You know, I used to think that getting things done in this world was all about having control. If I could just control this and that, then I’d be able to achieve X, Y and Z. But the older I get, the more I’ve realised that it’s all about influence and not control. Because as things turn out, influence is far more powerful than control. EXPANDING YOUR INFLUENCE Well, if you were able to join me last week on the program you’ll know that we chatted about the prayer of Jabez – a man who had a pretty rugged start in life. His name literally means ‘You’re a Pain’, and yet he stood head and shoulders above his brothers and the hundreds of other names listed in the nine chapters of genealogy in the middle of which we find him. Why did Jabez stand out from the crowd? Because he prayed a prayer for God’s abundant blessing. Here it is again: Jabez was more honourable 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 will be with me and that you would keep me from evil that I may cause no pain’. So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:9,10) We’ve seen the power so far of asking for the first part, O God that you would bless me indeed. (1 Chronicles 4:10) Bless me abundantly, bless me just the way you want to bless me. That’s a powerful prayer. Ask God to bless you and then leave it up to Him … His Father’s heart to choose how He wants to bless you. God wants to bless you abundantly, He really does. Not with trinkets and toys but with the sort of blessings that will fill your heart with joy and flow through you and over the top of you and right into the lives of other people. That’s how things work in God’s economy of blessing. You know that line ‘faith without works is dead’? The opposite is also true. When our faith is working its way out – as God’s blessing flows through us into the lives of other people, as God uses the gifts He’s given us to bless others – all of a sudden our faith becomes alive and vibrant and real. Flat, dry, lifeless faith becomes a thing of the past. So can I say, faith with God inspired, God empowered works is so incredibly alive? Now let’s go onto the second part of what Jabez prayed. Right after asking God to bless him indeed, what was the very next thing he prayed? Oh, that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory. (1 Chronicles 4:10) Territory was a big thing back in those days. In fact, for all of Israel’s history having your own land has been a big deal. They spent centuries waiting to take the Promised Land. And when finally, God took them there under Joshua they had to fight for it battle by battle. So expanding your land, expanding your borders, your territory was a huge deal for an Israelite. Still today, Israel is fighting for land several millennia on from when Jabez prayed this prayer. A little while back on the program, we talked about whether or not you and I are kingdom builders or empire builders. Are you in the business of building your own personal empire or are you in the business of building the Kingdom of God? Good question, a question each one of us should be asking ourselves on a constant basis. But let’s go back for a minute to the first part of the prayer, the request for God to bless us indeed – a whole lot, abundantly, over flowingly, more than we could ever hope for, dream or imagine – let’s say God does that. Let’s say God blesses you so much that you can’t contain it. The natural result is an overflow, kind of what, like Jesus was talking about in John chapter 7, verses 37 and 38. He said: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let the one who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, ‘out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’. When you have that much of God’s blessing overflowing out of you, when you have the Spirit of God flowing out of you – it’s not just a trickle, it’s not just a stream, not just a river – but rivers of blessing, rivers of living water flowing through you into the parched dry land, of the lives of the people around you, people who need more of God’s blessing. If that’s happening, what’s the next logical thing for you to ask? More influence of course, more people to share the blessing with. More people to experience the mighty blessings of God that you’ve been experiencing. The request for God’s abundant blessing flows, naturally and logically, into a request for God to expand your borders. So that His Kingdom will come one soul at a time, to more and more souls. When I came to Christ (way back in 1995), right from the beginning, I couldn’t contain the goodness and the joy of what I felt. I knew right back there, on that first day, day one, that I wanted to share this love of Christ with lots of other people. So I started to pray that God would give me the chance to do that and He did. And today, here I am with you and a few million other people across a hundred and sixty countries, chatting about the good news of Jesus. None of that came because I was particularly clever. None of that came through the great strategic planning of our Board of our ministry. It came as an answer to a simple prayer. Lord, please expand my borders and grow your Kingdom through me. It’s a prayer that I pray daily because I know that’s the only way people will be touched by the Holy Spirit through what I do. You see, we all labour in different parts of Gods vineyard, with the tools and gifts He’s granted us by His grace. His blessing isn’t limited by a lack of power or a lack of will. The well of God’s blessing is infinitely deep. Imagine the delight in His heart when He hears you pray: Dear God, please bless me. Bless me, indeed. Please bless me more than I can imagine. And then Lord, God, expand my borders, my territory, my circle of influence so that I can share your blessing … the blessing that’s overflowing through me with people who desperately need to experience you and your blessing. What do you think God would think when He hears you pray that prayer every morning, huh? I’m thinking that God would be absolutely over the moon at your motivation and your desire. I’m thinking that God would be ready to show up and answer that prayer. After all that’s exactly what He did when Jabez prayed that prayer. ALL THE POWER YOU NEED Before the break we’ve been talking a lot about God’s desire to bless us. Let me be a little more specific – God’s overwhelming desire to bless you abundantly. No, not a sugar daddy kind of blessing, not an answer to prayers like, ‘Lord what I really want is a million bucks in my account, a Mercedes SLE in the driveway and a twenty-seven room house overlooking the water’. Now, in the right context, none of those are particularly bad things in and of themselves. They’re just not prayers that God answers very often. God does want to bless us abundantly, super abundantly, Jesus said, ‘Beyond measure, without limit’. But He wants to bless us in a way that glorifies Him and in a way that’s good for us. If you have a spoilt child at home, a teenager maybe, whose always demanding this or that and throwing tantrums when he doesn’t get it. Would you bless him with more stuff? I hope not, because if you love him you need to help him grow up. If on the other hand, you had a child with a heart for helping other people, and doing the best she can possibly do, and sacrificing her life for other people – if she asked you for a blessing would you bless her? Absolutely you would! The only thing that would constrain you would be your resources and your power.

Released on 19 Jun 2022