- Change denotes movement from one state to another.
- There are two categories of change – positive and negative.
- Change in life is constant, certain, and inevitable.
- Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. He was called Jabez because his mother bore him in sorrow.
- The outstanding thing about him was that he called upon God, and he was heard [v 10]
- God heard Jabez and we have all the right in the world to believe that He will also hear all others who pray likewise from the heart, for He is no respecter of persons [Romans 2:11]
- Jabez desired a positive change. He was a man in pain who sought the Lord.
- In his prayer, he asked God to: 1) bless him, 2) help him in his work (“enlarge my coast/territory”), 3) be with him in all he did, 4) keep him from evil and harm, and 5) let His hand be with him.
- Jabez acknowledged God as the true center of his work.
- When we pray for God’s blessings, we should also pray that he will take his rightful position as Lord over our work, our family time, and our recreation.
- Jabez prayed specifically to be protected from harm and pain. We live in a fallen world filled with sin, and it is important to ask God to keep us safe from the unavoidable evil that comes our way.
DO YOU WANT A POSITIVE CHANGE?
- Make up your mind to worship God in spirit and in truth, not according to the doctrines of men. (Matthew 15:7-9 hypocritical in their worship).
- Jabez provoked positive change by his faith. Faith is very important. In four separate places, God said; “The just shall live by faith” Hebrews 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.
- Are you passing through a negative situation? Are people aware of your predicament but no one seems to care? God cares.
- If you don’t lose your faith, definitely, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.