You may have entered this year with labels that feel heavy—pain, trouble, setback—but labels don’t have to become legacies. Like Jabez, you can call on the God of Israel and ask boldly for real blessing, for enlarged capacity, and for His hand to be with you. God delights to put a good end on a bad beginning when hearts seek Him. Bring your story honestly, and ask Him to guard you from the evil within that keeps tripping you up. As you remain in His presence, He is able to turn sorrow into song and burden into blessing. [24:06]
1 Chronicles 4:9–10: A man named Jabez, whose very name recalled pain, cried out to Israel’s God, “Please bless me with the real thing, widen my borders, keep Your hand with me, and protect me from harm so that grief won’t rule me.” And God granted what he asked.
Reflection: What painful label or storyline do you need to place before God today, and how will you voice a simple Jabez-style prayer—“Bless me, enlarge my capacity, be with me, keep me from me”—this week?
Blessings are part of your birthright in Christ, but access often gets blocked by misalignment—habits, attitudes, and associations that pull your heart off-center. You can’t fake it to make it with God’s blessing; He invites the realignment of a surrendered life. Choose worship over worry, blessing over cursing, prayer over gossip, gentleness over judgment. As you walk in the Spirit, your life makes room for what God has already prepared. Elevation in 2026 may require evacuation of what no longer belongs. [28:45]
Galatians 5:22–25: The Spirit grows in us a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those who belong to Christ have nailed the old impulses to the cross, so let us keep in step with the Spirit in how we live and relate.
Reflection: What specific habit or relationship is the Lord inviting you to release so your life can realign, and what concrete step will you take in the next 48 hours to begin that “evacuation”?
To be “blessed” is more than getting things; it is God turning His face toward you—His favor resting on your life. Ask Him to keep you under His “surveillance of grace,” to shine on your home, your decisions, and your work. As you go, He goes; as you move, He moves—His presence becomes your anchor. Make space daily to remain before His face, and let that light quiet fear and steady your steps. Pray simply, “Lord, keep Your face on me.” [31:00]
Numbers 6:24–26: May the Lord bless and guard you. May He make His face shine on you and be generous with His grace. May He turn His face toward you and settle you with deep, whole peace.
Reflection: Where in your daily rhythm will you pause to whisper, “Lord, keep Your face on me,” and how will you remind yourself to return to His presence throughout the day?
When God’s hand rests on you, provisions follow, and He can trust you with “bless me indeed” blessings that overflow to others. As He enlarges your territory, He also answers the deeper prayer: “Keep me from the evil in me.” Ask Him to steady your mind, guard your mouth, and purify your motives so growth doesn’t outpace character. Seek to be a conduit, not a cul-de-sac, of grace. Let His strong hand both expand your borders and shepherd your heart. [46:30]
Isaiah 41:10, 13: Don’t be afraid, because I am with you; don’t be shaken, because I am your God. I will strengthen you, help you, and hold you up with My right hand. I am the Lord who takes hold of your hand and says, “Do not fear; I am helping you.”
Reflection: If God widened your opportunities this month, where might your inner weaknesses show up, and what boundary or prayer practice will you put in place so His hand keeps you from yourself?
God has a way of stepping into our mess and turning it into a miracle; He is the turnaround God. Choose praise over panic and gratitude over grumbling, and watch how faith rises. Remember: goodness and mercy will follow you, even through valleys, because His presence goes before and behind. Let worship be your first response and steady rhythm, not your last resort. Expect Him to give double for your trouble as you walk in His will. [54:42]
Romans 8:28: We are confident that in everything God is working for the good of those who love Him, those He has called to live out His purpose.
Reflection: What situation from last year still weighs on your heart, and how will you practice worship instead of worry there this week—what song, Scripture, or act of gratitude will you bring into that specific space?
Launched on the first Sabbath of the year, this call to “From burdens to blessings” centers on 1 Chronicles 4:9–10 and the prayer of Jabez. The focus is not on prosperity, but on alignment: blessings are a birthright for those who walk with God, yet many forfeit them through misalignment—bad habits, toxic associations, and hearts out of step with the Spirit. Israel’s post-exile struggle is a mirror; captivity children knew bondage more than history, yet genealogy points beyond Abraham to Adam—to the God who began the story and can rewrite any chapter. In that lineage, Jabez appears as a living illustration that God can put a good end on a bad beginning.
The exhortation is both joyful and surgical. Gratitude must replace complacency; faithfulness must replace fakery. Elevation in 2026 will require evacuation—of attitudes, alliances, and appetites that choke favor. Practical resolutions emerge: less cursing, more blessing; less worry, more worship; less gossip, more intercession; stop faking holiness and live in the Spirit’s fruit with genuine kindness. The aim is not merely to receive gifts from God but to remain in God—His face and His hand.
