Grace for More
“Bold prayers honor God, & God honors bold prayers.” ~Mark Batterson
Do you want more in your life? Can you handle more?
God gives us grace for more, to handle what HE gives us… so how can we receive it? We ask for it. Ask, seek, knock.
So many Christians seem to think that God wants to withhold from us, but the reality is He wants to GIVE so much to us! Sometimes we have to wait for things, but His desire is always to give us those things at some point… does that make sense?
Often in our waiting, we become convinced that He’s a stingy Father. Like any good Dad, He gives us things at the proper time so we don’t waste them or become spoiled, but even so — He doesn’t desire us to live an impoverished life.
Jesus said He came so we would have life more abundantly, that we’d THRIVE not just survive.
The Prayer of Jabez: Asking for More
What if the Lord wants to give us more in May — would you believe it?
We can receive more from God if we ask Him for more. Here’s a story in the Bible that demonstrates this principle 🙂
In 1 Chronicles 4, there is a powerful yet simple prayer we call “the prayer of Jabez”. The name Jabez means “pain” in Hebrew, but Jabez petitioned the Lord & asked Him to change his destiny — from PAIN to PLENTY! God granted his request of faith, after his parents cursed him with a negative destiny.
“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain.’ Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!’ And God granted what he asked.
His mom’s pain in childbirth wasn’t meant to imprint the rest of Jabez’s life, yet it could’ve had he not been BOLD in faith to ask for MORE.
Our pastor Aaron Burke preached that in this simple prayer, Jabez petitioned the Lord for 4 very important things:
- Blessing
- Influence
- Presence
- Protection
And guess what? GOD LISTENED. God answered Jabez’s bold prayer with a huge YES!!
Wouldn’t we ALL want to be blessed by God, to have Him increase our influence, to enjoy His presence with us, & to have His protection in this new place?! I absolutely would. I wouldn’t wanna go anywhere the Lord hadn’t blessed & protected with His presence!!
Today I believe the Lord is laying on my heart to ask for more ~ & for YOU to ask for more, too! He wants to “enlarge our borders”, to have His hand on us, & to guard us from harm… He wants us to be blessed so we can bless others (& also because He’s a good Dad & wants each of us to enjoy a blessed life)!
Ask for Your Promised Land
God didn’t guide the Israelites into their “Promised Land” of death & lack. He led them to a land OVERFLOWING with milk & honey, more than they dreamed!
He wants to lead us into a place that has His abundant provision, a territory He designed us for. After God blessed them, His first command to Adam & Eve was to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1). He wants us to occupy & DOMINATE the place He leads us.
We often forget this. I know I have many times, but scripture says in Matthew 11 that “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” In other words, they aggressively take what is THEIRS 🙂
So ask God for what is YOURS — not someone else’s. You ain’t got time for somebody else’s land! You have your own to conquer & occupy, and He wants you to take the one He marked for you!! He wants you to bring His Spirit & His dominion to a specific place on earth, & without you there, the enemy will occupy it! In fact it’s possible the enemy is currently occupying it & God’s calling you to kick him out & bring Him into that place.
So ask Him, seek Him, knock on His door — He said He’ll open it up to you! He’ll open doors no man can shut for you. His purpose for you is that you’d bring His nature & His Spirit to earth, so don’t believe the lie that He doesn’t have more for you or that He wants you to live a “less than” life!
Ask for more. Ask Him to bless your “more”, to protect it, to be with you in it, to nurture & grow it, & to help you steward it well. This is your Promised Land.
“You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”
— James 4
xo,
Summer