A Born Loser Becomes A Winner

A Born Loser Becomes A Winner

I Chronicles 4:9-10

Pastor Terry Wilcox

One Hebrew scholar proposed three reasons not to study Chronicles:

1. Too long
2. First nine chapters
3. It is a rehash of Samuel and Kings

However – two verses in chapter four have changed millions of lives.

Dr. Leslie Allen says verse nine is “deliberately provocative .”

In popular thinking so negative a name, which commemorated the hard time his mother had in giving birth to him, made Jabez a born loser.

Has someone given you a “bad name?”  Jesus restores reputations.

Consider the Four Parts of Jabez’s Prayer:

1.  Verse 10 – “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me…'”
   In the biblical sense “to bless” is to ask for or to impart God’s supernatural favor.
   Don’t miss the trust factor.
   How can we bless others, if God doesn’t first bless us?

2. Verse 10 – “Oh, that you would enlarge my territory.”
   

   As God’s chosen, blessed sons and daughters, we are expected to attempt something large enough that failure is guaranteed…unless God steps in.
   -Bruce Wilkinson
   

3. Verse 10b – “…let your hand be with me…”
   People who experience the miraculous hand of God are not the people who play it safe.

   II Corinthians 9:9-11
   “The hand of the Lord” is biblical terminology for God’s power and presence in the lives of his people.

   Matthew 28:19-20
   Acts 1:8
   Ephesians 5:18

4. Verse 10b – “…keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain..”
   a. Stay out of harm’s way.
   b. Pray for eyes to see the enemy’s traps.

Today, will you commit with me to:

Personal Notes