Rating: 
Summary: Poor Bible Interpretation
Review: This book is an attempt to apply the prayer of Jabez recorded in First Chronicles to modern life. Since Jabez prayed for blessing, the author argues that we also should ask for blessing. Although Wilkinson does briefly venture into the "health and wealth gospel" (specifically in saying "If Jabez lived in modern times, he might have prayed 'Lord, increase my investment portfolios'"), the main portion of the book enjoins the reader to ask for spiritual blessing. There are problems with this sort of approach. To illustrate this, try to think what would happen if it were applied to the other historical books of the bible. How about David's prayer in First Chronicles 28? Here, God informs that David that because he has fought wars and shed blood, he should not participate in the building of the temple, but instead leave the task to his son Solomon. Applying the principle expounded here, you could conclude that no veteran of a war should participate in the founding of a church. What about David's prayer that God would take the children of his enemies and dash themp upon the rocks? Can this be applied? What about the many instances in Old Testament history where lots were cast to pinpoint which alternative to follow? Should we as modern day Christians cast lots? First Chronicles is a historical book. It was written primarily for the purposes of history. It was NOT written for the purposes of instruction. It should be read according to the intention of the writer. Instances in Old Testament historical books should be perceived for what they are: records of history. But what about application? Here is a good principle: a historical incident may be legitemately applied IF it is an illustration of a general principle or teaching expounded upon in the sections of the bible that are concerned with didactic instruction(like the epistles, portions of the gospels, etc). So, the real question here is this: Is the prayer of Jabez an illustration of a general biblical principle? The answer is NO. No biblical character refers to it. No place in the bible tells you "pray that God would give you stuff..." In fact, the biblical teaching is quite the opposite. Consider the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6(a portion of the bible concerned with teaching, since Jesus is speaking to the multitude). What are some principles illustrated in that prayer? Here is one: It is very God-centered. It begins and ends with God. Wilkinson, on the other hand, is teaching people to pray in a self-centered way. He is looking up an obscure Old Testament reference, improperly handling the historical context, in order to contradict the plain teaching of Christ on how we ought to pray.
Rating: 
Summary: A life changing prayer.
Review: I am astonished at the nay Sayers who wrote such disparaging reviews of this remarkable little book. I would venture to say, that if I gave each one of them a million dollars, they would complain about something, whether it be about the taxes, or why didn't I give an equal amount to the poor or something. There is nothing in this book that is not consistent with the rest of the Bible. Each line of the prayer acknowledges God's awesome power and the author recognizes this. However, you must pray the prayer in the right context. If you just say a rote prayer with no heartfelt meaning behind it (as the Pharisees did), you are going to be greatly disappointed at the results. However, if you pray it with all your heart, think about each line and put a genuine sentiment behind what you are saying (as the repenter did), you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams. I have done just that for a little over a month now and I can tell you this prayer works. God is blessing me more and more each day. Many people complained that Jesus taught us how to pray. The question I have for them is, are you only praying once per day? I don't. I will pray the prayer of Jabez and many other prayers all day long. The prayer of Jabez is just one prayer in my arsenal. If you read this book and apply the principles with all your heart, you will be amazed at what our God can do.
Rating:
Summary: Prayer Of Jabez Changed Our Life
Review: Prayer of Jabez was a wonderful book that changed my whole familys prayer life. And the power of the prayer is awesome!! Don't pray it unless you mean it and expect results!
Rating:
Summary: A prayer that works...
Review: A powerful message tucked among one of the most boring books of the Old Testament -- 1 Chronicles, where we are besieged with begats! Maybe it was placed there to see whether we were paying attention? A thought to ponder! This little book is all about that prayer found in chapter 4, verse 10 where Jabez (a name meaning pain) calls on God to bless him. He is so named by his mother because of her painful childbirth but turns out to be the most honorable of her sons. The author, Bruce Wilkinson, unravels the true meaning of the prayer and how it can help us in all areas of our lives. If you analyze the short 5 line prayer and really stop to think about what it means, I have faith it can work for anyone. Actually it is quite similar to the Lord's Prayer. However, many of us recite these familiar prayers or memorize bible verses without any thought as to what they mean. That's the whole key! This book makes one stop and think seriously about prayer...any prayer! I have confidence it will work if we apply it to our daily lives and have faith! And what miraculous results will follow -- love and service to our fellow man, which in turn pleases God. Isn't that why we're here in the first place?
