TOPIC: HOW HONORABLE ARE YOU? (PART 1)
Bible Reading: 2 Kings 4-5; John 4:1-30
Memory verse: “And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren and his mother called his name Jabez, saying Because I bare him with sorrow” 1 Chronicles 4:9 (KJV)
Where and how you are born does not determine where you will end. Your destiny needs desperate faith to manifest. Despite his sorrow Jabez wouldn’t be robbed of his honor. The bible tells us, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested” 1 Chronicles 4:10 (KJV). God granted his request because he was honorable. What is honor? What does it mean to be honorable?
An honorable person is a freedom fighter; one who refuses to give excuse or who refuses to fail. He refuses stagnation, oppression, failure or setback. It is a person who does the right thing. Jabez prayed because it is the right thing to do. He refused to allow the sorrow he was born with to rob him of his honour.
In 2 Kings 5:1 (KJV), “Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of syria, was a great man with his master, and a honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.” Naaman refused to die with his leprosy. Instead he ventured outside his country in search of change. Honorable people will always get answers to prayers because they are people of desperate faith.
God honoured Jabez and Naaman because they were freedom fighters. They refused to remain in their sick and poor positions. Honor is a state of the heart: when you refuse to fall or fail or frustrated or give excuses. Jabez was tested with being born with sorrow but fought his way out. Naaman too fought his way out of leprosy by going further to listen to the opinion of a slave girl in his household (2 Kings 5:2-5).
Are you a man or woman of honor?
Prayer: Father, I thank You for the privilege of prayer. Thank You for answers to prayer.
Bro. Worthmore Aghanenu