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Good morning, Echoes Church. How how are we doing this morning? Man, some of you were still talking about the food you're gonna eat this evening when you get done with praying and fasting. And, again, I know I wish I could tell you today, hey. We're ending the fast on day seven, but we're,
man, we're we're still in this. And I know if you've never done twenty one days of praying and fasting before, it can it can be a lot. And the truth is that sometimes in the first week, things can actually get really unsettled and difficult before they get better. So if this last week was kinda hard for you, man, just just hang in there. And if you're just joining us, you're brand new, thank you so much for being here. You should have gotten one of these on your way in. This is the twenty one days of prayer and fasting guide that we gave out last week. And, again, if you missed it, you're just learning about it today,
jump in. God can supernaturally make the next fourteen days just as spiritual as the rest of us who are doing twenty one days. But our our intention has been, even the series that we're in, is that, God, we want 2026 to be the best year ever. And how it's gonna be the best year is it's gonna be the best year spiritually. And so we're trying to learn this discipline of what does it look like to be people who pray
first? And the goal of the series, really true that I think the goal of our life is to figure out as followers of Jesus how to make prayer our first response and not our last resort. And that's that's really the goal. That's my heart is I want us to be people default to it. Again, if you have not gotten one of these, these little blue bracelets we've been passing out. I love seeing them in public, and it's just it's a little reminder that says pray first. And this is when we're driving in the car and we're tempted to give somebody the number one sign out the window. We're like, no. I'm gonna I'm gonna pray first. And when I am tempted to respond out of anger and frustration on social media, it's like, no. I'm gonna stop, and I'm gonna pray first. Before you say yes to the date, you're gonna pray
first. That is our that is our heart, and that is our goal. And so my hope today is to teach us more about how to pray. I wanna look at today a really obscure passage that if you come across it in, like, your annual Bible reading plan, it's in the middle of a passage of scripture that usually you will do what I do, and you'll skip past it. You'll say that you read it, but it's just it's in a genealogy. It's in a list of 500 different names.
But in the middle of there, there's this little prayer that's called the prayer of Jabez.
And I I'm telling you, it's one of the most impactful prayers, something I've pray regularly in my life. I wanna teach you the prayer of Jabez this morning that is found in first Chronicles. A little small book in the Old Testament that records the nation of Israel's history. So if you got a Bible, turn to first Chronicles,
and I will pray for us, and we'll jump in. So father, we thank you. God, we thank you that you go before us in this place and that we don't have to do some magic incantation to get you to show up. That holy spirit, you're already here and you're already moving.
So as we open up the scriptures, would you speak to every single one of us? Would you speak to us specifically and individually? And, father, would you would you let us walk out of here closer to your heart than before we walked in this room? It is in Jesus' name all God's people said, amen and amen.
It's kind of an overwhelming number when you look at it, but the world population, again, I haven't put the number on the screen behind me. It is 8,266,846,352
people. But what's crazy is if you look at it right now, you pulled up, the number's gonna be even higher than that because this is constantly growing number. And the truth is that sometimes it's it's easy to feel like we just get lost in the shuffle and the kinda hustle and bustle of life. And what is what is mind blowing to me as a pastor is that even though there are 8,266,000,000
people on this earth that God that God uniquely and purposely has wired every single one of them, you included. And sometimes it can feel like we just get lost in the busyness and the shuffle and the chaos.
