rs you sneeze.No wonder the meaning of blessing gets watered down to something vague and innocuous like “Have a nice day.” No wonder so many Christians aren’t as desperate as Jabez was to receive it!To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor. When we ask for God’s blessing, we’re not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves. We’re crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God has the power to know about or give to us. This kind of richness is what the writer was referring to in Proverbs: “the Lord’s blessing is our greatest wealth; all our work adds nothing to it” (Proverbs 10:22, tlb).Notice a radical aspect to Jabez’s request for blessing: He left is entirely up to God to decide what the blessings would be and where, when, and how Jabez would receive them. This kind of radical trust in God’s wood intentions toward us has nothing in common with the popular gospel that you should ask God for a Cadillac, a six-figure income, or some other material sign that you have found a way to cash in on your connection with God. Instead, the Jabez blessing focuses like a laser on our wanting for ourselves nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us. When we seek God’s blessing as the ultimate value in life, we are throwing ourselves entirely into the river of God’s will and power and purposes for us. All our other needs become secondary to what we really want – which is to become wholly immersed in what God is trying to do in us, through us, and around us for God’s glory. Let me tell you a guaranteed by-product of sincerely seeking God’s blessing: Your life will become marked by miracles. How do I know? Because God Promises it, and I’ve seen it happen in my own! God’s power to accomplish great things suddenly finds no obstruction in you. You’re moving ...
