What About the Prayer of Jabez?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.  Here is this week’s question: Dear Dave and Tom, Someone sent me a small book titled The Prayer of Jabez.I know that it is a very popular book among Christians, including those in my own fellowship.However, in reading the book I find a number of statements that seem more related to the faith prosperity movement, than to sound biblical doctrines.What is your perspective?

Tom:

Dave I know that the Tim LaHaye series Left Behind was an incredibly popular series which continues on today. But there’s a little book out there which this person is referring to The Prayer of Jabez, which is on the New York Times bestseller list.It’s gone through the roof.It can’t be more than 60 some pages and people are just going crazy for it.

Dave:

Yes, I was speaking at a church recently and I asked how many of them had read that book and wow, I would say 60% of the hands went up which is very unusual.Well Tom, on the one hand maybe Bruce Wilkinson has taken some criticisms that aren’t just.They’ve likened the book to the health and wealth, you know, name and claim it, blab it and grab it, and so forth.

Tom:

Yes, prosperity thinking.

Dave:

Right, he specifically says this is not what it’s about.He does talk about that when you ask God for a blessing that we leave it up to him to bless us.He talks about submitting to God’s will and so forth, so we must be accurate and honest in our critique.On the other hand, I have a lot of problems with the book.1) There are many other prayers in the Bible.He says this is a spiritual prayer.In fact, Jabez is asking for physical things: to enlarge his borders and to be kept from harm.The Bible says evil, but when you look the word up in the Hebrew, it means harm.Whereas Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer, so called Lord’s prayer, when he says “keep us from evil” the word there means wickedness.So that’s spiritual.This is—I mean there are far more spiritual prayers in the Bible.There are many, many more prayers in the Bible. What about some of David’s prayers?“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to inquire at his temple…”or how about Psalm 90 and 91, the prayer of Moses, the man of God.You know I could go on and on, there are so many prayers.

Tom:

Yes but Dave, this is a prayer in the Bible.

Dave:

It is, it is,—it’s a short prayer.1) It was answered for Jabez because that was God’s will for Jabez at that time. Never is there even a hint that this should be prayed by anyone else.Whereas the Lord says “after this manner pray ye….”Now if the Jabez prayer was so important why didn’t the Lord tell his disciples when they said, Lord teach us to pray? Jesus should have said you pray this Jabez prayer.You repeat it everyday.On the Dobson program Wilkinson said you repeat this for 30 days and you will be transformed!I don’t have any promises like that in the Bible.So those things concern me a bit.Furthermore, Jesus did not give us, although a lot of people think he did, he did not give us a prayer to be repeated verbatim.Just over and over again, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” and so forth.

Tom:

Dave I’m a former Catholic, I know—

Dave:

Yes, so you could say it so fast you couldn’t you weren’t even thinking of the words.

Tom:

Absolutely.

Dave:

No, Jesus said after this manner pray ye.Okay, this is a pattern for prayer and at the same time Jesus warned them, don’t use vain repetitions.They think they will be heard for their much speaking.This is what the pagans do.But Wilkinson says you repeat this verbatim.Word for word.He says he’s been doing it for 30 years and it has brought fantastic blessing in his life and he guarantees that this prayer, this prayer, these words—you repeat these words and they will transform your life.I have no such promise in the Bible about any prayer, certainly not about the Jabez prayer.But this is the thing people want.You’ve got a short prayer now which is like a mantra.You repeat it verbatim and it has magic power.The very words, you just say them and wow!Look what God will do!Then he does contradict himself a bit in the book.He says we’re going to leave it up to God.Then he gives you a group of young people, I guess it was, as I recall and he tells them why don’t you ask for the island of Trinidad and ask for a plane to take you there. So wait a minute now, we’re asking for specific things.Tom, I think there some real dangers in this that people will get the impression they can get what they want from God if they will pray the Jabez prayer.

Tom:

Do you think that’s why it is that popular today?

Dave:

I think so.If you wrote a book lets say Jesus says except you deny self, take up the cross and follow me, or you wrote a book about Christ’s statement to his disciples if the world hates me what do you think they will do?If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.The servant isn’t greater than his Lord, they hated me, [and] what do you think they will do to you?I don’t think that book would sell like this book has been selling.I think people are being given a false impression and I’m not saying that Wilkinson even intended that, but there certainly is a great danger that they can’t think wow, these are magic words.

Tom:

Yes, Dave there’s another aspect that I find interesting.Again this program is called “Search the Scriptures Daily.” Now you have a prayer here that’s right out of God’s Word, but is it being handled with regard to the full counsel of God?We’ve talked over and over on this program about scripture interpreting scripture.Well can I hold on to a short phrase of this short prayer and that’s all I’m going to put my focus on and work on.That’s where there’s a danger of it becoming a mantra or (Nickerin Shoa Shoe?) or some of the Eastern cults that repeat things over and over again and somehow that affects reality.

Dave:

You’re talking about the context of all the scripture in the Bible would never give you the impression that you should pray the Jabez prayer; you should repeat it verbatim and that will be the “open sesame” to great blessing in your life.You would never get that idea from the Bible.

Tom:

And Dave I’ve looked at some secular articles about the book and I think there is skepticism here about the book that’s pretty healthy.For example one reporter writes: “Jabez franchising in the style of Chicken Soup for the Soul is not far off.Wilkinson’s wife who stunned him by praying openly that the book would sell a million copies is working on The Prayer of Jabez for Women.A book aimed at young children and a companion video is in the works.Our concern here is I don’t think they’re going to come out with a book addressing the problems or concerns that we have and people who are not thinking critically about this stuff, may buy into the prosperity stuff because they are not looking at it from a discerning biblical perspective.

Dave:

We keep reminding ourselves and everybody else, check it out.Check it out from the Bible, check us out, check this book out, check everything out from the Bible.Be a Berean.