An Analysis of The Prayer of Jabez
It was not until I heard the discussion in my Sunday school class that I was even aware of The Prayer of Jabez. (For that matter, that was the first time I had even heard of Jabez – my eyes must have been glazed over during that part of my Bible reading.) Since the first time I had heard of the book, just a few weeks ago at the time of this writing, it seems that EVERYBODY is talking about it. The Prayer of Jabez is at the top of several best-sellers lists. It has by one report sold over four million copies. It is being hailed by Evangelicals, Liberals, Roman Catholics, and even unbelievers. Well, wanting to keep my finger on the pulse of popular culture as I try to do, I certainly felt that I had to look into it – especially since so many of those to whom I am getting attached are giving it such high praises. My first reaction was one of unease, in light of the book’s snowballing popularity. Almost every Sunday people have reported reading of its increased favor among people. What disturbed me was a warning from Jesus: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.” Luke 6:26 Thus warned, I started investigating The Prayer of Jabez. Despite reports of bookstores’ troubles keeping it in stock, I had no trouble obtaining a copy ($8.99 at Meijer.) I easily read it in a couple of days in my spare time. What I read disturbed me greatly. A little background is in order. I was raised Roman Catholic, with the changes of Vatican II transpiring during my early teens. As I got older I slipped quite comfortably into agnosticism, but continued attending Mass – just to hedge my bets. In the fall of 1971, my freshman year of college, I had some rather startling encounters with God. I started reading the New Testament, then found a group of Christians at a nondenominational Bible study in hopes of finding someone to explain obscure passages. Through this group’s influence, I eventually asked Jesus to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior in the spring of 1972. I have always had an almost insatiable appetite for reading, and now it was focused on the Word of God. My grade point average plummeted as I neglected my studies so as to devote more time to reading the Bible. My mentors emphasized the importance of knowing the entire Bible in its context, and the necessity of checking all doctrines and experiences against what the Bible says. With over two hours of Bible study a day, I soon passed all of my peers in my knowledge of the Scriptures. This is not bragging on my part, it is just what happened. At that time, having been isolated from other denominations, I knew absolutely nothing about different theological camps or the different churches. I had great enthusiasm for my newfound faith, and if someone told me he were a Christian, I just accepted him as my Brother in Christ. Consequently, I worshipped and fellowshipped with Conservatives, Liberals, Charismatics, Fundamentalists, and a few cultists. Through all this, my primary focus on what the Bible said guarded me from falling into error. I discovered the late Walter Martin through his lectures on apologetics, and this in turn led me to his materials on the cults. This part was particularly instructive, because Martin’s approach was not only to inform of the various cults’ errors, but to also demonstrate from the Bible where the Christian position could be found. He didn’t just tell that the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for instance, didn’t believe in the Trinity or deity of Christ, but also demonstrated where the Bible taught the Trinity and deity of Christ. His lectures on several different cults therefore gave me an excellent overview of where in the Bible all the major doctrines of the Christian church could be found. Later, as I started encountering cultists on my own, my knowledge of the basic tenets of Christianity was honed to razor sharpness. Although I had many friends in the Charismatic/Pentecostal camp – and agreed with many of their particular doctrines – the majority started getting into some really strange teachings that deviated
drastically from the clear teachings of the Bible: things such as the “Word of Faith” teaching, also known as “Health and Wealth” or “Name it and Claim it” (or, as I like to call it, “Blab it and Grab it.”) Coupled with their already-established nonbiblical teachings and practices concerning certain gifts from the Holy Spirit, every encounter seemed to degenerate into arguments and disagreements. I finally got tired of feeling like the Voice Crying in the Wilderness, and stopped associating with most of my Charismatic friends. In the years since, certain factions of the Charismatic/Pentecostal camp have slipped from error into outright heresy. I went into such detail of my background to lay the groundwork for this analysis. To put it shortly, The Prayer of Jabez is not much more than the Health and Wealth gospel warmed over and dressed up for Evangelicals. Please hear me out... The first thing I noticed when reading the book was Wilkinsons’ statement, “The next morning I prayed Jabez’s prayer word for word. And the next. And the next. Thirty years later, I haven’t stopped.” (page 11, emphasis mine) This flies in the face of Jesus’ own statement: "And 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. Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:7-8) Are we to expect that Jesus meant what He said? Besides, when Jesus said, "Pray, then, in this way” (verse 9), He did not follow Jabez’s prayer, but gave us an entirely different “template” to follow: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (verses 9-13, KJV) The only resemblance between the two is the request to be delivered from evil. Jesus didn’t pray the prayer of Jabez. As a matter of fact nobody in the Bible is ever recorded having prayed the prayer of Jabez except Jabez. I must question that if this prayer is the end-all and be-all of prayer that Wilkinson makes it out to be, where is the evidence in Scripture? Like the Charismatic teachers who are guilty of sloppy theology, Wilkinson yanks an example of something that worked for someone in the Old Testament in his situation, then builds an entire doctrinal structure based on that one situation. Also like the Charismatics/Pentecostals, Wilkinson presents Jabez’s prayer as a formula that God is honorbound to answer. He wrote in the preface, “I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers.” (emphasis mine) Well, I’ll agree that God always answers prayer, but like the good Father He is, sometimes He answers with a “No.” Wilkinson does not take this possibility into account. His statement smacks of the attitude presented by blab it and grab it proponent, Kenneth Hagin and his clones, typified by Hagin’s booklet Writing Your Own Ticket with God. This is presumption no matter how you look at it. At worst it is using a formula to twist God’s arm to force Him to alter reality to your whims. Some would consider it sorcery with a Christian veneer. Wilkinson does present a reason for Jabez’s prayer going unanswered in the Christian’s life: Sin. He states on page 85, “The only thing that can break this cycle of abundant living is sin.” (emphasis mine) That statement could have come unaltered right out of the mouth of Kenneth Copeland. As I said earlier, this attitude leaves no room for a “No” from an omniscient God, and ignores multiple instances in both the Old and New Testaments where men of faith prayed and did not get their requests because God had His own agenda. The fact that God has a mind of His own, a will of His own, and a plan of His own is a concept that often needs to be taught to baby Christians and argued with Word of Faith proponents, but I am shocked to see it taught without qualification by a graduate of a conservative seminary such as Dallas, and embraced without question by mature Bible-believing Christians – including leaders in the Church.
