A Devotional by Pastor Cesar Castellanos

Today’s Bible Verse

“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.”

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

Change is Possible

The things that we go through in our family tend to teach us significant lessons. No one chooses the home they are born into; this was also true for Jabez. His parents had a normal relationship. His father was such a loving husband, that when he found out that his wife was pregnant, he was filled with joy. All went well until the day of Jabez’s birth. His mother began to feel a strong pain in her stomach; she felt like she was going to die. They called the midwives quickly to try to help her. One of them tried to encourage her and said, “Try to relax. I’ll help you get the baby into a good position,” but when she thought she had managed it, the baby would suddenly shift and go back to the previous position. Meanwhile, the husband was in anguish as he saw his wife twisting in pain. The shouting of the woman could be heard through the whole neighborhood, and many people came to the house to see what was happening. Some came with good intentions, while others simply came to have something to gossip about or to criticize. Maybe the neighbors said to each other, “We thought the baby would be a blessing, but wow! He is making his mom suffer.”

After many hours of terrible struggle, the child was born at last. However, the mother didn’t want to cuddle him because she blamed him for all her suffering. When at last she had calmed down, the woman cradled the child in her arms and said to him, “You will be named ‘Jabez’, which means affliction, because you will remember throughout your entire life how you made me suffer.”

When Jabez was a young man, he decided to be free from that curse that his mother had placed on his life. He lifted a prayer to God and said, “‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain’. And God granted his request” (1 Chronicles 4:10).

Jabez longed for the blessing of the Lord on his life because it was the only thing that was able to break the curse that had accompanied him all his life. That curse made him feel like he was being held back in life, and never able to move forward in the way he wanted. He asked God to increase his territory. This request was an awakening for his faith in order to reach the blessings that, up until that moment, had been blocked from his life. He asked for God’s hand to be with him. This is like having a permanently open heaven, where the angels would protect his every step so that he would never stumble. He then closed his prayer by asking for protection against any type of evil. Jabez had coexisted with a curse for many years, and he didn’t like it. But now, he asked God to prevent it from happening again in His life. The Lord heard his prayer and gave him an immediate answer. He managed to become the most notable man of that entire family.

Something to Think About

An eight-year-old boy lived in Austria and was teased by everyone because he was so skinny and not as popular as other kids in school. Everyone said that he would be a failure. His father asked him, “Do you believe what your friends say, or do you believe your heart?” Stirred up by the question, he made a list of goals. He wrote down his dreams, and next to every dream he put the order and the date in which he planned to achieve them. He made this list by not focusing on his actual situation. Instead he believed that he could achieve his dreams.

His list of dreams:

• I want to be the most masculine man in the world (at that point he was skinny).
• I want to be a millionaire (he was poor).
• I want to be an actor (he was embarrassed to be in school plays).
• I want to be a great politician (he wasn’t even old enough to vote).

Time to achieve them:

• At the age of 20, he wanted to have his first million dollars.
• At the age of 25, he wanted to be Mr. Olympia.
• At the age of 30, he wanted to be an actor.
• Before he died, he wanted to help others through politics.

The tremendous thing about this story is that years later, this young man achieved each one of his dreams through discipline and a lot of effort. Above all, he believed the dream that he had. As he once said in an interview, “I’m the one laughing now.” The name of the child was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Prayer

“My God and Father, I know that You will give me victory in every area of my life. From this moment on, I am transformed into a person filled with Your anointing and Your strength to conquer. When I was weak, You made me strong. When I was lost, You found me. When I was alone and without a family, You adopted me. When I was living without a clear purpose, You called me into Your service. Thank You for thinking of me and giving me a new nature. I love You, Lord. Amen.”

Declaration

“My faith in God made me what I am today – a person of blessing.”

Today’s Bible Reading

• Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 22-24; Psalm 146
• New Testament: Luke 12:1-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12