Summary

• The Prayer of Jabez
• Incantation
• Somebody Bless Me!!
• 30 Days to a Miracle or Your Money Back
• What Borders??!!
• Hey...Try This Same Formula on Your Spouse!
• Salvation Optional
• On a Lighter Note

"Prayer of Jabez" : Critically Reviewed

Dear Ones in Christ,

"There are, no doubt, passages in the New Testament which may seem at first sight to promise an invariable granting of our prayers.  But that cannot be what they really mean. For in the very heart of the story we meet a glaring instance to the contrary.  In Gethsemane the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from Him.  It did not. After that the idea that prayer is recommended to us as a sort of infallible gimmick may be dismissed." - C.S. Lewis

It all started just a little over 6 months ago ... someone in church talked about this "great" new book, "The Prayer of Jabez" by Bruce Wilkinson.  While he was describing the content, I had red flags hitting me hard in the face.  As I filed that in my mind under "things to look into", I stumbled into the local Christian bookstore one day to see this Jabez book was all over the place!  I knew that it was time to see what the latest “Christian Fad” was all about.

I read the book , hoping my suspicions to be unwarranted.

Unfortunately, they were confirmed.

At first, I thought that others would cry out with the same concerns.  However, it turns out that my opinion--and others who share it’s sentiments--is a very unpopular one about this book.

One of the argument's I hear in its favor is that the writer has a good reputation and has written many books.  Now, I’m not disputing that.  Is a writer’s renown or longevity in ministry a Godly stamp of approval that they should no longer be weighed against Scripture?  Of course not!  Even the Bereans weighed what Paul said against Scripture.

We all need to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 who “searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”  We need to go to the Book that we should instead be using and pushing - the Bible. Certainly, it has some say concerning how we should and should not pray.

For those of you who have not yet heard of this new way to pray, it is from a genealogy in 1 Chronicles.

The secret of this 'no fail formula' is in the words themselves (salvation, motives, obedience don’t apply!).

To summarize as best I can what this is all about, Bruce Wilkinson wrote a book claiming that he has found a little known prayer hidden in the Bible that holds the secret to a blessed life if prayed verbatim, every day.  He has been praying it for 30 years and attributes his own success to this daily ritual.

Here is the only mention of Jabez in the Bible.

"And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.  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 4:9-10)

A couple quick observations:

Do you suppose this is the most "spiritual prayer" in God's Word?  Hardly!

Do you suppose it tickled God's ears so much, that He decided whomever would repeat it verbatim for all time would get whatever they so wanted?  Hardly!

Is this the only prayer in Scripture God answered? Hardly!

Do you think Jabez himself repeated it verbatim each day for the rest of his life?  Doubtful!

Does Jesus mention it? No!

Does Paul, Peter, ANYBODY ELSE? No!

Has the obvious been so overlooked here?

Could it be that God by His Sovereign choice answered this prayer for the simple reason stated in verse 9:  "And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren”???  (The Bible is silent on how Jabez was more honorable than his brethren - we just know that he was.)

This book seems to have it backwards, insinuating that Jabez stumbled onto a strategic way to pray and was honorable for finding it.

From the book, "Just under the surface of each request lies a giant paradigm breaker" (p.15)

"I want to show you just how dramatically each of Jabez's requests can release something miraculous in your life."(p.15)

"Jabez's last request is a brilliant but little-understood strategy for sustaining a blessed life" (p. 63)

Rather than, “Jabez was an honorable man who cried out to the One True God of Israel and was answered indeed!”

THE BIBLE SAYS:  "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

Jabez's prayer was one of a righteous man, as were many other wonderful prayers in God's Word! God answered it because it was His will to do so.

Wilkinson says in his book that he has said this prayer - word for word- for the past 30 years.

"The next morning, I prayed Jabez's prayer word for word.  And the next.  And the next.  Thirty years later, I haven't stopped.  If you were to ask me what sentence - other than my prayer for salvation - has revolutionized my life and ministry the most, I would tell you it was the cry of a gimper named Jabez." (p. 11)

"Friends, I have been praying Jabez for more than half my life!" (pg 16)

"...now heading home, I was physically and spiritually spent. Staring blankly out at the traffic, I reached for the Jabez prayer." (pg 65)

BUT THE BIBLE SAYS:  "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.  Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  But when ye pray, USE NOT VAIN REPETITIONS, as the heathen do: FOR THEY THINK THEY SHALL BE HEARD FOR THEIR MUCH SPEAKING.  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him (Matthew 6:5-8).”

