The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life Book

I read this book about 10 or 12 years ago when my pastor at the time gave me a copy to read. At that time it seemed like everyone in the church was into Jabez and the book was passing hands like hot potatoes... but I guess I was a bit the odd ball because I just didn't like it. As one author put it so well:

"For Wilkinson, the prayer of Jabez has become the secret to success in every endeavor. God is viewed as a butler who responds in a mechanical manner when certain words are recited."

The book makes a mountain of presumption out of a little verse in the Bible and then suggests that if a person is not enjoying massive material prosperity in their life, then they have not learned the proper method of praying like Jabez. Sigh...

I found it kinda funny that for thousands of years, no one ever seemed to have heard of Jabez among Christians... I certainly don't remember reading about him growing up in church world... but then, all of the sudden, we're supposed to believe that THIS is the be-all end-all key to financial prosperity in life for every Christian...

Another author in response this book wrote a little book of his own called "The Prayer of Jesus" to which I chuckled because it was obvious that author was annoyed with the Jabez fad as well. When the disciples of Jesus came to Him and asked Him how they should pray, He didn't tell them to go look up Jabez in the scroll and pray like that! Furthermore, Jesus didn't tell them to beg for prosperity. He said to simply pray that God would give them their daily bread and keep them from evil.

The opening statement in the book says: "I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God ALWAYS answers... I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God..."

Wow! Always answers? Really? Are you sure? Funny that a prayer so critically important that God is ALWAYS obligated to answer doesn't appear ANYWHERE else in Scripture and which God NEVER once commanded anyone on planet earth to pray! God's ways are much higher than our ways and certainly His path doesn't always make immediate sense to us. Jesus, as a matter of fact, told us that in this life it was a guarantee that we would suffer and even that we would be hated by many just because we followed Him. He also prayed for His followers and asked that the Father not take them out of the world to escape from suffering, but to keep them through it. The apostle Paul talked about suffering hardship, sickness and poverty but still counting it all joy. The apostles repeatedly taught that we should be content with what we have and not greedy. Yet, somehow, Mr. Wikinson, ignores all this instruction and instead teaches that if you pray a rote prayer (the exact same prayer, verbatim from Jabez), every day, over and over, that God must grant you prosperity!

Strange... Did he forget that Jesus said (in Matthew 6:7):

"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words."

Seems Scripture actually indicates that this is exactly NOT the way to get your prayers answered.

Where is the humility in all this? Where is the realization of God's sovereignty? Where is the trust that God's ways don't always make immediate sense to us and we may have to endure hardship on our path? That doesn't mean God doesn't love us or that we're not praying right...

What really annoys me about this book is that Wilkinson says that THIS prayer is THE KEY to a life of extraordinary favor with God.... Has this guy ever heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? God's favor is not poured out on us because we commit rote prayers. It's given because HE CHOOSES TO out of His own good purposes! God showed the most extraordinary favor of all when He gave His Son on Calvary's Cross! What more extraordinary kind of favor could there be? God forgiving ALL the sins of mankind and taking ALL of their punishment upon Himself!!! THINK ABOUT THIS!!!! Such amazing love and unbelievable (totally unmerited) favor! NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING ANY OF US DID!!!! Who in the world is this knucklehead to suggest that praying the words of some obscure mention of a dude named Jabez in the Old Testament over and over, day after day, is THE key above all keys to God's favor? To me this is absolutely disgusting to even suggest and I tend to believe that only a person who has not truly experienced a revelation of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit would dare even think such a thing!

I also remember reading several Roman Catholic publications at the time that Jabez was so popular and Catholic leaders were commenting that they were encouraged by the Protestant excitement over the prayer of Jabez because, while Protestant Christians have long criticized Catholics for the futility of rote praying (i.e. the Rosary, etc.), now suddenly they were all jumping on board as though this was God's ultimate will for the whole world! So Catholics were actually praising Protestants for coming on board with long-held Roman Catholic mindsets concerning prayer!!!

This book was a TOTAL turn off for me! Still is! Hey look... I'm glad things worked out awesome for Jabez. God is good and He loves to bless His people. It's cool to know that God blessed this man... but that doesn't make one little passage a blanket command or guaranteed result for everyone who copies the same prayer and repeats it rote hoping to get whatever they crave! The book The Prayer of Jabez, in my opinion, is basically just a form of Christian witchcraft. Sorry, but that's how I see it.

Maybe the prayer of Jesus isn't quite as interesting for some, but the spirit of those words Jesus spoke as an example for us have always produced blessing in my life... and I'm not talking about rote prayers of the prayer of Jesus either. I believe Jesus simply gave us an example of how our heart should be in approach to God. Humility, simplicity, hope, forgiveness, praise, thanksgiving and faithfulness...

The following (in closing) is the Lord's prayer from the Message paraphrase. How different is the heart of this prayer from Wilkinson's Jabez concept:

Matthew 6:6-13 - (Jesus said) "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best-- as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.