Although he tried to disassociate himself from the blab it and grab it crowd, Wilkinson has set himself up with a fool-proof theology for answered prayer. I’ve seen it scores of times with the Word of Faith movement. “You are guaranteed health, wealth, healing, prosperity, and whiter teeth by following my formula. If you do not get what you pray for, there must be something wrong with your faith.” The pattern is clear to anyone who has spent any time at all associating with the WOF crowd. On pages 20 through 22 Wilkinson engages in pure conjecture, speculating about details of Jabez’s life. Ordinarily, this is harmless, but since he weaves his speculations into support for his theology, he dangerously toes the line of adding to Scripture. Wilkinson makes much that Jabez was “more honorable” than his brothers. In fact, he devotes an entire chapter to it. Like many Charismatic/Pentecostals he comes very close to polarizing the Christians into two groups: those who experience God’s fullness in their lives, and those who do not pray the prayer of Jabez (In many Charismatic circles, the second group is comprised of those who do not speak in tongues.) It’s a pity that he didn’t identify as much with someone else who received similar praise from God: And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. (Acts 17:10-11, emphasis mine, naturally) Apart from quick references to a couple passages about asking and getting (Matthew 7:7 and James 4:2), Wilkinson virtually ignores Scripture and follows the charismatic practice of proving his point with personal testimonies. Once we stray from the Bible, anybody’s personal experience counts as much as anybody else’s. Back in the 70’s, when the Charismatics were emerging in force and obscuring things with their doctrines based on personal experience, one such doctrine was the unqualified acceptance of anybody into the Fold who spoke in tongues. The Way International, an Arian cult (much like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, doctrinally) whose members placed a BIG emphasis on speaking in tongues, demanded acceptance as true Christians on that basis. The followers of the Way had all kinds of subjective spiritual experiences through their “Power for Abundant Living” course, but their doctrines were straight from the pits of hell. Apart from the Bible, we had no way to pass judgment on the group. How does a Christian’s Jabez praying compare to, say, the Muslim who feels blessed from his prayers to Allah, or the Mormon who feels blessed by his relationship with Adam-god? All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:16-17) Perhaps you think I am harping on a minor point, but if we allow experience instead of Scripture to be the foundation for doctrine, we have cut ourselves loose from our anchor and are just drifting. There are many good things brought up by the book, but they are mostly common-sense facets of the Christian’s walk, and eclipsed by Wilkinson’s obsession with this one prayer. He talks of “Jabez” groups and “Jabez” encounters. He says things like, “(It is) almost shocking what God’s grace and Jabez praying can do.” (page 89, emphasis mine, of course) At the end of the book is a list of “More resources to Help You Live The Prayer of Jabez,” with The Prayer of Jabez leather edition, The Prayer of Jabez journal, The Prayer of Jabez devotional, The Prayer of Jabez Bible study, The Prayer of Jabez for teens, and The Prayer of Jabez gift edition. How on earth did the Church ever function before Bruce Wilkinson’s discovery of the prayer of Jabez? Having dealt with the Charismatic/Pentecostals on the lunatic fringe for almost thirty years, I feel I can state with some degree of authority that The Prayer of Jabez is at best sloppy theology; at worst the devil’s attempt to make an idol out of a single passage in the Bible and sneak the “Word of Faith” gospel into the evangelical churches. Satan is not going to show up in the sanctuary some Sunday morning and say, “Hey everybody! Let’s stray away from God!” He’ll bring in something that looks good on the surface, but it will mingle error with the truth.
