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jschaeff's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
jmsumida's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Prayer of Jabez is a life transforming book. If you apply the principles in the book you will see changes in your personal and professional life.
tomg97's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.75
I am a fan of deep dives into scripture, and this one example if that. Wilkinson examines the prayer of Jabez and explains how it is relevant to our lives today. Although there are concerns about the author's imagining of Janez's life (there is not much to go on in the Bible), it is certainly a book to revisit if you want to create a habit of praying like Jabez. However, I would warn readers that this is not necessarily a "self-help" book; it does not provide a formula to make your life better and should not be treated as such.
troyc's review against another edition
2.0
It's not a bad little book, it has quite a few salient insights that merit careful contemplation. But as often the case, the book's extrapolation of the "Jabez prayer" demands a lot of speculation and putting thoughts and words into Jabez's mind and mouth. And as the author admits, there is nothing more in the Bible to instruct us about the details and context of Jabez's life. The primary takeaway should be, not asking for what Jabez prayed, but seeking God's perfect will, whether it be abundance or sufficiency, I feel the author does a reasonably good job expressing that point. Jesus gave us the proper model of prayer, (Worship, Will, Provision, Forgiveness, Protection). Christians surrender their lives to God to use as He knows is best for His Kingdom, and for us.
matthewwester's review against another edition
3.0
Part of me wants to give this book a full five stars: I say a loud "amen!" to the idea of deepening our excitement/expectation/confidence in the mighty blessings God wants to bring into our lives. Often our prayers are too "small" because we underestimate the power that God works in and through us. In that sense, absolutely we should ask God for more ministry than we ever imagined handling. And I fully agree with the idea that if we open ourselves up in prayer, God can bring us unexpected and miraculously timed conversations. For all of these reasons, I would lend this book to a friend, especially if they needed encouragements on praying bigger or, in one of the later chapters, the idea of simply fleeing temptation.
Another part of me leans towards a much lower star rating because many readers will take this as a different version of "health and wealth" prosperity Gospel. The book makes it sound like faithful, big prayers always ask for instant and spectacle-level success. But I was asked a question a couple years ago that has stuck with me ever since, and I think is epic and faithful and big but just in a different way, "What if you were called by God to go to the mission field but you weren't going to have a single person come to belief in God... What if you ministered 50 years in that country and only had one person believe in Jesus because of your faithful service... Would you still go?" The key phrase in all that was "called by God" and my answer is yes, I would go. I don't know if this book allows for that kind of scenario -- if it does, then great, my star rating stays high. If not, then yikes, I strongly advise against it. God may have an extremely strategic and unexpected purpose for your life.
And since this book isn't systematic theology, it's a 100 page booster, it's kinda hard to say if we lower-star-ratings are reacting to something that's actually there or just one interpretation. Hmm. I could see a reader taking this book either way.
Another part of me leans towards a much lower star rating because many readers will take this as a different version of "health and wealth" prosperity Gospel. The book makes it sound like faithful, big prayers always ask for instant and spectacle-level success. But I was asked a question a couple years ago that has stuck with me ever since, and I think is epic and faithful and big but just in a different way, "What if you were called by God to go to the mission field but you weren't going to have a single person come to belief in God... What if you ministered 50 years in that country and only had one person believe in Jesus because of your faithful service... Would you still go?" The key phrase in all that was "called by God" and my answer is yes, I would go. I don't know if this book allows for that kind of scenario -- if it does, then great, my star rating stays high. If not, then yikes, I strongly advise against it. God may have an extremely strategic and unexpected purpose for your life.
And since this book isn't systematic theology, it's a 100 page booster, it's kinda hard to say if we lower-star-ratings are reacting to something that's actually there or just one interpretation. Hmm. I could see a reader taking this book either way.
zkendall's review against another edition
Small book, quick read, not bad. Don't want to make it a sort of mystical do this and get this thing, which could happen. It's almost a formula book which would be bad...
