God-Sized Prayers

I invite you to join me now in 1st Chronicles chapter 4 and verse 9. We're continuing now with just part 2 of this series Level Up and it's based on this man of the Bible named J.Bez.

You weren't here last Sunday. I invite you to go back to the recording, listen to that message. It'll bless you.

The word of God says this, Now J.Bez was more honorable than his brothers and his mother called his name J.Bez saying because I bore him in pain.

And J.Bez 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. My title today is God sized prayers. God sized prayers.

Let us pray right now. Father, I thank you for your spirit that we feel so wonderfully in this place. And I ask God that you would now speak to us from your word.

Annoy my lips of clay, God. Put your word in my mouth that everything that is spoken, God, would be God approved and God anointed.

And touch the ears and the hearts of all that are here today and those that are watching be a life stream, God, that they would receive this word with gladness and be strengthening courage today.

In Jesus name, we declare this a mess. I'm going to say, Amen. Now you can be seated in the presence of God.

And then we also got our Park Day today, too. So praise God. Amen. Hallelujah.

About 20 years ago, I was introduced to a little book called The Prayer of Jabez by an author named Bruce Wilkinson.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with this book, have read it. To be honest, I didn't even know who Jabez was until I got a copy of this book.

I never read his story, never read the verse, but I became very interested in Jabez and his prayer.

This was a period of my life where I was trying to develop a more fervent prayer life.

Growing up in church all my life, was born and raised, dedicated as a baby in the church, slept under the pews, like they say, and been around prayer all of my life.

But there came a point in which I understood that it was time for me to get my own prayer life and really begin to develop that close relationship with God.

And so around that time was when this little book was introduced to me.

And my dad also at the time had noticed that I was hungering for more of God and wanted to grow in prayer.

And so he invited me to join him at the church every Friday.

And so him and I would meet every Friday morning at 5 a.m. for prayer.

And this went on for years, just myself and my dad.

Sometimes other brothers would come.

They were everyone, anybody was welcome, but rain or shine, my dad and I would meet there for prayer.

And that was really the schooling or the training for the life of prayer that I would eventually develop.

And it was during this time that I was as I was praying more and learning about J.Bez that I learned the importance of not just praying longer, but praying bigger.

Amen. There is a difference between long prayers and big prayers.

Not all long prayers or lengthy prayers are big prayers and not all big prayers are necessarily long prayers.

So lengthy prayers doesn't equate to big prayers.

In other words, you can pray all day long if you'd like.

But if there's no faith being mixed in that prayer, if you're not claiming or asking or believing for big things, it could just be an average prayer, but not the kind of prayer that would move God and the kind of prayer that excites God.

I think and I believe that there is a certain kind of prayer that excites God, that really pushes God to move.

And so what I've discovered is that that God not only invites us to pray more, but he invites us to pray for more.

Men, it's good for us to pray longer and to pray more, but not just to pray more for the sake of praying more, but to pray for more.

Why is that? Because God desires to not only supply all your needs according to his riches and glory,

but that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.

And I want to today just lay a very brief foundation before I begin to look closely at the prayer of Jabez.

So before I can preach about what I would call God sized prayers,

we have to establish a few facts about God.

First fact we need to know is that God is an abundant God.

I said he is an abundant God. Somebody give God a praise if you believe he is an abundant God.

He is an abundant God. God is not lack of anything.

He possesses all things.

And in the Old Testament, they had a name for God, El Shaddai.

El Shaddai, which means the God of more than enough.

If God was just enough, I'd still serve him.

How about you?

If he was just enough, I'd still serve him.

But the fact is, is that he's not just enough because if he was just enough,

that means he would meet your needs and I'd still serve him for that.

But he's the God of more than enough, which means that he not only meets our needs,

but he exceeds our needs.

This is why David wrote in his famous Psalm 23, he said, my cup runneth over.

He doesn't just feel my eye, I could just preach on this, hallelujah.

He doesn't just feel my cup, but he feels it to the point that it runs over.

He feels, my God, he feels it to the point that I'm overflowing with the goodness

and the abundance and the excellence and the goodness of God.

Praise be to God.

And so my cup runs over.

God is an abundant God.

And secondly, I want to establish today is that God is a blessing God.

Jesus taught if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more will your father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

God is saying, if you as an earthly parent, mother or father, know how to give good gifts

to your children, how much more am I?

Your supreme, your heavenly father would give good gifts to you.

What I want to establish today is this, before we could talk about praying big prayers,

praying God sized prayers, you need to know that number one, God is abundant.