For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (II Corinthians 11:14) I am not accusing Bruce Wilkinson of setting out to deceive the Church, I just feel that his doctrine built upon the prayer of Jabez is faulty, and he has not been careful to watch for the devil’s tricks. Considering the popularity of the book, I will not endear myself to a lot of people by what I have said, but I would be amiss to have kept silent. “Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16) Steve Herr E-mail: Newcreature52@juno.com
“The most dangerous lie is that which most closely resembles the truth.” Postscript... Since I wrote this analysis and posted a review at Amazon.com something else has been brought to my attention: Wilkinson quotes from the New King James Bible when referencing this verse. It is interesting that every other Bible translation I have checked puts a significantly different twist on the last line of Jabezes’ prayer. NKJV (Bruce Wilkinson’s reference): “...and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” King James: “..and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” American Standard (1901): “..and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it be not to my sorrow.” NIV: “...and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” Revised Standard: “..and that thou wouldst keep me from harm so that it might not hurt me!" New American Standard (what I use for study): “...and that Thou wouldst keep me from harm, that it may not pain me!" Jerusalem Bible (Catholic): “...you will keep harm away and my distress will cease." New American (Catholic): “...and make me free of misfortune, without pain!" This list is by no means exhaustive (These are just what I have on my own software), but it seems that just about every other reliable translation puts an entirely different emphasis on Jabezes’ concerns. I have read criticisms from Jews of the book, saying, “Wilkinson might want to read the text in the original Hebrew.” Yes, the text in each on the other versions states that Jabez was “more noble” (or some equivalent compliment) than his brothers, but we have no clue just how noble or “unnoble” they may have been. Perhaps they gave God no thought at all. This is just one more reason to be very careful of Bruce Wilkinson’s theology in this book. Steve
More Magical "Jabez" Type Prayers
A Prayer For Every Occasion And For Everything You Want
by Sandy Simpson, 5/7/01
From Deception in the Church – www.deceptioninthechurch.com
Tongue in cheek ... My current response to people who come up to me and say that they got everything they wanted by praying the prayer of Jabez every day, word for word, is this: "Maybe you ought to try the Rosary next. It has also shown great success! While you're at it, why not offer up a whole platter of pragmatic magical prayers that will force God to act in the same way He acted when He answered before? After all, we simply need the right formulas, the right intonations, the politically correct verbiage to get God to answer." In that vein, let me offer you some other alternatives to the Jabez prayer. To get the desired reaction out of God you must remember to vainly repeat the same prayer, word for word, daily or even hourly. God will not be forced to react to your prayer if you don't follow it exactly. Here are just a few of the guaranteed formula prayers you can pray to pull God's chain: Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Abraham's Chief Servant: Prayer Location: Genesis 24:12 Purpose: To get God to give you a marriage partner. Works for both guys or girls. Pray This: O LORD, God of my master Abraham (your name here), give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham (your name here). See, I am standing beside this spring (or wherever you are standing), and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water (or whatever they are doing). May it be that when I say to a girl, `Please let down your jar that I may have a drink, (or any other leading question)' and she says, `Drink, and I'll water your camels too' ( or any other answer fleece you wish to use) -- let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac (your name here). By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master (your name here). Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Manoah Prayer Location: Judges 13:8 Purpose: To get God to bring your favorite teachers back to your church.
Pray This: "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born (may substitute any subject you want taught)." Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Samson Prayer Location: Judges 16:28 Purpose: To get God to give you big muscles and revenge. Pray This: "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines (or whomever you are angry at) for my two eyes (or whatever they did to you) ." Prayer Name: The Prayer Of David Prayer Location: 2 Samuel 15:31 Purpose: To get God to mess with people's minds. Pray This: "O LORD, turn Ahithophel's (or whoever you want to mess with) counsel into foolishness." Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Elijah #1 Prayer Location: 1 Kings 18:36-37 Purpose: To get God to send fire from heaven. (Kids, don't try this at home!) Pray This: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel (or wherever you are) and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Elijah #2 Prayer Location: 1 Kings 19:4 Purpose: To get God to show Himself. (This may seem like a roundabout way of making God show Himself, but it worked for Elijah!) Pray This: "I have had enough, LORD ... Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Elisha #1 Prayer Location: 2 Kings 6:17 Purpose: To get God to let you actually see angels. Pray This: "O LORD, open his (substitute your name here) eyes so that he (substitute your name here) may see."
Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Elisha #2 Prayer Location: 2 Kings 6:18 Purpose: To get God to cause someone you don't like to be blind. Pray This: "Strike these people (substitute someone you don't like) with blindness." Prayer Name: The Prayer Of Nehemiah Prayer Location: Nehemiah 6:9 Purpose: To get God to make your hands strong. (This one can get a little repetitive, but then if you like these pragmatic magical prayers that shouldn't be a problem for you. It can also put you into a nice altered state at the same time.) Pray This: "Now strengthen my hands." If you have other needs I'm sure you can find a magic bullet prayer in God's Word for almost any occasion. After all, that's what the Bible is for, isn't it?