THE POWER TO CHANGE YOU LIFE - PRAYER

THE POWER TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE-PRAYER 1 Chronicles 4:9, 10

“Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "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!" So God granted him what he requested”. NKJV

I want you to move out of your seats, if you can greet, embrace, shake ten people and tell them the power to change is here. See yourself that you are not just in a conference but in an encounter with Christ because the before you will leave this conference your life will shoot to different level.

The most remarkable person in this paragraph is Jabez. It is not said whose son he was, nor does it appear in what age he lived. All children are borne with sorrow (for the sentence upon the woman is, In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children), but some with much more sorrow than others. Usually the sorrow in bearing is afterwards forgotten for joy that the child is born; but here it seems it was so extraordinary that it was remembered when the child came to be circumcised, and care was taken to perpetuate the remembrance of it while he lived. Perhaps the mother called Jabez, as Rachel called her son Benoni, when she was dying of the sorrow. Or, if she recovered it, yet thus she recorded it. He might be called Jabez because the pregnancy or delivery may have been traumatic. Perhaps the baby was born breech. Or perhaps….

 1 Chronicles 7:23 Then he lay with his wife again, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named him Beriah, because there had been misfortune in his family. NIV

1 Samuel 4:21 “And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel! — because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, the glory is gone from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken. AMP

Gen 35:18 “And as her soul was departing, for she died, she called his name

Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [son of the right hand]. AMP

Verse 10a “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel,

The language the heavens understand is not your local dialect or foreign language, but the heavens understands one language that is the “language of cry.”

Cry is recorded 181 times in the King James Version of the Bible. Let me give you only two instances from the Bible;

Exodus 2:23 “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. KJV

1 Chronicles 16:35 “Cry out, "Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise." NIV

It is upon your cry that the heaven will act, if you shut up the heaven will shut up but when your cry the heavens will move on your behalf.

What the heavens is waiting for is your cry of deliverance, and you miracle is just a cry away.

Can somebody cry to the heavens!

To whom he prayed, not to any of the gods of the Gentiles; no, he called on the God of Israel, the living and true God, who alone can hear and answer prayer, and in prayer had an eye to him as the God of Israel, a God in covenant with his people, the God with whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed and was thence called Israel.

Something about this man caused the historian to pause, clear his throat, and switch tactics.

1.   Prayer has the power to BLESS verse 10a

"Oh, that you would bless me indeed…,

Spiritual blessings are the best blessings, and those are blessed indeed who are blessed with them. God's blessings are real things and produce real effects. Those whom God blesses are blessed indeed.

Adding indeed to his prayer was like adding five exclamation points or writing the request in capital letters and underlines it.

A very good example is Jacob, what he did order to be blessed?

 “Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." [Gen 32:26 NIV]

2.   Prayer Has the power of EXPANSION verse 10b

…and enlarge my territory….”

Jabez prayed for more territory, in order words Jabez prayed that the Lord will break anything that limit him. Jabez saw that he was born to live more than he was living. There is a song that says;

No limit

No boundaries

I see increase

All around me

Stretch forth, break forth

Release me in large much territory

Some of us in the family there is a limit to whatever you do, and I came to prophecy to you that, May the anointing of Jabez come upon you to break every limitation upon you and the family in Jesus name. Amen

In fact, Jabez lived big that a whole city was name after in 1 Chronicles 2:55 and the clans of scribes who lived at Jabez: NIV

3.   Prayer has the power to DRAW THE HAND OF GOD verse 10c

      …that Your hand would be with me….”

Unless he have God's hand with him and the presence of his power. God's hand with us, to lead us, protect us, strengthen us, and to work all our works in us and for us, is indeed a hand sufficient for us, all-sufficient.

In fact “Prayer is the only force that can pull the hand of Elohim” prayer has the strength to pull the hand of God and it also has power to carry the arms of God.

4.   Prayer has the power to REPEL DEVILS verse 10e

“…and that You would keep me from evil”

I have define prayer as “a pull or push,” that is when we pray, we either pull God to our side or push the satanic kingdom from our side.  That he would keep him from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil designs of his enemies, that they might not hurt him, nor grieve him, nor make him a Jabez indeed, a man of sorrow

5.   Prayer has the power to heal pain verse 10f

“…that I may not cause pain”

Jabez before his encounter with God was known as the pain causer, when people are gathered and he find himself there; the mark that he will leave is the “mark of pain.” So when Jabez is coming people began to run, friends began to whisper there cometh the pain giver! So of life our life is full of pain but I have been sent to you this morning to command every pain to be your gain in Jesus name, Amen

Hannah was a woman of pain but she was healed of the Lord, it was pain that provoked Isaiah the prophet and Hezekiah the king prayed, Sarah was a woman of pain and she was delivered by the Lord. It was pain that cause Jonah to pray in the belly of the fish.

You will leave this prayer conference with much gain in Jesus name, Amen 

What was the success of his prayer: God granted him that which he requested, prospered him remarkably, and gave him success in his undertakings, in his studies, in his worldly business, in his conflicts with the Canaanites, and so he became more honorable than his brethren. God was of old always ready to hear prayer, and his ear is not yet heavy

The power to change life is in prayer, the power to shape destiny is in your cry to the Lord. PRAYER HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE LIFE, because PRAYER IS AS BIG AS GOD FOR HE IS BEHIND IT AND PRAYER IS AS POWERFUL AS GOD FOR HE HAS COMMITTED HIMSELF TO ANSWER!

 MESSAGE BE EVANGELIST BUABENG J. RICHARD