“Built For More!” (Study on the Prayer of Jabez) Series Title: The Prayer Blueprint

Pastor Jim Lowe III

Sunday Morning, 9:30am Stream 05/17/26 (3rd Sunday Message)

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{All scriptures are “NIV84” unless stated}

Message Title:

“Built For More!” (Study on the Prayer of Jabez)

We are doing a new study on prayer.

The blueprint on some very powerful prayers.

today we’re going to start with a specific prayer… only by someone who shows up - and is gone. blink and you miss him!

But he prays a specific prayer… and that prayer is powerful!

But before we get to it…I want to open with a specific question.

Most Of Us Have Been Praying For Things - But Have We Ever Wondered If We Could Handle It?

1 Chronicles 4:9

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.

He was named Jabez because his mother gave birth to him in pain.

His very name means Sorrowful; Born in pain

He gives a prayer to the Lord:

Bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me.

Keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain. “…and God granted his request.”

his prayer was answered!

This leads us to something to always remember.

Don’t Be Afraid To Pray! The Prayers Never Answered Are The Ones Never Prayed!

First…when you see a prayer in the bible. If God responded for them.

He CAN respond for you!

Romans 2:11 (NIV)

For God does not show favoritism.

If God has responded to Jabez’s prayer before… That means He can respond for you!

you can even ask for the same things!

The Lord does not have favorites.

This is why you have to take time to talk with the Lord! You need your own prayer life.

talk to the Lord!

Others Can Pray For You, But They Can’t Pray FOR You!

So Jabez asked for 4 things: The Blessing of The Lord

Enlargement of His Territory The Lords Hand On Him Protection from Harm

But we are going to talk about the one that sticks out as “different.”

The Prayer of Jabez: (1 Chronicles 4:9)

Enlargement of His Territory

He said “oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory.”

What Does Enlarge My Territory Mean?

When we think about it…he’s asking for expansion of his area. Usually we see it as “give me more.”

more land…

NCV - “Give me more land.”

MSG - “Give me land! Large tracts of land!” because land was a showing of wealth…

more wealth…

“Lord enlarge my accounts!” more finances…

more blessings!

more stuff!

This could be true…

but he first thing he asked for was blessings!!

While there’s nothing wrong with asking multiple times for something… it was really sounding like an “about me” type of prayer!

God just do for me…

But let’s do a study on this word…

So what could territory actually mean? Let’s look it up:

In the NKJV, NIV, NLT - enlarge my territory

Territory - In Hebrew translated to “border.”

We see “territory” as what he has…

but boarders may change things a little….

So Jabez was asking for an expansion of his boarders. sounds like “land” right??

Well let’s take a trip and really double check.

What Does A Border Do?

When you think of a boarder… what do you think about?

Border -

• a line separating two geographical areas, especially countries.

• the edge or boundary of something.

A border is something that outlines the edges of something. a border marks the edge of whatever you have.

Everything That Has A Border Is Defined By That Border

Your property line determines where your land is…

and how much you own.

It sets the location…

but also sets the boundaries and limits.

We Deal With Limits All The Time!

and we have to consider those limits in life.

example:

They have all these giant size tvs now that used to cost thousands of dollars… now really large tvs can be much cheaper…

and you have a desire to buy one.

95 inch 4k tv

but when you bring it out of the store… you forgot you drive a compact car.

No matter how much space you make in your car…

you will ALWAYS be limited because of the size of your car and the size of the tv prevents it from fitting.

Another example of limits:

if I have a picture frame…

no matter what the picture is…

a portrait…a landscape…

the FRAME marks the edges of the photo.

the work of art can’t be bigger than the frame. that frame is the boarder!

But how does this apply to us?

what does a boarder have to do with us?

This got me thinking.

It led me to Matthew to see another story.

Matthew 25:14-15

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

One got 5.

One got 2.

One got 1.

Why didn’t they all get 5??

But I thought that Romans 2:11 said God doesn’t show favoritism. well he just gave out 3 different amounts.

clearly he likes one over the other two!

