Shalom and welcome to our episode of Living Supernaturally today. We have been looking at a very fresh and exciting series about praying scripture. Often, we find ourselves in places where we may not have the words to speak or the words to pray. But what other better place than to look into scripture, to pray exactly what the Holy Spirit had inspired its authors to write? Today, we are going to be looking at the prayer to influence. The bible records the powerful prayer of a man named Jabez, in 1 Chronicles chapter 4, verses 9-10. There isn’t much said about Jabez in these verses, but all that you would see is a very brief account of him amongst a long list of genealogies. Some things that are said about him, it is almost like a mini biography of Jabez and these are some of the things that is recorded of him- that his mother named him Jabez, his birth was difficult, that he was more honorable than his brothers and that he called on the God of Israel. Obviously, his life didn’t have a very good start, his mother named him Jabez which means pain or that he will cause pain. We aren’t told of anything special that he did, but there is that one sentence prayer that he prayed and we can see how his life had an extra ordinary ending and God granted him everything that he requested. So, Jabez isn’t there because of anything he did, but because of the way the Lord responded and answered his prayer. What is so special about this prayer? I think this prayer has 4 parts; first, Jabez asked God to bless him, he asked the Lord to bless him, he boldly calls on the God of Israel and asks to be blessed. Secondly, he asked God to enlarge his territory or his responsibility. What could your territory be? Your territory could be your course, your borders, the places that you have influence in. So, influencing people for the Lord is one of the most important things that you can do in your life. The prayer of Jabez just doesn’t pin down to property but also into influence. The third things that he prays for is that God will be with him and stay close. He prays that the Lord’s hand would be over him, that he would bless and expand all that he had. Usually when that happens, the enemy is soon crouching around, it is the enemy’s territory that we are taking over and that is what Jabez prays for, for influence. So, when you pray for His hand to be with you, you are also praying for His presence and power. Lastly, Jabez asks that God will keep him from harm so that he will be free from pain. He prays that God would keep him from evil and he asks to keep him from evil, he was acknowledging how much God was there and how much he needed God’s protection. Let’s challenge ourselves to pray this prayer of influence and to begin praying it everyday with a sincere heart because we ask God to influence our territories for Him. So, press on as we pray, we will pray this prayer together. If you are on the video, you will have the verse up on the screen, if not you could open your bibles as I pray along. Let’s pray, ‘O God, we call on your name, that you would bless us indeed and enlarge our territory and your hand would be with us and you would keep us from evil, that we may not cause pain.’ Thank you for granting our request, Amen.

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