July 2001

By Jean LeStourgeon

THE PRAYER OF JABEZ
Breaking Through to the Blessed Life
By Bruce Wilkinson

The Prayer of Jabez, Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce Wilkinson is a pocket-sized book that burst into the market on the National Day of Prayer 2000. This book, just under 100 pages, is packed with practical Biblical truth and according to the May 12, 2001 issue of World magazine it is No 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. This book is for people who long to see God do extraordinary things through ordinary people.

The prayer of Jabez first came to my attention about 7 months ago when a client of mine reported that she and her husband began praying it together and had seen their business grow remarkably. God had gotten my attention and I checked out this obscure prayer in 1 Chronicles 4:10. This was not a scripture that I was at all familiar with. The first 4 chapters of Chronicles is nothing but lists of Israelite genealogy and though I know that every word in the Bible is meaningful and prosperous, I admit I probably glided over some of those chapters and consequently missed the blessing of Jabez's prayer.

God promised His people that He would bless them abundantly and give them the land of Canaan as their very own. Every where they went, as long as they held fast to God's covenant, they had success and God delivered the enemy and all the enemies' possessions into their hands. The results we get when we pray Jabez's prayer should not surprise us. Jabez simply prayed what God had already promised to do. Jabez's prayer, as short and sweet as it is, helps us to quickly get to the heart of the matter - praying God's will into our lives. Not in a mystical way, in a practical way. Prayer consistent with God's will changes us by making us more focused on seeking God's will not our own.

With the number of copies this book has sold, it has the flavor of "Just another religious fad," like the WWJD bracelets. I suspect many patrons of the book may see it as another technique for getting what you want out of God, sort of like a Christian get rich quick scheme. Yet Wilkinson points out that one of the most radical aspects of the prayer is that Jabez "left it entirely up to God to decide what the blessing would be and where, when, and how Jabez would receive them...the Jabez blessing focuses like a laser on our wanting nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us." The prayer of Jabez is a prayer for ministry. James Dobson said "it changes one's perspective from selfish appeals to putting it on (God) and (God's) will."

This book is an easy and quick read and points the believer in the right direction concerning prayer and positioning oneself to receive the fullness of God's blessings.

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