Mike Owens
There is only one Bible, right? So why are there so many different beliefs? This Church over here, using the Bible for their justification, believes thus or so. While that Church over there, using the same Bible, believes something different (and usually quite opposite).
What Does The Bible Say? is a web site dedicated to exploring this question. Though you may object to some of my views and opinions, what I write on this site is my own ideas of what is actually said in the Bible. I hope to take a different doctrine each study and see What Does The BibleSay?
But first a little about myself. My name is Mike Owens. I am 50
years old and have been a Christian since March 10, 1974. I have seriously studied the
Bible for all of that time, and for several years prior.
I am familiar with Hebrew and
Greek text ( I can read, write and speak Hebrew and have a working understanding of
Greek).
Now if you are ready to begin the journey...
Recently I had the opportunity to read a debunking of the book The Prayer of Jabez. In a nut shell, this debunking stated that if we followed the advice of this book, we would mock God.The Bible says that God would send a powerful delusion in the last days. This delusion would be in judgment that they would not believe the truth [1]. What is actually being said here is that God would send an efficiency of fraudulence that they might stray from orthodoxy or piety. The writer of the article goes on to say that this efficiency of fraudulence is seen in The Prayer of Jabez. Since the name Jabez means, He causes pain, God knew that this short, self-centered person would be used to justify the love of self [2]. The article goes on to say that this powerful delusion is causing God great pain as He watches the lie of selfishness sweep the world. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mt 6:23) How great is the darkness, especially when men think this is light. What they are calling light, is darkness.
What are some of the things we would look for to tell us this type of praying is darkness? The author of the article established several key points to in his explanation which would help us identify the error in this teaching, and help us set our paths right again in God's direction.
First, we need to follow Jesus. Jesus never did anything on His own initiative, but only what the Father told Him to do [3]. Therefore we must wait upon God to reveal our ministry to us, and then wait for His guidance and power, which He will administer as needed. Second, we need to pray in the Spirit and not of our own understanding [4]. According to the writer of the article, this praying in the Spirit must be within the ministry that God has given us, and must be as John described in Revelations [5].
Using Jude :17-18 as his text, he goes on to say that to follow the prayer of Jabez is to mock God [6]. Jude calls those who create havoc in the Church scoffers. By scoffers, it is implied that they mocked God by reciting selfish prayers from the Bible as some kind of magical ritual that God has to honor. I will be looking closer at the meaning behind each of these verses a little later on to see if what is being said here about them is accurate and true. But for now I give this introduction only to establish the present mind of the writer and how it relates to The Prayer of Jabez.
With all this in mind, I wish to study this article and the prayer of Jabez thoroughly to see how they match up. Jabez prayed Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain. What is in this prayer of a selfish nature? The passage in question is found in 1Ch 4:9-10, and reads in its entirety below:
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, I gave birth to him in pain. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain. And God granted his request. 1Ch 4:9-10 Return
The first nine chapters of First Chronicles is genealogy lists, So-and-so begot So-and-so. Then, right in the middle of all this genealogy, God takes time out to talk about one individual who no one has ever heard of, and is only mentioned here and in chapter Two. The Bible tells us that all of Scripture was given to us by God through the Holy Spirit. None of it was by any ones own interpretation. This is the Word of God, given for our education and training as evidence for our conviction of His holiness, that we may be fully prepared having been furnished to act accordingly [7]. If God indeed placed this here for our learning and understanding, then it benefits us to take a closer look at what is being said. I don't believe that anything is placed in the Bible by accident, or by chance!
It will be granted here that good, well-intended Christians sometimes take a verse or two out of context and build misguided doctrines out of them. Such doctrines as the name-it- and-claim-it doctrine, which say God must do this because we have used this formula. More often then not, such doctrines have crept into the Church because someone has misapplied the original teaching, then because some have gone out looking for a correct formula. But, if Scriptural support for something can be found, without violating the original meaning of a passage, then it should and needs to be accepted.
Jabez was also known as Othniel, the son of Kenaz the younger brother of Caleb. He was descended from Judah through Tamar. One can eventually trace his origins back to Moses. Othniel married Caleb's daughter, Achsah, and became the Judge of Israel after the death of Joshuah. He was a fierce defender of Israel. He was the father of the scribes and the deliverer of his countrymen. The clans of scribes who lived at Jabez (named after the founder of that land) were the Tirathites, they were so called because their voice was like trumpets; Shimeathites, so called because in hearing they lifted up their faces in prayer; and Sucathites because they were overshadowed by the Spirit of prophecy. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Recab [8] The above explanation of Tirathites, shimeathites and Suchathites that the Targumist refers to comes from the import of the Hebrew roots, the source these names are derived from. Now, notice what else is said of him[9].
First, he was more honorable than his brothers. The root word here is kabad: kaw-bad'. In the niphal form, as here, it denotes the idea of something being weighty as in noteworthy or impressive. The reputation of an individual is of central importance with this meaning. This person was deserving of respect, attention and obedience because of his courage and heroic feats. It should be pointed out that he was more honorable than his brothers, and one of his brothers was Caleb. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it (Nu 14:24).
Second, his mother had named him Jabez [10], and this was because his birth was a difficult and painful one, his father had named him Othniel [11]. This man was lead by the power of the Holy Spirit [12].
1 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they
will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but
have delighted in wickedness. 2Th 2:11-12 Return
2 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People
will be lovers of themselves (selfish), lovers of money (covetous), boastful, arrogant,
disobedient to their parents (blasphemous to parents), ungrateful (unpersuadable), unholy,
without love (without natural affection), un