God Granted His Requests

I Chronicles 4: 9 & 10 says, “And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his
mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the
God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, 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.” God granted Jabez that which he requested.
We must know how to approach the Lord before we can receive the answer. I must learn the character
of God and how He accepts people who approach Him for petitions. I had a teacher who would say to
us, “Say what you mean and mean what you say.” We could not approach him with a question if we
were whining and crying. We had to ask straight-forward. Only then would he answer. That is how the
Lord is. Now there were 4 things Jabez requested: 1.) To be blessed in deed 2.) Enlarge my coast 3.)
Thine hand may be with me 4.) Keep me from evil.
This man’s mother named him Jabez because she bore him with sorrow. We don’t really know if
his father was alive or not. There are only 3 references to Jabez and one was a city of the scribes. So we
don’t know a whole lot of this man, but one thing we do know is that his mother named him Jabez
because she bore him with sorrow. There is a lot of sorrow in the world and thank God Jesus came to
take away all our sins and griefs.
It is difficult to live under someone else’s sorrow all the time. It tends to dry a person’s soul and
leave them lifeless. This man had a mother like that. It was a heavy weight to bear. Each of us needs to
find our own path and place in life. This is our right as a child of God. If others don’t want to be
blessed that doesn’t mean I can’t be blessed. Jabez asked to be blessed in deed by the God of Israel.
The Hebrew word for “blessed in deed,” is doubled. This means he wants a double portion of God’s
blessings, anointing, and Spirit. He didn’t want anything superficial or general: he requested to be
blessed in deed, in deed. God granted him that which he requested. Could we be short-changing
ourselves from what we should and could be? Why can’t we be blessed in deed? Think about that: why
can’t you be blessed in deed? There’s no reason in the world you can’t be blessed of God!
He asked the Lord to enlarge his coast. This word “enlarge” has to do with abundance, plenty,
more than he had before. It has to do with the condition of his heart as well as the natural boundaries of
life. He asked for increase with the authority to care for it. In reading the definition I couldn’t help but
get the feeling he wanted his land to bring forth and be fruitful. It wasn’t how much land he wanted so
much as the abundance the land produced. He wanted his landmark or space to be abundant. God
granted that which he requested. Increase comes when we request it, are prepared to handle the
responsibility of it, and are willing to labor for it. “They that gather by labor shall increase”
(Proverbs 13:11). Are you willing to grasp your inheritance by the hands and work to keep it alive?
Are you opening your hands, which mean the Lord is giving you power, means and direction? If you
close your hands to what He is giving you it will tend to defeat you. Before God enlarges the natural
He 1st enlarges your heart. We must then be willing to be more flexible than we are. To be set in our
ways in certain areas is not good. Don’t let the words of your mouth limit your coast, for God will grant
you the fruit of your lips. Be careful what you say. Think before you speak. You may be the reason for
your own limitations! It’s easy to blame others, or surrounding circumstances, or the government. All
these things might play a role in your situation, but God enables each of us to be blessed. We must
grasp these blessings and opportunities for ourselves.
Jabez asked that God’s hand might be with him, and God granted that which he requested. God’s
hand was open and granted him unlimited access to the very things he needed for the tasks he had
before him. He needed resources to fulfill all that God had chosen for him. This was his request, and
God granted it. What would you do if God granted you all the resources you needed to fulfill the will of
God? Would that be a prayer the Lord would be interested in answering? I think so. If He is building
His church, and we are praying for the resources to build His church, I would think that would be
something God would pay attention to. I John 3: 18-22 tells us we have confidence in God when we
keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. How do I know what
pleases Him? I have to be around His presence and listen to His Word and worship Him and enter into
being His son. If I just come and hang out and never go any farther than I am right now, the Bible calls
me a servant, and a servant does not know what his Lord is doing. But He shares things with His sons.
So that is my 1st desire: to be a son of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jabez also asked the Lord, the God of Israel, to keep him from evil. He must have known that
human nature is weak when it comes to certain sins and tendencies. He needed the Lord to keep from
those evil inclinations and that those things wouldn’t have dominion over him. God granted that which
he requested. His life was sanctified or set apart from the things of the world so he could accomplish all
the Lord had for him. Is that your desire? It’s amazing how sin and weakness of the flesh tends to give
us certain things like, “worry, pain, anger, displeasure, grief, hurt, sorrow, and a continual wrestling
with everything and everybody.” He didn’t want that. Those are the things the nations of the world get
without the presence of God.
I noticed there are five “me’s” in this prayer. But in the New Testament “me” turned into “us.”
Acts 4:29-33 is one example. There were religious folk that tried to stop the move of God and the
disciples prayed together. This is the New Testament answer to the prayer of Jabez. We as a church
must come together to pray for the will of God to be accomplished and that we will do all that the Lord
wills for us to do. If we pray together and join together as one man, God will grant that which we
request! Remember, the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven…Give us this
day our daily bread…And lead us not into temptation…” This is the will of God for the church and
our lives. Everything we have and do is for the promotion of the Kingdom if God. With that, we also
receive countless blessings from the Lord because we are His own.
But to take it one step farther, the Bible teaches us in the end time there will be another turn, and
this time all will melt into One, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that God may be all in all. I Corinthians 15:24-
28 prompts me to ask, “Are we lost in the will of the Father? Are we willing to lose our identity for
His?” This will bring the answer of God to us every time! When God’s will is more important than our
will, and when His kingdom is more important than our kingdom, then will God be all and in all. Oh,
that we would have the heart of Christ Jesus our Lord! Oh, that His kingdom be built in our hearts!
Then would His peace be ours like a river, and love would flow to everyone like a fountain! Jesus
continually prayed the Father’s will be done. This should be our request, too.
“God granted him that which he requested.”