He lacks nothing.

And number two, God is a blessing God.

He actually wants to bless you.

Amen.

He actually wants to give you good gifts because he is a good God.

And God is the source of all blessings, all blessings.

Every good gift the Bible tells us comes from above.

Every good gift, every good thing that we have in our life is because God ordained it.

God allowed it.

God blessed it.

He is the source of all blessings.

I alluded to Psalm 23 and I'll allude to it again where David says, the Lord is my shepherd.

Hallelujah.

How many of you is he your shepherd today?

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want everything I could possibly need, everything I could possibly dream and aspire to.

God is my shepherd and he leads me to the green pastures.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

I've come to announce to somebody today that we serve an abundant God and we serve a blessing God.

And God is always in the mood and blessing his people.

And I don't know about you today, but I want to walk out of those doors more blessed than I did when I walked in.

And all we've got to do is learn the secrets of prayer.

Because let me tell you where these blessings will come through.

Hallelujah.

Prayer, someone say prayer.

Prayer is the pipeline of God's favor.

Oh, I get excited when I think about that.

Prayer, someone say it again.

Say prayer.

Prayer is the pipeline.

It's the channel through which the blessings and the favor of God flow.

And if we ever tap in to prayer and really pray like we mean it and understand that God is inviting us to pray these God-sized prayers,

then we will invite him to intervene on our behalf in ways that we have never seen.

God is wanting to move among us, move among our families,

move among our businesses, move among our ministries in ways that we have not even begin to imagine.

I want somebody to understand something about the way that God works.

Whatever you have experienced of him thus far is not even a fraction of what God can do.

If you keep praying and believing and asking God for the big stuff.

Hey, I'm thankful for the little things.

I'm thankful for all the little blessings, but I serve the God of the overflow.

I serve the God of the abundance.

And God wants to bless us, but we've got to pray.

Let's look at the four parts of J.B.S.'s prayer, which was a God-sized prayer.

And the first part is bless me.

Someone say bless me.

He said, J.B.S. began his prayer saying, Oh, that you would bless me indeed.

Now that word bless is powerful, but there's actually two other words in this verse that I want to focus on.

And they are the words, oh, and indeed.

I want to actually focus on those two words.

The word oh is an important word, and you need to get a revelation of oh.

Someone say, oh, oh, I didn't know what I did.

Well, yeah, now you know.

Oh is a word that serves no other purpose than to express strong emotion and intensity.

It is a word that flows out of the heart.

That word oh especially expresses when you are surprised or amazed by something.

Somebody shows you something you've never seen.

You go, oh, wow, I've never seen that before.

Or oh my, right.

Or if it's bad, you might say, oh, no.

But that word oh usually expresses that you are amazed or surprised about something.

It flows out of the heart.

It's an expression of wonder.

It's an expression of excitement, an expression of amazement.

And I believe that that little word oh, that two-letter word oh is so key.

This is how Jabez started his prayer on an oh.

He said, oh, there's something about that oh that God must have turned and looked at and said,

oh, I think I hear my servant calling me right now.

And maybe it was a cry.

Maybe he yelled from the depths of his soul oh.

And God heard his son calling on him.

It is a term of excitement or a term of passion.

It is a term of praise.

And it was that oh that set the tone for the rest of the prayer.

If you want to know how to attract the attention of God,

if you want to know how to arrest the attention of God,

if you want to make your prayers more powerful starting from this day forward,

you need to get a revelation of oh.

And oh, my God, you need to get into a place of prayer when you really begin to call on God

from the depths of your soul and say oh, we've got to put these boring prayers aside.

We've got to put these lifeless, emotionless prayers aside.

God gave you emotions for a reason.

He's an emotional God.

And he wants to feel the beat of your heart.

He wants to know that you're praying like you mean it.

Am I talking to anybody here today?

If you get a revelation of oh, it'll change the way that you pray.

From the moment that you put your feet down, the moment that you begin to kneel and you say oh,

or you begin to call out to him with words that cannot be uttered,

that will do something to the heart of God,

I believe that there are some oh people here today.

There are some oh people here today.

Oh, yes, God, I believe.

Come on, clap your hands and give God some praise here today.

I can preach a whole message just on oh.

Magnify the Lord with me if we can get that oh in our spirit and go before what am I preaching?

I'm preaching.

We've got to come to him with excitement and anticipation.

We've got to come to him with our whole heart.

We've got to preach and we've got to pray bold prayers.

Bold prayers are those that are offered with praise and with passion.

Oh, God wants us to cry out unto him.

