The Christian Life Must Be a Life of Power

Jabez asked the Lord to enlarge his territory. God wants us to occupy more space, to undertake new things, not to settle for a mediocre, limited life but to dare to try things, to sow, to invest, and to live an enterprising life, because God blesses.

Remember what He also said to Joshua: “See, I command you to be strong and courageous, because I will be with you wherever you go.” That word of blessing that Jabez asks of the Lord is contained there too, isn’t it? “If You would bless me.” And because God’s blessing is upon him, he can dare to enlarge his territory. These two things are connected, as we can see.

The third thing Jabez asks of the Lord is: “And if Your hand were with me.” When I think about that expression, “and if Your hand were with me,” the key word that comes to mind is “hand,” isn’t it? Because the Hand of God refers to the Power of God over his life; the Hand of God refers to protection.

For example, when the Bible says that “God brought the Israelites out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,” the Lord’s Hand, His Arm, refers to powerful interventions by God. These may be defensive interventions to protect His chosen ones, or active interventions to defeat their enemies, open a way for them, remove obstacles before them, and make sure they have what they need as they journey through life.

So when Jabez asks the Lord, “If Your hand were with me,” he is asking, “If Your Power were upon my life, if Your anointing”—that anointing needed to undertake great things with divine backing and authority.

We need God’s authority to back us in our ventures and projects, and His Power and His Hand to be with us in everything. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples, before ascending to heaven, to remain in Jerusalem until they received power from on high. For in the Christian life, in the life we children of God live in this world, we need the Power of God, that strength that characterizes the Kingdom of God when the Word says that the Kingdom of God moves with force, moves with dynamism.

Only people who have that affinity with the Kingdom of God—bold people, diligent people, dynamic, enterprising people—can take hold of the attributes of the Kingdom of God and benefit from them.

I believe all of that is implied in Jabez’s expression, “if Your hand were with me.” He is saying that the Christian life, the life of the children of God, is a life of power, a dynamic life, a life that requires powerful interventions by God. We must cultivate the power of God through prayer; we must cultivate the gifts of the Holy Spirit; we must cultivate authority and boldness. The mindset of God’s children must be a mindset of power, a mindset that knows interventions are needed to move things forward. That orientation toward power in the Christian life—not merely knowledge or mere theory, but powerful interventions and the faith that is needed—is very important for success in life. And I want all of us to cultivate that aggressive mindset, that mindset of power to which Jabez’s expression, “if Your hand were with me,” invites us.

God bless you. Until our next meditation.