the_weirdling's review against another edition
1.0
This was so close to a Christianized version of "The Secret" it should be sold under New Thought or New Age. While it is theoretically set up as an exposition and commentary on the Prayer of Jabez, that's mostly just the chapter headings. Primarily, it's a collection of anecdotes by the author of how amazing his life is for using this prayer every day, or how amazing he's made other peoples lives because he uses the prayer. In between, he slips in how amazing he's heard other peoples lives became when they used the prayer. Apparently, if you use this prayer you are able to make God your slave and God will fulfill all your dreams like your own personal genie in a bottle. The author takes time in several places to deny this is really what he's saying, but gives no detail about how he isn't saying it. Page after page is filled with promises of a richer, fuller life for using this prayer. Apparently, the prayer has the capacity to overrule Jesus' promise that the life of faith will require crosses, burdens, and sufferings in addition to great blessings and fulfillment. This is a manifestation of the worst tendencies in American Christianity and religion in general. We only want a faith if it gets us a bigger car and lessens our prescription for Zoloft.
wwatts1734's review against another edition
2.0
“The Prayer of Jabez” is one of the most successful books ever published by an Evangelical Christian minister. While there are a few minor good things that this book brings to the table, overall it is a work of terrible theology that leads to an even worse spirituality.
Let’s focus first on the positive aspects of “Jabez”. “The Prayer of Jabez” is a call to prayer, and it encourages the reader to pray. This, in itself, is a very good thing. Often I am amazed at the attitude of some Evangelical Christians, who believe that an active prayer life is a symptom of “works righteousness,” and they cite Jesus’ admonition in the gospels to not pray as the pagans do by multiplying words and praying at streetcorners for public effect. While Jesus is warning us against some of the pitfalls of an active prayer life, He would never have discouraged his followers to pray. Jesus Himself prayed often, and the gospels say that sometimes he spent all night in prayer. He went to the Mount of the Transfiguration to pray, and he prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane. I would even go so far as to say that without an active prayer life, no Christian can remain in the faith. He may be able to keep up appearances, but a real Christian life is only possible with an active prayer life. And at least Wilkinson does encourage his readers in that regard. I do find it interesting, however, that Wilkinson would encourage his readers to pray this prayer verbatim every day for 30 days. That pattern is very close to the Catholic tradition of the novena, where a person prays the same prayer every day for nine days in the hopes of achieving something. Is Wilkinson trying to start a tradition like the novena among Evangelical Protestants? Catholics can abuse the novena by seeing it as a “tit for tat” arrangement with God – ie God has to give me what I ask for because I prayed the novena for it. And “Jabez” devotees can fall into the same trap, and should be cautioned about this.
Aside from that, the rest of the “Prayer of Jabez” is very bad and should be avoided at all costs. Why do I say this? I could write my own book that is twice as long as Wilkinson’s 95 page essay in explaining why, but here I’ll suffice it to bring up a couple of points. First, this book could just as easily be called “The Prayer of Narcissus”. It is built on rank selfishness and caters to the reader’s desires for wealth, power and comfort. If Ayn Rand were to write a book on Christian spirituality, it would have probably been very similar to “The Prayer of Jabez.” This is very bad.
To illustrate, let’s examine the four petitions of the Jabez prayer. These come from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, a very very short passage of scripture that contains all that we know about Jabez. The four peitiions are 1) “That You would bless me indeed”, 2) that You would enlarge my territory, 3) that your hand would be with me, and 4) that you would keep me from evil. So, essentially, Jabez is praying for happiness, wealth, success and an easy life. Hey, who doesn’t want these things? But let’s contrast that prayer with the best Christian prayer, the one that Jesus Himself gave to us, and the one that we call the “Lord’s Prayer”. There are seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, 1) Our Father, who art in heaven, blessed be thy name, 2) thy kingdom come, 3) thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, 4) give us this day our daily bread, 5) and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, 6) and lead us not into temptation, 7) but deliver us from evil. There are several strong contrasts that we see between the prayer of Jabez and the Lord’s prayer. First, consider that the Lord’s prayer does not contain any occurrences of the first person singular pronoun. There is no “I”, “me”, “my” or “mine” in the Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer focuses the first 3 petitions on God, that He be glorified and obeyed, and the last 4 petitions are about what we should want as a collective Christian community. The prayer of Jabez is all about me, me, me. The Lord’s Prayer is about the entire community, and about God Himself. Consider the following contrasts – the first petiion of the prayer of Jabez asks that I be blessed while the first petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that the name of the Lord be blessed. The second petition of the prayer of Jabez asks that God would enlarge my territory, while the second petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that the Lord’s kingdom come. The third petition of the prayer of Jabez asks that the Lord’s hand be with me, while the third petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that the Lord’s will be done. Finally the fourth petition of the prayer of Jabez asks that I not have to suffer, while the seventh petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that we be delivered from the works of Satan. Do you see the contrast? In many ways, the Prayer of Jabez turns the Lord’s prayer on its head. While the Lord’s prayer focuses on glorifying God and preserving the Church, the prayer of Jabez asks for personal blessings. When Jesus taught us to pray, He wanted us to focus on God and each other. The prayer of Jabez tells us to think only of ourselves.