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Summary: Small book, Big Impact!
Review: What a powerhouse of words! Dr. Wilkinson's little book has provided a wonderful spiritual challenge. His concepts gleaned from the Word of God are transforming my personal prayer life as nothing else has done in a long time. Do you want to grow as a Christian? Read this book and follow through!
Rating:
Summary: dangerous content
Review: I had heard so much about this little book, and all of my friends highly recommended it to me. I was leery at first on account of all the hype, but was open to what Dr. Wilkinson had to say. Wilkinson says in the preface "I want to teach you to pray a daring prayer that God always answers." Since when does God not always answer our prayers. Is this to imply that there are some prayers that God does not answer. In the second chapter he says "His [God's] 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." Since when has Scripture been about us? There are many other red flags that if I had more space I would raise, but I must strongly discourage the reading of such "name it claim it" propaganda. Above all, we must pray "...Thy will be done..."
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Summary: How come Jesus didn't give his disciples this one?
Review: Although I have enjoyed a lot of what Bruce Wilkinson has done, I am not a fan of The Prayer of Jabez. The first time I heard about it, someone asked me what I thought of it. My first response was, "If it's so great that it can give you a 'spiritual breakthrough' in 30 days, why didn't Jesus teach it to his disciples when they asked him how to pray instead of giving them 'The Lord's Prayer'?" After reading The Prayer of Jabez carefully, that's still my reaction. From a literary perspective it is not difficult to discern why God inserted narrative about Jabez in the midst of a geneology in 1 Chronicles: the Hebrew writer was employing a common literary technique of giving a concrete example in the midst of a general principle. The principle? 1 Chronicles opens with the affirmation that God has kept his promise to Abraham, blessing his descendants in the land if they are faithful, and condemning those descendants who are unfaithful. What follows is a long list of descendants, some faithful (and thus blessed) and some unfaithful (and thus judged). Jabez is one of the faithful ones. It didn't take more than 3000 years to figure out why God had that passage in the Bible. And I don't find anywhere in Scripture that prayer can be a formula for success, almost like a magical mantra, that, if repreated frequently and pasted all over your living space (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, car, workspace, etc.), will somehow transform you into a great Christian. In my own Christian life I have found that my prayers have gained in meaningfulness and effectiveness most from difficult periods when I have had no idea what God's will was and no idea how to pray. If I stick with it, am honest, and follow the principles of prayer and Christian living given by Christ in Matthew 1-7 (which includes the beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer), my life is changed. Slowly, yes. But deeply, positively, and significantly as well. Wilkinson can keep his New Millennium Spiritual Breakthrough. I think I'll go back to the prayer of Jesus.
Rating:
Summary: Perverting the Bible for Monetary Gain
Review: This book is, shall we say, rather "odd" in its theology. 1). To become rich, all you need to do is use the "right" prayer, and God will then follow your orders. God, apparently, is a powerless patsy: you can force him to give you money by praying the right prayers, whether he wants to or not. 2). You need to repeat the prayer daily. Apparently, God is quite forgetful, and not too bright: he needs to be told you want money over and over and *over* again, daily in fact. You would think God would already *know* this without you bugging him every day. 3). God *wants* you to be rich. This sounds nice, but the corrolary is obvious: if you are NOT rich, you are disobeying God. Poverty is not only not a virtue, it is positively a sin. I wonder what Jesus and the apostoles, who were all poor, would say about this idea. If you buy these claims, go ahead, buy this book. If these claims seem to you, as they seem to me, as a rather pathetic perversion of scripture and religion in the interest of material greed, forget it.
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Summary: It changed my prayer life, and then my life!