And the reason that the prayer of Jabez is so significant to me, and why think it's so important for us to look at, is even in the middle of this list of 500 names of just a genealogy of like this guy had these kids and this guy had these kids, there's this verse that stands out that Jabez,
in the middle of that, learned how to kind of stand out and to begin to live into his God given purpose and identity. And I feel like I say it a lot, but I do it intentionally. I I want you to know that you are not here randomly,
that God has a purpose for your existence, that the way that you are wired, the the family that you come from, the job that you have, the marriage that you are in, that the struggles that you uniquely walk with. I'm telling you,
God has wired you on purpose the way that he wants you, and he wants you to begin to understand
how to take those things and leverage them to expand the kingdom of God. And so if you got a bible, join me in first Chronicles chapter four. We're gonna look at two verses today. But before I get to the prayer, I wanna kinda set it up. Okay. First Chronicles chapter four starts in verse nine this way. It says that Jabez
was more honorable than his brothers. Now again, we don't know why that passage is in there, but I'm not gonna be mad at the end of my life when they're like memorializing me that it just starts with Daniel was more athletic and better looking than his brothers. Alright? Like that's
it's not a bad thing to have, especially when you got brothers and there's that competition that's there. He's just recorded as more honorable than his brother. Maybe it's because of the prayer that he prays, but we don't we don't actually know. His mother had named him Jabez saying, I gave birth to him in pain, which is one of those things where, like, isn't that kinda like a no duh? You know, I've been to a few different deliveries and none of them seem like they were done without pain. Yet, there's something about Jabez, and I know it it it might seem insignificant, but there's something about Jabez
that there's something about how he entered this earth that there was so much pain connected to it that his mom and and this is very common in Hebrew culture. Names had a ton to do with identity. They they were a really big deal. And so his mom has this traumatic birthing experience
and she names him Jabez. So before you go and go, hey, that sounds like a great name for my child. Let me just tell you what the name Jabez means. It literally means sorrowful and born
in pain. Alright? His mom was like, you're gonna remember what it took to bring you into this earth. Alright? Some of you are like, I should have named my kids that. Right? Like born in pain. And again, here's what is interesting to me that Jabez figures out a way to not allow
what what was the most traumatic part of his life to become the primary identifier of him. And again, you and I have got to realize that one of the enemy's greatest tactics is he will take something that you struggle with. He will take a a familial
generational cycle that is normally a part of your story. Heck, he'll take some of the trauma you've been through. He'll take some of the issues that you have. He'll even take the temptations that you struggle with and he'll begin to attach them to your identity.
And and what I love about Jabez is though his name was sorrowful and born into pain, he figures out a way to realize, no. No. No. When I am when I know who I am in Christ that just because I struggle with these things, that's not who I am. And I'm telling you the reason that the enemy is coming after identity so strongly today is because if he can convince you of who you are, it'll begin to determine everything about you. Jabez kinda makes a decision though, yes, I was born into pain. Sure. This is what my mom has identified me as. It is not who I am. And I felt like I just needed to tell some of you here today,
you are not your issues, you are not your trauma, you are not the temptations that you have sexually.
Those are all a part of who you are, but it's not the primary identifier of who you are when you know who you are in Christ. You you are a new creation in Christ, that you are a son or a daughter of the most high God. That is your identity and you've got to remember to live up to it and not just live down to the things that have happened to you. Because the truth is, is sitting in this room is there's a lot of us that have been through some things.
I've been through some hard seasons. I've walked through some difficulties and some disappointments and some traumas, but I refuse to allow that to be the primary thing that I identify myself as.
It is not who I am. I am not just what I do. I am who God says that I am. So the question is the question is is what do we do with pain? Because pain is a part of life. Tension in homes is a part of our human experience.
Tension in marriages, disappointments with friends, loss of loved ones, loss of incomes. Pain is a part of our journey just like it was with JBez, but what do we do with it? I want you this morning to remember that pain will always do one of two things to you. It can define you or it can begin to become something that that that crafts you into who God wants you to be, but you've gotta make a decision. What are you gonna run to in pain? Because most of us, we run to coping mechanisms in our pain, and here's my basic submission to us in a series called Pray First, is that we've gotta learn to realize that maybe prayer
prayer the solution to pain is prayer. And prayer prayer is actually an indicator that or pain is an indicator that it's time to start praying. And that when we feel pain in our bodies, it's an indicator that, okay, it's time to start praying. When I feel pain in my relationship, it's an indicator that it's time to start praying.
Whether pain distorts you or defines you will will be determined by what do you do with it? What do you run to when you experience it? And Jabez makes a decision to do what we see in Psalm chapter one forty seven verse three. He begins to realize that he, God, is alone in in healing the brokenhearted and bandaging
their wounds. Knows that the only person that can truly deal with pain and help me heal from it is God.
