Rating: 
Summary: Grasping at the Shadow
Review: This book is a bestseller. Why? It tells us just want our itching ears want to hear - you too can have earthly prosperity just by repeating a prayer. It worked for Jabez, the logic goes, so it should work for us.Sadly this book fails to consider Jabez's place, or ours, in salvation history. The Old Testament points to Christ. It promises blessings which are but a shadow of the blessings to be imparted through Christ (see Hebrews 10, Colossians 2 et al). Jabez's prayer was seeking the blessings of the covenant with God's people Israel - the old covenant, that is (see Deuteronomy 28). God granted his request. Of course! God is always faithful to his promises. But are the promises of the old covenant the property of the Christian? No - for in ushering in the new covenant, the old covenant was made obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). The essential problem is this: To pray this prayer is to seek the blessings of the old covenant rather than those of the new covenant. But Christ came!! Ask for the blessings of the new covenant - far superior in any case as eternal, indestructible riches - and then you will find it is true - God will grant your request. Further, when God has granted, in Christ, to forgive us for our rebellion, grant us eternal life, not just as servants but adopted as his children, co-inheritors of the riches of his kingdom with Christ, we might ask the question - what exactly is the "blessed life" we are trying to break through to from here? More possessions that moth and rust destroy?!! How they pale into insignificance when we understand the gospel! Please pass this book up and read the Epistle to the Hebrews instead - why grasp at the shadow when you can have the reality?
Rating:
Summary: Read the Bible instead!!!
Review: I'm ashamed to see Christians embracing this book. I'm ashamed at how many sequels this book has spawned - Jabez for women, Jabez for teens, Jabez for teachers. This is riduculous. This book displays one of the biggest problems in Christianity - that people use the Bible to justify whatever they want life to be instead of using the truth of God's Word to guide their lives to His will. I only gave this book one star because zero stars wasn't an option.
Rating:
Summary: Not true to the Biblical Text
Review: I agree with Allan. It's a mantra. Pander to the Materialistic and "me" culture. Not recommended. Gives a false idea of God. God is seen here as your servant, waiting for the mantra, to serve big, important me.
Is the kind of life proposed by the writer biblical ? To me, it describes a very egocentric life. At the end of the book, what I'm hearing is it's still my need that must be met - the need to be somebody, to be great, to do great things, to live an extraordinary life, to have an impact, more influence, everything "big" and "great" - etc - all couched in holy respectability. God and others are just needed to meet my important need to be significant.
Is the method proposed by the writer biblical ?
What about Jesus' comments in John 15:4-5 ? I thought the secret to a fruitful life is "to abide in Christ" What we need to learnt then is to know what is means to "abide in Christ". Not "reach for the Jabez prayer" .. like reaching for a Kit-Kat ! Glorifying Jabez' and his prayer beyond what it means.
Slippery and confusing - mixing truths with half-truths.
Rating: 
Summary: The Prayer of Jabez
Review: If your goal is to maximize your spiritual growth, this book provides the basic challenge of faith. Study it and commit yourself daily to service to others. Your life will be changed forever. The book is great for both individual and group study. The secret is in your focus--it must remain on God.
Rating:
Summary: What People Don't Understand.
Review: First off it does say God will bless us alot, but what it means more then anything is spirtualy, people look to change and make believe what is more means money and cars and better business. So those of you who say I will pray this prayer and God will give me a new home or a new car are wrong. God blesses those who seek Him, not materials. You want a more spiritual moment with God, Prayer is the best way. Just because God doesn't answer right away doesn't mean a yes or no, in His timing alone will He give you what He wants you to have, we can't be like a little child who gets offered one color skittle and ask for a diff one cuz we don't like it. When someone offers you something, you can't have your pick of everything. Life is Short, we can't depend on it, all we have to depend on is God. What He gives us each day is Life, we can't say i want someone elses life and expect Him to change our life to be like someone elses. No-one is perfect about writing things down about the Bible, it's hard to get a book out of the chapter. His point was that you should pray because God does answer, we all sometimes miss the verry small verry important parts of the Bible, and when we see it, we may not understand why it's important. This book was written to remind people Prayers are Powerful, maybe not right away but down the line, WOW, it's awsome. Depend on God, Pray and talk with him, read His word, and you will be Blessed spirtualy. That is a fact that won't go away.
Rating:
Summary: Lighten up and start speaking with GOD
Review: If this book does anything is to re-focus the reader to remember that prayer is a powerfull thing. All Wilkinson has done is to remind us that if we all gave god a few minutes of our busy lifes to speak to him (or pray) our blood pressure, tension and others things would go down. But in reading all these reviews people again missed the point. Just Pray. God will hear you. I am not a religious nut, but I believe in GOD, and what he has promised. Do you? Thank you Bruce Wilkinson for the reminder to pray.
Rating:
Summary: Almost laugh out loud bad
Review: I don't often feel compelled to write a negative review but I stumbled upon this little sanctimonious pamphlet on various bestseller lists and wanted to see what all the fuss is about. Its popularity is a bad omen for our society in the new millennium because it could be even more condensed by just proclaiming God loves me so he wants me to own my own business. Might be inspirational to the masses who think Jesus has a personal relationship with their every whim and who hope to strike it rich through pyramid schemes and Christian Amway. It combines the worst of the self-obsessed self-actualization movement, preachy evangelism and the insatiable appetite for riches through the "healing power of positive thinking". Embarrassing in every way, hackneyed, manipulative and passive-aggressively mean-spirited.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the most important book ever written.
Review: Let's not beat around the bush here. This is vital information for those who haven't had a clue regarding how to be successful. Yes, indeedy. Read this book, apply the principles contained therein, and you'll be the most prosperous person in town. Maybe even the county. You'll have it made in the shade. Really. I've got to run...I'm having dinner with Elvis Presley on Jupiter.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not about the book!
Review: I think the key thing here is to seek balance. Many people are responding to this book with great praise (i.e., "I prayed the prayer and look what happened to me! Now, I'm..."). Others are repsonding to it with great criticism ("This is like a hocus-pocus thing... and Jesus never said to pray this way, etc..."). The key here... is to pray. God has promised to move if His people pray. And, we don't. Fact is... we would rather read a book about prayer, than to pray (just as we would rather read a book about the Scriptures than dig through the Word). If you're going to read this book and think it will change your life, it won't. You'll be disappointed. But, if you think that reading this book will give you some principles, some encouragement, and some boost in your praying... You're probably right. But, ultimately, that will be decided not by how fast you read the book, how many times you recite the prayer of Jabez, or if you even like the book... You will have to pray... honestly, openly, speaking to your Heavenly Father who knows your needs, even before you ask.
Rating:
Summary: Write it and they will come.....
Review: America's self-righteous that is. Man, all I hear in these 1-star reviews is pure hatred -- I mean it, these folks are out for blood. This is a simple-minded book by a simple-minded fellow, but he adds a good point to the Christian faith, period. This book will be totally forgotten in a few years.
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