Oh, God, here I am again.

Oh, God, I love you.

And I feel the Holy Ghost.

Oh, God, if we would get an oh in our spirit, it'll revolutionize the way you pray.

It'll change the way it'll turn your altar on fire.

It'll call something to happen.

If the devil wants to stop anything, it's to take that oh out of your spirit.

Oh, hallelujah.

Long are the days of dry, empty, cold prayers.

Long are the days of sleepy, tired and emotionless prayers.

We've got to get the oh back in our hearts.

And then when you get the oh, the second word was the word indeed.

He said, oh, that you would bless me indeed.

Indeed.

And that word indeed is also important.

That word indeed means it's to make an emphasis on something.

When you say the word indeed, you're saying that something is true

or something is truer than something else.

When you say indeed, if somebody asks you a question and you answer indeed,

what you are saying is it's very much so.

You are saying really and certainly without a shadow of a doubt it is.

And I believe that when we go for God in prayer,

he doesn't just want to hear and feel the oh of our spirit,

but he also wants to hear somebody praying with an indeed.

God, I've got a made of mind.

God, I am settled in my spirit.

God, I'm not taking no for an answer.

God, I'm ready to wrestle with you like Jacob did.

God, I'm ready to say, my God, I feel something.

I need this indeed.

Without a doubt, God, I want it.

Without a doubt, God, I need it.

Without a doubt, God, I'm believing for it.

We've got to have an indeed in our spirit.

And come boldly before the throne of grace.

Our Bible teaches us and we read in Hebrews 4 and 16.

Therefore, let us come boldly.

Someone say boldly.

Say boldly.

Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain

mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God wants us to come to him like we are his spiritual sons and daughters.

I've got news for you today.

I am not a spiritual beggar.

I am not a spiritual beggar.

I don't have to beg God for anything.

Do I got a witness in the house today?

I don't got to beg God for anything because I realize that I am already the head and not the tail.

I realize that every time I go before the throne of grace, I am covered by the blood of Jesus.

I stand in his righteousness.

Can't I preach like a filter?

I stand in his goodness and when I ask for what I need, I'm not asking in my name,

but I'm asking in his name and I can do so with boldness.

I can do so with fervency.

I've come to preach to somebody here today that you want to pray with a greater boldness

and say, God, this is the day that the Lord has made.

And I claim my blessing and I claim my miracle and I claim what I need from you today.

Somebody ought to praise him in this house.

Somebody ought to lift up your voice.

Somebody ought to magnify his name.

I can come boldly.

Jesus!

This is not about demanding from God.

This is not about making God our genie.

This is not about making God do things he don't want to do.

No, but God wants us to come before him boldly.

We are, as the Bible teaches, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

That means you are royalty.

Hallelujah.

That means our God.

How many of you know he's an abundant God?

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He owns the land that flows with milk and honey.

He owns everything.

My God.

And we ought to pray.

You know how we ought to pray?

Like we're seated in heavenly places.

My God, I don't have to beg for it, God.

But all I got to do is ask with an O.

And indeed, God, this is what I want.

Someone shout hallelujah today.

Then he prays this.

He prays enlarge me.

This is the second part.

Enlarge me.

He says, and enlarge.

He's very specific.

My territory.

You're going to pray at God-sized prayers.

Don't ask for reduction.

Ask for more.

Hallelujah.

When you're going to pray at God-sized prayer, you're going to say, Lord, enlarge my territory.

Hallelujah.

Somebody say amen today.

First of all, I read this and I began to meditate and think, well, if Jabez asked God to enlarge my territory,

what it tells me, number one, is that Jabez had a territory to enlarge.

Can I tell you that God's already given you a territory?

You can't ask God to enlarge something you don't have.

Jabez was already blessed.

He said, God, this is good and I like it, but I want more.

Anybody want more here today?

Hallelujah.

I want more of your goodness.

I want more.

And he said, enlarge my territory, the space, God, that you have given to me, Lord, enlarge it.

And this is important because God had already given him a territory.

God had already given him a space.

This is important because too often people pray for things while overlooking what God has already given them.

Jabez didn't say, give me a new territory.

He said, enlarge the territory I already have.

Oh, my Lord, hallelujah.

I'm going to help somebody here today.

He didn't ask God for a new territory.

He asked God to grow what I have.

My God, grow what you've already given me.

Expand what you've already given me.

He said, grow it, God, enlarge it, enlarge it, make it wider, make it bigger.

Hallelujah.

Secondly, he's not just asking.

I want to clear up something.

