Are you willing to move beyond the usual into the unusual?

How can you keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting something different?

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

Jabez was called more honorable because he was willing to do something different.

He asked that God’s hand would be with him

-He was not asking for a gift

God’s hand means 2 things:

-Power

-Might

Jabez was asking God for empowerment

When you want something different, you have to be willing to top into something different

God is willing to empower everyone, but when we see that we have to do something different we don not want to make that move towards it.

When we invite God’s hand into our lives, we go from our limited abilities to God’s limitlessablities.

Luke 4:18-19

Even Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Empowered = anointed

Christ = The Anointed One

1 Corinthians 14:1

Love -> Gifts <- Prophecy

Prophecy provides encouragement

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

Jabez’s mother called him Jabez, because he was pain, even from birth.

He prayed and asked God to keep him from causing hurt and pain any longer.

He asked God to expand him to overflowing

Expand my territory = Make me better = Move my boundaries

God wants us to expand

The enemy wants to steal and destroy

Everyone should always be believing for something BIG, but it does not go without our own effort.

Genesis 1:27-28

God blessed Adam and Eve

They were to be fruitful and multiply

They were to walk in their blessing

Multiply, not add

Genesis 13:14-15,17

Abram and Lot had to split because they were so blessed

God expands Abram’s territory

Look out from the place you are at:

-Look forward beyond the here and now

-here and now is not the greatest

God tells Abram that he will receive all the land he can see.

Abram moved his tent (in faith)

If you are not willing to receive it, you will never receive it

2 Kings 4:1-7

Do not let what you are seeing today be your vision for tomorrow

Bless Me

Sometimes pain is a good ting

It can drive you to move in a way you would not have otherwise; to seek out something different

1 Chronicles 4:8-10

Jabez-

Because I bore him in pain.

He was more honorable than his brothers because he prayed in the midst of pain

Instead of hiding our hurts and pain we need to expose them to God and ask for healing

Coming from a background of hurt and pain should not keep you from the greatness God has for you

Praying is being proactive

1 Chronicles 5:19-20

Cry out to God in the middle of your battles

Pray to God with an expectancy

Pray for big and specific things

Are you crying out for help or are you just crying?

Channel the energy you spend on complaining into prayer!

1. Bless Me

a. There is noting wrong with asking God to bless you. If you are blessed, you should bless others.

2. Enlarge my territory

a. Extend my limitation, influence, love, friends, power

3. Your hand will be with me

a. God’s favor, provision, protection

4. Keep me from evil

a. Rebuke the devil’s influence from your life continually

5. I will not cause pain

a. Your greatest hardship will turn around to be your greatest ministry/blessing

Matthew 7:7-11

The reason we pray is because it opens our hearts for what God want in our lives.

Prayer is the nourishment for our spiritual lives.

Luke 11:1

The opposite of intimacy is enmity.

If you have issues with your earthly father, you will likely have these same issues with God.

I have a legitimate for need for intimacy in ______________.

We need to have an extremely high level of intimacy with God if we ever want to go where God want us to go.

Genesis 2:7

When God breathed life into man, He did not do it from afar: He breathed directly into man’s nostrils, intimately.

God wants to have an intimate relationship with me.

Genesis 2:18

God desires for us to have intimate relationships.

It is not good to be alone.

Genesis 2:21-23

God created man and woman for intimacy from the beginning

Genesis 2:24-25

Man is to leave his parents, to be joined together with his wife as on

They were totally naked -> fully exposed to each other. They were no, ashamed.

1. Embarrassment

2. Disappointment

If you are totally honest with yourself, your greatest desire is for intimacy

Galatians 4:6

“Abba Father” – A close intimacy with God

Genesis 3:7-10

The shame man felt created distance between him and his wife, and between him and God.

Our ability to have an intimate relationship with others begins with our intimate relationship with God.

Psalm 25:1-3

Prepare to Content for Battle

Luke 9:59-61

The people were invited to follow Jesus, but instead of going right away, they had “more important” things to do first

The best time to invest in yesterday

Investments made with the basis of emotion are the worst investments to be made.

Hebrews 12:16-17

Esau sold his birthright for one morsel of food

He was rejected of the blessing because of his bad decision

Birthright: The possession or a privilege

Genesis 25:27

Esau was a skillful man

Jacob was a mild-mannered man -> stable or solid, disciplined

You may be the most skilled person, but if you make decisions on emotion, you will never receive the best God has in store for you

Investments are a limited opportunity

Get it in you while you don’t need it so you have it when you do need it.

Pressing Trough to Break Through

If you don’t try, you will certainly fail.

Jeremiah 42:10-16

-If you go where God doesn’t want you to go, taking the easy route, God will allow you to fail.

-If you stick it out during hard times, God will give you blessings.

Jeremiah 32:25-27

-nothing is too hard for God

When God calls you to a place in life, stay committed to it.

-Do you live by a statistic or do you live by the power of God?

Mark 8:27-29

Do you believe God is who he says he is or that he is what people say He is?