Running Head: The Prayer of Jabez 1

The Prayer Jabez

Victor M Mbokola

Amani Music School

Lecturer: Peter Kitheka

The Prayer of Jabez 2

Abstract

Prayer is a form of communication with a deity or supernatural being. In the Christian

perspective, prayer is addressed to God. In simple words, it is talking to God (Thiel, 2016). In

this paper we will focus our discussion on prayer in the Christian perspective and in

particular investigate the prayer of Jabez in a bid to understand and unearth characteristics of

prayer.
The Prayer of Jabez 3

The Prayer of Jabez

Prayer is defined as communication with God. Most forms of communication involve

the sending of a message and receipt of a response. Prayer therefore, being a form of

communication has these two aspects. There are many examples of prayer in the bible that

can be looked at to derive this and other aspects of prayer but that would be beyond the scope

of this paper. The prayer of Jabez will be the focus for this paper. However, other instances of

prayer may be mentioned to emphasize on points emanating from the prayer of Jabez.

The story of Jabez is found in the book of 1 Chronicles Chapter 4 from verse 9 to 10:

“And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez,

saying because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that

thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which

he requested” (1 Chronicles 4:9-10, King James Version).

That is the whole excerpt and consequently all we know about Jabez and his prayer in the

bible. He is not mentioned in any greater detail in another portion of the bible more than these

excerpt has revealed. One would wonder if really anything can be picked from just these two

verses. However it is important to note at this point that to understand any verse in the bible

you must look at the context to fully understand the lessons and intent therein.

The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles dwells on the family tree of the Hebrew tribe

all the way from Adam and chapter 4 is not any different (Wilkinson, 2000). The unique

thing is that at the point where Jabez is listed as part of the genealogy, more information is

provided about him as well as the prayer he prayed. Why the writer of the book included

more detail about him may remain a mystery but we can draw several conclusions from them.

The excerpt starts by noting that Jabez was more honourable than his brethren, probably more

than those who were also included in the genealogy. Brethren may include his relatives as

well as other Israelites that had faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whom we
The Prayer of Jabez 4

worship to this day. Honourable in the setting of those days may have meant he avoided all

form of sin and was in good terms with both God and man. He may have adhered to all the

rules that were set for all Israelites to follow and more importantly the Ten Commandments.

For instance, he may have observed the Sabbath to the letter and paid his tithes faithfully. It is

worth noting at this point that in mentioning that Jabez was honourable; prayer must then

have a connection with honour. In my view, a prayerful person is mostly honourable. Though

this cannot be inscribed as law on stone it is a conclusion that we can draw. It is not definite

as it is not out rightly pointed out. We can also further say that a person who receives what he

asks for in prayer is usually honourable. But again it is important to say that it is not inscribed

as law on stone so it is not an existing rule. What do we learn in the character of honour for

prayerful people? It can rightly be concluded, in my opinion, that alongside being a prayerful

person, it is important, if not equally important, that we strive to maintain a high standard of

honour in in the things we do.

The next portion of the scripture highlights the meaning of his name and the

circumstances of him being named so. That he was born with sorrow, at least to the mother.

After all children usually are not able to decide on their names during birth. They can

however change them as adults. We can conclude from this that despite the fact that Jabez

was born in sorrow, God answered his prayer. Even the meaning of his name signified

sorrow. It is therefore true to say that despite the background of a person and their history in

general, God can still hear their prayers and answer in the affirmative. When we go before

God we need not focus on the demerits we naturally possess but rather focus on God who is

the one who listens and answers our prayers. It is also important to emphasize here that even

most men of God in the bible were chosen with undeserving credentials in the human

perspective. David for instance was the lastborn in the house of Jesse and in addition the

youngest but God still chose him. Before God therefore we should ignore that we possess
The Prayer of Jabez 5

qualification to earn us the mercy of God and acknowledge that it is only by his mercies and

grace that we receive from him.

