Increase My Borders

[Jabez] was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.

1 Chronicles 4:10

If you were to ask God for something, what would it be? Abijah, Asa, and Joshua requested victory in battle. Solomon asked for wisdom. Abraham, Isaac, and Zechariah all prayed for children for their wives. Hannah asked God for a son. Samson asked God for strength. Moses prayed for water, and Elijah requested a drought.

A little-known Bible character named Jabez prayed that God would bless him and expand his territory, be with him in all he did, and keep him from trouble and pain. Those were all good things to pray for. When Jabez asked God to bless him and expand his territory, he may have been asking God to actually give him more land. But as a princess of the heavenly King, you can ask God to bless you and expand your spiritual territory, or your area of ministry—in other words, increase the number of people you share Jesus with.

Right now your territory is the people you see often: your family, your neighborhood friends, other students in your class or homeschool group, people in your Sunday school class, your teammates, or kids taking lessons with you. It might seem that none of those people need you to tell them about Jesus. But even if they have heard about Jesus many times, they may not have accepted him as their Savior yet. If they have, maybe they need an encouraging word or someone to listen to their problems or doubts.

If you are already part of a church ministry that visits in homes and tells people about Jesus or invites them to church, that’s great. Or you might be part of a church that has a food pantry or clothing ministry for the poor. That’s good too. Sharing your faith and living it out in a practical way is important.

If you feel like you could be doing more to reach others or to make a real difference to those around you, ask God to expand your territory. Then talk to your parents about ways to be more involved. You may want to talk to your church leaders about it too. They may have some suggestions about how you can get more involved in sharing your faith and reaching others in your community.

What’s your spiritual territory? How are you reaching out to others? If you aren’t, list possible ways you might be able to do that, and then talk to an adult about it.