My Take on The Prayer of Jabez A book review by Jim Kaufman - 11/29/01
The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life, by Bruce H. Wilkinson. Multnomah Publishers, 2000. 93 pp. $7.99.
Introduction
Ahhh my first book review is finally here. I borrowed the book from our receptionist at work and kept it a lot longer than I told her I would. Just to let you know, I skimmed a number of reviews of The Prayer of Jabez (more and more appear online each month)--both pro and con--but I did not use those writers' ideas about the book. Instead I read through and made notes of the parts of the book that caught my attention and based my thoughts on those. While I have to say that the ideas in this book are certainly not revolutionary, they're not entirely harmless either. So keep reading. Whether you agree or disagree with what I have to say, send an e-mail in response. I'd like to hear from you.You might think, "There goes Jim again, always against the latest movement of the Spirit. He's so narrow in his interpretations, so cerebral. He's concerned about the mind, but how about the spirit? I bet he'd like the book if he were an exhorter or a prophet instead of a teacher. Maybe he should just cool it, before he starts offending everyone. Besides, God is doing such wonderful things through that little beige book!"
Hold on. It has nothing to do with whether I'm a teacher or not. Rather, it has everything to do with the integrity of the Word of God and the true path of success and blessing from Him. My purpose is not to offend but to get you to think. (Why should you take it personally, anyway?) I have nothing personal against the author. I've barely heard of him. He apparently has had a wonderful ministry pointing thousands to the Word of God. However, I am only focusing on this one popular book and it's message. So here goes. I hope it's not too long.
What's this book all about?
Bruce Wilkinson, the founder and president of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, has written a runaway best seller (probably soon to pass ten million sold). "If you long to live your life the way it is meant to be lived in Christ, The Prayer of Jabez is a must read. A small book, a life-changing message! Highly recommended!" That enthusiastic praise is from none other than distinguished Dallas Theological Seminary professor, Dr. Howard Hendricks (on the back cover). The book and it's author were also featured for two days on Dr. James Dobson's influential Focus on the Family radio show. Indeed, even well-known Christian leadership guru Dr. John Maxwell had him as a keynote speaker at his recent nationwide satellite conference. Pretty good company, I must say.So let's see what the buzz is all about. The whole Jabez passage is found buried in a long genealogy in 1 Chronicles. It reads like this:
Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chron 4:9-10 - NKJV)
Yup. That's about it. Wilkinson relates how he got hooked on the prayer many, many years ago as a seminary student in his "kitchen with yellow counters and Texas-sized raindrops pelting the windows" and proceeds to explain the significant effect it has had on his life.
In the book's preface he writes, "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." And, "Thousands of believers who are applying its truths are seeing miracles happen on a regular basis."
Upon hearing the teaching about Jabez for the first time, he mused,
"What exactly did Jabez do to rise above the rest? Why did God answer his prayer?...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....How do I know that it will significantly impact you? Because of my experience and the testimony of hundreds of others around the world with whom I've shared these principles."
Wow, that's pretty powerful stuff! I'd better keep reading and see how this works.
In his discussion of the first of Jabez's prayers, Wilkinson has to take time to rearrange our understanding of prayer. He states, "Is it possible that God wants you to be 'selfish' in your prayers?...I want to show you that such a prayer [Oh, that you would bless me indeed] is not the self-centered act it might appear, but a supremely spiritual one..." I can't help remembering here the haunting verse of the old Keith Green song, Asleep in the Light:
Oh, bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord, you know it's all I ever hear.
No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear.
But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs,
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in.
Oh, can't you see it's such sin?Okay, okay, I'm not saying that asking God to bless you is necessarily a sin. But tell me it is not legitimate to be troubled when Wilkinson says, basically, that if you pray his prayer for blessing, "your life will become marked by miracles." However, if I don't ask God to bless me, He will withhold untold numbers of "blessings" from me. This is a chapter of pure unbiblical speculation--his fanciful explanations clearly don't arise from the text. He invents a description of Jabez's life to show his prayer in the best possible light.
The second phrase is where you ask God to enlarge your territory so that you can bless more people. Wilkinson says that Jabez wanted "more influence, more responsibility, and more opportunity to make a mark for the God of Israel." Now where did he get that idea? A lot of assumptions there. (Gary E. Gilley has written, responding to POJ overreaches, a book with the main title, I Just Wanted More Land). A number of anecdotes follow about people who had great success with his method.
I have less of a problem with the third part, "that your hand would be with me." We all need God's hand with us when we are serving him according to His will. His emphasis is dependence on God. Wilkinson doesn't speculate much about Jabez in that chapter, either. The thing that gets me about this, though, is the way it still seems to be merely a strategy for getting what you want. "[A]sking for God's hand upon us is our strategic choice to sustain and continue the great things that God has begun in our lives." I see...it's all part of the strategy. Remarkably, Wilkinson presumptuously told his youth group on a mission trip, "If we don't have one hundred kids in each club by the end of the week, we should consider it a failure." What!?
