Enlarging Our Boundaries

 

Enlarging our Boundaries: 

Moving beyond our comfort level is what God expects of each of us. This is how we grow. Asking God to enlarge our boundaries for God’s glory is a good thing. Scripture instructs us to ask God to bless our territory. 

Listen to the prayer of Jabez.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10(NIV)

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying,“I gave birth to him in pain.”

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel,

“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!

Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”And God granted his request.

“Jabez” sounds like the Hebrew word for “pain”. How would you like to be named, “Pain”? I think that would be a setup for getting bullied in school. Perhaps his name is what prompted Jabez to pray such a prayer. A closer look at the content of Jabez’s prayer gives us an effective example for our own circumstances. Jabez makes four requests of God.

Devine Grace:

“Oh, that you would bless me.” The KJV adds the word, “indeed”.

“Oh, that you would bless me indeed.” Do you hear the distress in Jabez’s words? Jabez lived the pain of feeling like a failure, a nobody. He longed to be a somebody. And somewhere in his life God showed him that he was a somebody in his Creator’s eyes.

Jabez wanted God’s highest blessing so that he could rise above his name, his reputation, his past, his brokenness. He wanted to be known as a pursuer of excellence. He wanted to be known for his godly character. He wanted grace to excel beyond his natural ability.

Devine Potential:

“Enlarge my borders”. Jabez wasn’t expected to amount to much. He had been voted the most unlikely person to succeed. He wanted God to break the curse that had been spoken over him. He begged God to heal the sorrow of his childhood emotional abuse and neglect. He pleaded with God to forgive the sins of past generations and restore the brokenness of hereditary dysfunctions.

Although Jabez had been taught to think small, He learned that “small” is not who God is. God is big and powerful and limitless. Nothing is impossible for God, especially through someone whom people have given- up on. 

Jabez prayed that God would prove these people wrong. He asked God to enlarge his circle of influence; to expand his ability to affect the lives of others. He wanted God’s power to flow through him so that he could glorify his Creator. He was asking God to take the most unlikely person and do the most impossible work for the glory of God. 

William Carey is known as the Father of Modern Missions. He was the first English missionary to India who served for forty-one years translating the entire Bible into Bengali.  

He is remembered for his words of faith, “Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.” -- William Carey (1761-1834)

God is looking for people who believe in a God without limits. He wants individuals who are done with restraints. He wants servants who refuse to be told to “think small”, “remain small”, “settle for just getting by”. Our ambition should be for a wider influence for God.

 Like Jabez, we must break free from past emotional wounds and curses that prevent us from being all that God intended for us to be. We can pray, “God enlarge my faith and extend my borders. Do something great through me for your glory.”

Devine Presence:

“Oh, that your hand would be with me.” Jabez wanted freedom from restriction of hopelessness and fear. 

Hopelessness causes depression.

Proverbs 13:12(NIV)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Hopelessness steals your vision.

Proverbs 29:18(KJV)

Where there is no vision, the people perish…

Fear is an evil spirit from Satan. Satan is the one who destroys destinies by making the situation look so impossible that individuals believe they can’t succeed. But God is the God of the impossible.

2 Timothy 1:7(NLT)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Jabez also wanted to reject independence and self-confidence caused by sinful pride. He did not want to lag behind what God had planned for him, nor rush ahead in his own achievements. He needed God’s empowerment.

Zechariah 4:6(NIV)

… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.