 Book Reviews The Prayer of Jabez: By Bruce Wilkinson Reviewed by Robert P. Mills May/June 2001 |
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“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him what he requested” (I Chron. 4:10, NKJV). That easily overlooked gem is the subject of Bruce Wilkinson’s The Prayer of Jabez. Wilkinson’s thesis, drawn from this prayer and the consistent witness of Scripture, is that God wants to bless his people, and he wants them to ask him for his blessings. “Enlarge my territory,” Wilkinson says, is a request for “more opportunity to make a mark for the God of Israel.” Using examples from his 30-year experiment in praying this prayer daily, Wilkinson shows the types of opportunities God may send to those who pray this prayer. “That your hand would be with me” asks that “God’s power to accomplish His will and bring Him glory” operate through us. “You do not become great,” Wilkinson reminds us, “you become dependent on the strong hand of God. Your surrendered need turns into His unlimited opportunity.” “That you would keep me from evil,” is “a brilliant but little-understood strategy for sustaining a blessed life. After all, if your life transcends the ordinary and starts to encroach on new territory for God, guess whose turf you’re invading?” “Whatever our gifts, education, or vocation might be,” Wilkinson writes, “our calling is to do God’s work on earth.” With winsome simplicity, The Prayer of Jabez encourages all Christians to remember our calling and to ask God to lead us into new opportunities for more effective service. |
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