Another problem with “Jabez” is the author’s skewed interpretation of the Jabez passages. Let’s look at 1 Chronicles 4:9 – 10 and see what it says, “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 border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it be not to my sorrow! And God granted him that which he requested.” This passage uses a tremendous amount of irony, and unfortunately not everyone can pick up on ironic meanings in the scripture, especially those who are literalistically inclined. But in the first verse, Jabez receives his name because he caused his mother sorrow. So, ironically, Jabez spends his life trying to avoid sorrow. But consider that the passage describes Jabez as more honorable than his brethren. Wilkinson interprets this to mean that God bestowed honor on Jabez because of the Jabez prayer, but this is not at all apparent from the scripture. What does it mean in the Old Testament to be honorable? To determine this, let’s look at other men in the Old Testament who were honorable. There was Moses, who brought the people out of Egypt and led them through 40 years in the desert. There was Joshua, who defeated the armies of many nations in order to give the land to Israel. And there was David, who defeated all of his enemies and ushered in the golden age of Israel. These are men who defeated armies, who shaped history and who did amazing things because of God’s grace. So what did Jabez do? If Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, then why do we know nothing at all about him? Perhaps it’s because of what we learn in Jabez’s prayer, that he was self-centered, that he wanted wealth and ease and didn’t want to be bothered with the things that great men do. That’s the irony of the whole passage. And, again, Wilkinson turns it on its head by transforming Jabez from a man who squandered his honor into a great hero of narcissism.
Perhaps one day theologians and historians from a future age will see the “Prayer of Jabez” for what it is, the vile fruit of an empty Christianity. When future generations want to know why the Church of today is so powerless and impotent, perhaps they will see from this book that we wanted too much to be like Jabez, that 5 million of us bought this book and decided that we would rather spend our lives building our little castles in the sand than fighting the evils of our day and proclaiming the gospel to an increasingly pagan society. Aside from providing this evidence, I see very little value in reading “The Prayer of Jabez”.
Let’s focus first on the positive aspects of “Jabez”. “The Prayer of Jabez” is a call to prayer, and it encourages the reader to pray. This, in itself, is a very good thing. Often I am amazed at the attitude of some Evangelical Christians, who believe that an active prayer life is a symptom of “works righteousness,” and they cite Jesus’ admonition in the gospels to not pray as the pagans do by multiplying words and praying at streetcorners for public effect. While Jesus is warning us against some of the pitfalls of an active prayer life, He would never have discouraged his followers to pray. Jesus Himself prayed often, and the gospels say that sometimes he spent all night in prayer. He went to the Mount of the Transfiguration to pray, and he prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane. I would even go so far as to say that without an active prayer life, no Christian can remain in the faith. He may be able to keep up appearances, but a real Christian life is only possible with an active prayer life. And at least Wilkinson does encourage his readers in that regard. I do find it interesting, however, that Wilkinson would encourage his readers to pray this prayer verbatim every day for 30 days. That pattern is very close to the Catholic tradition of the novena, where a person prays the same prayer every day for nine days in the hopes of achieving something. Is Wilkinson trying to start a tradition like the novena among Evangelical Protestants? Catholics can abuse the novena by seeing it as a “tit for tat” arrangement with God – ie God has to give me what I ask for because I prayed the novena for it. And “Jabez” devotees can fall into the same trap, and should be cautioned about this.
Aside from that, the rest of the “Prayer of Jabez” is very bad and should be avoided at all costs. Why do I say this? I could write my own book that is twice as long as Wilkinson’s 95 page essay in explaining why, but here I’ll suffice it to bring up a couple of points. First, this book could just as easily be called “The Prayer of Narcissus”. It is built on rank selfishness and caters to the reader’s desires for wealth, power and comfort. If Ayn Rand were to write a book on Christian spirituality, it would have probably been very similar to “The Prayer of Jabez.” This is very bad.
