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Today we will focus on Living Large for God as we continue to look at these same two crucial verses from the previous few days:
I Chronicles 4:9-10
9-10 Jabez was a better man than his brothers, a man of honor. His mother had named him Jabez (Oh, the pain!), saying, “A painful birth! I bore him in great pain!” Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: “Bless me, O bless me! Give me land, large tracts of land. And provide your personal protection—don’t let evil hurt me.” God gave him what he asked.
So yesterday was that seemingly unspiritual and immature prayer, “God, bless me!” We also took a peek at what God wants, God’s nature (to bless), and we talked about daring to ask God to greatly bless us. So what does it mean, living large for God?
Living Large for God (action phrase)
This actually means, to have a great(er) impact. The mission statement for the business I work for (Office Pride) is To Glorify God by positively IMPACTING people and the workplace.
Impact (noun) – to have a strong effect on someone or something.
In defining the phrase Living Large for God and defining the word Impact, who doesn’t want to do that. We want to have a strong effect on our family, our friends, our employees/co-workers, our customers, our community, our country, and our world! And as Wilkinson mentions in his book (and it’s awesome how this ties in later), a key verse is:
Zechariah 4:6
“Not by Might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty.”
Brings back a great memory of Leslie Phillips featuring Matthew Ward singing that verse. Listen in…
So what you can do is by your own power – more on this tomorrow. What happens beyond that is God’s power. So let’s go back to the theme of today, “Living Large for God.”
Give Me Large Tracts of Land (give me impact)
This goes to the heart of the theme of this bold prayer, “Bless me oh Lord, and give me large tracts of land.” So, I believe it’s God’s will for you to have an impact on your family, to have an impact on your friends, to have an impact on your employees/co-workers, your customers, your community, your country, and the world! God has large boundaries. He is the creator of the Universe! It is His will to expand. To expand his love, his forgiveness, and eternal life with Him, to the whole world. To do that He needs for your boundaries to be expanded.
Let’s close with what Wilkinson calls “Jabez appointments” as you consider your impact. As Marilyn Sherman, a Key Note Motivational Speaker notes, it’s your front-row seat! Opportunities that God brings to you are your Jabez appointments. And you get to watch him work through you first hand! The cool part is (Zechariah 4) that when it goes beyond your ability, your gifts, your education, your experience, then it can only be God – by His Spirit, through you. Wow!
Challenge for today – Ask God, and He will give you a front-row seat. So go ahead, do that now and then see what happens today! Dare to live large for God. So be it.
