Now
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez,
saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” 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 his request. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
If you have been born into painful circumstances or you are
living in a painful situation or you have brought pain into people’s lives, you
can learn from Jabez how to manage the pain efffectively by doing the following
things which Jabez did to manage his painful situation:
1.
Jabez called on the God of Israel. (1 Chronicles 4:10)
The first thing that Jabez did was to pray. Therefore, call
on God to look upon your painful situation and to help you cope with it. It is
good to consult counselors, but one should always call on God in prayer for
help for their painful situation.
2.
Jabez asked God to bless him. (1 Chronicles 4:10)
The
blessings of God make a person rich and He adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs
10:22) Therefore ask God to bless you in all areas of your life rather than try
to “bless” yourself by doing the things which you think will reduce your pain
for example buying material possessions or entering into relationships to ease
emotional pain or developing addictions to dull the pain because these
possessions, persons, and addictions and any all other things you may do for
yourself in an attempt to reduce your pain may actually increase it in the long
run by adding more sorrow to your life.
3.
Jabez asked God to enlarge his territory. (1 Chronicles 4:10)
Enlarging your territory can mean many things. It can mean
God blessing you financially so that you stop living in the pain of poverty.
Therefore, if you are in need of money, ask God to enlarge your bank accounts
and businesses.
Enlarging your territory can also mean enlarging you
emotionally especially in situations where painful situations in your past such
as sexual abuse may have stunted you relationally and either harmed your
marriage or hindered you from entering into an intimate relationship with
another person. Therefore, ask God to heal you and enlarge you emotionally so
that you can learn to love again.
Enlarging your territory can also mean enlarging your
physical territory especially in situations where you are living with people and
causing each other pain from the constant friction between you. Therefore, in you
are living in such painful circumstances, ask God to provide you with a a new
dwelling place.
Enlarging your territory can also mean enlarging the
spiritual territory over which your ministry ministers. Painful situations such
as malicious rumors may have harmed your reputation and your ministry. Therefore,
if you are in such as painful situation, you can ask God to enlarge your
territory despite those painful circumstance so that you can impact more people
as you fulfill His purpose for your life.
Excerpt from Managing Pain with the Word of God by Dr Miriam Kinai (C)
:)
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