1 Chron 4: 9-10 (A Lesson on Prayer)

⁹Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." ¹⁰Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested. (NASB)

Here in the book of Chronicles, amongst all the genealogy of names we will never be able to pronounce if our lived depended on it (i.e. Hazzelelponi... is that like Hazel-el-Poni... sounds like Hazel the pony in Spanish.) we are taught a great lesson on prayer. It is one of the most powerful lessons on prayer I have learned through scripture. Jabez prays:

¹⁰Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.

I read a small book (about 90 pages in total) about just this one verse... And I'll just summarize it here for you... Jabez asks God directly for what he wants. But he asks for things that are meant to glorify God. Jabez asks for this borders to be expanded, which does not necessarily mean land. He is really asking for his area of influence to broaden. So that he may be a messenger of God to more people. He was a revolutionary to the idea of spreading the Word to the corners of the world.

The second thing that Jabez asks for is for God's hand to be with him. As this man walks with God, he asks to be guided by God. We all know that it is only through God that we are able to accomplish His will... we can never do it on our own accord. We REALLY need to realize that and give God thanks for His constant guidance.

The final thing that Jabez asks for is kind of awkward actually. We always ask for our pains to be eased or relieved, but things usually have to play out before the load is taken off... Not the case here.

The passage ends with a great note... Kind of a simple little "And yeah..." note. it says 'And God granted him what he requested.' So simple but a reminder that if we ask, we will received and that God is faithful in that. We need to take two main things out of this prayer really... and those are that if we truly ask, and mean it, God will deliver. Also, we need to give recognition to the blessings that God gives us... We need to give thanks and praise to the One who delivers! Always!