Living Above Average

Living Above Average: Lessons from Jabez

This Sunday at CDC, we were privileged to have Brother Cheong Wye Choon give the message on Living above Average: Lessons from Jabez. With the text from 1 Chronicles 4:19, the sermon was based on the infamous Jew Jabez, on whom Bruce Wilkinson wrote the famous little book on Prayer of Jabez. 

In a lengthy list of genealogies of the Jewish people in 1 Chronicles, the historian suddenly stops at Jabez and gives a few verses to describe a bit about his life and prayer. Jabez must have been someone very important, significant and well known to warrant such special treatment.

The historian wrote that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers! Jabez was more outstanding, more righteous. Something was different about Jabez. Yet, he did not have it easy from childhood. His mother named him “pain” because she gave birth to him in “pain”, and all his life, people must have called him pain or a pain in the neck. However, instead of becoming bitter and mean, Jabez did not let his name set him back, but looked to God for strength and became a better and better person, through the pain.

Brother Cheong shared that his 6 years in Sudan as a missionary created a paradigm shift in his life. Despite his fears and difficulties, he began to see the supernatural hand of God at work, and even learnt so much from the simple faith of the Sudanese Christians.

The first lesson we can learn from Jabez is that prayer is very important and Jabez prayed for everything, in faith! Furthermore, Jabez prayed with passion! The Sudanese Christians saw prayer as something very powerful. They prayed like little children, so simple, so sincere, believing that their prayers had already been answered. They were fully dependent on God. When we don’t pray, we are saying that we don’t depend on God, that we can live life well enough on our own. The Sudanese could not do without prayer. It was a reality in their lives.

Operation Mobilization (OM) started through the faithful prayer of a teacher who prayed 16 years for her students to come to know the Lord. One of them certainly did, and became the founder of OM, a powerful organization for God that has 400 staff members working all over the world.

The second lesson we can learn is that we need to live with courage! Jabez was courageous! He dared to pray for God to enlarge his territory, his area of influence, his area of responsibility, for with great power comes great responsibility. Unlike Moses who initially shied away from God’s great calling, Jabez dared to ask for more. The Sudanese Christians dared to proclaim the gospel in the midst of terrible persecution. Brother Cheong learnt from them to dare to be brave, and live the Christian life boldly, without fear, even when there was risk of persecution and imprisonment.

The final lesson we can learn is that we need to live a life of love. Jabez prayed that he may not cause pain. He cared about others. In today’s world, it is easy to become racist and condemn other races or religions, but deep down, beneath the skin and the culture, we are the same. We all need God and God loves us all, regardless of color or creed. Brother Cheong said that in Sudan, he learnt to overcome his prejudices and to love others as they are, because God loves them.

In closing, brother Cheong encouraged the church to participate in some mission trips, starting with short term ones. He shared that the experience would certainly change our lives, teaching us to be happy with less things, and to adopt a global view of things and not just be absorbed in our own little worlds.

May the Lord help us be like Jabez, who prayed in faith, passion and love.

God bless,

Jason