According to 1 Chron 4:10 : "Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that Thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast [territory], and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!' And God granted him that which he requested."This book - not Jabez' prayer, or the Bible - promises rewards from God. In the book's opening words, the author, Bruce Wilkinson offers to teach you "how to pray a daring prayer that god always answers," and later makes the following claims and promises :
"Thousands of believers who are applying its truths are seeing miracles happen on a regular basis. Will you join me for a personal exploration of Jabez? I hope you will!"
"Make the Jabez prayer for blessing part of the daily fabric of your life. To do that, I encourage you to follow unwaveringly the plan outlined here for the next thirty days. By the end of that time, you'll be noticing significant changes in your life. . . Read the Jabez prayer every morning. . . Reread this little book once each week during the next month. . ." The Prayer of Jabez, page 86.
What would Christian Fundamentalists do, if they couldn't find and use obscure little passages like these in "God's Word" to neutralize and negate the teaching of Jesus to his followers to rid themselves of excessive earthly possessions? This is why it is so crucial for all good "Fundamentalists" to insist on the inspiration of every verse of Scripture, and to consider the most obscure verses all "GOD's Word", and therefore the equal of anything spoken by Jesus, the Son of God.
The http://www.christianbook.com/html/static/PrayerofJabez.html page is full of commercial products relating to this book which some organization has awarded the "Gold Medallion
for 2002".
Apparently, Dr. James Dobson, the very influential head of "Focus on the Family" gave the book his blessing in spades when referred to a letter about Bruce Wilkinson's book and the effect it has had on future plans of F.O.T.F. as the "most important letter he ever wrote."
For those who might be interested in following Jesus Christ, rather than Bruce Wilkinson, see
If we are to believe Matthew, Jesus didn' t have much use for repetitive prayers, and if there was a prayer that he had to recommend, it wasn't the "prayer of Jabez" - which he really should have recommended to his followers, if he was as smart as Bruce WIlkinson - , but it was the prayer below :