So I've gotta learn in my pain to run to prayer and not run to my other coping mechanisms. Jabez, though his name is sorrowful and born into pain, he makes a decision to learn to pray and watch what God does. Verse 10, Jabez cried out to the God of Israel. It's eight eight words that I could preach an entire sermon on, but I I won't do it today. But before we get to the prayer, I wanna show you two things that Jabez does. He has passion and knows the person that he's praying to. I talked about this last week. You and I, at some point, have to learn how to bring our passion to our prayer life because there are things that we are walking through that require
some intensity to be connected to them. And what will either define you is the intensity of your problems or the intensity of your prayers.
And you've got to make a decision like Jabez does here to go, I'm gonna cry out to God. I'm gonna bring them to God. And it's not it's not it's not pretty. It's not pious. It's undignified,
but it's going, God, I'm bringing my passion to you because you can do something with it. You can do something about it. And the other part that's really interesting is when you close your eyes to pray, and this is a big deal. When you sit down to pray and you close your eyes,
what do you think about? Who are you praying to? Because AW Tozer will say that what you think about God is potentially the most important thing about you. And we've got to remember this morning that the invitation, the power of prayer is not in the words that we say, but it's the person
that we're connected to. Jabez knew, yes, I've got to bring passion,
but where am I directing that passion? It's not to the good energy within me. It's not to mother nature that's out there. It's not to the the the the divine being that just exists inside of the world. No. The prayers that change things are the prayers that goes to the God of Israel.
The God that refers to himself as the great I am, who's the same today that he was yesterday and he will be tomorrow. We pray to the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. We pray to Yahweh. We pray to the one that is ruling and reigning on the earth today. Why do prayers matter? It's not good intentions.
It's not setting your heart in the right posture. It's aligning yourself with the God of the universe that can begin to move on your behalf. Jabez goes, I'm gonna bring some passion because life is difficult,
but I know who I'm praying to. I'm praying to the God of Israel. Here's the prayer that he prays that I wanna spend the next few minutes kind of breaking down with you. He says, 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 the most important section in this entire passage is God granted his request. Here's why I think you and I should look at the prayer of Jabez this morning is because however he prayed, whatever he did, however he said it, God
granted his request. The goal of prayer is to pray in such a way that God can grant our request.
There's four things that Jabez does. Four prayers that he prays that I promise you, if you can learn to do, it will begin to change everything. Just like we looked at last week, the Lord's prayer, the model that Jesus gave us, I think Jabez gives us a bit of a model of prayer here. There's four specific things that he prays for that you and I need to pray as well. He starts the first one, if you're taking notes, is he starts with, oh, that you would bless me. His posture before God is, God, would you bless my life? And I'm telling you, this is one of those things that has gotten really weird in the American church in 2026.
I I have more conversations with people that are nervous about God's blessing and favor showing up in their life. Jabez is unapologetically praying a prayer of blessing right here. He's saying, God, would you bless me? Would you pour out supernatural favor on my life? And there are times
because of this thing called the prosperity gospel. And again, if you've seen people on TV that are like, hey, if you just if you pray this way and you you send enough money, then God's gonna return back to you a 100 times what you've given to God. And let me just tell you, that is not a biblical message.
That that is not a that is not a true representation of the gospel. And there are seasons that blessing looks like financial hardship. But here's the other thing you've got to realize.
I I and truthfully, I think this has creeped into the church more so than the prosperity gospel. I think we have so wholeheartedly rejected the prosperity gospel as a culture that we've subtly moved into what I would say is like a poverty gospel. That that somehow we have this notion and belief in the church today
that it's only when like I'm I'm miserable and I'm broke and I'm sick and my marriage is falling apart and my dog has died and my life is a country song that then then God is pleased with me. And I'm telling you, have conversations with people that are like, I don't really know what to do
because like God is moving in my business and I just got a new car and I'm getting paid more than I've ever been paid before and I just don't really know how I should feel about it. Like genuinely, what should my prayer be? I'm like, you you say thank you and you go, God.
