TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, Week of January 23 to 29, 2023, "What do the prayers I say reveal about me?", Prepared Speech.

TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, 23-29-January 2023, "What do the prayers I say reveal about me?", Prepared Speech.

“What do the prayers I pray reveal about me?” (10 min.)

In Matthew 12:34, the Lord Jesus Christ said "For the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart." These words fit very well with the theme that we are going to deal with in Treasures of the Bible: "What do the prayers that I say reveal about me? A lot, because as the biblical text of Matthew said, our mouths speak what we have inside, in our heart, in our inner person.

That is the reason why we always need to examine how we are communicating with Jehovah, where we can improve. And of course, by addressing ourselves in public before Jehovah, as we can also set a good example for others. And we could use as an example to address Jehovah. The fact of two people who begin to know each other romantically, how does he or she approach each of them?

What kind of words do you use to try to win the other person's heart? Aren't they beautiful words that reach the other person's heart? They would never use harsh words or the same and the same and the same as always. It would be about giving variety, showing the feelings, the emotions that are inside those words.

Don't you think we should do the same with Jehovah? Fall in love with Jehovah, open our hearts to him so that he realizes how much we love him. And this has nothing to do with our social, economic or long-standing position in the organization. We all need to examine what our prayers are now revealing.

Let's look at the case that is presented here in 1 Chronicles 4:9 and let's see who he is talking about and who will be the person who will accompany us throughout this dissertation. 1 Chronicles 4:9 says the following.

LET'S READ 1 CHRONICLES 4:9

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother named him Jabez,* for she said: “I have brought him forth in pain.”

From what is described in the biblical text, this man was honorable, that is, he had earned the respect of others. Possibly he had a superior financial position before other people, so one would think that perhaps he would not need anything from another.

Therefore, we must take very good care of the way we are addressing Jehovah. First there must be constant communication. That's what the Bible says. Pray continually. But one of the dangers that may arise is that we can constantly repeat what we ask of Jehovah, and sometimes we could speak without thinking about it.

Or, hasn't it happened to you at some point that due to some rush, some very quick situation in your life, you start to say things about something that isn't happening? For example, on one occasion someone said that a father of a family had prayed during his family adoration, telling Jehovah that he thanked him for the food that was going to be served on the table.

Many were already distracted from prayer because they were not going to eat. They were going to worship as a family. But of course, you may have already imagined that after the prayer and the others who were laughing a bit and he understood that he had said something that was not, he tried to change the situation by saying that they were about to eat in a spiritual sense, but he did not know. I was really referring to that. Her mouth was saying something, but her mind was elsewhere.

How did Jabez show that despite his honorable position, he showed that he fully trusted Jehovah? Let's go back to 1 Chronicles 4:10 the part a of the verse.

WE ARE GOING TO READ 1 CHRONICLES 4:10 PART A.

Jabez prayed to the God of Israel saying: “I wish you would bless me and enlarge my territory! I wish your hand were with me and protected me from calamity so that I do not suffer any harm! So God granted him what he had asked for.

Let's review three things that Jabez was requesting of Jehovah after asking him to bless him. He was requesting that he enlarge his territory. He wasn't referring to more property than he already had, since it seems he already had more than enough. Some have said that this could be translated as “bless me with children and extend my borders with disciples.” It had to do with worshiping Jehovah, with helping others to serve Almighty God.

Here we have a good idea as to our prayers. Are we asking Jehovah to help us find people in the territory to understand the truth and become disciples of Christ? And if by chance we come to think that in our territory no one wants to know the truth anymore, why not pray for other brothers to do so? In other countries, in other circumstances.

Or that we push our activity a little more now that changes have been made so that we can participate more as auxiliary pioneers, we could do it constantly, since they have lowered the hour requirement and there could be more participation to obtain a Bible course if we do not already have it .

The second request that Jabez requests is "I wish your hand were with me." The hand of God represents his power in action, which he is willing to give to everyone who requests it. Can we ask Jehovah to give us more wisdom to be able to have a better conversation in preaching or carry out some work within his organization for the benefit of others?

And what was the last request? To protect him from calamity so that he does not suffer any harm. He was not here asking me to take away all your problems, but rather to help you face them, to know how to get out of them.

Please look at our sister's face in the activity guide, a simple sister willing to communicate with Jehovah to make Jehovah fall in love with her beautiful words. Her position where she is sitting with her hands clasped to concentrate on telling Jehovah how much she loves him, is asking him to help her read and understand God's word, possibly prepare for the meeting perhaps, understand what she is going to study is possible, but his main goal is for Jehovah to help him.

We want to do that too. Concentrate when we are requesting something from Jehovah. We want to vary the things we ask of you. May prayer not become monotonous, always repeating the same thing and the same thing. Every day is different in our life, therefore, our way of addressing Jehovah must be different every time.

Jabez's prayer revealed his interest in true worship and wanted to promote it. That should be our motive to promote the love of Jehovah both in our own and in that of other people. How did Jehovah react to that request? In part B of 1 Chronicles 4:10 it says:

WE ARE GOING TO READ 1 CHRONICLES 4:10 PART B.

Jabez prayed to the God of Israel saying: “I wish you would bless me and enlarge my territory! I wish your hand were with me and protected me from calamity so that I do not suffer any harm! So God granted him what he had asked for.

Let's have the same attitude as this man. Not much is known about him, but what we do know helps us improve in our prayers. Remember what we have in our hearts will be expressed through our speech. When we turn to Jehovah, whether personally or in public, show that by our prayers our goal is to show love for Jehovah and promote true worship.