The Prayer of Jabez
Oh that You would bless me indeed
And enlarge my territory
That Your hand would be with me
And that You would keep me from evil
That I may not cause pain.
1 Chronicles 4:10
In November of 2006, not long after my epiphany (see My Epiphany, Nov. 24th, 2008) I began saying this prayer every morning. I hadn’t quite memorized it, and I didn’t want be distracted from the prayer’s intent while trying to remember the words, so I printed a copy of it and taped it on the mirror in our bathroom (it’s still there).
It is said that if you do something for twenty-one straight days it becomes a habit. I wanted my daily recital of this prayer to become as commonplace for me as brushing my teeth. Let me clarify that last statement: I wanted the act of saying the prayer to be commonplace, not the prayer itself. I try my best to make every prayer that I offer to God sincere and heartfelt, but I’ll confess that there are those times when I am a bit distracted by life.
I don’t know exactly why I began saying The Prayer of Jabez; I just felt that it was something I needed to do. I don’t know that I had a specific intention in offering the prayer every morning….I just felt that I hadn’t lived up to my expectations, (or God’s) in the first 54 years that I’d spent trying to find my “purpose” in life, and I needed to find out what it was.
So I began saying this prayer each day, not really knowing what I was asking God for, and not really caring what He gave me. I believed that He had something more in store for me, and I was asking for it through this prayer….I wanted more out of life….
Don’t get me wrong….like I’ve told you before, it’s not that my life was that bad. In fact, my personal life was blessed. I was married to my best friend, Jackie; she is an amazing lady, and for the past 20 years she has been my rock. I have been, and continue to be, blessed by her presence. We had a great family, home, business, and money in the bank (a lot less after this past year). I guess that in the eyes of many I “had it made”, and in some ways, I did. But in other ways….
Unfulfilled, Angry, Lonely, Miserable
On any given day you could have used one or more of those words to describe me! It’s true; in the realm of business, and of what I had done in life, I was all of the above. I believe that many people in the world today measure a man’s success by financial wealth, titles, accolades, and accomplishments in the business world. There is nothing really wrong with using one, or all of the above as a yardstick.
I’d like to make a few of additions to that list:
I believe you can also measure a man’s success by the smile on his face, the peace in his mind, and the joy in his heart.
For all that I had in life, what I didn’t have was those three things. Never had. I didn’t know what it would take to make me happy….all I knew was that something was missing. Satisfaction, when it came, was short lived and fleeting. Material things, possessions, didn’t matter. Enough was never enough.
My hope was that through the Prayer of Jabez, God would lead me, show me, help me find, allow me to see, whatever it was that had been missing all my life.
God answered my prayer….
Since I began offering my prayer some 25 months ago God has blessed me with oh so much. Yeah, yeah, our business has soared to amazing heights, and continues to grow, against all odds, amidst our nation’s economic woes….a blessing indeed, but that’s not what I’m talking about…..
What had been missing all my life was a true, meaningful, relationship with God. I’m not talking about “religion”, or going to church on Sunday, or reading the Bible from front to back…..all of these are good things, but they don’t really make you truly aware of God’s presence in you. I think that you have to find, feel, and experience that presence on your own.
I believe that saying the Prayer of Jabez every morning opened my mind and heart to a new way of walking with God each day….believing in Him, trusting Him, allowing Him to be a part of me, and myself to be a part of Him. From that grew an explosion of spiritual growth that continues to amaze and humble me every day. And from that grew a new way of looking at life, people, and myself. And from that grew an insatiable desire to help others in any way I can, in thought word, or deed. It was from this burning desire that The Seed of Hope was born.
Gandhi wrote “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” I guess I’ve always had this desire to make a difference in the world, a desire to leave it a better place than the way I found it. Perhaps we all have that desire….I don’t know….I can only speak for myself.
What I’ve come to realize in the last couple of years is that in life, it’s not just about the destination, it’s about the journey. My journey through life has become so unbelievably satisfying, so rewarding, so comfortable…..I believe that God has allowed me to experience this so that I may share it with others. What I have, I humbly share with you….
I still say the prayer of Jabez every morning, and still with no particular intention in mind. You see, I don’t want to put limitations on what God has planned for me. What He has allowed me to see and to have is beyond anything I could have dreamed for myself!
And that “measure of success” thing?
The smile on my face is real, peace soothes my mind, and the joy that fills my heart cannot be conveyed in words.
God is good.
Contact me: sam@theseedofhope.com