God, would you continue the posture of every follower of Jesus is, God, would you would you continue to bless my life? But we've gotta also realize what blessing is. What blessing biblically is the definition is it's really it's genuinely just supernatural favor and abundance.
And the heart posture of every follower of Jesus is that, God, we wanna live under your supernatural favor and abundance.
The scriptures say that you and I, even though we're sinful people, we want to give our kids the best things that we can. And none of us are gonna have our kids come to us and go, dad dad, I want a car, and you're gonna in turn give them a a a, you know, a bottle of ketchup or something. Right? Like, you're gonna you're gonna do everything you can to meet their needs. The scriptures say, just like your father in heaven, he wants to bless you. He wants to pour out supernatural favor and blessing on your life. And there should be. There should be a level that the world looks at us they begin to realize like, man, they're they're good.
They're not that good. You know? Like, there's something different about their life. When I look at the family that I have, I go, man, I'm pretty good. I'm not that good. And supernatural favors like I can through my ability and my striving and my working, I can get it to here. But then God takes over and he supernaturally
blesses it and he takes me to here. I cannot tell you I'm a part of a bunch of different church planting networks because our church has grown quickly. I get phone calls almost weekly going, hey. Can you just tell us what the secret is? Tell us what the and I'm like, I I there is no secret.
Be who God has called you to be. Operate under the anointing of God because with it, you can do everything. Without it, you can't do anything, and maybe God will move. But the truth is is that we're not experiencing supernatural growth here at Echoes because of my brilliance.
It's happening because of the supernatural move and the blessing of God's spirit. You and I have to realize that should be the posture of our heart. God, would you would you bless me? Would you pour out supernatural favor on my life and on my marriage? But you gotta realize and this is the part that the prosperity gospel preachers always leave out.
You gotta realize for God to be able to pour out his blessing on your life, you've gotta be positioned for the favor. You've gotta be positioned for the blessing. Look what King David says in Psalm chapter five verse 12. He says, surely Lord, you bless here's who he blesses. You bless the righteous.
You surround them with your favor as a shield. And David connects the dots that prosperity gospel preachers often don't connect.
God wants to bless your life. Hear me. Yes and amen. But oftentimes when we pray prayers of blessing, what God will do is he will begin to show you areas of your life that are out of alignment, that if you were to bring them back into alignment, you would position and posture yourself for God to be able to bless you again. Here's what I mean. Some of us are really hoping to change our bodies, our physical bodies in 2026.
Sitting down and going, God, I need a six pack and I'm just praying and believing that tomorrow when I wake up, rock hard abs in the name of Jesus, to God be the glory. Here's how God often answers that prayer request. It's called a salad. K? It's called
a gym membership. Like, there's some things you you can't eat fast food every day and expect to have a six pack in the morning, but we're like, no. No. No. I want supernatural blessing and favor from God. And that it's just not it's not a reality biblically.
I believe that you and I financially should be blessed. But the truth is if you're asking God to bless you financially, often what he'll do is he'll go, are you aligning your finances the way that I've told you to align them? Are you living on a budget? Are you trusting God with the first portion of yours? Are you returning them back to God? Because if not,
oftentimes, the reason that God is not blessing is because things are out of alignment. Here's the part that the prosperity gospel preachers always leave out that you need to hear from me. Blessing follows order.
We serve a God of order, and he will not bless that which is out of order. The logical question this morning has to be, what is it you're asking God to bless that is out of order? Bring it back into alignment. Bring it back into order and trust that God will begin to move. But don't be so naive that we don't pray prayers of blessing. Jesus says in Matthew chapter six verse 33,
seek the kingdom of God above all else. This is pray for blessing. Seek God's heart above everything else. And if you live righteously, this is the connection. Seek his heart. Ask for blessing.
