Regarding Jabez's prayer, i love the Geneva Bible's version of 1 Chronicles 4:10 - "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, if thou wilt bless me indeed, and enlarge my coasts, and if thine hand be with me, and thou wilt cause me to be delivered from evil, that I be not hurt. And God granted the thing that he asked."

The reason i love this version is because it more clearly depicts Jabez's dilemma, which was that since birth, he had had been attacked by evil. His mother named him a name that means, in essence, that he is a "curse", that he is "evil". As such, during his days of growing up, with a name like that, there's no way that he was not shunned and/or treated abusively in various ways by not only the townspeople, and other children, but by his own brothers. The "key" here is that in the very brief mention of his brothers in the preceding verse, is that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. In spite of ev'ry thing that he suffered through, he was more honorable. In addition, out of his entire family, he is the only one who sought out the God of Israel. THIS is a major reason that God "honored" Jabez and granted his prayer. THIS is another reason that only Jabez, out of his entire family, including his mother, is mentioned by name. God lifted Jabez from obscurity and shined on him. On the other hand, Jabez's entire family faded into obscurity, including his mother, nameless.

It is written that when we seek God with all our hearts, that we WILL find Him.

And Jabez did.

This hopefully is encouraging to us as we seek God with all our hearts, in prayer.