Your Prayers Should Match the Scale of God’s Heart

1 Chronicles 4:9 and 10 contain two of the most interesting verses in the entire Bible. There we are told about the prayer offered by a young man named Jabez, whose destiny in life seemed less than promising.

“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, ‘Because I gave birth to him in pain.’ And Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, and that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, so that it may not harm me!’ And God granted him what he requested.”

Apparently, the painful labor during Jabez’s birth prompted his mother to unwisely give him that name, which in Hebrew was associated with pain. A dark cloud hung over this young man’s life because of the name he had been given. His destiny seemed headed toward what his tragic name foretold. But something in Jabez’s spirit—a certain nobility of heart that distinguished him from his other brothers, perhaps formed during a lonely and rather sad childhood—one day drove him to cry out to God. He envisioned a different life. He saw himself blessed by God. He conceived a beautiful vision of greatness, prosperity, and influence. He imagined God accompanying him throughout a life of abundance, protected from evil by the benevolent presence of his heavenly Father.

That splendid vision of personal greatness burst forth from within Jabez through an evocative exclamation: “Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory!” Jabez was both expansive and specific. His prayer was simple yet comprehensive. It covered both the positive and the negative. He asked for blessing and protection, expanded territory and the ability to preserve it. God was pleased with the scale of Jabez’s prayer and granted him everything he asked for. His life was dramatically transformed because he dared to dream far beyond his limited present circumstances and to ask God in a way that honored Him—with boldness and creativity.

God delights in prayers that challenge Him and give Him an opportunity to display His love, power, and generosity. How ambitious are your prayers? Examine them, and make sure they are commensurate with His generosity and with the great purposes He has for your life.