Rating: 
Summary: A small book with a big message
Review: In his book, The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson challenges Christians to live life more fully by praying a prayer every day and then recording the results. Jabez is a rather obscure character in the Bible who appears in 1 Chronicle 4:9-10. He is described as "more honorable than his brothers", but what sets him apart is his powerful prayer. Wilkinson describes each part of the prayer and explains some of the consequences of praying it each day. Basically, the prayer asks for increased blessings from God which will lead the believer to a deeper and fuller Christian life which will be characterized by greater responsibility and service. Wilkinson throws down a challenge to his readers, gives them a method to revitalize their Christian walk and then leaves it squarely up to them as to whether they have the courage to pursue it.
Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous and sloppy theology
Review: I am amazed that this book was ever written by a graduate from such a prestigious and conservative seminary. Wilkinson has taken the core doctrine of the "Word of Faith" crowd, and sanitized it for evangelicals. "Pray this prayer verbatim every day, and God is GUARANTEED to answer. If God refuses, it's because of sin in YOUR life." How's that for a safe escape clause? There are other problems, too, of course. First and foremost, Jesus gave us a model to follow when we pray, and it bears no resemblance to the prayer of Jabez at all. Second, the prophets didn't pray the prayer of Jabez. The apostles didn't pray the prayer of Jabez. As a matter of fact, NOBODY in the Bible ever prayed the prayer of Jabez except Jabez, yet after 2500 years, Bruce Wilkinson comes onto the scene and presents us with this Perfect Prayer. I'm sorry, but I find it hard to swallow that God allowed this key to Spiritual Power to remain hidden from His followers for all this time.I do not for one minute doubt Wilkinson's sincerity or his devotion to Christ, but should I believe his claim that the key to spiritual power is found in praying this prayer by rote every day, or do I believe the words of his Master who said, "When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words." I think the danger of this book is that it will put people's focus on the form of the prayer, rather than the One to whom they are praying; on getting answers, rather than using prayer as a time to commune with their heavenly Father.
Rating: 
Summary: Be Careful About Jabezing
Review: This is a great book for studying a Bible character, learning about a prayer that worked for him, and discovering WHY. Dedicated Christians know that God wants a relationship, not a daily mantra; therefore, Wilkinson's prescription for "Blab it and Grab it" theology comes across as somewhat shallow, and his simplistic approach doesn't allow God the possibility to answer our prayers with a "No," or a "Not now." Don't buy this book because you think Jabez's prayer will change your life; instead, buy this book to learn better how you can trust God the way Jabez did, and to learn how to change your own prayers and build a closer relationship with the One who has all the answers. This is a quick read, and there is much to value here; unfortunately, many readers are forgetting that God doesn't want our mindless repetitions...He wants our hearts.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Book
Review: I bought this book because of all the attention it has gained in the Christian community. I am glad that I did--it is wonderful. By using a rather obscure passage from the Old Testament, the author makes some profound insights into the ways we should pray. Simply put, he challenges the Christian community to raise our expectation of prayer and blessings from God. I think that he is absolutely correct on both topics. One concern I had about the book was the issue of praying for abundance. Luckily, the author "hit the nail on the head" with this topic by focusing on what God wants to bless us with instead of what we want from God. After all, if we put our faith in God, shouldn't we trust his judgement when it comes to his blessing our lives. I think that prosperity is one of the most misunderstood topics in the Christian community today, and hopefully this book will help solve that problem. This book is short, so I recommend reading the entire thing in one sitting if you have the chance. As far as format goes, the book is kind of like reading a sermon. First the author identifies the text, then makes four main points based on the text. He reinforces his message with examples from his own Christian experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in drawing closer to God, and learning more about prayer. Even if you have walked with Jesus for years, this book may give you a new insight, or different perspective about your prayer life.
Rating:
Summary: Taking God Out Of Control And Taking His Place
Review: I found the Prayer of Jabez to be misleading, misguided and unbiblical. Misleading in that its claims that IF you prayer this prayer great things will begin to happen to you. This claim is akin to those found on the bottom of chain letters, promising blessing if sent on. Misguided for its taking the simple prayer of Jabez and making it walk on on fours! Of course, you need to do this to expand 2 verses into 90+ pages. This book takes Jabez's simple prayer and lifts it to a status above the prayer our Lord taught us. In fact, the Lord's Prayer is viewed slightly negatively in this book as being merely a "model." Unbiblical because, despite the editor's comments, this book is nothing less than "Name it and Claim it" theology. God becomes a puppet powered only by our prayers to work in our lives. This smacks of a works oriented theology which casts down the all-sufficent work of Christ and places our sin-stained efforts above His. Jabez literally means "pain." This book will cause much jabez if followed to closely! The pain of a wounded faith when God doesn't dance to our tune. As an LCMS Pastor, I have warned by parishoners that this book, if taken literally, will erode, not build, their faith.
Rating:
Summary: Truly A Blessing
Review: I did appreciate the wonderful words of wisdom from Mr. Helkinson. He did touch my heart and enabled me to better understand the meaning of this piece. Wishing him continues success and may God continue to bless him. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful
Review: This work is full of nuggets of insight for the believers who are truly seeking understanding of our relationship to our Creator. Put aside worldly thinking and interpretations, and just listen to what is being "said" here. True enough, there will be believers who approach this with a carnal, unrenewed mind and see only the crass opportunity to have a "biblical" way to try to manipulate God to deliver them their worldly desires for their own purposes--don't worry.....He doesn't need anyone to puff at them on His behalf. He knows what is going on and will handle that with perfect Wisdom. God has a way of revealing His Message behind the written words to His people if they read with open hearts toward Him; don't shoot the messenger and rebuke this message. While it may have first been inspired in Jabez and recorded in the Old Covenant, ALL of the teachings and principles now recorded in His BIBLE that includes both the Old and New Covenant with us, are written for OUR teaching, teaching ALL of His believers how to live and prosper, even now in our time. Those narratives that are short and, on the surface, do not say much to our modernized understanding, don't think that they have no purpose. These are the ones that, if requested to, He will open the doors of the words to the deeper truths and give the majestic, heavenly insight behind them for those who press in. One thing for sure that this will do for those who will do it, *PRAYER CHANGES US*.
