Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Review: Taking the word and making it come alive, this book renews your mind and heals your soul.
Rating:
Summary: For Tracy from Indiana
Review: I will make this really short - and truly from a gentle and loving heart. One cannot understand the Bible with a natural comprehension. It was written supernaturally - and must be interpreted supernaturally to us as we read it. How you interpreted Jabez' prayer is not at all what God was saying. I guess that I would say that I truly desire for you to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - then God, the Holy Spirt will reveal to you the Scripture. Dawn, from Providence
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Little Encouragement
Review: In this book based upon two verses of the Bible, Pastor Bruce gives his personal testimonies and experiences of praying the word and waiting for God to bless you. It's a must read for anyone who is either discouraged or doesn't feel they know how to pray.
Rating:
Summary: Upbeat and Inspirational Little Book
Review: If it were not for Bruce Wilkinson's book, I'm quite positive I would have never heard of Jabez. Hidden within a boring geneaology is a beautiful one sentence prayer of a guy named Jabez, which Mr. Wilkinson has sort of developed into a thirty year daily mantra. The prayer, found in First Chronicles 4, verse ten, reads, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain." Simple and straight to the point. Like a self-help motivational speaker, Wilkinson is relentlessly upbeat and optimistic, and quick with anecdotes. Though I am not always used to donning the rose-colored glasses, I did find this book to be an easy read and very inspirational. The ninety-something pages flew by rather quickly, and most readers will probably finish it in one sitting. Wilkinson does an excellent job talking about the wonderful exhiliration in receiving God's blessing and having ones borders expanded in terms of ministry. Lest we think we can achieve this on our own, Wilkinson stresses the importance of relying on the hand of God, not just in receiving blessings and help in our ministry, but also in keeping us away from evil, temptation, and deception. If we pray this prayer, or one like it, in earnest, we are on our way to living out an honorable life before God. I did, however, feel uncomfortable at certain points, wondering how some readers might take Wilkinson's interpretation. I'm not certain that this prayer should be given so much emphasis as to start organizing an "Operation Jabez", or expecting on a regular basis the "miracle of Jabez" to occur. The daily dose of "Jabez praying" that Wilkinson prescribes is definitely not a bad idea, but it might give one the impression that it is a quick fix to any problem we may encounter. Some may also get the impression that if we wish for something specific and say the magic Jabez words, our wish will, POOF!, be granted. Wilkinson writes of "challenging God's power" by asking, for example, for things like more revenue for the businessman, asking that ones flight be delayed because you are running behind and don't want to miss the flight, or for the entire island of Trinidad. I'm afraid that some may find that no matter how earnest and genuine their personal request may seem, God's intentions may not exactly mesh with your petitioning for a DC-10 in order to expand the outreach of your ministry. You may be setting yourself up for disappointment if you get too specific in your requests of God, because God sometimes has a peculiar way of answering your prayers. Neither the Lord's prayer, nor that of Jabez, contain any specific requests for a particular detail in life. Should Wilkinson be disappointed if, say, he recruits only 100,000 Bible teachers for his ministry WorldTeach, when his actual prayer was for 120,000? Or, perhaps a more pertinent question would be, should the reader be disappointed if he is only able to minister to one or two people in a week, instead of the one or two thousand he reached in the example he gave about his youth ministry outreach program? What God intends for us might not always coincide with what we think God intends for us. The life of Job would have still been the same, even if he excercised daily in Jabez-prayer. The Christian life is not always an easy path. Wilkinson probably would not deny this, but some of his readers may not interpret his book in this manner. Maybe I am being too picky in voicing these concerns, but I felt I should say something. Bruce Wilkinson's book is an excellent and inspirational work for which I will still give a high recommendation. I am looking forward to reading his next book, which I believe is already out, entitled Secrets of the Vine. Another book I'll recommend trying is one of my own (shameless plug, I know), entitled A New Beginning (Eric Westra).
Rating: 
Summary: What would Jesus say...
Review: I am surprized that when ask by the disciples, "Lord, Teach us to Pray" Jesus just didn't refer them to the Prayer of Jabez. Instead he taught them what we've come to know as "The Lords Prayer" and in doing so instructed that prayer is to be directed to God, in Praise and Worship as opposed to commanding the God of the Universe to do simple things for the Plyaint.
