Chapter 2 So Why Not Ask? Oh that you would bless me indeed. You are at a spiritual retreat in the mountains with other who want to experience a fuller Christian life. For the duration of the retreat everyone has been matched with a mentor. Yours is in her seventies, and she’s been touching lives for God longer than you’ve been alive. On the way to the showers the first morning, you walk past her room. Her door is ajar, and she has just knelt down to pray. You can’t resist. How exactly does a giant of faith begin her prayers? You wonder.You pause and lean closer. Will she pray for revival? Pray for the hungry around the world. Pray for you?But this is what you hear: “O Lord, I beg you first and most this morning, please bless…me!”Startled at such a selfish prayer, you pad down the gall to your shower. But as you’re adjusting the water temperature, a thought hits you. It’s so obvious, you can’t believe you haven’t thought it before:Great women and men of the faith think differently than the rest of us.By the time you’re dressed and heading for breakfast, you’re sure of it. The reason some women and men of faith rise above the rest, you decide, is that they think and pray differently than those around them.Is it possible that God wants you to be “selfish” in your prayers? To ask for more – and more again – from your Lord? I’ve met so many earnest Christians who take it as a sign of immaturity to think such thoughts. They assume they’ll seem impolite or greedy if they ask God for too many blessings.Maybe you think like that. If you do, I want to show you that such a prayer is not the self-centered act it might appear, but a supremely spiritual one and exactly the kind of request our Father longs to hear.First, let’s take a closer look at Jabez’s story.Not Pain, But GainAs far as we can tell, Jabez lived i...
