April 13, 2001 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Focus on the Family is promoting the book "The Prayer of Jabez" by Bruce Wilkinson, head of Walk Through the Bible Ministries. The book, which has sold more than three million copies, is based on 1 Chronicles 4:10: "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."

The book has become extremely popular. It tops the Christian Booksellers Association and Christian Retailing lists, is No. 2 on the Publishers Weekly non-fiction list and the New York Times advice list.

In the book, Wilkinson turns the simple prayer of Jabez into a formula for obtaining blessing from God. He instructs his readers to pray the prayer of Jabez word-for-word, every day for four weeks, expecting special blessing from God. Wilkinson says: "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 be noticing significant changes in your life, and the prayer will be on its way to becoming a treasured, lifelong habit" (The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life, p. 86).

In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, for April 13, Wilkinson warns against using the prayer as means of obtaining physical prosperity, but in this health and prosperity crazed hour, there can be no doubt that his book will be misconstrued in this way. Wilkinson says the Prayer of Jabez is "a prayer that God always answers" and that "it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God." He mentions thousands of people who are praying the prayer of Jabez and thus are "seeing miracles happen on a regular basis."

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ warned against using "vain repetitions" in prayer (Matthew 6:7). Biblical prayer is not repeating a formula; it is communicating directly to God from the petitioner's heart. Christ taught us to pray that God's will be done, not our will (Matthew 6:10). The Apostle Paul did not think that he could obtain blessing from God by praying some formula. Instead, he "made request" of God and prayed "by the will of God" (Romans 1:10). There were times that God's answer to Paul's prayer was NO (2 Corinthians 12). In Philippians 4:6, God teaches His children to pray in everything, but that prayer is to be a "request," not a demand. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

God does hear and answer prayer in accordance with His Word, but scriptural prayer is not demanding things of God; it is requesting things. It is not an attempt to manipulate God; it is, rather, always submitted humbly to God's sovereign and wise will.

Be careful of Wilkinson's book The Prayer of Jebez. It contains a good challenge to pray expectantly to God and to earnestly seek God's blessing, but the book would not be so wildly popular in this apostate day described in 2 Timothy 4:3,4 if it were not promising something God does not promise. God's Word calls Christian people to sacrifice (Matt. 16:24,25) and trouble (2 Tim. 2:12; 3:12) in this present time; the teachers described in 2 Timothy 4:3,4 call us to prosperity and self esteem. The average Christian bookstore is filled with material that is popular with a Christian population that thinks gain is godliness, but absent are books containing the reproof and rebuke of sound preaching and the voice of warning that is so desperately needed (2 Tim. 4:2; Proverbs 6:23).

Pray "in everything" (Phil. 4:6) and call upon God for mighty things (Jer. 33:3), but don't be discouraged when the great and loving God chooses not to do things exactly as you ask. The answer to our prayer for blessing can come in the form of trouble and difficulty and testing. If we could obtain everything we prayed for, there would be no need of faith. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6).