Sunday

Martin Luther King had a dream. Is Martin Luther King’s dream your dream? Do we really want social justice and racial equality? Do we really want to be judged by our character instead of by the color of our skin? Is it just as important for everyone to have freedom as it is for you?

Is Martin Luther King’s dream any different from Jabez’s prayer to the God of Israel,

“Oh that You would bless me
and enlarge my territory?”

One seems to be asking for the well being of people, the other seems to be asking for the well being of self. However, they are both asking for the same. The prayer of Jabez is not a prayer of consumerism. As I pointed out last week it is not a prayer seeking some magical blessing of exemption from the hardships of life. The prayer of Jabez is a prayer of surrender. The prayer of Jabez is a necessary first step if we want God to heal this land.

I began this year preaching from 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God spoke to King Solomon saying,

“If my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

How have you responded to God’s Word? How will you respond to this morning’s prayer litany, I Have a Dream? How will you pray,

“Oh, that You would bless me
and enlarge my territory?”

Bottom line, God will not heal this land, we will never sing, ‘We are Free at Last’, a Christian society is not going to arrive until we really want it. We are not going to want it until we become fully Christian.

A Christian is not self-centered, but God centered. A life centered on self will never be immersed in God. What is the driving force of your life, your wants or God’s wants? Do you hunger and thirst for happiness or righteousness? Do you jealously guard your relationship with God? Jesus prayed for you and me, His prayer was “that they, you and me, may be one, even as we, God and Jesus, are one.”

When Jabez prayed,

“enlarge my territory, borders”

he was offering his life to God, not just his praying, his worshipping, but also his eating, his talking, his working. Is that how you see your relationship with God? Do you offer eating, your working, your driving your kids and neighbors to where ever as one ceaseless act of love for God.

Enlarge my territory

is no different than Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians,

Your attitude should be same
as that of Jesus Christ.

Is God pleased with the books you read, the TV programs and videos you watch, the music you listen to, the computer and video games you play, the clothes you wear, the bumper stickers on your car, the things you say, the places you go.

Enlarge my territory

was Jabez’s way of submitting his life to the control and will of God. It is Jabez waiting on God. Not the kind of waiting that involves being still in the presence of God. While, it is important to be still and wait for God. It is equally important to wait on God. The kind of waiting a waiter or waitress does on us. Gratefully serving at His table, ready to hear His voice and do His will. Standing at His throne with pad and pen in hand.

How can you on Jesus Christ on the highway and byways, in the market place and the work place, in the sports arena and the arena of your family?

Paul tells us how in the 12^th chapter of his letter to the Romans,

“Offer your body as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. Do not conform any longer to the patterns
of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Do
not think of yourself more highly
than you should but think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith God has
given you…We have different gifts, according to the grace given us…
Love sincerely. Hate what is evil.
Cling to what is good. Be devoted
to one another. Honor one another. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep
your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse…Live in harmony with one another…Do not repay anyone evil for evil…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Enlarge my territory!

Increase my willingness to serve you.

Dear Father, thank You for Your love for me. I want to yield to You every area of my life, including those areas I have strayed and I do so now.

I pray in the name of Jesus, that you will fill me with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that you will enable me today to become more like Jesus and to do what will glorify You, touch lives and bring people closer to You. I commit to You and the events
of this day…I ask that You will glorify Yourself through me today and draw me closer to You

AMEN