Bible
Study
April
2003
God Answers the Prayer of Jabez - Before
it's Prayed
“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.” 1
Chronicles 4:9 (NIV)
Growing up on a farm in rural
Missouri, I had no idea that God would take me
around the world in missions.
My first airplane ride took me on my first student
mission assignment…six months in beautiful
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Leaving home,
I had a limited worldview and an even smaller view
of what God was beginning in my life. I thought, “This
is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; I’ll never
do anything like this ever again.”
This “once-in-a-lifetime” mission trip
mentality continued for several years as God took
me various places on missions. Each time I came home
thinking something had been completed—I had
returned from another mission trip. Great things
had been accomplished and now it was time to move
on with the realities of life. Then something new
happened…
After visiting about the twelfth
country, I realized I was coming home with a different
mindset. I came
home thinking, “Ok, God, this was a stepping
stone…what’s next?” My focus had
changed from the “once-in-a-lifetime” mission-trip
mentality to a mission-lifestyle mentality. I began
to realize that God did not want me to just go on
a mission trip, but to be on mission throughout my
life…both at home and as He gave opportunity
to participate in short-term mission projects.
When the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles
4:10) started to become popular, my personal journey
in missions
involvement came to mind. God has “blessed
me” and “enlarged my territory” beyond
anything I could have ever imagined. He has taken
a naive farm boy from rural Missouri and placed him
in situations all around the world for His purposes.
And the best part is realizing He’s not done
yet!
In a couple of months our family
will be participating in our first family mission
project to Southeast
Asia. What an incredible opportunity for my wife,
children and myself as God continues to work in our
lives to “enlarge our territory” in His
service. We could easily think this is a “once-in-a
lifetime” thing because it is the first time
we’ve done anything like this, but I choose
to believe God is starting something with our family
that we haven’t a clue where it’ll lead.
We’re excited about the
honor of being involved in what God is doing in
another part of the world,
and will look forward with anticipation to what He
has in store for our lives in the future. Even now,
to think about what is He using this experience to
prepare us for?
I challenge you to honestly ask
yourself, “Have
I totally surrendered my life to God?” “Am
I willing to go anywhere He asks me to go?” These
are days of uncertainty and insecurity as our country
is at war. We don’t know what the future holds
for us personally or for the world politically. We
are not guaranteed safety in serving God, here in
our homeland or around the world.
The second petition of Jabez’s prayer is “Let
your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that
I will be free from pain.” This is my prayer
as we venture out to travel to the other side of
the world. However, if God sees fit for one or more
of us to suffer for Him while sharing His message,
then I’ll accept that. Which is more important—our
security and feeling “safe” by staying
in the comfort of home, or sharing the message of
Christ with a people who have never had the opportunity
to hear?
You and I say that we will serve
Him. We sing it every Sunday in church. We get
excited and dance
and raise our hands in praise and worship at Christian
concerts. At a recent concert promoting missions
the crowd enthusiastically sang and worshiped “I
wanna be Your hands, I wanna be Your feet, I will
go where you send me”, but when it came time
for a commitment, only a small handful of people
responded. What are you doing to put action to your
worship? Are you really willing to put it all on
the line to serve God? When you ask God to enlarge
your territory, are you willing to accept any territory
- and people - He gives you, even in another country?
Are you willing to give yourself to the cause of
Christ? He died for you…are you willing to
die for him?
These are tough questions, and
there are no easy answers. Only you can honestly
answer these questions
between you and God. Pray and ask Him to give you
the courage and boldness to ask yourself the questions
and honestly answer them, then make yourself available
to Him. Ask God to “bless you” and “enlarge
your territory”—then sit back and be
amazed as what He’ll do! The trip to Southeast
Asia will take me to country #23 in this journey
with Him…who would have ever a thought?!?!?!
Alan Garnett
Collegiate Mobilization, IMB
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