The next portion highlights what Jabez specifically asked for. Most people argue that

his prayer was as simple and short as is written in the bible. This may or may not be true but

we rely on just the few words included in the excerpt. The words may have relayed the

overall theme of the prayer of Jabez or may also have been just those words. How the writer

knew the words of his prayer is also a mystery as this book is not written by Jabez himself. If

we take for instance that the content is the general theme of Jabez prayer then we would

rightly say that a person may have heard him pray, learnt of the needs he wanted sorted and

watched him to see his prayer being answered by God. It may also have been the case that

Jabez shared his prayer to brethren or family in his old age about his prayer and how God

answered it and the information lived on as a testimony even to its inclusion in the bible. We

can draw a lot of conclusions and lines of thought from this story but what is important to say

is that testimonies of answered prayers are important to share as they encourage the body of

Christ. The fact that the prayer of Jabez is include in the bible and that it was answered is an

encouragement to the church of today that God can answer your prayers by giving you

exactly what you asked. We should therefor pray without seizing as God can answer our

prayers in giving us what we ask.

The next and final portion of the excerpt tells us that God granted him what he

requested. This means that all he had asked for was given to him. The question here then is

whether it was immediately or after some time. However that is not important, what is

important is that God answered him. As earlier mentioned, prayer is a form of

communication and therefore should have both the message and the response. From the

prayer of Jabez we can see that Jabez prayed and God answered him by granting his requests.

The prayer has both message and response and qualifies as communication. The sender is
The Prayer of Jabez 6

Jabez and the recipient is God. This story is therefore an encouragement to Christians that

God answers prayers and therefore we should pray.

In brief, the preceding paragraphs have dealt with the whole prayer of Jabez in a nut

shell. That he prayed and he was granted what he asked is the pivotal point as this paper

mainly discusses the prayer of Jabez and prayer in general. However there are more things

about prayer that are important to mention that may have not emanated clearly from the

prayer of Jabez. One of the things that is important to mention is that in prayer it is not

always that God will grant us our requests. Sometimes our requests may not be the best for us

sine our minds are limited and ultimately carnal. God is all-knowing and knows what is best

for us. We should know that God has our best interests at heart and will supply for us what

we need as long as we trust in Him and pray. We should therefore not get discouraged when

we feel like our prayers are not being answered or have taken too long. We should keep

praying and believe that what he wills for us shall be realized and that it is the best for us.

Others aspects of prayer that may have not been tackled in detail are such things as

how we should pray and when we should pray. Since different schools of thought do not

agree on whether this was the whole prayer or it was a summary I would rather not define the

parts of prayer using this excerpt only. In addition, the time that this prayer was done is not

mentioned and therefore we cannot define when to pray using only this scripture. We know

for example that Israelites had specific times for prayer during the day and they also prayed

on the Sabbath day but none of these is mentioned in the excerpt. In essence what we

conclude is that, the prayer of Jabez in isolation cannot define all the aspects of prayer. This

in consequence alludes to the fact that to understand this and other topics from the bible we

need to read widely within the bible. As earlier mentioned, prayer is a wide topic that cannot

be exhaustively addressed in this paper and probably any other paper. The word of God has
The Prayer of Jabez 7

new revelations every day that cannot all be written down in one paper or be limited to one

individual albeit without personalizing it.

In conclusion we can say that prayer is an important tool for any Christian that allows

us to communicate with God. In the generation of today we are even lucky because Jesus

Christ died for our sins and we can go before God boasting of His blood that was shed at the

cross in Calvary. We have a helper who is the Holy Spirit who is still God Himself. All

factors held constant we are more privileged as a church today compared to the Old

Testament days. Our prayers ought to be more effective and bearing results. Every Christian

has a duty to pray for themselves, their family, their friends and every other person that they

may see the light and receive Christ for the ultimate price of salvation which is why Christ

died for us. In the letters of Paul recorded in the bible, he constantly told the congregations he

was writing to that he prayed for them. We should follow his example and pray from one

another including fellow Christians. In addition to prayer, Christians have other duties within

the body of Christ such as reading the word of God that are as important as prayer for any

Christian. Therefore prayer is not the only thing that a Christian ought to do, there are many

more things that we learn through reading the bible and fellowshipping with other Christians.

Finally, prayer is important for every Christian and we should all strive to understand

it and improve on it every day. Pray every day and any time without limitation or fear that

God will not listen. He is our father and loves us all.

The Prayer of Jabez 8

References

Thiel, B. (2016). Prayer: What Does the Bible Teach? California, USA: Nazarene Books.

Wilkinson, B. (2000). The Prayer of Jabez. Oregon, USA: Multomah Publishers Inc.