VIDEO A Fascinating Few: Jabez

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. 1 Chronicles 4:10

Jabez was an honorable man, but he lived with a specific burden. In Hebrew his name sounded like the word for “pain.” His mother named him “Jabez” because “[she] bore him in pain” (1 Chronicles 4:9). It was common in those days to give names related to certain circumstances. But imagine the shame Jabez might have endured for having “pain” for a name. As an honorable man, he didn’t want to be associated with pain.

So Jabez went to the Lord in prayer. He asked God to bless him and expand his land and livelihood; he asked God to be with him and keep him from being a source of pain to others. And God granted his request. We know nothing more about Jabez except he exchanged his fear for God’s blessing.

God will do the same for you. If there is any shame or fear you live with, ask God to remove it and grant you His blessing.

Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Robert Robinson

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The Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10) – C.H. Spurgeon Sermon

Staying the Course in Christ

All you need to say is simply “Yes” or “No”; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37

As Gandalf the Grey confronted Saruman the White, it became clear that the latter had turned from what he was supposed to be doing—helping to protect Middle-earth from the power of the evil being Sauron. What’s more, Saruman had allied with Sauron! In this scene from the film The Fellowship of the Ring, based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic work, the two former friends then engage in an epic good-versus-evil battle. If only Saruman had stayed the course and done what he knew was right!

King Saul also had trouble staying the course. In one account, he rightly “expelled the mediums and spiritists from [Israel]” (1 Samuel 28:3). Good move, for God had declared that dabbling in the occult was “detestable” (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). But when God didn’t answer the king’s plea—due to his prior failures—for how to deal with a massive Philistine army, Saul caved: “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her” (1 Samuel 28:7). Talk about a complete reversal! Saul failed once more as he went against his own decree—what he knew was right.

A millennium later, Jesus said to His disciples, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). In other words, if we’ve committed ourselves to obeying Christ, it’s vital that we keep our oaths and be truthful. Let’s stay the course in doing those things as God helps us.

By:  Tom Felten

Reflect & Pray

What helps you keep your oaths? Why is it vital that you stay the course in being truthful?

Dear Jesus, please help me stay the course in following Your ways.

Comforting Those Who Grieve

Those who mourn are all around us; may we offer them the compassion of our Savior. 2 Samuel 11:26-27

Like Tamar and Rahab, the fourth woman in Matthew’s genealogy has a tarnished reputation (Matthew 1:6)—Bathsheba is labeled by some as a temptress. In reality, however, she was a victim. Desired by King David, she was brought to him and soon found herself pregnant and in danger of death for adultery. David tried to cover up his sin by manipulating Bathsheba’s husband Uriah. When that didn’t work, David had him killed at the front.

Suddenly, Bathsheba was a grieving widow. “She mourned for her husband,” according to 2 Samuel 11:26. Then David made her his wife. When she delivered a son, her joy was short-lived. The child became sick and died, as the prophet Nathan had prophesied (2 Samuel 12:14). Now she was grieving two great losses: a husband and a child.

When it comes to our attention that a parent is grieving, we may feel unsure of the best way to reach out. But we have Jesus as a model of how to offer care. Matthew saw his Master heal the multitudes and remembered the words of Isaiah: “A bent reed He will not break off, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (Matthew 12:20). May we receive such people with gentleness and be a safe place that promotes their healing.

How to Take a Stand for God

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8)

There inevitably come those times in the life of a Christian when he, for conscience sake in the light of the Word of God, must take a stand against some worldly practice. Daniel has given us a striking example of how to do this, not only courageously, but graciously and effectively.

As one of “the princes” of Israel, “of the king’s seed” (Daniel 1:3), he realized that he had the responsibility of maintaining a godly standard as a testimony for the true God when he was asked “to stand in the king’s palace” (Daniel 1:4) after he and his friends had been carried into captivity. Daniel knew that the king’s wine would surely be harmful were he to partake of it. Also, the king’s meat would certainly include pork and would be cooked with blood, which would be unlawful for him, as a good Jew, to eat (Leviticus 11:7-8; 17:10-14). He determined in his heart to take a stand against it.

Note, however, his stand was not belligerent or self-righteous but courteous and reasonable. He requested, “Prove thy servants, I beseech thee” (Daniel 1:8-12). The Babylonians thought they were doing him and his friends a great favor, and Daniel appreciated this. He suggested a scientific test: let them try a vegetarian diet and water for just 10 days to see if this wouldn’t produce better results than the gourmet fare of the palace.

