The Prayer That Overcomes Curses | Pastor Jennie Lusko | 1 Chronicles 4:9–10 | Fresh Life Church

What is coming out ((music playing)) of your mouth? We praise God and we curse men or sometimes we curse God and we bless men, but it we are it we're not meant to have both come out of our hearts and come out of our lives. Keep choosing life. First Chronicles 4:9-10, we have been in this beautiful series.

It's been life-changing for me. Learning about a prayer made by a godly man in the Old Testament. Learning >> ((music playing)) >> about prayer as a church, getting to do it together early in the mornings, >> ((music playing)) >> encounter nights on on Thursday nights were so beautiful. It was so powerful.

And um >> ((music playing)) >> I'm going to have you actually, if you would please, stand up and let's stand in the honor of reading God's word. I'm going to read verse 9. And then when we when >> ((music playing)) >> Jabez's prayer comes up, I'm going to have you read it with me.

Got it? Okay. Chapter First Chronicles chapter 4 verse 9 says, "Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, 'Because I bore him in pain.' >> ((music playing)) >> And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.'

Let's read this last sentence together. So, God granted him what he requested. Amen. ((music playing)) Give some high-fives, some thumbs-up as you find your seat. Today is the finale of the best of both worlds and we're looking at Jabez's finale, Jabez's amen to his prayer. He says, "And that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain."

And the title of my message today is the prayer that overcomes curses. The prayer that overcomes curses. We've been learning that from the day that Jabez was born, he had been cursed. His mother had a choice to bless him or to curse him, and she chose cursing. We learned last week that she spoke she chose to speak over him death instead of life of life, and she didn't just yell out in pain, which is normal for a woman giving birth.

Uh and she didn't just call him Jabez. She essentially said, "You will cause pain." That is a curse. That is a curse. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19, this is Moses speaking to God's people, and he said, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.

Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live." And this is Moses speaking to God's people, um his last words actually, and there's a lot of his last words, but it's interesting because he actually repeats this sentiment, choosing life, choosing blessing and not cursing. He repeats that over and over again, and it's words of warning and also instruction and also how to live this life before God.

He says, "I've set before you blessing and cursing. I've set before you life and death." I love that we're getting to see here we are sitting in this moment 3,000 years later after Jabez prayed such a thing. We're getting to see a healed man pray and live when he could have very well lived a life of bitterness because of what was spoken over him.

That could have been his story. I'm going to I'm my mom said I'm going to cause pain. So, that's just I'm I guess that's the story of my life. I guess that's what I'm going to live under. I guess that's the banner over me is pain. But here he is, here we get to see him pour life on what could have been bitterness.

We Daisy is is driving in our home, and um she has this car that is so amazing and so perfect for her. Uh but it the battery when we uh saw it and got it was had corrosion on it. So, it was like, "Ooh, that's not good. That's dangerous."

And so, we found out that you just pour some water mixed with baking soda and it it it does it. So, we were Levi was um with the hood open pouring baking soda and water over this corroded acidic issue that we had, and literally you could just see it wash away.

It was like, "Oh, that is gone." Like what could have caused a wreck, what could have caused something very terrible, here it is just melting before our very eyes. And we see that with Jabez. We see any bitterness, any pain, any anything that he could have walked in melts away as he called on the God of Israel, and he asked for blessing, and he asked for an expanded territory, for greater impact, and he asked for God's presence, and now asking that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.

We see the deadly curse over him wash away. It had no power over him because he chose life. He chose blessing. He chose more. He chose God's presence. >> [snorts] >> He's saying, "Oh Lord, don't let the blessings that you give me take the place of you in my life."

And what is that? That is idolatry. When God gives us blessing and more and he expands our territory, that's that's a lot. But so often, [snorts] we can start looking at those things as, "Okay, this is the thing." But we learn from Jabez that he is the thing, and whatever he allows and whatever he blesses us us with and whatever he gives is a gift from him for his glory, that we would live our lives focused on him as the one who deserves to be on the throne of our hearts, the throne of our lives, and anything else is just above and beyond and what we don't deserve.

But he's saying that [clears throat] you would keep me from evil, that I would not cause pain. Cuz what happens when we look start looking at our blessing and we're trying to hold on to our status and our impact and our influence, we start causing ourselves pain because the focus is inward, we start causing others pain, and we bring shame to the name of God.

