"The Prayer of Jabez"
See also Prayer of Ezra
A Book Review by Pastor Rocky Wyatt
from The Day Drawing Near, June, 2001
Countryside Bible Church, 250 Countryside Court, Southlake, TX 76092
Evolutionists have tried for years to convince us that life has existed for billions of years. Occasionally miscellaneous bones are found with claims that they are hundreds of millions of years old. While there may only be a few fragments of bone, amazingly, a picture is generated that resembles some kind of apeman. When one considers the limited amount of information the artist had to work with, it becomes blatantly obvious that the pictures generated are simply the result of of someone's overactive imagination.
In the same way, Bruce Wilkinson has taken a rather obscure passage out of the Old Testament and generated a tremendous amount of unsupportable information. The tragedy is that millions of people are reading this little book and are assuming it to be biblically accurate.
Consider the passage in question: I Chronicles 4:9-10 And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez saying, "Because I bore [him] with sorrow. " And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that [it] may not grieve me! " And God granted him that which he requested.
This is the totality of the information that we have conceming this man Jabez. Mr. Wilkinson was able to author a book of ninety-two pages based on this prayer and its application to believers today.
There are basic truths revealed in this prayer that should be an encouragement to all of us. Jabez was an honorable man - more so than his brothers. He prayed to God. He requested God's blessing upon his life and that his borders might be extended (An understandable request in light of God's promises to national Israel concerning land). He desired to have God's hand upon him. He desired that God would keep him from harm and that harm would not afflict him. God graciously answered his request.
Consider some of the things that Wilkinson says in relation to this prayer:
I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers. Preface
This petition has radically changed what I expect from God and what I experience every day by His power. Preface
The next morning, I prayed Jabez's prayer word for word ... Thirty years later I haven't stopped. Page 11
... I want to introduce you to the amazing truths in Jabez's prayer for blessing and prepare you to expect God's astounding answers to it as a regular part of your life experience. Page 11
Wilkinson prays this prayer every day and is encouraging millions of others to do the same so that they will receive God's "unclaimed" blessings. God's Word never teaches this or in any way insinuates that we are to pray the prayer of Jabez.
Wilkinson's imagination certainly gets carried away as he suggests his rendition of what really took place when Jabez prayed:
In my mind's eye, I picture Jabez standing before a massive gate recessed into a sky-high wall. Weighed down by the sorrow of his past and the dreariness of his present, he sees before him only impossibility - a future shut off. Page 22
There is absolutely no indication in the Word of God that Jabez was "weighed down by the sorrow of his past and the dreariness of his future." There is absolutely no indication that Jabez only sees "impossibility - a future shut off." Wilkinson is taking very irresponsible liberties with the text of Scripture. He consistently and blatantly imposes his own views on this text.
Wilkinson also says: His kindness in recording Jabez's story in the Bible is proof that it's not who you are, or what your parents decided for you, or what you were 'fated' to be that counts. What counts is knowing who you want to be and asking for it. Page 29
Read the prayer of Jabez again. What Wilkinson states here is not found in the prayer of Jabez nor is it supported by any other biblical text.
Wilkinson states: The next part of the Jabez prayer - a plea for more territory - is where you ask God to enlarge your life so you can make a greater impact for Him. Page 30
There is nothing stated or implied in the prayer of Jabez that we are to ask God to enlarge our lives.
Wilkinson's justification is that as long as our increase allows us to do more for God, then certainly God will bless us accordingly. This is not biblically supportable.
Wilkinson says: Notice that Jabez did not begin his prayer by asking for God's hand to be with him. At that point, he didn't sense the need. Things were still manageable. His risks, and the fears that go with them, were minimal. But when his boundaries got moved out, and the kingdom sized tasks of God's agenda started coming at him, Jabez knew he needed a divine hand - and fast. Pages 48-49
Read the prayer again. Wilkinson generates far more information than God gave to us. His elaboration does injustice to the text and leads to erroneous conclusions. He has acted as the artist who takes a few bones and creates a picture that goes well beyond the evidence.
The Bible clearly teaches the importance of prayer. In reality, there are numerous prayers recorded in the Bible, but when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray (Matthew 6), Jesus did not make reference to any of them.
Wilkinson's emphasis on our asking for blessing and the expansion of our territory so that we can better honor God is not substantiated in Scripture. Consider the following passage: Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, According as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
We have already received every spiritual blessing. What a wonderful and gracious God we serve. In light of God's abundant goodness and provision, the apostle Paul says:
Philippians 3:7-11 But what things were counted gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss forthe excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is in the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; if by any mmeans I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Wilkinson's failure is in taking a passage of Scripture and developing it beyond its Scriptural intent. He emphasizes experience as his proof. The principles he emphasizes in his book The Prayer of Jabez cannot be derived from the text. The applications, especially relating to the expansion of one's territory seem to be a reflection of the prosperity Gospel.
Keep in mind that prayer is an avenue of communication we have with our Heavenly Father. Its intent is to accomplish God's will on earth, not our will in heaven. I would rather have my territory diminished, if God would be honored, than to enjoy the success that our American culture, and often the American church, sees as God's blessing upon us. Have we forgotten the life of Jesus and those who so faithfully followed Him? Their stories are recorded in the Bible!