Bible League: Living His Word "Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain." And God granted him his request.— 1 Chronicles 4:10 NLT Our verse for today is the prayer of Jabez, one of the descendants of Judah. It is a cry for help. The Bible says that Jabez, whose name means "distress" or "pain," was "more honorable than any of his brothers" (1 Chronicles 4:9) and that "God granted him his request." His prayer is a short prayer, but a comprehensive one. Given this, many Christians have taken to memorizing it and praying it for themselves and for others. First, he prays, "Oh, that you would bless me." What kind of blessing does he have in mind at this point? He doesn't say, but it seems to be a request for blessing upon his life as a whole. Instead of everything in his life going bad, he asks that everything would go well. Second, he prays, "and expand my territory." No doubt, this should be taken as a request for more than just the expansion of any property he owned. It is a request for the increase of responsibility and prosperity. Jabez didn't want to stay the same. He wanted his life to be marked by growth and fruitfulness. He wanted everything to increase rather than decrease. Third, he prays, "Please be with me in all I do." He is not asking God to follow behind him and do whatever he wants, but to lead him and guide him through life. He asks for the strength and power of God to go with him and help him do the will of God in every area of his life. Finally, he prays, "keep me from all trouble and pain." In effect, he prays that God would help him to overcome the meaning of the name he was given. To him, it must have seemed like a curse. That's why, instead of distress and pain, he asks for freedom from distress and pain. The prayer of Jabez is the prayer of a devout and honorable man who knew that his only hope for a blessed and meaningful life was God. The fact that God answered his prayer signifies that it was an appropriate prayer to make. Why not, therefore, make it a prayer for yourself and your loved ones? Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJeremiah 3, 4 Jeremiah 3 -- Judah as the Polluted Land; God's Great Mercy NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 4 -- Judah's Devastation NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Thessalonians 3 2 Thessalonians 3 -- Paul's Prayers, Confidence and Warnings for the Thessalonians NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Don't be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.Insight It would certainly be a surprise if you planted corn and pumpkins came up. It's a natural law to reap what we sow. It's true in other areas, too. If you gossip about your friends, you will lose their friendship. Every action has results. Challenge If you plant to please your own desires, you'll reap a crop of sorrow and evil. If you plant to please God, you'll reap joy and everlasting life. What kind of seeds are you sowing? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Ephesians 4:15 Grow up into him in all things.Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual things, so as to present the same appearance year after year. No up-springing of advanced and refined feeling is manifest in them. They exist but do not "grow up into him in all things." But should we rest content with being in the "green blade," when we might advance to "the ear," and eventually ripen into the "full corn in the ear?" Should we be satisfied to believe in Christ, and to say, "I am safe," without wishing to know in our own experience more of the fulness which is to be found in him. It should not be so; we should, as good traders in heaven's market, covet to be enriched in the knowledge of Jesus. It is all very well to keep other men's vineyards, but we must not neglect our own spiritual growth and ripening. Why should it always be winter time in our hearts? We must have our seed time, it is true, but O for a spring time--yea, a summer season, which shall give promise of an early harvest. If we would ripen in grace, we must live near to Jesus--in his presence--ripened by the sunshine of his smiles. We must hold sweet communion with him. We must leave the distant view of his face and come near, as John did, and pillow our head on his breast; then shall we find ourselves advancing in holiness, in love, in faith, in hope--yea, in every precious gift. As the sun rises first on mountain-tops and gilds them with his light, and presents one of the most charming sights to the eye of the traveller; so is it one of the most delightful contemplations in the world to mark the glow of the Spirit's light on the head of some saint, who has risen up in spiritual stature, like Saul, above his fellows, till, like a mighty Alp, snow-capped, he reflects first among the chosen, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and bears the sheen of his effulgence high aloft for all to see, and seeing it, to glorify his Father which is in heaven. Daily Light on the Daily Path Romans 7:22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,Psalm 119:97 O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. Job 23:12 "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Psalm 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart." John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Psalm 19:8,10 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. • They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. James 1:22,23 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. • For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. 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