Be Careful What You Ask For!

      How many times have you heard this phrase: "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it?" How often have you heard it spoken by well-meaning Christian brethren? The underlying mindset seems to be that we should be cautious about what we ask God for, because He might just nail us with something unexpected and overwhelming. There seems to be an undercurrent of unease that if we really, wholeheartedly release ourselves to God, that if we really come before Him in genuine submission and say, "I am YOURS, Lord; Take me and use me how you will," then somehow this will inevitably lead to an immediate dispatch on a mission to deepest Zaire, trading the comfort and familiarity of our home and life for some mosquito-infested squalor ministering to half-naked people who eat beetle larvae as a delicacy.

      And it just might.

      However, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim 1:7). I suspect that this reservation so many of us have -- this vague, nameless dread that grips us when we think of really releasing ourselves to God's sovereignty in our lives -- is one of Satan's most effective tools at keeping us ineffective. We let ourselves be convinced that God has some awful chore waiting for us in the wings the moment we give Him the chance to spring it on us. And so we figure that our best bet is to keep things under our control, only giving God as much as we think we can handle without having to risk that really BIG calling that will send us hip-deep into some Amazon tributary.

      The thing that I think is missing for so many of us is the actual belief that God really, really does want what is best for us. Sure, we parrot back the lofty sounding ideals about how God loves us and wants to give us His best, but do we really believe it in a practical, rubber-meets-the-road kind of way? The problem often comes from where we get our definition of "best." Too often when we think of "blessings," our worldly, fleshly minds immediately turn to our needs, wants, and desires. We think of a better job, a bigger house, a promotion at work or a sudden gift of money from some generously anonymous benefactor. And yet, as you read the Bible, you should inevitably come to the conclusion that this isn't the case. Solomon had it all, money, power, prestige, and yet he still didn't feel "blessed." The book of Ecclesiastes is testimony to that. It turns out that God has a different definition of "blessing" than the Madison Avenue advertising execs. Matthew 6:20 tells us:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

       The clear inference here is that there will be no need in heaven for possessions such as we value here on earth. Thus, the choice becomes clear: either we have our heart set on heavenly (non-material) things, OR our thoughts remain tethered to the world and its values. It's an A or B choice. No middle ground.

      Bruce Wilkinson's book, "The Prayer of Jabez", deals wonderfully with this very conflict. If you haven't read The Prayer of Jabez yet, I heartily recommend that you do so. It is a small book, easily read in a few hours, containing many seemingly obvious truths that somehow seem to have gotten buried beneath too many layers of church programs, catchy acronyms, spiritual gifts test, ministry matrices and management paradigms. As you read this book, you will (I hope) find yourself continually shaking your head in wonder at your own shortsightedness, laughing at the simplistic obviousness of the soundly Biblical principles that Mr. Wilkinson shares.

      Let me pause here to say that there are many out there who have set themselves against The Prayer of Jabez as some sort of "name it and claim it" fad, or some hokey ritual that when repeated enough times will flick some divine switch, bringing down God's blessing because you have hit the magic number of faithful repetitions. I must say that anyone who holds this view simply hasn't read the book. The prayer of Jabez is NOT, I repeat, NOT presented as some mystical cure-all that will solve all your problems. It is not presented as some secret trick to invoking God or commanding His blessings into your life. The prayer of Jabez (a simple prayer in1st Chronicles) is merely the distillation of a few shatteringly simple ideas that actually infuse the Bible from beginning to end. Bruce Wilkinson, in a simple, direct, and personable way, encourages the reader to take the prayer of Jabez to heart, not because it is the prayer of some mystical wünderkind named Jabez, or anyone else for that matter, but because it is about having a heart for God. It is about a mindset, a shift in worldview, and not some rote mantra guaranteeing that your wishes will all come true. Bruce is saying, in effect, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it -- AND THAT IS A GOOD THING! So, as 1st John 5:14-15 tells us, "...this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us; and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." Thus our caution should be in ensuring that for whatever we ask, we ask according to God's will (not our own) for our lives, because that is exactly what He promises to give us! The Prayer of Jabez is about putting aside our human frameworks, those carefully constructed ministry matrices, those flowcharts and budget tally sheets, and instead of relying on OUR ideas of how God fits into OUR plan, we instead begin to embrace GOD'S idea of how we fit into His plan!

      The prayer in question is simply this:

"Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that Thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast [territory], and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!' And God granted him that which he requested." (1 Chron 4:10)

      Nowhere does it speak of more money, a bigger car, a better job, or a fancier church complex. Every element of this prayer is about making oneself more available to God. The prayer shows that Jabez had the right attitude in approaching God. He asked for God to bless him (comma) and enlarge his territory (or area of influence). Jabez understood that more responsibility from God was a blessing, NOT a curse; as something to be desired, not feared. Jabez also asked that "Thine hand might be with me," understanding that if God were to increase Jabez' responsibilities beyond what they already were, then God would have to provide the equipping, the spiritual empowerment. Then he asks God to keep him from evil, "that it may not grieve me." Even though this prayer seems to be full of "me" statements (thus undoubtedly fueling the fires of Wilkinson's critics), what Jabez is saying in that last phrase is that it would grieve him to do anything evil, and thus be outside of God's will. So instead of asking God to strengthen him against temptation, Jabez is asking God to steer him clear of it entirely so that he might not even be at risk of sinning against God. What a concept, eh? Every "me" statement in the prayer is asking God to bring "me" more fully into His presence.

      The basic idea of The Prayer of Jabez is that far too many of us are settling for "good enough" in our daily Christian walk, that we are robbing ourselves of truly experiencing the blessings God has in store for us if we will just make ourselves available to Him! It's about making every waking moment a divine appointment, making each interaction a potential act of glory for the Kingdom. Whether you are in the McDonald's parking lot, the express lane at the grocery store, or waiting for a flight in the airport, Bruce is saying that you need to be constantly and readily aware of God's supernatural influence, willfully available so that you will be ready when the Holy Spirit brings people into your life that you can impact for the Kingdom of God. It might be as simple as lending a sympathetic ear to a weary traveler, or paying the extra change for the person in front of you at the checkout stand, but if you aren't actively looking for these opportunities, if you aren't daily committing yourself to being sensitive to the leading of God's spirit, then you are pretty much sitting on the sidelines, missing out on the blessings that come from doing God's will.

      The Prayer of Jabez is not about a "formula prayer." It's not a key to some magical horn of plenty. It is a call to recommitting ourselves to fully giving ourselves over to God, trusting in Him more that we trust in ourselves, relying on his Holy Spirit to guide us more that we rely on the latest ministry craze or pop-cultural paradigm. It's about not being afraid to ask God for more of Him in your life, trusting that He really does love you, and that He really is waiting to work some amazing things in your life (and the lives of those around you) if you let Him.

      It means trusting that God will change your heart, and equip you with His Spirit to do whatever it is He asks of you, even if it means that mission trip to Ethiopia instead of the new carpet for the living room. Chances are, the mission trip will change YOUR life as much as the Ethiopians, and its effects will continue to be felt long after that carpet would be gone.

      Remember, the word "careful" also means "Thorough and painstaking in action or execution; conscientious", with synonyms like "heedful, mindful, observant, watchful". Thus maybe we should be saying, "Be careful (conscientious) to ask God for more of what He wants in your life...because you just might get it!"

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