Worshipping God always brings a blessing. Worshipping anything but him is idolatry, and it always brings a curse. And it's interesting cuz it's like, "Well, that's so clear." It's like, "Okay, what's set before me is death and life. Of course I'm going to choose life. What's set before me is curse and blessing.

Of course I'm going to choose blessing." But it's not always that simple, right? He's saying, "Lord God, giver of my life, keep me from evil." And it's not that he wouldn't ever sin or not ever choose the wrong thing or do something wrong because we learned in our Touchgrass series studying through the book of First John, uh one of the things actually that my husband spoke about that has stuck with me is the fact that it's not that I'm not able to sin because I'm a sinner, and until heaven, I'm going to struggle with the the tension and the making mistakes and sinning.

That's just what what happens until we're face-to-face with Jesus in heaven and we're perfectly pure in his presence. So, Jabez isn't saying, "Lord, keep me from evil, that I would not ever sin." So, he's not saying, "Not that I would not be able to sin, but that I'm able not to sin.

That I have the choice before me, life and death, blessing and cursing. And in each moment, choosing life." I was thinking about how it's November. If you didn't know, it's November. Welcome to November. And I was just thinking about how the beginning of that word is no. And so many of us have done like no shave no shave November.

Um I haven't. That would be horrible. But um Levi's like, "Amen." Um but there's you know there's things that you'll do for a month or there's things that's like, "Okay, I'll I'll do the I won't do this and I won't do this and I won't do this." But I there was just thinking about what if we Well, I was thinking for myself, but what if we considered no vember.

So like maybe in a moment today you have before you the choice to um fly off the handle and get really angry and mad or not. You have the choice to say no to that and to say yes to this. And I think sometimes we and I know for me, I think, "Well, I'm just when I do get mad and I fly off the handle, I'm just like I'm never going to do that again."

And it's like time the the timer goes and it's like 5 minutes later I'm struggling with the exact same thing. So instead of the blanket of I'm never going to do this again or I'm not going to do this sin. I'm not going to be think prideful thoughts for a whole year.

It's like, "Okay." But if you just think, "Okay, what what's today hold for me? What is this decision that I have right here before my eyes? And how can I choose life in this moment?" What about no temper November? I don't know. You can Obviously you can tell what I struggle with.

But in the moment where we have the choice to choose my way or God's way. It's step by step. It's little by little. It's usually not a big huge commitment that God I give this whole year of not doing this before you. It's just He's just like, "Just be faithful in today."

And so maybe we're asking our ourselves, "What can I say no to this month? I don't have to do what my flesh wants. Anger, gossip, no to this drink, no to hanging with this person that brings me down." And not in a legalistic, judgmental, weird way, but just a Okay, in this moment, God, I want to listen to your voice.

I want to go where you lead me. And it seems tiny, but tiny decisions step by step in the right direction are going to take you where you want to be. Do you remember the last sentence of the book of 1 John? It says, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

Amen. And I remember my husband saying, "It's kind of feels like out of place a little bit." He's like talking about one thing and then all of a sudden it's just like, "Keep yourselves from idols." Drops drops mic and then he's like, "Goodbye." But it's like Jabez is ending [snorts] his prayer the same way.

Lord, keep me from making the blessings you give me idols in my heart and life. Keep me from evil so that I that I won't cause harm to myself, to others, and to your name. And I just think of David, um King David, and how God blessed him.

I mean he even is known as the man after God's own heart. God had given him um authority and even coming from being a shepherd and cast out to now leading and a king and all of this everything and in one moment he takes that authority and uses it for evil with Bathsheba.

And he had all of this, but it was all destroyed in a moment. But we see, we know that God forgave him. We know that God forgives us. But he also had consequences. And it's just so interesting when even the the sphere of worship how that can change in just a moment and how that can change the trajectory of your whole life.

But there's forgiveness with God. But I believe that it's possible to choose life even when you have sinned. And that isn't that the goodness of our God that we can mess up, that we can make a mess of things, but he calls us to him. And he's like, "Just run to me.

You made a mess of that. You are a hot mess, but you're my hot mess. Come to me. Come to me. Come to me. I got you. I'm going to hold you. You need me." He wants us to run to him. God told Cain in Genesis 4:7 before Cain murdered Abel Cain had a moment with God.

And God said "Cain, sin lies at the door and its desire is for you, but you should rule it." He had a choice. Was he going to let his anger and his jealousy and his frustration lead him to this or was he going to choose to rule over it?

