Street Preacher in Savannah...

He was happy and had a purpose.

A Wednesday Message: Prayer of Jabez

This Wednesday past, my Pastor preached a very interesting message about the story of a man named Jabez in the Holy Bible. 

It's been over a decade now since the fervor of the "Prayer of Jabez" has hit the contemporary churches all over neighborhoods and I remember when this came out then how it was used as some sort of a "prayer" sometime a mantra to increase one's financial gain and stature. 

However, when I heard this message again last Wednesday - my Pastor brought it home for me so to speak, for it was an enlightenment that's most appropriate in application to the Bible verses. The verses proceeds as follows:

"And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

-- 1 Chronicles 4:9 to 10: 

The name Jabez - translated to today's language means "pain," as told to us from this verse Jabez's mother bared him with such ordeal that she named him "pain". Be that as it may, Jabez was not just content with his designation, as it were, because he desired for a special blessing from God (Oh, that thou wouldst bless me indeed,). 

How my Pastor explained that this tremendous request was what's referred to as a "patriarchal prayer," the kind that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc. prayed for: a great blessing from God which when granted was a tremendous outpouring of good graces that lasted through generations. Jabez prayed for this but that was not all, he also prayed that God might "follow" him or be upon him  for continued blessing. 

How we can apply this best to ourselves personally is by way of spirituality. How about praying that God would enlarge our "spiritual coast" - as in the real estate of how far one could go for God - is it just our street, our neighborhood or our town that you are going to minister to? Or should it be more?

The most interesting part of the text that was preached was when Jabez asked that he would be kept from evil - explained: this indicated Jabez did not necessarily want to be free from worries or troubles but rather - that Jabez might already go "past" all the frightful and dreaded things! The word my Pastor used was "advanced," Jabez prayed that he may be past the turmoil already? perhaps even while when he is in the middle for the trial - may he already see the outcome! The outcome that he wanted to see, was that: he is better off having experienced the tribulation because it made his faith to increase. Something that is important so that we will not be grieved to the point of perpetual and permanent discouragement.
 

I thank God how this text was delivered, how I heard it preached on before was how it mainly focused on monetary prosperity. But what really matters is spiritual strength, character building, understanding the will of God in our lives, things that will matter in the passageways of eternity. 

How's that for an enlarged coast?

400 years of The King James Bible 1611: A Tribute

 Shown above is my King James Bible (a study Bible).

It would be a great blunder on my part if I let this year go by and not mention this Holy Book that guides me everyday, succors me in times of need, reprimands me befittingly in transgressions and ultimately reveals God to me.

The King James Bible AV 1611.

This year marks the Holy Bible's 400th anniversary of having been completed in the English language. Completed from the Textus Receptus (Received Texts) with the original Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New Testament, the history of this Book's realization is dipped in blood of martyrs and defenders of the Faith. In the end though, the grace of God prevailed when after the prayer of William Tyndale before his death, King James I's eyes were opened and 54 scholars painstakingly and with reverence translated (not created - as Wikipedia states) the Bible in 7 years from its original languages (Old testament in Hebrew; New Testament Greek).

Why the King James Bible one might ask? to illustrate a few, I point out I John 5:7, a verse which chronicles the oneness of the Holy Trinity, also in Revelation 1:12 where Jesus is identified as "Alpha and Omega" and in John 10.30 where The Lord reiterates that He and The Father are one; in other versions these verses are either altered to mean differently or are blotted out completely, but this is not so in the King James Bible. And even in a material point of view; among the versions present today, only the King James Bible matched as the highest with the discovered Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 by 95%, again with Hebrew in the Old testament and Aramaic (ancient Greek) in the New Testament.

The illustrations can go on for hours but I do believe by faith and with conviction that this is the Word of God in English. God himself promised that He would preserve His words for all generations (Psalm 12:6-7) and that He will not leave us without council. This is where a Believer's authority rests.

A popular argument against the Bible is always "This is only based on man's interpretation." To which I plea that before one discredits it, read it all first please, then find out:  Who the subject of the whole Book is and what the subject is about. For in the end, one will plainly see that it's about God (Elohim), His relationship with man (His beloved creature) and the redemption of man in Jesus Christ. Additionally, in 2 Peter 1:20 - 21, it states: Knowing first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

If there is an effort to persuade a person about the Book, it's merely to convey that God created man to be with Him for all times and that can happen through His Son. His Son who came as promised (in the books of Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, among others), died and resurrected for us all. This was to set a sort of visual example that if we trust in the Resurrected one, after we perish (in our mortal coil), we also will be resurrected like He was.

Before I end this piece may I just say also, that I am not blogging with a halo on my head, I do fail as a Believer, mostly because I fail to look upon the Lord's face, to follow His will for me or to meditate on His Word. It is my prayer and hope that each time I fall I will remember that this Book can be personal for me, as if written just for me; God's love letter to me for a companion and as a teacher, and perhaps to you also, if you so desire.

 (Could not resist taking this pic inside the chapel in Windsor)