Living The Blessed Life: Capacity For The Blessing

 

Capacity For The Blessing 

1 Chronicles 4:10

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

When a child asks his parents to buy an aeroplane for him, what do you expect the parents to do? Even if the parents were rich, they will not buy the plane as requested, the will rather buy a toy plane. This is because the child does not have the capacity to own or to drive a plane. Capacity says a lot about readiness to hold and manage anything. It is the maximum amount that something or someone can contain just as a container can contain only a certain amount of liquid and not more than it's capacity. It is also the maximum amount that something or someone can produce just as a farm can produce only amount of crop based of it's size and fertility.

The child does not have the capacity to own a large plane because the child can not drive nor manage the plane. The child can however play with a toy plane. It goes the same way with the blessings of God. For a person to be blessed by God to a certain extent, that person must have the capacity to hold and manage the blessing. 

Matthew 7:6

"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."

Giving holy things to dogs or casting your pearls before swines is as good as waste simply because they will not value the holy thing, the pearl is useless to the swine. When the child is given the big plane and not the toy plane, it is too big for the child to appreciate or to make sense of. Factors that shows capacity are; (a) Understanding, (b) Appreciation, (c) Reasoning, and (d) Expression of a Choice.

For God to bless anyone, that person must have capacity to receive, hold and manage the blessing. The understanding of the person as touching the blessing in question must match. That is why the child cannot be given an adult size car. The understanding of the child has capacity for a toy. The child can appreciate and reason to the capacity to receive a toy. The child expressing the desire to own a car is meant for a toy car. Anyone desiring to be blessed and favoured by God must grow in capacity to receive the blessing. Just as a child grows from childhood to adulthood, so also the capacity grows from a toy to the adult size car or plane.

How can we grow in capacity to receive the blessing that is commensurate to our size? How can we tell what size we are?

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

When Jabez was born, the condition his mother gave birth to him was sorrowful so she gave him a name commensurate to the condition he was gaven birth to. He lived in sorrow up to the time he was fed up with the condition he was and wanted a change. No matter how desperate he was for a change, the change will not come until and unless he creates the capacity for the change. He needed more understanding. He needed to Appreciate with the change. His Reasoning must grow to receive the change and he must express an Expression of a Choice of what he wants. All these were fulfilled when he prayed:

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

The Giver of Blessings:

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying..."

For Jabez to develop capacity for the blessing, he must come to terms with the giver of the blessings. Coming to terms with God is crucial for the blessings. If he opens the door, it remains open. If He closes the door, it remains closed. Do you want to be blessed? Do you want to grow to accommodate God's blessings? Let your life synchronize with God who is the giver of the blessings. This is what Jabez did and he prayed: ".

.Jabez called on the God of Israel,...". If only you will learn from Jabez, you will see the blessings. 

Changed Understanding:

"...Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast..."

We grow up applying certain principles in life which can either make us or mar us. If the principles we keep applying over time is limiting, we can never grow into the blessing. There must be a change. What are we changing for? We are changing for something better and higher. Enlargement comes with an enlarged capacity. A container of 1 litre can only hold the capacity it is designed for i.e. 1 litre. Anything extra will spill over and become either waste or used for something else. 

There are things we can do to enlarge our capacity. Our understanding must change. We must either change what we use to believe or add meaningful content to what we already know. Wrong understanding will not increase the capacity for the blessing. Unlearn somethings, relearn in a different way and carry the blessing. How we learn, where we learn, why we learn, etc all can contribute to a growing capacity.

 Appreciation:

"...bless me indeed, ...thine hand might be with me..."

Appreciation on the one hand means giving of thanks and from another perspective, it means growing in value. The more valuable you are, your chances of being blessed increases. When the hand of God is on you, there is no doubt, you have added value. The hand of God is the power that changes life without addition of sorrow. Jabez asked God to "....bless me indeed...". When a man talks like that, only he understands what he was going through. If you desire to be blessed indeed, you do not want to be blessed partially or superficially or in a way that is not relevant. You must appreciate in value to accommodate the blessings.

 Reasoning:

"...thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!...'

The reasoning capacity must grow to accommodate the blessing. Childishness must give way for adulthood.

1 Corinthians 13:11

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Growing up is not just about physical appearance or growth of the physical organs. It is about reasoning and the accompanying actions. Why will you want to be blessed but your reasoning is childish? Grow up! Start thinking mature. Outgrow the way you use to think. Let your thinking be better. 

 Expression of a Choice.

""And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed.."

Not knowing what you want is likely the reason why the blessings may delay. What do you really want? Can you definitely say that you need this or that and give definite reasons for wanting what you want? Do you want it because others want it or is it that you have a good reason for your desire? Jabez knew what he wanted and so he prayed. It is easier to measure success and progress if you can clearly express what you want. Prayer is a way of expressing your desire. If someone has what you want and is ready to give you but you did not ask him or her, expressing your interest, someone else may want the same thing and is given. The ability to make the right choices and expressing interest is a sign of maturity and capacity. Before making the choice, you must be mature enough to know the limitations of the choice.

"...that it may not grieve me!..."

Jabez did not want a blessing that will come with grief. It is painful to see how some will pursue for things that will later hurt them. It is maturity to know boundaries. Jabez must have gone through a lot to have come to the point of praying the way he prayed. God answered his prayers.

"...And God granted him that which he requested."

The same way God answered his prayers is the same way He will answer your prayers. Grow in your capacity and you will see the change.

Abraham Was Made Ready 

Genesis 15:5-6

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."

God created the capacity in Abraham by changing the way he thought. Inspite of his limitation of not having a child to take after him in his old age, God created the image of being blessed to the extent that Abraham saw himself being the father of nations. 

"...Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be..."

Can you count the stars? Stars are not easily countable to us but not with God. For God to create the capacity for Abraham to have enormous number of descendants, He (God) must change Abraham's thinking. Did Abraham accept the picture God gave him?

"...And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."

Abraham believed God. He accepted the picture God gave him. He changed his thinking pattern. It is amazing how many descendants Abraham have today. It became a reality today (still counting) because Abraham accepted the picture that God gave him thereby creating the capacity for the change.

There are many ways to increase capacity. As many ways as there can be, it is up to you to choose which one to apply at this point in time. You take the initiative or you pray to God until He gives you the signal as to what step to take. There is no limit as to what God can do. It is up to you to create the capacity or limit yourself.

Pray:

My Father and my God, I can see that I need Your help. I need to create the capacity for Your blessing. What needed to be changed in me, change it today. Give me the picture of the change and the picture of my tomorrow. Today, my change has come. I will grow and my capacity will be larger and I will enter into the blessing.

This i pray in Jesus name. Amen!