Jabez is not just praying for wealth and prosperity for the sake of wealth and prosperity.

He's saying, God, give me more.

But with him asking for more, he's not just asking for a bigger slice of the pie.

He's not just asking for a bigger slice just so he can, you know, I don't know, show off to other people.

I don't think how big of a thing I got here going on.

No, he asked for more so that he could do more with what he had.

Hallelujah.

He's asking for a greater responsibility, a greater influence.

Jabez is not just asking for more land for the sake of land.

Jabez is saying, God, expand my influence.

Expand and enlarge, God, the area that you've given me to steward.

Hallelujah.

And to be responsible for.

And so he praises to God.

And I'm reminded of the heart, the heart of a God-sized prayer.

It's not selfish, but it's inclusive of others and how we can bless them.

I'm reminded of the covenant that God made with Abram.

In Genesis 12 and verse two, I will make you Abram, who would become Abraham.

I will make you a great nation.

I'm going to make you one.

I will bless you and make your name great.

And you shall be a blessing.

I'm going to bless you, Abraham, so that you in turn can bless others.

Hallelujah.

So you in turn can take the blessing, the influence, whatever I've given you,

the large, enlarged territory or capacity in order to bless someone else.

Everybody wants to be blessed.

But I just got a question for you.

The question is, blessed for what reason?

Blessed for what reason?

For what reason do we want to be blessed?

Why should God bless you with more?

Hallelujah.

Why should he bless you?

Please understand that God never blesses for the sake of blessing.

Hallelujah.

Doing so might actually do more harm than hell.

He doesn't give us growth for the sake of growth.

God's blessings, hear me today, are always attached to a divine purpose.

Amen.

Did I lose some of you guys?

He always blesses us for a divine purpose, and it's to be a blessing.

Amen.

To lift up others.

Hallelujah.

God invites us to pray for increase, for enlargement, for expansion.

Why?

We are to pray these things so that in turn we can do what Jabez did when God expanded his territory.

He had more to take care of.

He had more responsibility that was given to him in his life.

And when we pray these things, get ready, because you cannot expect God to expand your territory and you not be stretched.

The only way to expand something is to stretch.

As someone say stretch.

I like that word.

Let's say it again.

Say stretch.

In order for something to expand, I'll only be a few more moments.

Amen.

And then only for it to expand, it's got to be stretched.

Many people want expansion, they don't want to be stretched.

Because being stretched is going to make me uncomfortable.

Hallelujah.

Being stretched is going to cost me something.

Being stretched is going to inconvenience me.

They want expansion, but they don't want discomfort or accountability to come with it.

I just want to grow, but I don't want to be stretched.

You're never going to grow until you are stretched.

And in order to be stretched, you've got to be made uncomfortable.

So I've got news for somebody here today.

If you're going to pray a God-sized prayer, say, God, expand my territory, Lord.

Give me more influence.

Use me in a greater way.

I want to be used God and expand the boundaries of my ministry and my life.

Get ready to be stretched.

Get ready to be stretched.

Those that God uses the most are those that God bruises the most.

So I don't know if God worked like that.

Absolutely.

If you can't be made uncomfortable, if you can't go through pain, if you can't be, if it can't stretch, then it's never going to expand.

And the only kind of expansion it'll be is that of a balloon.

And once a balloon has expanded beyond what it can do, what does it do?

It pops.

There it went.

It expanded, but it didn't last.

It popped.

It's not the kind of growth that God.

We don't want to have balloon growth.

We want to have territory grow.

Make me wider.

God, take me further.

Somebody give God some praise today.

Hallelujah.

He prays.

Thirdly, he prays.

Oh, brother, I didn't call you up yet, but you can come up anyways.

Play real soft.

Thirdly is to be with me.

Jabez wanted more than anything.

He wanted the blessing.

More than the blessing.

More than the blessing.

He wanted the blesser.

He said, God, I need you to be with me.

Some would say be with me.

And so he prays.

Say it again.

Be with me.

He prayed that your hand would be with me.

The hand of God, he prays.

I need you to be with me.

Nothing terrifies me more than having success, blessing, and expansion without the hand of God.

Nothing scares me more than that.

To be in a place of presumed blessing, whatever you want to call it, success without the hand of God.

So he prays that your hand would be with me.

Without the presence of God, what is it, brother, sister?

It's nothing.

Without the presence of God.

He said, I need your hand.

The hand symbolizes God's presence.

Why?

Because you can't separate the hand from the body.

The body goes where the hand goes.

Hallelujah.

