Each believer would like a similar testimony and be able to say that God granted his request. Sadly, it is not so with most of us. We pray and pray and it seems God is not listening or that He does not care. Somebody I know got angry with God, “What more do you want me to do? I have fasted, tithed, prayed and yet you refuse to grant my request.”
He is not the first person to grumble at God. The children of Israel also complained in Isaiah 58.3. “‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen’?” Perhaps you know a bit of what we are talking about. Are you even now grumbling that God does not seem to pay attention to your prayers? You are the first to get to the church and the last to leave. After you pray, you need a face towel to mop your sweat. And yet….
Stay on course, and very soon, people will say about you “God granted his request.” Your life will become a testimony much like Jabez’s life became a testimony. Even now, we use his name to pray for a turnaround in our lives. He experienced a wonderful turnaround after God granted his request. That is our desire for you and me as we proceed with this series on the promises of God.
Was God Partial When He Granted His Request?
I hope you are ready and willing to do what Jabez did to have such a powerful testimony. He did what pleased God even before he opened his mouth in prayer. He did not have to wonder if a God would answer him. You may not know the back story in the fourth chapter of 1 Chronicles. The summary is that Jabez needed a better life than the one he had. He prayed and God granted his request.
Sometimes we feel that God is random in granting our requests but there is nothing random about God. It is all about triggers. Jabez familiarized himself with the trigger we had been discussing these past few posts. He became friends with God and studied the scriptures. The more he read the scriptures, the more friendly he became with God. God granted his requests readily. And the more friendly he became with God, the more he enjoyed reading the scriptures. It is a wonderful cycle.
You see, the Bible is God’s love letter to man. The more you study it, the more you fall in love with God. And when you love someone, reading their love letter is a joy, not a burden. If reading the Bible is a burden you struggle to get through, check your love meter. It may be that you do not love God. It may even be that you do not know him, irrespective of how much you know about Him. If you are uncertain about the difference between knowing about God and knowing God, check it out here.
The Man Was Honorable
As that cycle continues, you become honorable. The Bible says that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. It is no wonder that God granted his request. To discover what qualified him as honorable, you refer to the account in the Acts of the Apostles where Paul ministered to the Bereans. I love the Bereans. They never took a pastor’s word as Gospel truth. The men went home after church, had lunch, and then settled down to study the Bible.
They wanted to see if what the pastor said aligned with the word of God. Remember that the trigger of God’s promises is to receive instruction from God, not your Bishop. The Bible calls the Bereans more noble, the same as more honorable. That means Jabez became more honorable than his brethren because, like the Bereans, he studied his scriptures. He wanted to receive instructions directly from God.
Jabez knew the promises of God on which to stand. And because God cannot deny Himself or His word, God granted his request. Now Jabez could move to the next level. He was no longer in kindergarten. When God grants your requests, you are ready to take the next step toward being a successful decree maker. Naturally, you cannot decree until you get past the stage of having your prayers answered.
Perhaps, with these posts, you want to take Bible study seriously. Me too. I pray that, as we do so, God will start by granting our requests. Jabez studied his Bible, identified the promise he needed, and prayed. God granted his request. He is on his way to successful decreeing. Let us join him.
Maranatha!