Bring that which is not in right standing back into right standing. Here's what God will do. He will give you everything you need. If there's something you need in 2026,
seek God's face, pray prayers of blessing, and allow the Holy Spirit to convict the parts of your life that are out of alignment, bring them back into alignment so that God that God can bless your life. Jabez says, Lord,
would you bless me? And the second thing that he does is he prays a prayer and says, would you enlarge
my territory? And this is also one of those ones that I think you and I as Christians don't really know what to do with today. Jabez is unapologetically praying a prayer of growth. God, I'm asking for you to increase my influence.
I'm asking you to increase my business. I'm asking you to increase my income. This is for you, not for me. I'm asking you to increase my family size. K? In the name of Jesus. Not for me any longer. We did it. We're done. But for you, God wants to increase your family. Alright?
It's this prayer of going, God, I want you to increase what you've given to me, what you've entrusted to me. The scripture says that he who's faithful with a little, God will make faithful with much. Now again, you've got you've got to check your heart in this. The prayer is not God, give me more so I can dunk on everybody on Instagram. No. No. No. It's it's God,
if I don't do this, if I don't get in if I don't take new ground, that means that the enemy is gonna keep it. And you and I as followers of Jesus need to realize that part of our assignment on this earth is taking back territory that the enemy has stolen.
And the only way that we can do that is with more, with more increase, with more territory, with more influence. But it's not about ego, it's about impact.
You know, if you're if you're here and you own a business, I would challenge you, begin to pray, God, would you double my business in the next two to three years? And that's a terrifying prayer to pray. But it's not because I want more, it's because I know that I can do more with it. And there's a guy in our church that's paying for a seat in the senate and I tell him every time I see him, you're nuts for wanting to be in government.
But his response is always, if you and I don't do it, who will? If we don't go and take ground, who will? We're just leaving it for darkness to fill in the voids. And we've got to remember that there's an assignment on our life to take back some territory in the name of Jesus.
We have to start to begin to pray bold prayers that go, God, we're asking for you to increase our territory. For some of you gotta begin to realize that your calling is on the other side of your comfort zone. And I'm telling you, so many of us sitting in this room, we're just we're comfortable.
We've just been doing the same thing and praying the same prayers and going through the same motions. And I'm just sitting here saying, maybe. Maybe what God has for you in this life is right on the other side of your comfort zone. And beginning to pray, God, would you increase my influence? Would you begin to increase
what you've trusted me with? I'm telling you, you can begin to open up some some wild areas for God to bless your life. Pam actually read the verse, second Corinthians chapter nine verse 11.
This is what Paul's reminder is that, yes, you will be enriched in every way. This is the promise of a life position into the favor and blessing of God is that you will be enriched in every way so that. If you got a bible highlight underline circle so that. Here's why God wants you and I to have the tent pegs of our of our increase to be expanded
so that you can always be generous. When when you take your gifts to those who are in need, they will thank God. There's a reason that we pray for increase. It's not because of ego. It's because of impact.
Because you and I can do things with it for the kingdom of God that darkness never will. And when we live lives of generosity, the scripture says that the people that are recipients of it will see the God that we serve, and so we should be praying prayers to enlarge our territory.
People have been asking me, and truthfully, I probably should have put these in the the pray first guide. How can you how can the church be praying for what God is doing across the board at Echoes?
And these are the three things that I would encourage every single person to be praying for what God is doing here because it it genuinely is a supernatural work. Here's here's the three things that I would encourage you to be praying for. The first one is pray for the pastors that are here, the leaders that are here. The scriptures are are very clear that there's there there is unequal
spiritual opposition for people who are in positions of spiritual leadership. The enemy is really good at taking down people who are in positions of spiritual leadership.
