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The book has been extremely popular. It sold more than 9 million copies by 2002 and spawned an entire industry of overpriced “Prayer of Jabez” materials.
Wilkinson turns the simple prayer of Jabez into a formula for obtaining things from God. He instructs his readers (many of whom obviously are not born again, as the book has been among the top ten of the New York Times bestseller list) 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, 2001, Wilkinson warned against using the prayer as a means of obtaining physical prosperity, but in this health and prosperity crazed hour, there can be no doubt that his book will be so construed. In fact, in the book’s Preface he says: “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 they key to a life of extraordinary favor with God. This petition has radically changed what I expect from God and what I experience every day by His power. In fact, thousands of believers who are applying its truths 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 get whatever he wanted 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 always submitted humbly to God’s sovereign and wise will.
Beware of Wilkinson’s 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 people, rather, 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; Prov. 6:23; Jer. 23:22).
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).
LESSONS FROM THE PRAYER OF JABEZ (1 Ch. 4:8-10)
by David Cloud
This is a glimpse into God’s compassionate dealing with those who trust Him and seek Him in every century. Consider some lessons from this text.
(1) Jabez was of the house of Judah of Judah’s son Shobal.
(2) Jabez was born in sorrow. We aren’t told exactly what type of sorrow his mother experienced, but we know that this is a world of sorrow. It is called “this vale of tears.” Paul said, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain” (Ro. 8:28).
(3) Jabez was more honorable than his brethren. He didn’t follow his brethren in living dishonorably before God. No one can blame his relatives for his sin, and no one has to follow his relatives in sin.
(4) Jabez experienced blessing because he “called on the God of Israel.” He worshipped and served and trusted the true and living God in a world of false gods. His eyes were on God rather than on man.
(5) Jabez was a man of prayer. He prayed fervently, with the whole
heart (“Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed”). It was not a casual, half-hearted prayer. He prayed specifically that God would enlarge his coast, that God’s hand might be with him, and that God would keep him from evil. Biblical praying is to ask specific things from God.
(6) Jabez’s prayer was answered. “God granted him that which he requested.” Jabez put his faith in Jehovah God and sought great things from Him and received them. God promises, “for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me” (Isa. 49:22).
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