James 3:8-10 in The Message translation says, "With our tongues we bless God our Father. With the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessing out of the same mouth. My friends, this can't go on." I've been there. I don't know about you, but I've been there where blessing comes out and then cursing comes out.

But it can't be so. What creature does has can do a forked tongue? A snake. We don't want to be like a snake. We want to use our tongues to bless God and to bless others the way that God designed for us. Keep [clears throat] choosing life. Keep [snorts] choosing life.

I have I just came up with five confessions of the overcomer. And I think that there are millions and maybe this week as you're having time with the Lord, you could come up with some of your own confessions, but these are just a kind of get the party started.

And number one, my words have power. My words have power. I have the power to bless someone. I have the power to curse someone. Number two. I will choose life. I will choose life. And I know that I'm not going to get it right a lot of the time, but my heart before you, God, is that I will choose life.

And when I don't choose life, I will run to you and ask for forgiveness and I will keep [snorts] getting up and I will keep showing up and I'll keep choosing you. But I the my heart's cry is that I will choose life. Number three. What has been a label over me, I don't have to let define me.

What has been a label over me, I don't have to let define me. Doesn't have power over you anymore. Number four. God wants to give me good things because he delights in me. We can confess this. This is something that we can declare and say even when we don't feel it and especially when we don't feel it.

God wants to give me good things. I love that the end of this verse before it goes into the list of all the other names in 1 Chronicles 4, that it says, "So God granted him what he requested." It's only like I I imagine God being like "Nailed it.

Nailed it, Jabez. And I'm going to give you what you requested because that's exactly what I want for you. I want to bless you indeed. I want to expand your territory. I want to be with you. I want to keep you from evil that you would not cause harm."

Done. Number five. His banner over me is love. His banner over me is love. We can confess this no matter what banner has been put over us. We can confess and say, "His banner over me is love." What is the flag that is over your life? What is over your life?

Our second encounter night, we had Martin Smith with us. And I'm just going to show a little clip of a moment that was life-changing. He brings out this flag that felt like it touched the back of the room and it just like swung over the whole crowd and it was it says joy on it if you couldn't see.

Um beautiful. And then he handed it off to someone in the front row who knew exactly what to do it. I just loved I was like, I don't know if I would know like the the position that I would need to be in but that person knew. Um But there was power in that moment because he was flying the flag of joy over himself, over us and you could just feel in that moment Okay, the the banner over us is joy.

We have the joy of the Lord as our strength. >> ((applause)) >> So what flag is over your life today? One of blessing? One of cursing? One of life? One of death? What are you choosing to live under cuz you have a choice. >> [snorts] >> I think sometimes we feel like oh I don't have a choice like this was spoken over me by someone that I looked up to, respected, loved.

So this is me. This must be me. But you have a choice to live under that or to live under his love. Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 4 says, he has brought me to his banqueting place and his banner over me is love. And and and the amplified version it adds waving overhead to protect and comfort me.

And I just imagine that over you today. His banner over you is love waving overhead to protect and comfort you. No matter what you're facing. And this is God's love which is unconditional and it's perfect and it's steadfast and it's everlasting. You guys know this verse, John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

That's good news. I'm thankful for that. This word loved. For God so loved the world. Agape. This rich love that only comes from God. Choose life that you and your descendants might live. I love that when we do choose life it's yes for us but it's also the legacy that we're leaving and living for those coming after us.

Choose life so that you and your descendants, your children's children's children's children may live. I was praying that God would give me something for you today and I he's already given so much. I'm so grateful. But I was like, God what is your heart for your church? What is your heart for your people?

And I felt like he'd put this in me. He said that he is desperate for you to be desperate for him. Because he knows he's the only one who can give you the true abundant flourishing life he wanted you to have all along. He's desperate for you to be desperate for him.

For God so loved the world that he gave. What were What were some of the words or the phrases that you thought of at the beginning of this message? Maybe worthless? Ugly? Weak? >> [snorts] >> Too much? Crazy? Stupid? Sinner? Unwanted? Unqualified? What is the word? What is the thing that you think this is what I'm living under.

This is what my life comes down to. I want in this moment for this to be something that's reframed in your heart and in your life. And it might not be a struggle for you. You might be here today and you're like, well I know that my banner over me is love.

I think we all need the reminder. And God's banner over me is love. His banner over me is love. No matter what was spoken over you, no matter what you've been through no matter what the lies are that have been told to you or maybe that you just believed because of circumstances.