How are we to pray?  "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen (Matthew 6:9-13).

In Matthew 6, Jesus was giving us a GUIDE or a MODEL of the manner in which we are to pray. Praying the "Lord's Prayer" is not meant to be repeated word for word either. He was obviously giving us an example of how we are to pray.

People whom I have discussed this book with have said, “You must have misunderstood the author's intent.  He’s not trying to make this prayer a formula for blessing.  He doesn't really attribute his blessings to these specific words.”

If that’s the case, explain the following statements:

From the back cover:  "Do you want to be extravagantly blessed by God?  Are you ready to reach for the extraordinary?  To ask God for the abundant blessings He longs to give you?  Join Bruce Wilkinson to discover how the remarkable prayer of a little-known Bible hero can release God's favor, power, and protection.  You'll see how one daily prayer can help you leave the past behind and break through to the life you were meant to live."

From the Preface:  "I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers.  It is brief - only one sentence with four parts - and tucked away in the Bible, but I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God."

"Is it possible that God wants you to be ‘selfish’ with your prayers? To ask for more -and more again-from your Lord?" (pg 19)

"If Jabez had worked on Wall Street, he might have prayed "Lord, increase the value of my investment portfolios." (pg 31)

"You can hang the Jabez prayer on the wall of every room in your house and nothing will happen.  It's only what you believe will happen and therefore do next that will release God’s power for you and bring about a life change." (p.87)

This sounds like The Power of Positive Thinking.

A scenario is given on pages 25-27 entitled "Mr. Jones Goes To Heaven" which tells a tale about someone who goes to a warehouse in Heaven.  There, Mr. Jones finds a box containing the blessings that God wanted to give him on the earth but poor Mr. Jones never asked for them.

"God really does have unclaimed blessings waiting for you my friend." (pg 17)

"That's the catch - if you don't ask for a blessing, you forfeit those that come to you only when you ask." (pg 27)

Isn’t KNOWING God the biggest blessing of all?  If God never chose to bless us again as long as we live, we would already owe him more then we could ever repay!

Fortunately, we are not left to wonder how long we have to recite this prayer before we see results.  The answer is in the book.

"I challenge you to make the Jabez prayer for blessing part of the daily fabric of your life.  To do that, I encourage you to follow unwaveringly the plan outlined here for the next thirty days.  By the end of that time, you'll notice significant changes in your life, and the prayer will be on its way to becoming a treasured lifelong habit." (pg 86)

When he was on James Dobson's radio program, Focus On The Family, in March,

Wilkinson claimed that two weeks of praying the prayer of Jabez would change your life!

Review:  We already have heard that it is a prayer "God always answers" (preface)

and He must do it within 30 days or less!

WE DO NOT - NOR SHOULD WE WANT TO - CONTROL, MANIPULATE OR TRAP GOD!

WE DO NOT UNLOCK HIS POWER - HE DOES - IF AND WHEN HE SO CHOOSES!

The Bible has many examples of when God did NOT answer prayer for HIS REASONS.  He may also answer our prayers much differently than we are expecting at times.  I would venture to say it is within His Rights AS GOD ALMIGHTY to choose what to do in each and every circumstance.

THERE ARE NO WORDS THAT WE SAY THAT FORCE HIS HAND.  WHO ARE WE TO CLAIM SUCH THINGS?

Read: Job Chapter's 38, 39, 40 and 41 to find out who HE IS.  Listen to how God takes 4 chapters to DESCRIBE HIMSELF!

Many will immediately say that this book is not promoting the Word/Faith Prosperity Gospel (AKA: "Name it & Claim it", "Blab it & Grab it") as some are comparing it to, but rather seeking just to “expand our borders”.

Question:  What borders?!

When did we get borders?  How come we never noticed we had borders around us before?

The "enlarge my borders" catch phrase is from the Jabez passage itself in 1 Chronicles.

The word "borders" or "territory" is used in the new translations.  In the King James the word "coast" is used.