To illustrate, let’s examine the four petitions of the Jabez prayer. These come from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, a very very short passage of scripture that contains all that we know about Jabez. The four peitiions are 1) “That You would bless me indeed”, 2) that You would enlarge my territory, 3) that your hand would be with me, and 4) that you would keep me from evil. So, essentially, Jabez is praying for happiness, wealth, success and an easy life. Hey, who doesn’t want these things? But let’s contrast that prayer with the best Christian prayer, the one that Jesus Himself gave to us, and the one that we call the “Lord’s Prayer”. There are seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, 1) Our Father, who art in heaven, blessed be thy name, 2) thy kingdom come, 3) thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, 4) give us this day our daily bread, 5) and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, 6) and lead us not into temptation, 7) but deliver us from evil. There are several strong contrasts that we see between the prayer of Jabez and the Lord’s prayer. First, consider that the Lord’s prayer does not contain any occurrences of the first person singular pronoun. There is no “I”, “me”, “my” or “mine” in the Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer focuses the first 3 petitions on God, that He be glorified and obeyed, and the last 4 petitions are about what we should want as a collective Christian community. The prayer of Jabez is all about me, me, me. The Lord’s Prayer is about the entire community, and about God Himself. Consider the following contrasts – the first petiion of the prayer of Jabez asks that I be blessed while the first petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that the name of the Lord be blessed. The second petition of the prayer of Jabez asks that God would enlarge my territory, while the second petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that the Lord’s kingdom come. The third petition of the prayer of Jabez asks that the Lord’s hand be with me, while the third petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that the Lord’s will be done. Finally the fourth petition of the prayer of Jabez asks that I not have to suffer, while the seventh petition of the Lord’s prayer asks that we be delivered from the works of Satan. Do you see the contrast? In many ways, the Prayer of Jabez turns the Lord’s prayer on its head. While the Lord’s prayer focuses on glorifying God and preserving the Church, the prayer of Jabez asks for personal blessings. When Jesus taught us to pray, He wanted us to focus on God and each other. The prayer of Jabez tells us to think only of ourselves.
Another problem with “Jabez” is the author’s skewed interpretation of the Jabez passages. Let’s look at 1 Chronicles 4:9 – 10 and see what it says, “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 border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it be not to my sorrow! And God granted him that which he requested.” This passage uses a tremendous amount of irony, and unfortunately not everyone can pick up on ironic meanings in the scripture, especially those who are literalistically inclined. But in the first verse, Jabez receives his name because he caused his mother sorrow. So, ironically, Jabez spends his life trying to avoid sorrow. But consider that the passage describes Jabez as more honorable than his brethren. Wilkinson interprets this to mean that God bestowed honor on Jabez because of the Jabez prayer, but this is not at all apparent from the scripture. What does it mean in the Old Testament to be honorable? To determine this, let’s look at other men in the Old Testament who were honorable. There was Moses, who brought the people out of Egypt and led them through 40 years in the desert. There was Joshua, who defeated the armies of many nations in order to give the land to Israel. And there was David, who defeated all of his enemies and ushered in the golden age of Israel. These are men who defeated armies, who shaped history and who did amazing things because of God’s grace. So what did Jabez do? If Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, then why do we know nothing at all about him? Perhaps it’s because of what we learn in Jabez’s prayer, that he was self-centered, that he wanted wealth and ease and didn’t want to be bothered with the things that great men do. That’s the irony of the whole passage. And, again, Wilkinson turns it on its head by transforming Jabez from a man who squandered his honor into a great hero of narcissism.
Perhaps one day theologians and historians from a future age will see the “Prayer of Jabez” for what it is, the vile fruit of an empty Christianity. When future generations want to know why the Church of today is so powerless and impotent, perhaps they will see from this book that we wanted too much to be like Jabez, that 5 million of us bought this book and decided that we would rather spend our lives building our little castles in the sand than fighting the evils of our day and proclaiming the gospel to an increasingly pagan society. Aside from providing this evidence, I see very little value in reading “The Prayer of Jabez”.