Review: I have been searching for something in my Christian walk to direct me to praying for increased service in God's name. And this book and its companion, Secrets of the Vine, have done nothing less than completely redirect my walk for Him on a DAILY basis. I no longer pray for the material things that I desire, but for God to bless me, yes, greatly, so that I may COMPLETELY focus my life on serving Him, without the distractions of constantly finding more and better sources of income. I then ask Him to increase my territory, not the acreage I live on, but my territory reaching out for Him, as the book states! A wonderful example of this manifestation was when my friend and I went to Sea World this past month. We both consider ourselves devote Christians and truly sisters in Christ. We were both reading the book at the time. My friend was sitting watching my 11-month-old daughter nap in the shade while I had our other 3 children in the pool. There was and elderly lady sitting next to her, and she started crying. My friend asked her what was wrong and she said she'd lost her 3 grandchildren and asked it my friend would get her a lifeguard. She said it had been an hour since she'd notified them and no one ever came back to update her on their search for the children. My friend got the lifeguards and they brought her water and sat with her. Our kids wanted to go see a show so my friend reluctantly agreed and as we were packing up, she went over to the woman and asked her if she was a Christian - she was not one to ask that of strangers before. The lady said she was and that she'd been praying already. My friend asked if she could pray with her, and I must say I know her as a POWERFUL prayer warrior. Well, then we went our way. One thing Mr. Wilkinson also states in his books is that when you reach out into new territory for God, HE NEVER LETS YOU GO WITHOUT SEEING THE OUTCOME OF YOUR INTERVENTION ON HIS BEHALF. Well, this is the miraculous part: As we were walking out of the park 2 ½ hours later, a huge place with thousands of people attending daily, we ran into the grandmother and, PRAISE GOD, the 3 grandchildren, at the exit gates!! Now, if you're a Christian like me, I'll bet you don't believe in coincidences either. Everything has the hand of God on it! Then, after praying for that kind of out-reach ( I have trouble meeting my neighbors!!), I pray for God's hand to be with me so that I can do supernaturally that which I am limited by my human nature. And finally, I have learned to pray for evil to be kept FROM me, as it states in that beautiful prayer you quoted in your review: "Do not lead me into temptation, but deliver me from evil" even before I have to deal with it!!!! AND IT WORKS!! I hope you can examine the contents of this book, and perhaps it's sequel, Secrets of the Vine, in a new light - God's light. I for one am so excited to see God's word on the secular best-seller list. It means we're reaching out to those who need it! And I saw Jesus on the cover of Newsweek last week! Praise God! And, we even saw Jesus on the cover of the local alternative newspaper in Austin as a result of a massive outreach to this very troubled community. Now THAT'S a miracle!!!! By the way, I would have never had the guts to have shared all this with you if I hadn't be exposed to the truth of Jabez's prayer and how to expand my own territory for God! God bless you and have a wonderful life in service for God!
Rating:
Summary: Holy Terror
Review: I hold the Christian Church responsible (and this includes myself) for the cultural decay in the United States. Instead of standing up for the Lord in the twentieth century and holding fast to sound biblical teachings, we've bought in to the instant gratification culture that surrounds us. This book seems to teach along those lines- pray for blessing, and blessing translated is material gain and feel-good emotionalism. Jesus taught that we must be salt and light, but lately I find that rather than seasoning the world around us, Christians taste a lot like the rest of the rot. I don't view this book as the problem- merely a symptom of a much bigger problem- Christians, the elect, being led astray because we have 'itching ears' (we just want to hear what we want to hear). Jesus said we must deny ourselves, we must take up our cross daily and follow Him. It is in denying self that we find joy unspeakable. It is in service to the Lord and in taking part in his suffering that we find blessing. This book seems to teach that blessing is when God gives you "stuff". Don't get me wrong, stuff is great stuff, but when we seek stuff- we don't find blessing. The Word says seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. The Word says 'take no thought about what you shall wear, or what you shall eat... look at how He feeds the birds of the air who neither reap, nor gather in to barns...and see how he clothes the lillies of the field...are you not more valuable than these...' I don't want to go off the deep end the other way, so I should say that God wants to bless us, and sometimes material abundance is one way He chooses to bless us- and yes sometimes poverty is a self-imposed curse. But ask anyone who has been a deeply committed Christian for any length of time and they will confess that they were blessed more by what God did not give- or even what He chose to take away. Sincerely, Paul S. Strauss
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