And I just refuse. I don't want my family to be a casualty. I've said it from day one. What is not a success to me is building a big church and in the process of losing my family and losing my integrity. But but I need your prayers. Our team needs your prayer. Pray for wisdom. Pray for protection over the ministry and all the families that are represented here. The second thing that I would encourage you to be praying for is we're asking for an increase, asking for more. Again, you look around us. We're in overflow in two out of the four services. The other ones are gonna be there very quickly. We know that we need property. We need a place that can house us, you know, long term. And so we've got some viable options, but we're praying for supernatural deals on land or a building that will advance his kingdom. It's not building for the sake of building. It's building for the sake of impact because people matter. And part of our calling as Christians is to seek that which is lost, to seek and save that which is lost. And so I do have some kind of somewhat exciting news to share with you, but it's more just for prayer direction. Okay? We did submit an offer to buy a building. K? Over at the Superstition Mall, there's a there's a Macy's that has been vacant for about two years.
And so in the beginning of December, we met with our board. We've been running it down, meeting with teams and engineers and all this stuff, and we think it has viability for us to be a church. But we genuinely
we need favor. They have our offer. If anybody knows who Macy is and you could call her and tell her to give it to us, that would be incredible. We just can't find out who she is. But we know that it's a it's a large corporation. It's gonna take some time. We think we've made a a significant offer, and it could be an absolute game changer for us. It could help us get into a building and continue to expand what God is doing in us and through us. And so we're asking for every single person to be praying about it. If you wanna go there and walk around and pray for the building, put some hands on it in the name of Jesus, we're we are all for that. We've considered just showing up and painting it and making it look like this and just going like, yeah. We don't know what happened. Like but I think that's
I think that's how name it and claim it works, and so we're we're trying that. You know? Genuinely,
our heart posture is that, God, we we don't wanna get ahead of you, but we also see that you're doing something unique here. This would give us an opportunity. It's a 150,000 square feet. It's bigger than we would need. We could grow into it. There's so many exciting things about it. There's lots of stuff to still get figured out, but right now, we're asking for the whole church to pray. God, if you're in this, would you green light everything? And if you're not, would you shut every single door? The last thing I'd ask you to be praying for as a church is pray for all of the people.
For every single person that's coming to the church. God God is doing something unique, but pray for favor and fruits over everything that every single person here is putting their hands to.
And again, we've gotta also remember. I've had people ask us, hey. This thing has grown really quickly. Are you gonna spin up another church that's smaller somewhere? And I'm like, wait. What? Why? Like, I it was so hard to make this one work. Why would I go start over? But there's this idea that we have that is a again, it's a false notion that once something becomes big, it becomes bad, and it's not. Something becomes bad when it's bad. Right? Impersonal churches are impersonal.
Bad big churches don't have to be impersonal, but we've gotta realize that the goal is to reach lost people. And there's something unique about what God is doing in the country right now that we're seeing as a church. And so we're praying for God to bring us more people. His
prayer is, God, would you bless me? Would you enlarge my territory? And then he prays what I think is potentially the most important thing of all of it. He says, would your would your hand
be with me? And this is one of those things that I think we don't fully understand in our culture. But synonymous in Hebrew culture with the hand of God was the presence of God. What Jabez is asking for is that, God, would your presence stay with me? And this is the fear.
This should be the greatest fear of our lives is that we get so good at doing life and doing the churchy things that we don't realize that the presence of God left us years ago. There's a story in the book of Judges that terrifies me about a guy named Samson,
a guy at one point who was able to do incredible things for the kingdom of God. But through a series of choices he made, the presence of God left him. And at some point, he tries to do he says, I'll just do what I've done before, and the scripture says he didn't realize the presence had left him.
We are going to be we will always be a presence driven church. I think we should be a presence driven
people. It's not that we make it all about the presence of God, but it's that, hey, we want the favor of God to be with us because with it, we can do anything. Without it, we can do nothing. We're we're not just professional Christians. We are people who are in love with Jesus, who are being changed and molded by his presence. Acts chapter 11 verse 20 says it this way. It says, some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, they went to Antioch
and began to speak to the Greeks, also telling them about the good news from the Lord Jesus. And the Lord's hand was with them. And because God's hand, because his presence was with them, a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. There's a story in the Old Testament about a guy named Zerubbabel in Zechariah chapter four. He shows up at the temple, the beautiful temple that was built for the people of God. It had been destroyed.