"Oh, that you would keep me from evil" is the fourth and final of Jabez's requests. Clearly there is nothing wrong with that. It is a bit deceptive, however, to give only the New King James Version translation. Wilkinson gives alternate translations when they help his case. But for this one every other translation is selfish, not all that noble sounding. His NKJV says, "keep me from evil that I may not cause pain!" The others all say something to the effect of "...that it may not grieve me." (KJV), "...keep me from all trouble and pain." (NLT), or "...keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" (NASB). The NKJV is the only version that has not causing pain as its object.
Throughout the book, of course, dozens of outrageous statements jump out at you. But let me pick just a couple of troubling phrases that caught my eye in the next to the last chapter. "But Jabez, whose prayer earned him a 'more honorable' award from God " (p.76--emphasis mine) Huh? Did he say, "earned him?" It seems Jabez's praying amounted to a kind of works-righteousness. Do you think he got brownie points with God for repeating this prayer? Hardly. In fact Jesus admonished his disciples not to be like the Gentiles who used meaningless repetitions (as he pointed them to the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6).
The second passage is, "I don't want to get to heaven and hear God say: 'Let's look at your life, Bruce. Let me show you what I wanted for you and tried repeatedly to accomplish through you but you wouldn't let me.' What a travesty!" (p. 77--emphasis mine) The real travesty is the way Wilkinson twists the power and authority of God, turning him from the Sovereign Lord of the universe into a frustrated weakling much like the oft-repeated description of Jesus (from Revelation 3:20) standing helplessly at the door of our hearts hoping we will let him in (since, after all, the doorknob is on the inside). To this Jesus might reply, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God." (Matt. 22:29)
Well...at last, Making Jabez Mine (Chapter 7) gives the formula for the blessed life. If you follow these steps "the prayer will be on its way to becoming a treasured, lifelong habit." I want to repeat the steps in their entirety here with my (somewhat sarcastic--sorry) comments after each.
- Pray the Jabez prayer every morning, and keep a record of your daily prayer by marking off a calendar or a chart you make especially for the purpose. [And what if I should miss a day? I lose that day's blessings, don't I?]
- Write out the prayer and tape it in your Bible, in your day-timer, on your bathroom mirror, or some other place where you'll be reminded of your new vision. [No need to write it. Just go to your nearest Christian store where you will find an assortment of plaques, cards, mugs, key chains, bookmarks, etc. with the Jabez prayer nicely embossed.]
- Reread this little book once each week during the next month, asking God to show you important insights you may have missed. [Funny how Wilkinson hardly mentions the Bible in his book. Instead, if you want to be blessed read his little book over and over. At least I'm only required to do this for a month.]
- Tell one other person of your commitment to your new prayer habit, and ask him or her to check up on you. [Ahh...accountability about the Prayer. Don't know if I can handle the legalism and guilt trips.]
- Begin to keep a record of changes in your life, especially the divine appointments and new opportunities you can relate directly to the Jabez prayer. [Utterly amazing--I'm amazed that Paul and the other New Testament writers never once mentioned the Prayer.]
- Start praying the Jabez prayer for your family, friends, and local church. [Oh wow--it even works like the Mormon baptisms for the dead?--proxy Jabez praying! Now, if I can just find someone to pray the Prayer for me. Hmmm.]
I can't resist mentioning one final testimony about the Prayer in this chapter. I think it says it all. Wilkinson showcases the impressive numbers of his expanding ministry as an example of the success of his method. On page 90 he summarizes, "Just by looking at what is happening, I can assure you that God still answers those who have a loyal heart and pray the Jabez prayer." (!)
Okay, so isn't there some redeeming value to the book? Sure. It wasn't hard to come up with a list of five positive encouragements in The Prayer of Jabez:
However, there are so many other books that one could find that would encourage these disciplines--books more Christ-centered and true to the Biblical meaning--yet without the maddeningly flawed leaps in interpretation here that distract so greatly on every page.
"Who are you to say...?"
Having carefully read the small, 93-page book I asked myself, "What do people get out of this piece of fluff? Why has it sold so well?" You see, to my thinking, the book really has little to say. Most of the ideas are from Wilkinson's own imagination or experiences and not from exegesis of the short, obscure Old Testament passage he claims the book is based on. The material could probably have been covered adequately in an even smaller booklet or tract form. So, does it somehow answer a pressing question or offer some way to better cope with life? What am I missing? I admit I just don't get it.The only thing I can come up with is that the "Jabez phenomenon" is nothing more than the latest evangelical fad, similar to WWJD, The Bondage Breaker, Left Behind, me-focused praise music or The Veggie Tales. It's your typical self-help book, promising a slick and quick formula for success from a unique angle that no one else ever thought of in all of Christian history. And that really seems to have great appeal to the typical American evangelical of the 21st century--the promise of miracles in a ho-hum life by a simple new technique that others don't have. The great thing is that it works 100% of the time! You don't believe me? Just look at all the testimonies.