God honored Daniel’s graciousness as well as his courageous faithfulness and so will He do for us. Both are essential ingredients of a fruitful Christian testimony in a non-Christian world. We must “be ready always to give an answer,” but this should be done, not in arrogance, but “with meekness” (1 Peter 3:15). HMM

Accountability Or Anonymity?

A popular buzz word bandied about in Christian circles these days is “accountability.” The question is often asked, “Are you accountable to anyone?“

I would suggest that in reality most of us are more anonymous than we are accountable. We may appear to be accountable in our Christian world, but in the highly secularized environment of values that conflict with ours we become anonymous.

We soon learn that “to get along is to go along,“since today in most circles it’s not considered acceptable to have strong convictions on anything… except not to have strong convictions! Those who are overly vocal with their beliefs are soon labeled social or religious bigots.

And so to “get along,” we soften our stance, which in time has an eroding effect upon our convictions and values… and upon our behavior. We learn to live in two worlds.

Often, in attempting to cope with our duplicity however, we find ourselves privately riddled with tension and guilt.

But not to worry: We will discover that if we sublimate our convictions long enough, they will eventually be neutralized and our guilt will be numbed.

You will then be able to recognize us by our passivity, stoic resignation, and socially acceptable “niceness”.

If you are caught in this kind of a pressure cooker and are tempted to abandon personal ACCOUNTABILITY in favor of a more comfortable ANONYMITY, keep in mind the Scripture’s warning:

“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known… He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men‘s hearts… For God will bring every deed into judgment…”(Matthew 10:26; 1 Corinthians 4:5b; Ecclesiastes 12:14a)

QUESTION: To resist the temptation of receding into anonymity, have you made the decision to make yourself accountable not only to God, but to one or two brothers or sisters in the faith?

“I am that bread of life.”

John 6:35-50

John 6:35

Here he spake plainly, and made his meaning clear to all who wished to understand it. Faith feeds on Jesus and satisfies the soul.

John 6:37

Their unbelief was proof that they were not his; but though they rejected him, others would come to him, so that he would not be left without followers. Moreover, all who came to him believingly he would receive, whoever they might be. This text is as full of consolation as a honeycomb is full of sweetness.

John 6:40

Some are very much taken up with the decrees of God; here is one which they will do well always to bear in mind—every believer has everlasting life. No secret decree can contradict this published ordinance of heaven.

John 6:45

They needed not to excite themselves and grow angry, for his preaching did not concern them; they had neither part nor lot in the matter. If they had been his own elect, they would have believed, but their wicked unbelief was sufficient evidence that the bread he came to give was not of the kind which they cared for, and that they were not the people for whom it was provided.

John 6:49, 47

This plain and unlimited statement from the mouth of Jesus himself ought greatly to encourage and comfort all who believe. Do you trust alone in him? Then you have life, life which can never die, life which will be fully developed in eternal happiness. Do you not feel that you have everlasting life? Nevertheless, if you are trusting in Jesus, the fact is sure, and you are certainly in possession of it. Whatever your feelings may be, Jesus knows what he says, and his witness is true. Believe it because he says so. What better witness can you require?

John 6:48

The real bread, the soul bread, the bread of immortality. Jesus is that to all who trust him.

John 6:50

They only ate bread for the body, and the body died. Jesus gives soul bread, and he who eats of it lives in joy for ever. Have all in this household trusted Jesus? Are we all feeding upon him? If not, may the Lord work faith in us at this very moment.

Not to myself I owe

That I, O Lord, am thine;

Free grace hath all the shades broke through,

And caused the light to shine.

Me thou hast willing made

Thy offers to receive;

Call’d by the voice that wakes the dead,

I come to thee and live.

Because thy sovereign love

Was bent the worst to save;

Jesus who reigns enthroned above,

To me salvation gave.

Confess Christ’s Lordship

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. (Colossians 2:6)

I think it is a completely wrong concept in Christian circles to look upon Jesus as a kind of divine nurse to whom we can go when sin has made us sick, and after He has helped us, to say, “Goodbye, Jesus”—and go on our own way.

Suppose I go into a hospital in need of a blood transfusion. After the staff has ministered to me and given their services, do I just slip out with a cheery “goodbye”—as though I owe them nothing and it was kind of them to help me in my time of need?

That may sound far out to you, but it draws a picture of attitudes among us today.

But the Bible never in any way gives us such a concept of salvation. Nowhere are we ever led to believe that we can use Jesus as a Savior and not own Him as our Lord. He is the Lord and as the Lord He saves us, because He has all of the offices of Savior, Christ, High Priest, and Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption!

He is all of these—and all of these are embodied in Him as Christ, the Lord!