The Prayer of Jabez | Expand My Borders

"...expand my borders..." 2 Chronicles 4:10

This is the third post in the Jabez series (see the original posts here and here).

I really love this phrase of the verse.

Have you ever considered what your borders are? I am not talking about borders in a negative sense. Think of "borders" in terms of a fence that is keeping your property contained. If you were a farmer, your fence would contain your home, land, crops, animals. By asking God to expand your borders in this example, you are asking God to take what is inside the fence and increase it so much that you have to move your fences out in order to contain the growth happening on the inside of the fence.



Look at everything around you and think about them containing borders. For me, my borders are, but are not limited to:

• family
• home
• influence
• blog
• pantry
• bank account

I am going to look at just a few of these items listed and explain what I mean by expanding my borders.


Family- Right now, a picture of my family looks like the photo above. Although we are pretty sure this is what our family will look like permanently (Brian asked me the other day if we could handle one more HUGE personality in our family!), I am leaving room for God to make the ultimate decision.

Home- Back when we were living in our first home (lovingly called our "little house"), Brian and I began praying the Prayer of Jabez. Within a year, we owned a 1/2 acre of property, and in another 2 years, we owned the half acre that we now live on. Altogether, for about 6 months, we owned 1 1/4 acres of land and two houses. God saw us through the finances and has provided for us in so many ways. We were able to sell both the "little house" and the other 1/2 acre of land which have blessed us financially.

Influence/blog- As a stay-at-home wife and mother, my influence may seem limited and at one time could have been limited to only my family (which is NOT a bad thing). When I was a teacher, I was able to influence over one hundred children. Because of the internet, God has allowed me to continue reaching out to others for His kingdom through this blog. I am always praying that God allows my influence in my family to always come first (which is why I blog when the kids are napping and when Brian and I are just hanging out in the office together each doing our own thing), and then for Him to allow me to continue to be an influence to others.

These are just a few examples of how I have asked God to expand our borders. I'm sure you can think of the borders in your life and how you want them expanded.

Ask God to expand your borders.

Be ready to do some work, though.

Expanded borders mean more responsibility.

Expanded borders mean that God sees that you are being faithful in the little things and is entrusting you with greater things.

Are you ready?