Okay, I think it's time to deal with Jabez... Now I am probably going to step on some toes with this "thought", but so be it. First of all, I want to say that I'm not a fan of any "systematic" approach to Christianity - the Alpha program creeps me out (I once heard a guy at a BUWC conference say about it: "Trust the program". That's scary), and I didn't like "Experiencing God" because for me, it did the opposite of its title. Having said that, I tried to go over prayer of Jabez with an open mind (this was before I'd heard all the hype), but I couldn't quite force myself to agree with the author, Bruce Wilkinson.

     First off, let's look at the text, shall we? The following is taken from the New International Version (don't get me started on the versions thing...).

1 Chronicles 4
¹ The descendants of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur and Shobal.² Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.³ These were the sons_[1] of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma and Idbash. Their sister was named Hazzelelponi.⁴ Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah and father_[2] of Bethlehem.⁵ Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.⁶ Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of Naarah.⁷ The sons of Helah: Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan,⁸ and Koz, who was the father of Anub and Hazzobebah and of the clans of Aharhel son of Harum. ⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,_[3] saying, "I gave birth to him in pain."¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. ¹¹ Kelub, Shuhah's brother, was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.¹² Eshton was the father of Beth Rapha, Paseah and Tehinnah the father of Ir Nahash._[4] These were the men of Recah. ¹³ The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai._[5] ¹⁴ Meonothai was the father of Ophrah. Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of Ge Harashim._[6] It was called this because its people were craftsmen.¹⁵ The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz. ¹⁶ The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria and Asarel.¹⁷ The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher and Jalon. One of Mered's wives gave birth to Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. ¹⁸ (His Judean wife gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.) These were the children of Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah, whom Mered had married.¹⁹ The sons of Hodiah's wife, the sister of Naham: the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.²⁰ The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan and Tilon. The descendants of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.²¹ The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth Ashbea,²² Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi Lehem. (These records are from ancient times.)²³ They were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah; they stayed there and worked for the king. ²⁴ The descendants of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah and Shaul;²⁵ Shallum was Shaul's son, Mibsam his son and Mishma his son.²⁶ The descendants of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son and Shimei his son.²⁷ Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children; so their entire clan did not become as numerous as the people of Judah.²⁸ They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual,²⁹ Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,³⁰ Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,³¹ Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susim, Beth Biri and Shaaraim. These were their towns until the reign of David.³² Their surrounding villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token and Ashan--five towns--³³ and all the villages around these towns as far as Baalath._[7] These were their settlements. And they kept a genealogical record. ³⁴ Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,³⁵ Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel,³⁶ also Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,³⁷ and Ziza son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah. ³⁸ The men listed above by name were leaders of their clans. Their families increased greatly,³⁹ and they went to the outskirts of Gedor to the east of the valley in search of pasture for their flocks.⁴⁰ They found rich, good pasture, and the land was spacious, peaceful and quiet. Some Hamites had lived there formerly.⁴¹ The men whose names were listed came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. They attacked the Hamites in their dwellings and also the Meunites who were there and completely destroyed_[8] them, as is evident to this day. Then they settled in their place, because there was pasture for their flocks.⁴² And five hundred of these Simeonites, led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, invaded the hill country of Seir.⁴³ They killed the remaining Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.

1. [3] Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Vulgate); Hebrew father
2. [4] Father may mean civic leader or military leader; also in verses 12, 14, 17, 18 and possibly elsewhere.
3. [9] Jabez sounds like the Hebrew for pain.
4. [12] Or of the city of Nahash
5. [13] Some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate; Hebrew does not have and Meonothai.
6. [14] Ge Harashim means valley of craftsmen.
7. [33] Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Joshua 19:8); Hebrew Baal
8. [41] The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them.
   

     Now, the verse that all the hoo-haw is about is buried in the middle, verse 10: "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request." So, the first problem I have with the whole Jabez thing is that it's from 1 verse, taken out of context. The correct way of doing Biblical analysis is to look at a passage in the light of other passages from Scripture. It's called exegesis, from the Greek for "out of". The Prayer of Jabez is a classic example if isogesis, Greek for "into". Now it doesn't take a genius to figure out that out of all the prayers in the whole Bible (the book of Psalms comes to mind), this has got to be one of the shortest. So to base a whole prayer perspective on one obscure verse in the middle of a passage and to ignore the the larger picture seems to me to be at best, wishful thinking and at worst, a deliberate perversion of Scripture.

     In the light of the rest of Scripture, and in particular, the teachings of Christ on prayer, it seems obvious that the prayer of Jabez is of incidental interest to today's modern Christian, but shouldn't be the center of a full prayer life. When His disciples asked Him how to pray, Jesus responded with what has become known as the Lord's Prayer:

Luke 11
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." 2 He said to them, "When you pray, say: "`Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'"

Matt 6
9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread.12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

     No mention here of Jabez, which, if He had wanted us to pray it, would have been the perfect time to mention it.

     My other big problem with the whole Jabez phenomenon is that it seems to be a blatant marketing scheme. If you don't believe me, check out Amazon.com's "Prayer of Jabez Store". I kid you not. You can find Jabez merchandise for all ages and all types - how about a page-a-day calendar? I wonder how they pulled it all off... I mean, it is only one verse. Sort of boggles the mind. And I just saw "Jabez - the novel". How does that work? All we know about Jabez is that he had a difficult birth - how that translates into a novel's worth of story is anybody's guess.

     The scariest thing to me about this whole deal is how popular all the books and merchandise are. I think maybe that Wilkinson has managed to appeal to the North American vending-machine pop-Christianity with his (thinly disguised) name it and claim it gospel. By praying the Jabez prayer, we are promised the good life, and abundant blessing (as though God doesn't bless us everyday with the breath we draw). Please God, give me more stuff and make me popular. Geez Louise! I wonder how much this book appeals to people of other cultures who are from less consumer-driven societies. Really, what appeal does this have for those that believe: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) As one of the 354 reviewers at Amazon.com (I told you there was a lot of hype) wrote, what would Mother Theresa think of the furor surrounding this prayer and it's interpretation?

     what you think...  Jabez - for good or ill?