Rating: 
Summary: a disquieting bestselling riff on a biblical sentence
Review: With over 4 million copies of this book sold, I decided to purchase one. A slim book by a minister and author, a leader of Promise Keepers. In it, Wilkinson takes a four line prayer from the Book of Chronicles I, Chapter 4, and discusses why people should pray for wealth and all that is coming to them, professing that it is no sin to ask for more. It was slightly interesting to see how his interpretation of the four lines differed from those of classical Jewish commentators - commentators who wrote that the man was nicknamed Yavetz (Yud, Ayin, Bet, Tzaddik) by his mother, a Reversal or play on the word Atzev (Ayin, Tzaddik, Bet), meaning sadness or loss. Maybe he was born after the death of his father or someone else? Maybe it was an allusion to Benjamin, a name based on Ben-Oni, or son of my painful birth. Chronicles with a sly smile had Yavetz, nicknamed sadness, pray for a life that would not be sad. The text of Chronicles was important to those returning from the Babylonian exile, people who wanted to redeem, resettle and reclaim Israel. Wilkinson's take on the prayers is as follows: Bruce Wilkinson, reprints the four line prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:9-10) in the first chapter. Wilkinson recites it daily, and implores Christians to use it to change their lives. In the successive chapters, Wilkinson comments on each line of the prayer. Chapter 2 is a discourse on the first line. Quoting Matthew and James, Wilkinson writes that it is permissible to ask for blessings without feeling greedy and self centered (ask for the presents that are in the warehouse waiting for you). In Chapter 3, Wilkinson looks at the line of "enlarging my territory..." Wilkinson interprets it to mean that it is acceptable for Christian men to pray for more business or larger portfolios; Christian women may ask for greater influence for their households. Giving examples from his own life as a evangelist, Wilkinson writes about how the prayer allowed him to reach out to a conflicted man while on a cruise and save a woman from her fear of the Antichrist and its deceptions while on a train trip. In Chapter 4, Wilkinson directs his attention to the feeling of abandonment and fear that those Christians who do the work of God will feel. They shouldn't fear dependence. He then gives examples from his own life, such as the time he lead dozens of teens to preach on Long Island beaches to save the unchurched. In Chapter 5, Wilkinson discusses how to immunize oneself from evil through the prayer. He narrates the time he flew on a plane after preaching and counseling for a full week, and discovered that seated to his right and to his left were men reading pornographic magazines. He prayed and suddenly both men closed their magazines. In Chapter 6, Wilkinson recounts how his daily recital of the prayer aids his ministry and being a Christian messenger. Once he was in a taxi, on the way to an airport, when an accident delayed traffic. He prayed that the flight would be DELAYED so he would not miss it (hmmm... one would think that he would have prayed for the health of anyone injured in the accident.) Well, the flight WAS delayed, the passengers were milling about waiting, and he got to counsel a woman and convince her not to divorce her cheating husband. Finally, Wilkinson closes the slim book by recommending that the reader pray the prayer, keep a journal of their daily prayers, and record the expanded number of people they influence each day.
Rating:
Summary: One sentence prayer
Review: I've read several of the reviews of this precious little book and I've found one in particular I can agree with. I, too, feel that this little book is to be used to teach us about faith in our walk with the Lord. Bruce Wilkinson didn't write it with the intention to have believers get greedy! He wrote it to guide and advise us. I've spent time in Chronicles and this one sentence prayer is about growing in faith. Jabez wanted to learn how to walk WITH the Lord, FOR the Lord. He wanted to be used by God; he didn't want to hurt others. Take a lesson from Jabez - be willing to be used by God!
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Summary: Give Me a Break
Review: After reading several reviews, I'm sadden to realize how many people just didn't get it! First of all, the Prayer of Jabez isn't a glutenous, selfish, greedy prayer. It's a prayer that asks God to stretch us and challenge us so that we may be of more use to Him! That's why we are here...to glorify Him! Of course this was a good prayer. God made it a point to include the name of Jabez, and the fact that he was honorable, in His Word. Some have complained that Wilkinson's "thoughts" were too long and shouldn't have been included. I think the author was only trying to share his perspective and what God has laid on his heart about the passage. I highly reccommend this book. God has a purpose for everything included in His Word, including this little known prayer.
Rating: 
Summary: Theologically Devastating
Review: A bestseller does not necessarily a Christian classic make. Consider the following points: 1. If this is a great secret to prayer, then why is it buried in one verse in a genealogy of the Old Testament? 2. The book violates the number #1 rule of sound exegesis: A verse cannot mean something today that it didn't mean to the original hearers. 3. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray He surprisingly didn't refer to Jabez. If this interpretation were true, wouldn't Jesus have mentioned it??? 4. Our problem as the Bible defines it is SIN. Not a need for blessing. 5. Didn't Jesus comment on mantra-like repetitions? The botton line: You can't grab one verse in a genealogy and formulate a doctrine around it. This violates all sound theological practice. Save your money or spend it on sound teaching.
Rating:
Summary: Too Simple
Review: There is a reasonably straight-forward formula for writing a book that will sell: keep it short, keep it simple and tell people what they want to hear. 'The Prayer of Jabez' neatly follows this best-seller formula and it has sold millions. Unfortunately, there is no such magic prayer formulae set out in the Bible. And, again unfortunately, 'The Prayer of Jabez' takes the easy and simplistic option of suggesting there is. Basing a Christian theology of anything on two Bible verses - and obscure Bible verses at that - will always be tenuous. Yet this is what 'The Prayer of Jabez' does, taking just two verses (1 Chronicles 4:9 & 10) out of the nine chapter recitation of the genealogy of the Israelites in First Chronicles. If the book was to take this brief story and use it to establish a different perspective on prayer throughout the Bible, the author's initial selectivity may be justified. However, there is little reference to any other prayers or praying from anywhere else in the Bible. The reader is presented with a "magic pill" prayer, which must be suspect if only from the obscurity of the reference and the brevity and ambiguity of the story itself. In contrast with a number of Bible commentaries' admissions that "nothing is known of the circumstances by which God granted the earnest petition of Jabez", Wilkinson reads much into these two short verses. To suggest, as he does, that Jabez was spared from grief and pain for the remainder of his life after praying this prayer is feel-good, pop-Christianity in the extreme. One only needs to look at various anguished prayers in Psalms, the Book of Job or of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to call into question Wilkinson's formula. Without a doubt, there are great and miraculous answers to prayer. The Bible and the lives of many Christians are filled with these stories. If 'The Prayer of Jabez' triggers a renewed interest in prayer and its important role in the life of a Christian, the book will bring many benefits - and some such stories are related in the book itself. Similarly, a revived interest in some of the lesser-known characters of the Bible is commendable. Many of the sentiments and the urging to seek a closer relationship with God as expressed in 'The Prayer of Jabez' are worthwhile. However the book itself is based on a fragile Biblical premise, which is dangerous when dealing with a topic that has been a source of disappointment and frustration to many Christians over the centuries. 'The Prayer of Jabez' is far too brief and simplistic in dealing with prayer - one of the most mysterious and significant aspects of Christian experience.
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