Well the bible explains it…

it says that he gave to them “according to his ability.” Well let’s look at that…

{Parallel Bible Passage}

NIV/NKJV/ESV - each according to his ability.

all of these seem to say the same thing.

{Parallel Bible Passage}

CEV - The man knew what each servant could do. NCV - …as much as he could handle.

The man knew what each servant could do.

so he gave them as much as they could handle… according to their own ability.

what they were capable of… When I saw this…

This is actually talking about their CAPACITY!

Capacity -

• the maximum amount that something can contain.

• the amount that something can produce.

This means each person got based on what they could DO with it! The person with 5 GOT 5 because he was able to produce with 5.

The men with 2 and 1could have WANTED the 5… but something was “confining them.”

something was “preventing’ them from 5.

It was their capacity that kept them from more.

If their capacity allowed for more… they would receive more…

and DO more with it!

So if we are limited by our capacity… the boarders containing us… the territory being too small…

I believe THIS is what Jabez was praying for! God bless me and expand my borders! Increase my CAPACITY!

Remove the limits on the things you want to do with me. and the things I can do for YOU!

Don’t Just Pray For More - Pray For The Capacity To Handle More!

Maybe this is something we all should be praying for! In Psalm 23,

“you anoint my head with oil…my cup overflows.”

meaning its so much it spills over…

Some of us should be praying… “Lord…don’t overflow me.

give me a bigger cup!”

because I want ALL you desire to give me!

Because in the parable of the talents…

we can do more with the limits taken off… There is a danger with having a limited capacity.

Here is the danger of constraints: It limits us.

In our picture frame example… The boarder has to match the size of the portrait.

it determines how much of the portrait you can see. if that portrait is bigger than the frame…

either the frame has to get bigger…

or the overall portrait has to shrink.

Some Of Us Are Carrying Vision That Doesn’t Fit Our Current Capacity!

God has placed in us many things…

but even we know we’re capable of more!

some of us might have MUCH bigger jobs lined up. MUCH bigger projects…

MUCH bigger potential

but we’ve been accepting less because our capacity won’t let us do it!

We’ve Been Believing The Lord For So Many Things, But Instead Of Increasing Our Capacity, We’ve Been Shrinking The Vision!

We’ve been sacrificing things and didn’t even know we could have more!

With the talents…

the man with the 5 didn’t get 5 because the Lord loved him more.

His capacity matched the assignment! maybe the man with the 2 could have HAD 5…

if maybe he just would have asked for his limits to be removed!

The Lord Isn’t Just Trying To Expand Your Life - He’s Trying To Expand YOU!

When you realize what that means, it means increase!

Increase in Life!

Increase on your job!

Increase in your business! Increase in your finances!

Increase in your overall happiness! Increase in your joy!

Increase in the lives of your children! Increase in your overall vision!

Do certain things in life seem stagnant for you right now?

Don’t Shrink The Vision - Expand The Capacity!

We aren’t living life as we should because our borders are too small! Things we put up with:

on the job…

in relationships… in life…

Perhaps God has MORE for us…but our current capacity won’t allow us to receive it! The Lord answered Jabez’s prayer as SOON as he prayed it.

Jabez says…God expand my territory… my boarders…

increase my capacity…

remove the limits on me!

What Can The Lord Do For You If He Takes The Limits Off?

We will be able to produce…as WELL as receive more!

Some Visions End Up Failing - Not Because They Were Too Big, But Because The Container Was Too Small

{ending}

We’re learning the power of prayer.

Many times we’ve been praying for something… and are still waiting to see it.

maybe we’re praying outside of our ability to receive it.

We know how to ask for blessings…

we know how to ask for God’s hand and protection…

Maybe some of us need to know we can also ask God to take the limits off of us… To EXPAND our boarders!

What You Hold Determines What You Can Handle!

This is why we need to re-wire how we pray.

It’s okay to ask for things…

but make sure you can receive what you’re asking for. if your capacity stays small…

so does the vision.