Rating:
Summary: For a Personal Relationship!
Review: If one is to remember that we have a personal relationship with an impersonal God, (He allows the sun to shine on the 'just' and the 'unjust'), then any prayer given to any of His children is a prayer for "ALL HIS CHILDREN". Know that the prayer given and the comments in this book will work for all who 'believe'! No matter by 'what Name you call the God of your understanding', the intent works wonders!
Rating:
Summary: Prayer, in any form, works!
Review: First of all, I want to say that this is a great little book that can give you insight into "one" way of praying for God's will to be done in your life. It is certainly not the only answer, but I can attest that, taken seriously in context, the prayer does work. Since starting the prayer, I have taken a whole new direction in my committment to the Lord, and He has blessed me indeed. It seems that this tiny book has stirred up a mighty big controversy. I have personally read this book, unlike, I'm guessing, some others who have put their comments in, and do believe that the prayer works. I don't chant it as a mantra, as many "cyber-theologans" accuse Mr. Wilkinson of creating, but I use it, as I do the Lord's Prayer, as a model in my conversations (yes, I did say conversations) with God. I would like to assume, but may be wrong in doing so, that the majority of readers are not just mindlessly uttering the words in hopes that God is going to give them that new car or big pay raise. To assume that they are is a real slap in the face to Christians everywhere (and so I turn the other cheek). I can't remember the last time I have read so much rhetoric about a simple subject. There are so many frustrated theologans and bible scholars with no place else to peddle their opinions than a review page on Amazon.com that I couldn't address them all via e-mail. For Pete's sake, it's just a book about a prayer!! One little prayer asking God to bless me and expand my territory (I personally pray "expand my MINISTRY for YOUR glory). What is so theologically unsound about that?? There is also the theology that one should not use his/her knowledge to be a stumbling block for others. However, it seems that pride and an obsessive need to show how much we know about the Bible has obscured that idea. Why are so many "Christians" trying to make religion so complicated, you need a PhD to understand it. I truely believe that God meant for this to be SIMPLE - "Trust Me, Talk to Me, Love Me." Yes, 1st Chronicles has many "better qualified" heros than poor, lowly Jabez. But then again, Moses and Saul/Paul didn't have stellar resumes either. I guess you could say that God is an equal-opportunity blesser. I don't believe that Mr. Wilkinson was trying to turn theology on it's ear. He found something that worked in his life and wanted to share it. Yes, it made him, and his ministry good money I'm sure, but so what? Is that now a sin? Let's not get so wrapped up in the theological details and hoopla. Face it, Jesus was not a theologan. He preached the word in simple language so everyone could be blessed. All of the "cyber-scholars" are making it hard for us simple Christian folk to enjoy our walk with the Lord. We can talk about rules and exegesis (what does that mean, anyway? I'm not a seminary grad - yet) later. Let us all first come to Him as little children, wanting to talk to a learn from the Teacher. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Conflicted about this book
Review: I am a Christian who enjoys Christian books on theology and Christian living. So I think I have at least a decent idea of the purposes behind someone's writings. But in this case, the book struck me as trying to communicate a certain message, but not doing it well enough to avoid having it misinterpreted as communicating something entirely different. I'm pretty sure that Wilkinson's goal for this book was to try and encourage Christians to be willing to take the often ominous and intimidating step of asking God to use them to the fullest. This step is often an intimidating one because I think many Christians intrinsically understand that being completely sold out for God the way that Wilkinson is trying to convince us to be can lead us in all kinds of directions that threaten our earthly desires for security, stability, predictability, and earthly acceptance. Those who really do go all out for God and ask God to increase their ministry in the way Wilkinson suggests find out that God really follows through on their request and put them in situations where He is using them to the fullest, but are also situations that are so extreme in one form or another that we find ourselves surrenduring to God even more. This is an exciting way to serve God, but it clearly causes many of us to get out of our own comfort zones, which can be a very intimidating thing. If I had thought that Wilkinson had clearly and unambiguously communicated this message, I would enthusiastically support this book. But unfortunately, while I think this was the message that Wilkinson wanted to communicate, I don't think he did it well enough to avoid having his presentation be easily misinterpreted. While I don't think he is communicating a prosperity gospel here, in my opinion, he too often comes too close to at least flirting with it by not clearly rebuking the prosperity theology when he discusses asking God for various earthly things in order to better accomplish a particular ministry. Again, I don't think he intended to promote a prosperity gospel here, but when someone writes a book that urges us to be comfortable asking for earthly things when our motivation is to serve God completely, that person should be sensitive to how easily that can be misinterpreted into trying to put a spiritual stamp of approval on the practice of asking for material stuff so that we can live comfortable and materialistic lives. Those two philosophies are very different, and Wilkinson should have done a better job of clearly dilineating between the two. Because he didn't, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the book. There's some good stuff in here, particularly in the area of temptation. But the mark of any good book is one that is written in such a way that it clearly communicates its message so that most readers clearly understand what the philosophy is, and what it isn't. Wilkinson failed to do that in my humble view, and the result is a book that has lots of potential, but could be a point of great confusion for a lot of folks who might pick it up.
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