Church the banner over you is God's love. And that is what's going to fuel you as you go forward and you say, God your banner over me is love and I don't want to cause harm to anyone. I want you Lord to keep me from evil. So that I can worship you and as I do that others would see and see how good you are and come to know you.

I had a little fill in the blank thing. Maybe you could take a picture of it or write it down. Maybe this could be something that you discuss in your Fresh Life group or at home or over dinner tonight. But my banner over me was whatever the word, whatever the phrase but then his banner over me is Thank you.

Love. I gave you that one so you have that one so you already have one out of two. Their banner over me might still be but his banner over me still is love. >> ((applause)) ((music playing)) >> Jesus always only Jesus. Let his love define you. Not the worst thing you ever done define you.

Not things spoken over you defining you. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. I've set before you today blessing and cursing. Life and death. Choose life that you might live. John 10:10 says, I have come that they may have life. This is Jesus speaking. One of my favorite things that he says.

I've come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. And this word that he uses life, zoe is rich, full life, eternal, physical. And he could have put a period after that and it would have been enough. And it would have been amazing. But our God is a God of more and a God of abundance and he goes on.

There's a comma next to it and it says, and have it more abundantly. More abundantly. Jesus came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. In the message translation it says, I came so they can have real and eternal life. This is real. This is eternal.

More and better life than they ever dreamed of. This is our God. This is our God. Let's continue to choose blessing, to choose abundance, to choose obedience and let's see where God takes us. Let's see where he brings us. His banner over you is love. And Father, we thank you so much.

We thank you God for the fact that you are our good God loving kind perfect, just giver of life. And Lord, that would be enough. If you just gave us life, if you just saved us from death, that would be enough. And yet you want to give us more.

You want to give us life more abundantly. And Lord, we just humble ourselves before you and we say, "Thank you. Thank you. While we were yet sinners, you died for us. We didn't deserve kindness. We didn't deserve love, but you pour it out. ((music playing)) You pour it out. And like that water and baking soda over our lives, Lord, you ((music playing)) wash away the sin.

You wash away the things ((music playing)) that could cause us to be bitter. And you fill us with your love. Thank you for the work that you're doing in our hearts. Thank you for the fact that as your love is a banner over us, that it protects us and it comforts us.

And we need that, God. And we wait on you and we worship you. Lord, would you center our hearts aright. Lord, if anything has been just getting in the way, coming ((music playing)) front and center of our lives, Lord, we push it away. Jesus, be the center. And I just want to pray.

I believe that God is doing something special in your hearts today, church. ((music playing)) And if there's anyone here who has struggled in this area of believing a lie, of believing something that was spoken over you, letting that dictate dictate your life, letting that fuel you, letting that bring you down and be like chains on you. >> ((music playing)) >> And you're being reminded today that God's love is a banner over your life and it overrides any other banner.

I just want to pray for you. And if that's you today, would you raise your hand? And you're just saying, "I have been prone to believe this about me, but God, I choose life. I choose love. I choose to believe that your banner over me is love." And Lord, I pray over those who are raising their hands online, all across our church.

Lord, I pray >> ((music playing)) >> that you would renew their hearts, that you would renew their minds. Thank you that you speak a better word. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your transforming ((music playing)) power to take what was dead, to bring it to life. >> ((music playing)) >> And I pray over these with hands raised.

Lord, that you would open their eyes to see your banner over them >> ((music playing)) >> is love. And not just ending with that there, but knowing that >> ((music playing)) >> when your banner of love is over their lives, it changes things. It changes their life. It changes the people around them.

It changes their interactions. It changes ((music playing)) everything. And so Lord, would you strengthen them? Would you help them to see Would you help them to in each moment, taking the next step and the next step, to choose life ((music playing)) in that moment, to choose blessing, and >> ((music playing)) >> in turn, choosing your way.

You can put your hands down. And if you're here today and you haven't given your heart to Jesus, and you're finding out about him and you're yet you're just you're everything in you is just yes. It's the prayer of faith that saves. There was a thief on the cross right next to Jesus and he wasn't able to do much.

He just believed ((music playing)) and Jesus told him, "Today, you will be with me in paradise." So, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will >> ((music playing)) >> be saved. So, all you have to do is say, "Yes, Jesus, save me.

My sin has kept me apart from you, but thank you for Jesus who died and rose again, giving me power over death, hope in heaven, but also power and purpose here on earth, so that I can have the best of both worlds." >> ((music playing))