"Bruce Wilkinson - The Prayer Of Jabez" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilkinson Bruce)

Thirty years later, I haven't stopped.
If you were to ask me what sentence--other than my prayer for salvation-has revolutionized my life and ministry the most, I would tell you that it was the cry of a gimper named Jabez, who is still remembered not for what he did, but for what he prayed-and for what happened next.
In the pages of this little book, I want to introduce you to the amazing truths in Jabez's prayer for blessing and prepare you to expect God's astounding answers to it as a regular part of your life experience.
How do I know that it will significantly impact you? Because of my experience and the testimony of hundreds of others around the world with whom I've shared these principles. Because, even more importantly, the Jabez prayer distills God's powerful will for your future. Finally, because it reveals that your Father longs to give you so much more than you may have ever thought to ask for.
Just ask the man who had no future.

THE PRODIGY OF THE GENEALOGY
Someone once said there is really very little difference between people-but that little difference makes a great deal of difference. Jabez doesn't stand astride the Old Testament like a Moses or a David or light up the book of Acts like those early Christians who turned the world upside down. But one thing is sure: The little difference in his life made all the difference.
You could think of him as the Prodigy of the Genealogy, or maybe the Bible's Little Big Man. You'll find him hiding in the least read section of one of the least-read books of the Bible.
The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are taken up with the official family tree of the Hebrew tribes, beginning with Adam and proceeding through thousands of years to Israel's return from captivity. Talk about boring! The long lists of unfamiliar and difficult names-more than five hundred of them-are likely to make even the bravest Bible student turn back. Take chapter 4. The descendants of Judah: Perez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal .... And that's just the beginning. Ahumai Ishma Idbash Hazelelponi Anub. . . I'd forgive you if you suddenly considered putting this little book aside and reaching for your TV remote. But stay with me. Because forty-four names into the chapter, a story suddenly breaks through:

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying; "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)

In the next verse, the roll call for the tribe of Judah picks up as if nothing has happened-Chelub, Shuah, Mehir .. . .
Something about this man Jabez had caused the historian to pause in middrone, clear his throat, and switch tactics. "Ah, wait a minute!" he seems to interject. "You just gotta know something about this guy named Jabez. He stands head and shoulders above the rest!"
What was the secret to the enduring reputation of Jabez? You can search from front to back in your Bible, as I have, and you won't find any more information than we have in these two brief verses:

Х Things started badly for a person no one had ever heard of.
Х He prayed an unusual, one-sentence prayer.
Х Things ended extraordinarily well.

Clearly, the outcome can be traced to his prayer. Something about Jabez's simple, direct request to God changed his life and left a permanent mark on the history books of Israel:

Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory that Your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil.

At first glance, the four requests may strike you as sincere, sensible, even noble, but not terribly remarkable. Yet just under the surface of each lies a giant paradigm breaker that runs exactly opposite to the way you and I usually think. In the pages to come, I want to show you just how dramatically each of Jabezs requests can release something miraculous in your life.

LIVING BEYOND THE LIMITS
When was the last time God worked through you in such a way that you knew beyond a doubt that God had done it? In fact, when was the last time you saw miracles happen on a regular basis in your life? If you're like most believers I've met, you wouldn't know how to ask for that kind of experience, or even if you should.
What I have to share with you has been opening up lives to God's mighty working for many years. Recently I was in Dallas to teach on the Jabez blessing to an audience of 9,000. Later over lunch, a man said to me, "Bruce, I heard you preach the message of Jabez fifteen years ago, and I haven't stopped praying it. The change has been so overwhelming I have just never stopped."
Across the table, another friend agreed. He said he'd been praying Jabez's little prayer for ten years with similar results. The man next to him, a heart surgeon from Indianapolis, said he had been praying it for five.
I told them, "Friends, I've been praying Jabez for more than half my life!"
Because you're reading this book, I believe you share my desire to reach for a life that will be "more honorable" for God. Not that you wish others to reach for less, but for you, nothing but God's fullest blessing will do. When you stand before Him to give your accounting, your deepest longing is to hear, "Well done!"
God really does have unclaimed blessings waiting for you, my friend. I know it sounds impossible-even embarrassingly suspicious in our self-serving day. Yet that very exchange your want for God's plenty-has been His loving will for your life from eternity past. And with a handful of core commitments on your part, you can proceed from this day forward with the confidence and expectation that your heavenly Father Will bring it to pass for you.
Think of it this way: Instead of standing near the river's edge, asking for a cup of water to get you through each day, you'll do something unthinkableyou will take the little prayer with the giant prize and jump into the river! At that moment, you will begin to let the loving currents of Gods grace and power carry you along. God's great plan for you will surround you and sweep you forward into the profoundly important and satisfying life He has waiting.
If that is what you want, keep reading.

2

SO WHY NOT ASK?

Oh, that you would bless me indeed!

You're at a spiritual retreat in the mountains with others who want to experience a fuller Christian life. For the duration of the retreat everyone has been matched with a mentor. Yours is in his seventies, and he's been touching lives for God longer than you've been alive.
On the way to the showers the first morning, you walk past his room. His door is ajar, and he has just knelt down to pray. You can't resist. How exactly does a giant of the faith begin his prayers? you wonder.
You pause and lean closer. Will he pray for revival? Pray for the hungry around the world? Pray for you?
But this is what you hear: "O Lord, I beg you first and most this morning, please bless ...me!"
Startled at such a selfish prayer, you pad down the hall to your shower. But as you're adjusting the water temperature, a thought hits you. It's so obvious, you can't believe you haven't thought it before:
Great men of the faith think differently than the rest of us.
By the time you're dressed and heading for breakfast, you're sure of it. The reason some men and women of faith rise above the rest, you decide, is that they think and pray differently than those around them.