Moving on from Jabez
by Ian Johnson
A few years ago people were praying the prayer of Jabez made popular by Bruce Wilkinson's book "The Prayer of Jabez" based on 1 Chronicles 4:10
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested.
It works because God desires to "Bless you" "Expand your Territory" "have an intimate relationship with you" and "keep you free from evil."
There are a number of folk who have prayed this prayer for a number of years who are now wondering what has happened to the initial outpouring of blessings, or the receipt of things, they received as a result of asking for blessings..
Questions arise in their heart like has God now abandoned me? The answer is of course not, He is taking us into His ultimate blessing and expansion of our territory. Into the realm of Glory, into the full revelation of the love of the father for His Children. The natural outcome of a prayer asking for blessings is that God will take us into His rest..
God's Multi-dimensional Love
Programs and religion don't transform. Only a revelation of the multi-dimensional love of God as expressed in Jesus truly brings transformation in our world and in our surroundings. This is a season when we will get beyond our earthly requests and desires, to a place that starts to shake us free of one dimensional mindsets and remove things that are in the way of a radical revelation of the love of God. It's time to change your seasonal clothes.
How many times have you had a breakthrough and then reverted back to the way things were? We worry about receiving the approval of man rather than expanding beyond our current limits. But expand we must, into the freedom of rest in the Father. Freedom from religious mindsets and heavy yokes of dead works.
God's word is clear. Isaiah 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Religion hates it when anyone is set free. Present things are being challenged by the eternal Father. "Let them stretch forth the curtains of His habitations" Make room for the heart of the Father and enter His rest, be seated in heavenly places with Jesus our savior.
You can't qualify for further expansion, because the love of God has already qualified you as a Son or Daughter. The expansion of territory opens our eyes to the love of God, and the love of God reveals blessing untold. The love of God Transforms and draws us into His breast, to a place where the heartbeat of God is heard, so that our heartbeat and Gods heartbeat, beat as one.
Eph 3:17-18 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
Expand Your Thinking
Many know about the love of God from an intellectual point of view; but few experience it because we get stuck in the limitation of our mind. We have set ideas of how our world works and where we fit into the scheme of things, however today is the time to expand our thinking. To move our tent into the glory cloud to the place of infinite provision, a place of supernatural food and supernatural drink that satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst.
The biggest weapon the enemy of our souls has is to make us think that we have somehow failed God. Our adversary the Devil knows that if he can keep us pre-occupied doing "things", even if these "Things" appear to be Godly. He will prevent us from entering the chambers of glory, into the Fathers love, where we fall in love with Jesus.
Even if we don't mean it to be, much of modern Christianity is based on us "Doing Stuff". These are called dead works. The Lord is calling us out of the "Stuff" and into intimacy with Him! When Jesus died on the cross, He won for us everything that we will ever need. Satan's plan is to make us believe we are missing the mark! and then become pre-occupied trying to find the mark, and never enter a place of intimacy and rest with the Lord!
When Satan, tempted the woman in the garden, (Gen 3:6) it wasn't with great theological issues or points of doctrinal difference that he spoke to her about. Rather it was an appeal to her senses. He said; "Look! Doesn't that fruit look good! And the taste! Surely a loving God wouldn't keep something this good from you! You must have misunderstood his instructions!"
He used that strategy then and he uses it today! Satan says, "If you work hard for God and do everything with Excellence he will accept you" it's an appeal to your emotions and your senses and sounds good, but it keeps you from entering the rest found in the Glory cloud.
We need to expand our territory by abandoning ourselves to the purpose of God, and enter the rest Jesus has won for us.
Gal 2:20-21 I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.
Hebrews 4:8-10 This new place of rest was not the land of Canaan, where Joshua led them. If it had been, God would not have spoken later about another day of rest. So there is a special rest, still waiting for the people of God. For all who enter into God's rest will find rest from their labors, just as God rested after creating the world
Romans 4:4-5 When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive. But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work.
It's All About Faith
If you believe your evil works can disqualify you from God's blessing, then you must believe that your good works qualify you! However nothing can qualify you! Jesus has made the way for you, not one bit of your work will stand on the day of judgment. It's not about works it's about faith in what Jesus has done for us!
I know this is hard to swallow in our "He that works hard gets a lot" world But asking for blessings will bring you to this place of rest. Don't fight the blessings, but abandon yourself to His blessings and dwell in His love.
Many are afraid to enter this place of rest because they somehow think that if they don't do some "works" God will consume them. You must learn to trust the fathers love and compassion for his sons and daughters.
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; Lamentations 3:22.
Overwhelm us Lord in your love, a heart overwhelmed is transformed, a transformed heart loves, Love overwhelms our surroundings, Transformation continues, Our territory is expanded and Blessings flow
Ian Johnson
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