
You know, that's ridiculous.
And it proves, of course, that there is
something wrong with that heart attitude.
Change the circumstances, but I have no intention
of changing myself.
Anything that I do, anything I ask you
for, I want it to be something that
will not only bless my life, but it
will be a blessing to others.
There are no ulterior motives.
And I'm not asking these things that I
might consume it upon my own lust.
This is not a passionate thing in which
passion is involved.
There's a real need here, and one in
which I discern that great glory and honor
could be brought to the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
So bless me.
Indeed, that's very emphatic.
Have you prayed lately?
Lord, bless me.
Have you thought about that?
Lord, bless me.
I know you have many, many wonderful spiritual
gifts that you pour out upon your people.
Bless me with a greater understanding of yourself.
You seem so far away and so mysterious
at times.
And the Word of God says you are
a spirit, and we must worship you in
spirit and truth.
Lord, reveal yourself.
Bless me with a consciousness of your presence.
Could you comfortably ask God to do that?
Would that mean something to you?
Obviously, it meant a lot to J.
Bear.
And then he said, and enlarge my border.
I noticed in the Schofield reference Bible that
there's reference made to enlarge my coast.
The King James Version says coast.
I think it really means my goings forth.
I sense maybe he'd been restricted a little
bit, and he wasn't having the kind of
influence in the community that he felt like
that he should have.
My goings forth.
Increase that influence.
The sphere of my influence upon others.
And there again, not to just promote self,
but he has a spiritual reason for making
this request.
I want it all for the glory of
God.
And you know, again, that seems selfish.
It seems like that's self-centered.
He's asking God to indeed do something for
him that in the eyes of others, he
might become a very prominent figure.
Well, there's nothing wrong with that if the
right motive is associated with it.
God doesn't put any premium upon being poor
and wretched and ignorant.
God doesn't put any premium upon those things.
To have the marks of being successful and
successful for the glory of God, it's wonderful.
This man asks for this, and God put
it in his words.
And then he says, and that thine hand
might be with me.
We're encouraged in song and so many other
ways that we take the Lord Jesus Christ
with us everywhere we go.
I'm reminded from the word of God that
Paul says, Christ lives in me.
So he's going with you whether you like
it or not.
You may not be consciously aware of it,
but Christ lives in me.
Christ lives in every believer.
He's a part of our lives.
He should be the most important part of
our lives.
But he says, thine hand might be with
me.
The hand in Scripture speaks of power.
The hand of God's extended power and strength
upon his life.
John 15 reminds us, the Lord Jesus says,
without me you can't do anything.
And yet Paul in Philippians 4.13, he
says, I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me.
Those two truths, those companion truths.
Without him you can't do anything.
I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.
The hand of God upon me.
The Lord is my helper.
What a wonderful thought.
You may seek help from all sorts of
sources.
And it may bring you a lot of
comfort.
But there should be no comfort any dearer
to us than to know that I've enlisted
the help of God for my life.
I want God in my life.
I want him to control my life.
I want him to be my strength.
You know, fortified by the thought that I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me.
That's what he's asking for.
In our prayers do we ask God, Lord,
I have some things that I'm faced with.
Perhaps there are opportunities.
I realize if I try to do this
in my own strength, it would probably be
a flop.
I'm enlisting your help.
I want it to bear the divine mark
of God's power working in and through me.
I don't want any glory for myself.
I want it for you.
Can we pray that way?
Lord, your hand and power upon my life.
I think there has to be some definitive
step taken by the believer, God recognizing that
there is commitment.
There is that recognition that I need your
help in anything that I undertake.
After all, you're the one that created me.
I owe my very existence to you.
You're the one that saved my soul.
You're the one that is seeking to conform
and make me into the image and likeness
of your dear, beloved Son.
Lord, I want your hand in my life
and in my affairs.
I don't want to freelance it.
I don't want to try to work out
all these things on my own.
I need you.
And I'm asking you, Lord, to help me.
Your arm is not shortened that you cannot
save and that you cannot provide me with
all that I need in the way of
strength for everything that I undertake in this
life.
Then his fourth request, that thou would keep
me from evil that it may not grieve
me.
How often in a prayer meeting do you
hear someone get up and say, Lord, deliver
me from evil.
Deliver me from the power of Satan.
Satan is our adversary.
He's powerful.
The Word of God says, Be strong in
the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the
sixth of Matthew.
And the disciple says, Teach us to pray.
Teach us how to pray the way you
pray.
We've heard you pray.
You teach us how to pray.
That, incidentally, is not the Lord's prayer.
He's teaching the disciples how to pray.
He says, Lead us not into temptation.
What?
But deliver us from evil.
Deliver us out of the power of the
evil one who would take us and manipulate
us and use us to destroy our Christian
witness.