"How can you say it's not biblical? It's right there in the Bible." Except that in this case there's no place for self denial or suffering, no need to bother with tedious, in-depth Bible study or put up with such seemingly imperceptible growth in your Christian life. Just say this prayer and miracles will abound! After all, "as you repeat the steps, you will set in motion a cycle of blessing that will keep multiplying what God is able to do in and through you" (p. 83). Someone should bring this prayer technique to the Christians in southern Sudan--they really need to start getting blessed!
Did I say it was a fad? Whatever you call it, we definitely have the WWJD-ing of Christendom here. So many new products out there--I can't wait! Go to amazon.com and check out all of the items listed under Prayer of Jabez. We've got The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life, Prayer of Jabez Journal, Prayer of Jabez Devotional, Prayer of Jabez Bible Study, Prayer of Jabez (Leather Edition), La Oracion de Jabes, Prayer of Jabez Audio, Jabez Prayer Bible Cover, Prayer of Jabez for Kids, Prayer of Jabez for Little Ones, Jabez Prayer Scripture Keeper, Prayer of Jabez for Teens, POJ Bible Study Leaders' Edition, POJ Living Big for God, POJ Gift Edition, POJ for Young Hearts, POJ 2002 Day-to-Day Calendar, POJ Sand Mug, POJ Magnet, POJ Key Ring, POJ Paperweight, POJ Magnetic Notepad, Holy Bears POJ Bear, POJ Sterling Silver Pendant, POJ Pocket Reminder, POJ How to Get God to Bless You. (Whew!)
All right, enough of the marketing angle. Let's get back to content. One of the biggest problems is that the book has an unbiblical take on what true blessing is. You will notice that it is very numbers oriented. It goes something like this: large numbers = success (blessing); small numbers = failure (no blessing). But are true blessings really so so--Jabez-like, so materially based? Not according to the Bible. Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Following that verse Paul goes on to relate what God has done for us as believers in Christ. He has chosen us and predestined us to adoption as sons. He has redeemed us and forgiven us and lavished his grace on us. That is blessing in the purest sense for the Christian. (Come to think of it, the book has very little to say about Christ and the way of salvation and resulting overflow of spiritual blessing.)
Furthermore, God doesn't promise Wilkinson's understanding of great success in everything we do. In fact, he may have a purpose for our failure in specific instances. Paul didn't have resounding success every time, did he? For example, his preaching wasn't always embraced wholeheartedly (Acts 18:5-6, among others) and Satan repeatedly thwarted his plan to return to Thessalonica (1 Thess 2:18). Oh--wait a minute--that's right he didn't pray Jabez. (Of course I wasn't serious when I said that praying Jabez works 100% of the time. It might seem like it, though, since the failures of a fad technique are rarely publicized.)
Another error is that the Old Testament passage that contains the Jabez Prayer seems to be understood by Wilkinson as prescriptive rather than descriptive. What I mean is that just because there is an account of someone doing something somewhere in the Bible it doesn't follow that we are supposed to do it too. That's where the Mormons got way off track with their emphasis on baptisms for the dead. Paul mentioned that practice (in 1 Corinthians 15:29) that some people evidently did back in those days. Even though it is obvious from the context that he wasn't recommending it, the Latter-day Saints have made it one of their key doctrines based on only one isolated descriptive verse--very dangerous. Let's not repeat their mistake with Jabez.
More and more I have noticed Christians advocating a certain technique or strategy based on one main criterion--pragmatism. Whether in evangelism, church growth, prayer or spiritual warfare the overarching requirement is, "does it work?" Where are the cries of "is it biblical?" in our generation? Why are there so many Christians with such a low regard for the Word of God? As for me, if you don't show me that the latest fad is biblical my response will have to be: "It seems very nice but I don't find that teaching or example in the Bible. I think I'll pass."
Of course that doesn't mean I haven't promoted some teachings that, in retrospect, I should have been more careful to consider. In a number of cases I have assumed a thing is good based on the recommendations of so many respected people (you start feeling that you would really be odd if you had a problem with it). Here's an example. One of the youth leaders under my charge in my former church suggested certain very popular Bible study materials for her small group. I ordered the workbooks for her and didn't give it a second thought since it had been so widely praised and had also come out of my respected former denomination. Since that time, however, I have come to the conclusion that the book presents an unhealthy and unrealistic view of the Christian life (we won't get into that one now). I should have been more discerning and hands-on.
So when I see so many Christians (C&MA or CEC included) gushing on and on about The Prayer of Jabez I have the feeling that they really haven't thought it through. We sure don't need more Jabez study groups or extended preaching on Jabez philosophy. It is my hope that this article will help clarify the fuzzy thinking so pervasive in today's culture with the result that Jesus would increase as Jabez loses his luster.
Bottom line
If you haven't guessed by now, I can't recommend this book. I definitely have not sensed "in the deepest recesses of [my] being the rightness of praying like this." Sure, you can find a copy of it for only $6 or $7 but why waste your money. My library hasn't bought into the craze and doesn't carry it either. If you are curious you can read the first chapter at amazon.com.I welcome your feedback. You may send an e-mail to alliancereb@netzero.net with your comments.
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