Friday, February 03, 2006
Prayer of Jabez
You may be familiar already with the prayer of Jabez. In 2000, Bruce Wilkinson wrote the book The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life, and it has been a popular book in Christian book stores ever since.
In case you're not familiar with Jabez, he was a faithful man who prayed a simple prayer that was recorded in an obscure place in the Bible. In the middle of genealogy records, where we are told who begat who, and who is a son of who, we come to Jabez, and his prayer is recorded. We are also told that God blessed Jabez. Mr. Wilkinson's book has prompted millions of Christians to memorize and repeat the same prayer.
Here is the prayer:
1 Chronicles 4:10 (21st Century King James Version)
'And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my borders, 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.'
I thought about Jabez's prayer today while I was out walking/jogging and praying for all of us who are choosing the path of good health and leaning on Jesus for support all the way. I wondered how my prayer would sound if I prayed it the way Jabez prayed. Since I'm revising his prayer and personalizing it to health, I'll call it my prayer.
The Health Prayer of Karen
Dear Lord "I pray that You would bless me with good health, and enlarge my borders with friends and family and bless all of them with good health,too. Expand my ability to serve you better. I pray that your hand might be with me and that I always remember you are there so I can allow your Holy Spirit to live within my heart, I pray that You would keep me from evil, help me abhor unhealthy food, helping me see the way out of temptation that You always provide, so I won't have to regret it later!"
In case you're not familiar with Jabez, he was a faithful man who prayed a simple prayer that was recorded in an obscure place in the Bible. In the middle of genealogy records, where we are told who begat who, and who is a son of who, we come to Jabez, and his prayer is recorded. We are also told that God blessed Jabez. Mr. Wilkinson's book has prompted millions of Christians to memorize and repeat the same prayer.
Here is the prayer:
1 Chronicles 4:10 (21st Century King James Version)
'And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed and enlarge my borders, 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.'
I thought about Jabez's prayer today while I was out walking/jogging and praying for all of us who are choosing the path of good health and leaning on Jesus for support all the way. I wondered how my prayer would sound if I prayed it the way Jabez prayed. Since I'm revising his prayer and personalizing it to health, I'll call it my prayer.
The Health Prayer of Karen
Dear Lord "I pray that You would bless me with good health, and enlarge my borders with friends and family and bless all of them with good health,too. Expand my ability to serve you better. I pray that your hand might be with me and that I always remember you are there so I can allow your Holy Spirit to live within my heart, I pray that You would keep me from evil, help me abhor unhealthy food, helping me see the way out of temptation that You always provide, so I won't have to regret it later!"
# posted by Karen Whitson @ 9:37 AM 
Comments:
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Hi Karen,
I'm late with my comment, as usual, but I wanted to say that I totally agree with your 7 steps to stop snacking. Dr. Phil also says in his book that you have to replace your bad habits with good habits, otherwise the bad habits creep back.
Also, if our minds are on what we're going to do INSTEAD of eat, we won't always be obsessing about what we can't do and start thinking about what we CAN do.
Making a list of things to do instead of snacking is excellent. I'm going to make my own list and keep it in a handy place so when the urge hits I can refer to it.
I like thinking about the positive aspects rather than what I'm supposedly depriving myself of!
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I'm late with my comment, as usual, but I wanted to say that I totally agree with your 7 steps to stop snacking. Dr. Phil also says in his book that you have to replace your bad habits with good habits, otherwise the bad habits creep back.
Also, if our minds are on what we're going to do INSTEAD of eat, we won't always be obsessing about what we can't do and start thinking about what we CAN do.
Making a list of things to do instead of snacking is excellent. I'm going to make my own list and keep it in a handy place so when the urge hits I can refer to it.
I like thinking about the positive aspects rather than what I'm supposedly depriving myself of!
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