In the KJV the word borders occurs 43 times , and the word coast occurs 62 times.  In every instance it is always referring to physical property borders.   It is interesting to note, when Jabez prayed his prayer he was not talking about "expanding his ministry" (as many are saying he actually means), but literal, physical borders in the Land.

How "Enlarge My Borders" = "Enlarge My Ministry" is a puzzle.

But an even bigger puzzle is that we already have opportunities before us everyday and do nothing about them!

Do you have unsaved neighbors?  Family?  Friends?  Co-Workers?  Or for that matter any living and breathing people whom you happen to stumble into during the course of a day?  If you do, you should have already been seeking opportunities to share the gospel with them.

And if these supposed “borders” are so all encompassing that we need to ask for them to be expanded everyday, can we also fall back on them as an excuse when we are not doing what we are suppose to? ("My Borders were keeping me back?")

Jesus told us to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).”   He didn't place any "borders" on that.  What's all this talk about borders?

Picture this scenario:  One day you wake up, you have a perfect day, you get along great with your husband or wife, and everything seems fantastic, it goes your way, the kids are behaving, the dinner is special, the whole nine.

You wake up the next morning and say to yourself, “Everything went so perfect yesterday (i.e. it worked!) so from now on, I’ll say the exact same words, do the exact same things and not stray one bit from this routine, because it worked!"

I would bet that by day 2 (if you even get that far), your spouse would slap you across the face and tell you to snap out of it when they see you are no longer having a normal conversation or relationship with them, but are instead acting like a mindless drone, repeating words that you think 'held the key' to your success the day before.

This is not a relationship, this is ROUTINE or RITUAL, and that is not what your spouse wants from you.  Neither is it what our Lord wants from us.

This book also does not add any disclaimer that it only works for Christians, so it can be assumed that an unsaved person might achieve success as well.

I have even heard some Christians get excited about how people who are not even Christians are interested in this book and follow its methods!

BUT THE BIBLE SAYS:  "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" Psalm 66:18

"The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous." Proverbs 15:29

"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Proverbs 28:9

Not only is salvation necessary to even be having any kind of relationship with God, but also for God to hear and answer your prayers.

On pg. 27 Wilkinson cites "You do not have because you do not ask" taken IN PART from James 4:2.

But let's look at that verse in it's context:

"Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. " James 4:2-3

(a·miss : In an improper, defective, unfortunate, or mistaken way ... A synonym for 'amiss' is wrong)

Salvation , attitude, motives, obedience .  They all matter.  It is not just about "the right words!"

Prayer is about relationship!  This is what God wants from us - not ritual.

If you have already been Jabezing, maybe your motives have been pure and sincere.  Rest easy, you can put aside this daily ritual and still 'seize opportunities' to witness for the Lord - and despite ourselves - God takes care of His own.

I want to urge you to instead appreciate Jabez for what he was: an honorable man in the line of Judah.

But there is another one who came out of this same genealogy who needs to be our ONLY focus and that is JESUS, and He wants you to Pray from your heart - Not someone else’s!

In response to people who come up to me and say that they got everything they wanted by praying the prayer of Jabez every day, word for word:  “While you're at it, why not offer up a whole slew of magical prayers that will force God to act in the same way He acted when He answered before?  After all, we simply need the right formulas, the right intonations to get God to answer."  In that vein, let me offer you some other alternatives to the Jabez prayer.

To get the desired reaction out of God you must remember to vainly repeat the same prayer, word for word, daily or even hourly.  God will not be forced to react to your prayer if you don't follow it exactly. Here are just a few of the guaranteed formula prayers you can pray to pull God's chain:   

Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Manoah

   Prayer Location:  Judges 13:8

   Purpose:  To get God to bring your favorite teachers back to your church.

Pray This: "O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born (may substitute any subject you want taught)."

   Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Samson

    Prayer Location: Judges 16:28

   Purpose:  To get God to give you big muscles and revenge.

Pray This: "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may at once avenged of the Philistines (or whomever you are angry at) for my two eyes (or whatever they did to you) ."

   Prayer Name:  The Prayer Of David

   Prayer Location:  2 Samuel 15:31

   Purpose: To get God to mess with people's minds.

Pray This: "O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel (or whoever you want to mess with) l into foolishness."

Can you see how ridiculous the prayer of Jabez is today when it is yanked from its proper context? I hope so!

--Wai Szeto