And in Zechariah chapter four, God says to him, he says, this is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel. It is not by force nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord of heaven's armies. The temple will be rebuilt.
God tells Zerubbabel what you are about to walk in, the rebuilding that is about to take place through your life and your obedience. It will not be by your might and by your power, but by my spirit. Let me just prophesy and declare over some of your lives in 2026.
There are some things that God wants to rebuild. There are some things that God wants to bring into your life. And let me just tell you, it will not be because of your might, your power, and your ability, but it will be because of the spirit of God that is in you. And what is impossible for man, it is possible
with God. And I am believing that the spirit of God is going to empower you and I to do things beyond our wildest dreams, but the prayer request has to be, God, don't let me get in front of you.
God, don't let me start moving so fast that I miss you. Don't let me get so good at doing this that I just become good and I stop being dependent. And I'm telling you, it's for every single one of us. Dependency
is the goal. His prayer is that, God, would your presence be be with us. I wrote it down this way. I believe that the purpose on our lives, it cannot be fulfilled without his presence in our lives.
We need his presence. We need his spirit. And there is a level of it where we are filled with the spirit of God at the moment of conversion. When you say yes to Jesus, the scripture says that the same spirit that rose Jesus from the grave becomes alive and active in you. Yes and amen. But there is also this thing throughout the scriptures that the people of God are continually being filled with his spirit. It's not a one time thing. It's a continual process. Acts chapter 13 verse 52 says that the disciples,
they were continually filled with joy and with the holy spirit. Here's the prayer. God, would you bless my life? Would you increase what you've entrusted me with? But because I believe you're gonna say yes to those prayers, you're gonna bless me because you're gonna expand what it is you've trusted me with,
I need your presence to go before me. I need your spirit to fill me, to give me wisdom, to give me discernment, to give me the ability to do this because I can't do it on my own. The last part of J Bez's prayer, the fourth part of your taking notes, is he ends it by saying, God, want you to bless me. I want you to increase me. I want you to begin to make your presence be with me. And then he says, I want you to keep me from harm.
It is a prayer of protection.
It is a prayer of realizing that when you begin to embark in this, it's why when you start twenty one days of prayer and fasting, the first seven days can be really, really difficult because all of a sudden, you start to face spiritual opposition again. And I've had multiple conversations with people that are like, is this normal? Like, is it usually like this bad? Like, my home's falling apart. Work's been really difficult. I just go, man, that's sometimes
sometimes when you make a decision to pursue the things of God, to walk away from the life that you used to have, to start over, all of a sudden, opposition starts coming out of everywhere.
And maybe the opposition is proof that God is with you, and you're moving in the right direction. And the enemy wants you to give up. But instead of giving up, we just go, God, I need you to protect me. I need you to supernaturally protect my family. Keep the enemy away from me. But here's the second thing that I think protection really is. The prayer of protection
is that, God, would you begin to give me the wisdom and the discernment to just walk away from the things I need to stop fighting with? I'm I'm telling you, I have conversations all the time with
If you don't know, pornography is pervasive in our culture. It is without a doubt probably the number one culture issue that we face today. It is an epidemic that is that is causing havoc in our homes.
I have conversations with guys that we've talked about this, and they're trying to fight it. And I'll check back in with them a couple months later, like, man, how's it going? How are doing? They're like, oh, man. I've just been I've been getting beat up, man. I've been stumbling again. I'm like, okay. Let's get really practical. Where where is it taking place? Like, well, it it's on my phone. Usually, when nobody else is around, My wife leaves or I I just have a time by myself.
And I'm like, bro, we talked about the last time we were together that you were gonna get rid of your smartphone. And I'm telling you, I have guys in my life that have a struggle with pornography that made a decision years ago. I would rather have a dumb phone and a soul that is intact
than an iPhone and this this facade of a Christian relationship.
And sometimes here's what I'm trying to say. Sometimes the prayer of protection is that, God, would you give me enough enough wisdom and discernment to just walk away from certain things? Some of you, the greatest warfare, the greatest spiritual warfare that you will enter into in 2026
is making a decision to delete Instagram, to stop having conversations with people that are not your spouse online.
