Pain Free~

1 Chronicles 4:10 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.


Greetings all you Jabez scholars~


I love the Bible. It has eye-opening verses that were written from God to you and me so we can pray confidently.


When we ask God to bless us, and increase our sphere of influence by giving us wisdom, and invite His hand to guide and keep us from harm, it all works together like one big powerful and heavenly umbrella to shield us from pain. Could this mean that if we don't pray and don't ask for increase, and don't invite God's hand to be with us and keep us from harm that we will suffer needlessly?


All I know is that if given the option, I would rather pray than sit around waiting to find out. And I know there have been many many moments when I have seen the power of God clearly interfering in my life to take care of me and the ones I love.


Last Saturday Rayray asked her dad to iron the pockets on her pants. She was in a hurry, and between them they had the brilliant idea it would be more efficient to iron them while Rayray was wearing them. Everything started our fine, and then Jorge pushed the steam button. The hot and searing water penetrated the fabric and promptly left six perfectly round burn marks on Rayray's skin. She yelped, Jorge considered burning himself to show solidarity, and I applied the burn cream and gauze.


..."so that I will be free from pain."


Life is full of pain; God knows it. He also knows that when we pray to be spared and protected, we are spared and protected from a lot of junk. (What if Rayray had been wearing a blouse and had wanted the collar ironed?) No one will live their entire life pain free, but it is biblical to ask God to spare you unnecessary suffering.


Rayray's burns stung like crazy, but she is all better three days later and will make a full recovery. If only all pain lasted three days. Sigh~


I accept God at His word, and since I certainly do not want any extra pain coming my way, I intend to be as bold as Jabez and ask God to keep me from it.


Will you join me?


PRAYER: Dear Lord, Keep us from pain. Help us and our families make wise decisions. Wherever there is someone who could benefit from our experience, give them an ear to hear our words. Extend Your hand over us all like a mighty shade of protection. And deliver us from evil. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Keep Us From Harm~

Monday greetings:)


One of my favorite quotes goes like this: "Seven days without prayer makes one weak." But I know it does not apply to any of us; feel free to share it with the heathens in your life!


At this point we are all so familiar with Jabez and his awesome prayer that we should all be eager and ready to approach God wiht the same requests. Jabez did not hold back and we shouldn't either.

1 Chronicles 4:10 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.


Last week we ended with a closer look at what it means to have God's hand with us. Today we look at Jabez's request to keep him from harm.


H-A-R-M--the possibilities are endless. Other versions of the Bible say "evil," or "trouble."


Frankly, I try not to watch the news too much because there's so much in it about harm, evil, and trouble; it's easy to lose our focus on Whose child we are. We can become downright paranoid, which would be a direct defiance of one of God's most beautiful encouragements. Philippians 4:8 "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."


God encourages us to fix our thoughts on the good stuff because dwelling too much on the bad stuff will drive us nuts. But what are we to do with the fact that harm actually does exist and in abundance? How can we think on the lovely and pure and right when so many things are unlovely and dirty and wrong wrong wrong?


The first step is to take a queue from Jabez and do what he did. Cry out to God to keep you and the ones you love from harm.


I just served six days on a jury for the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting three different women during a massage. The details were graphic and troubling. I had difficulty sleeping just thinking about the allegations and my responsibility to do justice. All kinds of thoughts kept popping into my head about my daughters, sisters, friends, children I know, and just how vulnerable we can all be.


On the third night of tossing and turning, I had enough. I whispered to God Jabez's prayer word for word. I found great comfort in knowing that God understands there is evil in this world, that we humans are susceptible to all kinds of fears, and that He provides protection in response to our pleas.


PRAYER: Dear Lord, Keep us and our families from all harm. Thank You that Your hand is with us, and we are covered, protected, and shielded all the days of our lives. In Jesus' name, AMEN~