“Bless me indeed” is unpacked as Barak—God bending His face toward His people, shining favor in a way that follows them into every space. The image is vivid: wherever His child moves, the Face moves. Then comes the hand: “Keep Your hand on me,” not only to shield from external harm but to restrain the internal saboteur—the “evil in me.” This is sanctification as protection; God not only opens doors but guards hearts and mouths so that overflow doesn’t become downfall. As God enlarges territory, He also shrinks fear, stabilizes the soul, and distributes blessing beyond the individual—neighbors benefit when God’s people live under His face.
A tender pastoral moment ties theology to the nervous system: a father’s touch releases endorphins—joy, security, calm. So does the Father’s presence. When God rests His hand on a life, spiritual endorphins of hope and steadiness quicken praise and perseverance. The appeal is simple and strong: stay in God’s presence this year; invite His surveillance of favor; ask Him to save you from yourself. Release what hinders, receive what heals, and expect double blessing—not to hoard, but to serve.
But hold on a sec not because you are a child of God it means that we will always get the blessings God has for us. Some of some of us even now in 2026 are hijacking your own blessing. Because of your own bad ways or bad habits or bad associations that results in a disconnection with God. Which in essence, get this, blocks our access to certain blessings God has waiting for us. Unless you think I'm coming with a prosperity message, watch it. Watch it. It's not prosperity.
[01:21:58]
(46 seconds)
#StopHijackingYourBlessings
But when they cry out to God, hallelujah, God in his grace and mercy has a way of turning things around for our good when we decide, get this, to seek after him. And is there anybody here who's thankful on the first Sabbath of twenty twenty six to say, we serve a turn around God. Can you reflect on 2025 and declare today that we serve a turnaround God. Somebody say yes. For even in our mess, he comes and turn things around into a miracle.
[01:23:01]
(43 seconds)
#GodTurnsItAround
And we sit down like we're doing God a favor. You come with your sad self. Sitting in your sad seat, but the mere fact that you cannot be six feet above your grave. Can anybody just give god thanks? There's a roof up above you. Find place to sleep. Food on your table. Shoes on your feet. Can anybody testify today? I'm not dead. But I'm alive. Touch your neighbor and say neighbor. I'm alive. Wave your hands to god. Thank you for making me alive. Will somebody say amen?
[01:38:37]
(41 seconds)
#GratefulToBeAlive
So when God puts I won't be long. I I only got twenty five minutes. I'm almost there. But when God puts his favor, that's my resolution. Shortest sermons. When God puts his favor on you, he will bless you double for your trouble. When God really has his favor on your life, he'll give you double for your trouble. Hallelujah. Because sometimes our biggest blessings come out of some of our most burdensome prayers.
[01:40:35]
(31 seconds)
#DoubleForYourTrouble
We're moving to our ten days of prayer. Anybody can testify from last year to this year? You you sometime God shows up in the most critical times. Of your life. When your friends and your boys are no longer around and you think light, you're reaching rock bottom. God becomes the rock at the bottom. Come on and say amen. Amen. Come on and say praise the lord.
[01:41:06]
(27 seconds)
#GodIsMyRock
Jabez keeps the bible says Jabez says, Lord keep your what? Come on everybody lift up your hand. Say hand, hand, hand. Keep your hand on me. That know what? Evil may not harm me because the fact of the matter is sometimes when we get a lot of blessings we tend to try to get ourselves in problems. For more money they say more problems and taxes.
[01:49:26]
(30 seconds)
#ProtectedByHisHand
Jabez was saying sister Kahon, keep the evil in me from me. Because sometimes it's us that mess us up. Hello? Am I not talking to somebody? Sometimes it's us that mess us up. Nobody else got yourself in that mess. Nobody else has that mean attitude. Nobody else is respectful to leaders or friends and family. Nobody else is move shutting around like your your miss miss or misjudgment of all nation. Nobody else get themselves in the issues that they are in, just you. So Jabez says, Lord, as you put your hand on me, keep me from me.
[01:50:14]
(49 seconds)
#KeepMeFromMe
Jabez was what Jabez was birthed in trauma. Somebody say trauma. Headaches his mother had for him. Struggle and trouble. So Jabez is saying, Lord, save me from me. Keep your hands on me. Because I lose my mind sometimes. Keep your hands on me. Because my mouth says crazy things. Keep your hands on me so the blessings can keep flowing. Don't stop touching my mind. Don't stop touching my mouth. Don't stop touching my eyes. Don't stop touching my heart. In fact, lord, touch all of me. Change my life. Let it be consecrated.
[01:51:07]
(46 seconds)
#KeepYourHandsOnMe
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