You can have a lot of bad experiences in life and become angry, hurt, grieved, bitter, fall out of church, fall out of relationships, fall out of God, all kinds of things can happen in your life. But I'll tell you what, it's all because of where you looked, when you were in the trouble. You look to the Lord, you look to His faithfulness, and you say: God, I don't care what I'm going through. No matter what it is, You will use it to grow me, develop me, bring me to another level. When I come through this, I'm going to be verified, I'm going to be like a diamond. See, it's all about where you fix your eyes, and he said: it's important we fix our eyes on things which are not seen. That's a crazy statement isn't it? Should be looking at things which are not seen? No, no, no, no - he's talking the eyes of your heart, and where your focus is, where your attention is, set it on God and His promises and His word.
I want you to look with me over into 1 Chronicles, Chapter 4. I've called this The Prayer of a King, Prayer of Kings. I'd love us to get it in our spirit and it's about - you know this, you'll have heard it called something different, called Jabez Prayer. I want to put it in the context of what we've been looking at, on being kings, being kings. Interesting when Jesus was born, you know the religious world loves to look at it and see a child in a manger, but the announcement came: where is He, that was born king? Kings may be infants, but they're still a king. He was born a king. You were born into the kingdom of God, you're born a king, and a priest under God - got to learn how to grow up into it. Now Verse 9, 1 Chronicles 4; Jabez was more honourable than his brother, and his mother called his name Jabez. Jabez means sorrow, grief, pain. Imagine having a name like that. What's your name? Pain. [Laughter] Come again? Pain. Really? Pain. Why are you called Pain? I was a real pain to my mum when I was born you know, she was having a really hard and miserable time, and so all she could do was think to put that name on me.
Well people are called lots of things, but what people call you is not as important as what God calls you, and what He says you are. He says this man was more honourable, and his mother called his name Jabez, because I bore him in pain. So it doesn't tells us whether it's physical pain, or whether she was going through a tragedy, through a difficult season, could have been a time in the nation, where the nation was going through trauma, trouble, invasion by its enemies. Whatever it was, we know her personal experience was one of pain. It doesn't say anything about the father. It was normally the practice of the father to name the child, so the chances are, the father had died or was killed, or there'd been a break up in the marriage. But whatever happens, the mother who spoke over his life, spoke the word sorrow, sorrow and pain, and so that's not a great way to start life is it, with sorrows and pains, because often what happens is that when a mother carries a child, the emotions of the mother affect the child. What the mother carries in her spirit can be imparted to the child.
We know from the teachings on generational curses, how things which are around a mother, in carrying a child in the womb, the child will pick up. Interesting when Mary spoke, the child within Elizabeth's womb leapt. It responded to the prophetic voice, so children in a womb can respond to the prophetic voice. They can respond to the voice of adversity and circumstances and demonic spirits. They are sensitive and can respond, even though the mind isn't developed.