You know, sometimes we become proud.
And we may think, Oh, I don't need
that.
I can take care of that.
Well, I've been saved many years.
I know the Lord, and I've been going
on, and I've made a lot of progress.
I can take care of myself.
Oh, no.
To cry out to God, Deliver me from
evil.
Deliver me from the power of Satan.
I know he's lurking around the corner.
I know he looks for every opportunity to
discredit the person of Jesus Christ through me,
a member of his body.
Oh, no.
Be bold.
Lord, deliver me from evil.
And there's a reason for that.
And obviously, this man had experienced it.
J.
Bez had experienced it.
He said, There's a reason that it may
not grieve me.
Have you ever been out of fellowship with
the Lord?
Have you ever gotten cold in heart?
Have you gotten away from the Lord?
Did it hurt?
If you haven't experienced it, I have, and
I can tell you, it hurts.
It really hurts.
And my, what it does within your soul
to realize that, Lord, I'm walking afar off,
no longer responsive to your will and way
for my life, and my soul is grieved.
And you know I can say, Thank you,
Lord, for grieving my soul.
Thank you, Lord, that I was still responsive.
It hurt, and I needed help.
That's the reason we pray one for another.
Sometimes, we need that support of our brothers
and sisters in Christ.
That's why we're told to pray one for
another.
When one member suffers, we all suffer together.
When one member is out of fellowship, it
affects the fellowship of believers.
So to be grieved by the fact that
evil, that sin has touched my life, I
think it's remarkable that J.
S.
gives this reason.
Lord, deliver me from the evil that's in
the world.
Deliver me from the power of Satan.
I've been through that experience of having my
soul grieved because of sin that has touched
my life.
I don't want to have that experience again.
I want to avoid that because I've learned
that to walk hand in hand with you,
Paul says, godliness with contentment is great gain.
To be godlike, to be Christlike, to be
Spirit-led and directed and filled so that
we might indeed serve a wonderful, wonderful Savior,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
We read the bottom line.
God granted him that which he requested.
Four requests.
The Lord granted him everything he asked for.
But man's heart was right.
I know it was.
There was no sin in his life.
Psalm 66, again, If I regard iniquity in
my heart, God will not hear me.
Jabez was honorable and right before God.
And when he got on his face before
God and he cried out to God, Oh
God, I want you to bless me.
I want you to enlarge my borders.
My sphere of influence in this world in
which I'm living doesn't give the reason.
God knew the reason.
I want your hand of power upon my
life.
I want you to deliver me from evil.
God granted all of his requests.
Let's think more seriously about our own prayer
life.
And when we go to that throne of
grace and we are encouraged to come there
with boldness, with assurance, Lord, I have a
terrible weakness in my life.
And I know I have this weakness because
the Word of God tells me I have
a weakness.
But the Spirit of God understands and he's
able to enlighten me.
And I should be searching your Word and
making sure that those requests that I lift
up to you are in accordance with your
will.
Do you know that all of the suffering,
all of the sadness that touches human life,
that sometimes it is with a purpose?
A good purpose.
It is ordered of God.
God chastens his own children.
It's always with a view that they'd be
restored.
We might get on our faces in a
prayer meeting and say, Lord, raise brother so
-and-so up.
God hasn't finished working with brother so-and
-so yet.
He may be like the prodigal, away in
the far country.
God's dealing with him.
And we're completely out of order to pray
that God would raise him up.
God is chastening for a purpose.
There are many things that happen in the
course of our lives, and you can look
at this for yourself in the Word of
God.
It's there for a purpose.
God put it there for a purpose.
And if we see and discern these things,
may God give us that wisdom and understanding
to know how to pray more perfectly in
accordance with his will.
Always with this in mind, the Spirit of
God is going to present your prayer perfectly
and in accordance with God's will at the
throne of grace.
The 27th verse says that.
That prayer that you utter, that the Spirit
of God taking into account your weakness, and
your lack of understanding, he will divinely intervene
on your behalf.
And your prayer, when it comes to the
throne of grace, will be in perfect accord
with God's will.
We can thank the Spirit of God for
this wonderful intercessory work that he does on
our behalf.
Now, shall we pray?
Our Father in heaven, we do bow in
our presence and thank thee for your love
to us and for the happy day of
fellowship that we've enjoyed together.
And for the things that we have been
able to share one with another from the
word of God.
Use these things, we pray thee, to enrich
our lives.
Use these things to help us to grow.
Use these things, we pray thee, to help
us to conform more and more to your
will and way for our lives.
And grant, we pray thee, that these lives
of ours were not our own, we were
bought with a price.
We just pray that we'll use our lives
to bring glory and honor to the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
This we ask in his name.
Our brother will just close with a verse
of the Hebrew.