Some of you've gotta stop staying late at work when it's just you and somebody else that's that's not your spouse. Some of us need to go, look. I'm getting rid of my phone. When I walk in the door, the Internet shuts off. I'm gonna make real smart decisions because I want the favor, the blessing, and the anointing of God to fall, and he will not bless lives
that are outside of right standing with him. And, yes, we pray for the enemy to be pushed off of our life. But sometimes what we need to do is just realize that wisdom avoids battles that it doesn't need to fight. And some of you need to just avoid the battles. Stop trying to fight through them. We're not strong enough.
You realize scripture literally says, when it comes to sexual impurity, don't fight it. Flee from it. Run. Stop sitting there thinking that eventually you'll have enough willpower. You won't. Get rid of the devices. Get rid of the phones because your soul your soul
matters. Again, whole prayer in one verse. First Chronicles chapter four verse 10. Here's where we're closed. Jabez cried out to the Lord, the God of Israel, oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory. Let your hand be on me. Keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain. And God granted that request.
It's a whole sermon for another day, but what's amazing to me is that God doesn't
answer the prayers that go unprayed.
It is only after Jabez brings his prayers before God that that God begins to move on his behalf. The reason I tell you that is sometimes you and I have this, like, understanding of God that we sit down and our prayer life is like, well, God, you already know everything that I need. So just do your thing, and I'm gonna do my thing, and good luck.
And I'm telling you what is all throughout the scriptures we see here in Jabez is that sometimes God is waiting for you to bring your needs before him in a prayer request. Mark chapter 10, there's a story of a blind blind man named Bartimaeus.
Jesus is walking around all types of supernatural healing all over the place, and the disciples bring Bartimaeus to Jesus. You know what Jesus does? He asks him, what do you want me to do for you?
And you're like, bro, he's blind. What are you talking about? Like, what do you he he needs to see. But it's not that Jesus didn't know it, but he waits for Bartimaeus to say, God, I wanna see again. I wanna have sight again.
And then Jesus, he heals him. And I felt like God wanted me to ask some of you today, what do you want God to do? What are you asking God to do? And then you've gotta take those requests and you gotta make them known to God. You've gotta bring them to him. God, I'm believing you for supernatural
restoration in my home. God, I'm believing you for addictions that I've carried with me that are such a part of my DNA that they will be broken in the name of Jesus. God, I'm believing for financial provision to be poured out on my life. I don't know what it is that you need,
but I'm here to remind you that prayer changes
things and God can't answer prayers that you don't pray. He can't answer requests that you don't bring to him. So what I wanna ask you to do right now, I'm gonna ask every of you would just close your eyes and bow your heads. I want you to think about that thing. If you go, God, this is the one thing that I would get rid of. This is the one thing that I wish I could bring into my life. It could be a relationship that needs to be restored. It could be finances that need to be doubled. It could be a health issue. I I don't know what it is. But if Jesus was sitting here and he asked you the question, what do you want me to do for you? How would you answer that?
I want you to think about that thing right now. I want you to bring it to the forefront of your mind. And, father, right now, we take every single one of these. God, though I could never know them, I know that you do. And, father, I I know that your heart is to bless us. Your heart is to move supernaturally in our lives.
And so, father, I pray that you would you would do exactly what we see here with Jabez, that you would meet our request. You would answer our prayers.
And so, father, for all the prodigal children we're hoping to come home, for all the addictions that need to be broken, for all the marriages that need to be restored, for all the finances that are in ruins. God, for all the insecurity, the anxiety, the eating disorders. Father, we bring them to you now
because you are the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who's the same today that was yesterday and that will be tomorrow. You, father, are the great I am, and you are not just able, but you are willing.
So father, we ask for you to do what only you can do, which is immeasurably more than we could ever hope, think, or imagine. It is in the mighty, holy, and precious name of Jesus that all God's people said, amen and amen.