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Pray the Prayer of Jabez

Arnie Peters

The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life Bruce W. Wilkinson. Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Publishers, 2000, 93 pp.

I first heard about this book from the owner of the Christian bookstore in our neighbourhood. I was told that the book had already sold 2 million copies – an amazing response to this small book. (The book has now sold 6,252,000 copies.) I was interested in why this book was so popular. I noticed the author was Bruce Wilkinson, the founder and president of Walk Thru the Bible. I had used his series of videos Personal Holiness in Times of Temptation with my men’s group and found him to be a sound teacher. So I bought the book and read it.

Wilkinson begins the book with this sentence: “The little book you’re holding is about what happens when ordinary Christians decide to reach for an extraordinary life – which, as it turns out, is exactly the kind God promises.” My response to this book hinges on my reaction to this statement. Do I believe I, as an ordinary Christian, am promised an extraordinary life? Was it God’s answer to his prayer that made Jabez “more honourable than his brothers”? If yes, then would it not be beneficial for me to explore the elements of this prayer and pray it as a sincere cry of the heart to God?

As I looked at each of the four requests in Jabez’s prayer, I found them to be supported in the rest of Scripture as God’s will for all our lives:

God is a generous God who wants to bless us “a lot”. James says I miss out because I don’t ask Him (James 4:2). The Great Commission and the Great Commandment both express God’s desire to use me by increasing my sphere of influence – “enlarging my territory”. I will not be able to do anything unless He gives me the power, with His “hand” on me. The disciples were transformed from timid pray-ers to bold proclaimers of the gospel after the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them. All that I do or God wants to do through me will be sabotaged if I fall to the temptations of the evil one. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Wilkinson writes this book as a testimony and as a challenge. After praying the prayer for 30 years, he noticed a remarkable change in his life. He then challenged others to pray the prayer as well, resulting in similar testimonials. (Testimonials by those blessed through this book are available on the official Web site: www.prayerofjabez.com.) He now challenges his readers to try it (chapter 7).

No doubt, this could become a formula prayer with as little effect as other of our prayers that could be described as “vain repetition”. But if we sincerely ask for and expect God’s bountiful blessings, increased opportunities to serve Him, His power to respond to those He places in our paths, and His protection from Satan’s attacks, we will experience an extraordinary life.

Arnie Peters Is an associate pastor at Willow Park Church in Kelowna, B.C. and moderator of the B.C. MB Conference.

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Last modified August 22, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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