And he says, give me your hand, God, because no matter where I go, no matter how you bless me, no matter how prosperous or great I become, doesn't matter.

If your hand is not with me, God, then it's not going to stay blessed.

If your hand isn't with me, God, if I don't have your presence, God.

He said, I need your presence.

I need to stay in your presence.

I need to walk with you like the children of Israel did with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

They dare not get ahead of the cloud.

Oh, are you hearing what I'm saying today?

Are you all still tracking with me right now?

Hallelujah.

They dare not get ahead of the pillar of fire.

I need you, God, your hand to be with me.

I need you, Lord, I need your presence, God, to guide me.

What happens a lot of times is that people taste success and then they forget who opened the door.

Oh, Jesus.

You know, remember the story of the butler?

The butler in Pharaoh's palace, the one that Joseph interpreted his dream.

Remember that story?

Remember?

Remember he interpreted his dream?

He blessed him.

He ministered to him.

Right.

That was all God.

Then the butler gets his life is preserved.

He's back in the palace.

I mean, that boy's living the life.

He made it.

Let everybody know I'm back.

Oh, man, the butler is back.

He's enjoying the blessings, right?

Sitting at the king's table, sipping wine with everybody else.

And he's just going about his life, just enjoying the goodness.

And the whole time, Joseph said, look, when you get there, remember me.

Remember that it was God that opened that door?

And the butler forgot.

He forgot about him.

And a lot of Christians are blessed.

But you know what?

They left their Josephs in prison.

They forgot to go back.

They forgot the spiritual gifts, their passions, their abilities are in prison.

Now they've tasted success and they forgot the remedy and the keys that got them to where they are.

Oh, shee-haw-la-ma-ka.

I feel something right now.

You know what the Holy Ghost told me?

I'm going to wrap it up here soon.

The Holy Ghost told me that God's about to cast some checks on promises that you made him that if he blessed you the way he did, you said you would do.

And some of us haven't.

God hasn't yet cast the check on some of the things.

God, if you bless me with this, I'm going to use it for your glory.

Well, he's waiting.

You said some of you prayed for a house and you said, God, if you give me a house, I'll make this house a sanctuary.

I'll open it up for souls.

You gave God that condition.

God didn't tell you to say that.

You said, if you bless me with a house, you bless me with it, then people are going to be saved here.

We're going to have Bible study here.

You haven't opened up your home for Bible study once.

If you bless me with this car, I'm going to use it to bring souls to church.

Some of us can't even get ourselves to church.

I'm here to tell you, God is about to start cashing some checks on some things that we said, Lord, if you would expand my territory.

You know how it is in prayer.

You start saying, God, if you bless me, I promise you.

Huh?

I promise you, God, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to serve you.

I'm going to give more.

God didn't bless you with more so that you can give less.

He blessed you with more so that you would always know that he is the source of your blessing.

He is the source of your life.

He is the source and he can give it and he can take it away.

So this is the mindset that I have in prayer.

God, bless me, enlarge my territory, but not at the expense of your presence.

Would you stand with me today?

Not at the expense of your hand, God.

The only way to keep the hand of God, the only way to keeping God's hand is to stay under his hand.

The only way to keep God's hand in his presence is you got to stay under it.

You got to humble yourself.

You got to humble yourself and get under, not above, under, under.

Someone say under.

Under his hand, under authority, under his rule and reign, under.

And when we stay under, we are ensuring that the hand of God will be with us.

But I've got to stay under it.

I can't get ahead of it.

I can't fall behind it.

I can't get above it.

I've got to stay under it.

And then, and with this, I'm not going to say everything I wanted to say on this point because of time,

but the last thing that he prayed was keep me.

He said keep me from evil so I don't cause pain.

He said keep me because what's the use of, what's the use of being blessed,

having more territory and having all these things if I don't change as a person?

Let me tell you the priority of prayer.

The main purpose of prayer, listen, the main priority of prayer is not to get God to change your circumstances,

but for God to change you.

And to she all of my come now, J.B. says, God, I want you to bless me.

I want you to increase me.

But at the end of the day, God, I want you to change and transform who I am as a person,

God, so that I don't cause pain and that I get beyond my flesh and my soul.

I believe that there is somebody today that's got an O in your spirit,

somebody today that's got an indeed in your spirit,

somebody today that needs to call on God and begin to pray a big prayer.

Pray for the impossible.

Pray for the miracle.

Pray for the thing that only God can do.

Pray for the thing that only, if God don't do it, then it won't happen.

If God don't do it, then it won't take place.

You've got to pray a God-sized prayer today.