"As a child of God, you ought to
expect God to answer your prayers. Do you ask
God to do something without adjusting your life
to what you are praying? If you are praying
for revival, how are you preparing for its coming?
If you are praying for forgiveness, are you
still living with guilt? If you have asked God
to provide for your needs, do you remain worried
and anxious? Ask God to increase your faith,
and then begin living a life that reflects absolute
trust in Him." Henry Blackaby
We
all want God to answer our prayers. We believe
in the power of prayer. But when it comes down
to our own individual lives and our own problems,
we often don't have the faith to believe God will
answer. We are often trapped by our unbelief and
independence. But God is preparing us for the
end-time harvest. He wants to enlarge our territory.
He wants to bless us with increase, because His
nature is to bless. We are the ones who limit
God because of our lack of faith and our fear
of stepping out in dependence on Him. The truth
is that the things we do for God should be outside
of our own ability and trusting in His supernatural
ability. When we back away from dependence, we
are not living by faith. We need to be willing
to attempt things big enough that unless God's
steps in, we are sure to fail. This is the kind
of faith and dependence He is looking for in our
life. Remember the Jabez prayer in I Chronicles
4:10 that many of us were praying a couple of
years ago:
"Jabez
cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you
would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let
your hand be with me, and keep me from harm
so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted
his request."
He
cried out to God to enlarge his territory and
bless him. He cried out for God's hand to
be with him. We, too, are made for destiny. We
have a God-inspired desire to impact our world.
Created for something bigger than ourselves, we
are designed to touch a lost world. As intercessors,
we long to make an impact on our land for eternity
- whether it is where we work, live, or minister.
But in reality, most of us are afraid to step
out by faith. We are afraid of failing. Why are
we afraid to become dependent on a God who has
unlimited resources? But if we pray for God to
enlarge our borders, we must be dependent on Him
and prepared to believe for miracles that only
God can bring about.
"God's
bounty is limited only by us, not by His resources,
power, or willingness to give. Jabez was blessed
simply because he refused to let any obstacle,
person, or opinion loom larger than God's nature.
And God's nature is to bless."
When
reading the book, The Prayer of Jabez, many of
us were praying that God would enlarge our territory.
God gives us the desires of our hearts and He
wants to answer extraordinary prayers combined
with extraordinary faith in the impossible. He
wants us to live beyond our self-imposed limits.
He wants to give us favor, but many of us don't
believe it. I encourage you to begin to pray big
prayers, because God is able to bless. I am right
now praying for big things for Intercessors Arise;
things that are absolutely impossible unless God
comes through. I want to believe God for the supernatural
in intercession, for the impossible to become
possible, for His extraordinary hand of power
in situations in nations. I want to believe God
for a mighty prayer movement that covers the earth.
To do so, I need to be ready to take action according
to God's direction. I know that I must demonstrate
my dependence on Him by stepping out by faith
in whatever way He leads. Bruce Wilkinson, author
of The Prayer of Jabez, says the following:
"The
most exhilarating miracles in my life have always
started with a bold request to expand God's
kingdom a lot. When you take little steps, you
don't need God. It's when you thrust yourself
in the mainstream of God's plan for this world
- which are beyond our ability to accomplish
- and plead with Him, Lord, use me - give me
more ministry for You - that you release miracles."
My
willingness and weakness + God's will and supernatural
power
= God's unlimited opportunity to bless
What God is trying to teach each one of us
is dependence on His strong hand and supernatural
power. When we surrender our weakness into
the mighty hand of God, then our needs and problems
turn into His unlimited opportunity. Then God
becomes great through us. Then he can entrust
us with an enlarged territory and the fulfillment
of our destiny. But we have to take steps of faith
even if they are small. God honors these steps
and turns them into His unlimited opportunity
because at that very point, we become dependent
on Him. This is His plan for each one of our lives
as intercessors. I encourage you to take time,
and meditate on this. If we are willing to give
God our weakness and obey His Word by faith, then
it opens the door for supernatural power and God's
opportunity to bless. What step of faith is God
asking you to take today? What impossibility will
you put into His hands and by faith obey what
He tells you to do? Will you invite Him today
to take over? Will you trust Him? Will you put
everything into His almighty hands, adjust your
life to what you are praying for, and step out
by faith in whatever way He leads. When you do
this, you become dependent in His dependable hands.
He is waiting for your invitation to enlarge you
in faith.
Notice that
Jabez did not begin his prayer by asking for
God's hand to be with him. At that point, he
didn't sense the need. Things were still manageable.
His risks, and the fears that go with them,
were minimal. But when his boundaries got moved
out, and the kingdom-sized tasks of God's agenda
started coming at him, Jabez knew he needed
a divine hand - and fast. He could have turned
back, or he could have tried to keep going in
his own strength. Instead he prayed. If seeking
God's blessing is our ultimate act of worship,
and asking to do more for Him is our utmost
ambition, then asking for God's hand upon us
is our strategic choice to sustain and continue
the great things that God has begun in our lives.
That's why you could call God's hand on you
'the touch of greatness.' You do not become
great; you become dependent on the strong hand
of God. Your surrendered need turns into His
unlimited opportunity. And He becomes great
through you." Unnamed quotes by Bruce Wilkinson
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