Eliminating ExcusesSample

Don't let labels limit you

In 1 Chronicles we find a short prayer made by a character named Jabez. His name means pain or affliction. His mother named him because of the trauma it caused her when she gave birth to him. Can you imagine your mother constantly calling you "My son of sorrow"? His own mother gave him that label. Surely that label affected all areas of his life.

However, Jabez decided not to let the labels he was given become excuses for not approaching God and seeing what He could do in his life. At one point, he prays to God and asks Him to bless him and enlarge his territory. He asks God to help him and deliver him from evil so that he will not suffer affliction. And God granted his request.

Jabez decided not to live under the weight of labels, but put his trust in God, believing that He had something more for his life. With the cry of his heart, the Word says that God heard him and granted his request.

We see a man who had every reason to limit himself and decides to remove the excuses. Don't limit what God placed in you because you live under the weight of something that someone else placed on your life... What labels do you feel define you and limit you in the life that God has designed for you? God is not going to take those labels away from you. He is waiting for you to give them to Him.

In life you can either make progress or you can make excuses, but you can't have it both ways. When you surrender your labels and begin to see yourself as God sees you, you will begin to progress in your life of faith, mature in your character, and feel renewed in your mind. You can pray like Jabez, asking God to enlarge your territory. Claim what the enemy thinks is his: your marriage, your family, your finances, your future. We serve the almighty God. He opens a way where there is none.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your Word. Thank You for challenging me not to use the labels that were put on me as excuses. Help me to progress in my life of faith, to mature in my character, and to be renewed in my mind. Like Jabez, I ask You to enlarge my territory and bless me. Help me and deliver me from evil. In Jesus’ name, amen.