How the Prayer of Jabez Changed the Way I See My Identity in Christ

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Have you ever felt like your past was defining your future?

Maybe it wasn’t something someone said yesterday.

Maybe it was something spoken over you years ago.

A label.

A failure.

A wound.

A season of pain that somehow became part of how you see yourself.

What fascinates me about Jabez is that before he ever prayed for blessing, territory, protection, or influence, he carried an identity rooted in pain.

His very name meant sorrow.

Yet tucked away in the middle of pages of genealogies is the story of a man who refused to let his past determine his future.

And I believe his prayer can teach us something powerful about our own identity in Christ.

It’s just like God to tuck two life-changing verses right in the middle of 9 chapters of genealogies, reminding us that although we may be tempted to skip parts of the Bible, it is important to carefully read even the parts that may seem uninteresting, because we might find great treasure there.

There isn’t much that is known about Jabez, except what can be found in these two short verses.

But what we learn about him and the powerful prayer he prayed is enough to cause us to ask ourselves if we are allowing our past to determine our future.

What happened next wasn’t simply a prayer for blessing. It was a prayer that challenged the identity he had carried his entire life.

How the Prayer of Jabez Changed the Way I See My Identity in Christ

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

I remember when I first heard what has been termed “The Prayer of Jabez”. It was in the 1990’s and a book was written about this powerful prayer.

As is often the case, the book became heavily marketed, and it was as if these two verses became less of a prayer and more like a formula, like magic words that we pray.

I am sure the author never intended, or even wanted, this.

It was the unintended consequences of marketing. Thank the Lord that marketing cannot rob His Word of power!

So, while the market has been saturated with every kind of “Prayer of Jabez” trinket, bookmark, and t-shirt imaginable, it is still His Word, and it is still a prayer that can teach us so much about our identity in Christ.

1. Oh, that You would bless me indeed

The first thing that stands out to me in this verse is that the phrase “bless me” and the word translated “indeed” are both connected to the Hebrew word barak.

The repetition immediately catches my attention because it emphasizes the intensity of Jabez’s request.

It makes me wonder if Jabez was praying, “Oh, that you would bless, bless,” or “that you would bless me to the 2nd power”.

And while I don’t know if this is, in fact, the case, I do know that this is how God wants His people to live!

I know this because His Word says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

This is how God wants us to live: daily being transformed from glory to glory. This is normal Christian living, even despite our trials and tribulations.

What isn’t normal Christian living is going from a little glory to defeat and then back to a little glory, only to face defeat again.

Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

Do you notice in this verse that the word “blessed” is in the past tense?

He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing. This is God’s desire for us. It is His will that we live blessed lives each and every day.

It doesn’t mean that we won’t have hard times, but it does mean that hard times do not have to threaten us with defeat, because God’s promise is that He will turn all things for good.

2. Enlarge my territory [border]

For years, I have looked at this part of Jabez’s prayer as “Lord, enlarge my sphere of influence”. In fact, that has been exactly what I’ve prayed for years, as I have daily prayed this prayer.

But it goes so much further and deeper than that.

As I began to think about this verse more deeply, I began to ask myself, “Have I limited myself in any way?”

Maybe I’ve allowed my chronic illness to define me.

Sometimes the borders that need enlarging aren’t around our circumstances.

They’re around our thinking.

We begin living inside labels that God never gave us.

Perhaps I’ve let a negative situation or circumstance in my past hold me back.

Or, maybe I’ve let fear and anxiety keep me from going out and boldly doing what God has called me to do.

Worse yet, maybe I’ve allowed offense or unforgiveness to fence me in and keep me from walking in the fullness of God’s blessing in my life.

Whatever it is, “God, enlarge my territory!”

However, we will not see this part of the prayer answered if we are not willing to do what is necessary on our part. God is willing. Are we?

Are we willing to step out of our comfort zone, look fear in the face, refuse to be defined by our past, or let negative circumstances label us?

Are we willing to fully forgive?

Because every boundary we refuse to surrender eventually becomes part of our identity.

3. That Your hand be with me

Listen, my dear sister, you can’t do this alone.

There is no possible way that we can live the blessed life, walk in total freedom and our true identity without the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us.

If we could, we already would.

But we can’t. Without the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we are powerless to live the blessed life.

We must remind ourselves each and every day, “Holy Spirit, empower me. Holy Spirit, work in and through me. I surrender myself to Your hand because without You, I am nothing.”

4. Keep me from evil

This reminds me so much of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray: “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.”

We know that God doesn’t lead us into temptation.

But while He may provide a way of escape, we have to be willing to take it. We must be willing to walk away from temptation.

God has already provided the protection from evil through His Word – His law and commands, paired with many precious promises in His Word that promise us blessing and life if we choose to obey them.

This doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen.

We live in a fallen world.

But His promise is that they will not overcome us. They will not defeat us.

We will overcome and walk in victory if we choose to walk the path that is the way of escape when temptation comes our way.

5. That I may not cause pain

This is really the hook of this prayer.

If you look at verse 9, it says, “…and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”

The name Jabez means “sorrow, grief”.

In the very first moments of his life, he was causing pain, and pain is what defined him from his first day on earth, because his name literally meant pain.

And now, he’s praying, “God, help me to no longer be defined by pain. Help me to find a new identity!”

Let me ask you a question:

What name have you been carrying?

Not the one on your birth certificate.

The one you’ve quietly attached to yourself.

• Rejected.
• Broken.
• Unworthy.
• Failure.
• Disappointed.
• Fearful.
• Ashamed.

Jabez refused to allow “pain” to be the final word over his life.

Instead, he took his identity crisis to God.

And God answered him.

The same invitation is available to us today.

Your past does not have to define your future.

Your pain does not have to become your identity.

Through Christ, you have been given a new name, a new position, and a new identity.

The Prayer of Jabez isn’t merely a prayer for blessing.

It’s a prayer that teaches us how to stop living from old labels and start living from who God says we are.

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