Thursday, September 07, 2006

A Sober Prayer

I Chronicles 4:9,10 'And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.'

Today during Bible time, Momma shared this passage. In verse 10, which is what I want to talk about, Jabez calls out to God. The first thing that he asks for is God's blessings. But the thing I want to talk about is his last request. He says, "and that thou wouldest keep me from evil".
You hear about Moms and Dads praying this prayer for their kids. But here is a man who is asking God to keep HIM from evil. Another passage that was shared today was I Peter 5:8,9 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.' We talked about how these different passages go together. Verse 8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant..." Sober means "serious" and vigilant means "alert or careful". I believe that Jabez was a sober and vigilant person. He didn't just pray that God would keep him from evil and then just let his guard down. I believe he really meant it and today, as Christians, we need to be sober and vigilant. We need to be careful where we go, who we're friends with, what we look at, etc.
I really enjoyed discussing this passage and I encourage you to be sober and vigilant as you, like Jabez, ask God to keep you from evil.
~Caleb~

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Caleb!! This is good!! What a blessing to have young men such as you and your brother who let God speak to them and turn around and use it to bless and help others. The world needs more young men like y'all...oh yeah..and like Stephen too...but is about to be old isn't he?? Just kidding..LOL!!

Anonymous said...

That was a blessing, Caleb! Thank you for this post. By the way, Lord willing, I'll see you in a week!

Anonymous said...

Amen Bro. Caleb. Thank you so much for sharing God's Word. I hope there are others who heed what you stated today. The world is truly full of much evil. We "All" need to pray that prayer,
'Keep me from evil'. You guys are doing a great job. Keep up the good work. I for one am enjoying your writings.