(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)
So, what do you do when the deck is stacked against you? What do you do when everything says you cannot make it? When life is against you, you can do what Jabez did. He prayed. He prayed to the Lord his God. And I am telling you, you cannot keep a praying man or woman down. He prayed. That is what the Bible says, “And Jabez called on the name of the God of Israel” (I Chronicles 4:10).
One has wisely said, “Until I pray nothing significant is going to happen, but after I pray the options are unlimited.” So when everything seems to be against you, what can you do? First of all, you can pray about it. I want you to notice the flow of his prayer in verse 10. He prayed: “that thou wouldest bless me indeed” – not a little bit – but God bless me abundantly! It is okay to ask God to bless you abundantly if you are going to give tithes and offerings to Him and bless others in the process. It is selfish to pray, “God bless me abundantly,” and do nothing to help others.
God bless me indeed. I am a blessed man. I am a blessed pastor. My wife, Joy, is a blessed woman. We’re blessed! And we have learned that we stay blessed by blessing others. God said to Abraham, “I am going to bless you and make you a blessing.” If your motive is to bless others God will see to it that you are blessed.
Jabez prayed, “Lord, enlarge my coast.” In other words, expand and enlarge my influence. Enlarge my ability to help others. As a church we can pray, “God, multiply our outreaches. Multiply the workers for our outreach. Give us more territory and give us more people to help us take that territory.”