Life Capsule for Today 19th August, 2024
Theme: The prayer of Jabez (2)
Topic: Turning your pain to gain
Memory Verse for the week: Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Today’s Reading: 9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
Words of the Ministry:
Yesterday we began a new theme on the prayer of Jabez, a man called sorrow or pain by his mother because of the challenges she went through during child birth. The account of Jabez is short in the bible and what was most obvious about his life was that he was a man of sorrow that changed his situation through the power of prayer. Today I would concentrate on the 9th verse, the bible said this man of sorrow was more honorable than his brethren, in other words, as sorrowful as he did appear, he had some persons around him that he could say, thank God at least am still better that these ones. Another matter I observed with the verse is that while the first line said he was more honorable than his brethren, normally the next verse or preceding verse was to give a positive reason why this was based on biblical writing precedence as in the case of Joseph (Gen 39.2) who was said to be a prosperous despite being a slave because God was with him or Jesus (Acts 10.38) who performed great work because God was with him but in the case of Jabez, it was because his mother cursed him.
Before we begin to consider the prayers, we need to look at the personality of Jabez. From the passage, we see a man who strove hard to achieve the little he could, although he had a few testimonies here and there that made him seem better than his brethren, he knew something was still wrong, he realized that the matter was not due to working hard but a force kept him back, he was reaping less than his deserved harvest and he wasn’t satisfied by comparing himself with other. Being a Jew, he knew the meaning of his name, his past history didn’t deter him, he was more resolute than his brethren and did outshine them despite the fact he was cursed and they weren’t. In Jabez we see a man who turned his negative destiny to a positive one because he was never satisfied with what his strength can achieve.
Dear saints, what is that disadvantage situation you have found yourself, were you placed under a spell by your parents for your faith or any other reason, have you been disadvantage because of the financial status of your parents, your ancestry, your level of education or birth deformity. One of the first things you must do is that like Jabez, don’t be satisfied by your contemporaries who seem more disadvantaged, rather look into the will of God as expressed by his words to make demands from him. Like Jabez, we shouldn’t be trading blames rather we must be resolute to seek the God that changes situations. Jabez turned his pain to gain, his sorrowful gave him reasons to better seek God. He was not looking for human sympathy or excuses. Dear saint, shake off the blames, excuses, human comparism and seek the God that does impossibilities. May the Lord grant us light. Join us on Sunday for an unforgettable encounter at PENIEL August Edition with the theme Divine Encounter.
Bible in one year: Jeremiah 11-14
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