From "The Prayer of Jabez" - Page 24: "Notice a radical aspect of Jabez's request for blessing. He left it entirely up to God to decide what the blessings would be and where, when, and how Jabez would receive them. This kind of radical trust in God's good intentions toward us has nothing in common with the popular gospel that you should ask God for a Cadillac, a six-figure income, or some other material sign that you have found a way to cash in on your connection with Him. Instead, the Jabez blessing focuses like a laser on our wanting for ourselves nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us."
"Nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us." The very heart of The Lord's Prayer: "...Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
I pray every day that God carry out His perfect will through me. Not necessarily what I want for myself, but what he wants for me. I pray for His blessing on me, and the projects with which I am involved, so that His will might be carried out as perfectly as possible, with His blessing. And yes, I do see His hand at work in and around me. Every day.
Wilkinson has probably made millions off this little book, while at the same time damaged his reputation as a serious scholar.
This is unfortunate, because Wilkinson is a good author, and an inspiring speaker, and this little book has a valuable message for the Christian community. I do not believe he intended Christians to jump on this book as a band wagon to revive the prosperity gospel. I rather believe that he wanted to encourage Christians to be bold enough to dream great dreams for God and step out beyond themselves in faith. But unless one has the opportunity to hear Wilkinson speak, this book could revive the old belief that godly people are blessed with health, wealth, and prosperity, while hurting people are the victims of their own lack of faith.
The book is small and doesn't cost much. It is hard to believe that someone hasn't read it. But, if you haven't, go ahead and purchase it, just to see what all the hype is about. If it encourages you to throw caution to the wind and follow God's call into new arenas of ministry, that is what it is there for. If you get the impression that God's blessing means you will greatly prosper, read another book to balance your thoughts.
Nowhere in this book does Mr. Wilkinson ever say that the prayer of Jabez is more important than the Lord's Prayer. Nowhere in this book does Mr. Wilkinson even remotely insinuate that the prayer of Jabez is more important than our individual and unique everyday conversations with the Lord before we go to bed or while we're driving or in the shower or at church.
I've had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Wilkinson speak in person. I remember him saying that once a woman came to him and said that after reading his book, she only prays the prayer of Jabez and no longer prays the Lord's Prayer. He actually told her that if that was what she got out of his book, then she needs to get rid of his book and never read it again.
What really boggles my mind is the number of people who say that this book espouses name-it-claim-it theology (or prosperity gospel). Actually, Mr. Wilkinson is adamantly against such teaching. When he encourages the reader to ask the Lord to bless him/her, he implicitly means to bless with ministry opportunities. (Few, if any, prosperity teachers ask the Lord to bless them with ministry. It's usually, "Lord, bless me with another 'seed offering' so I can send out the anointed prayer cloth and afford my private jet.")
I agree that the "Prayer of Jabez" craze has gotten well out of hand. For instance, this book was so simple that a 13-year-old could understand it. So why need there be "Prayer of Jabez for Teens"? And "Prayer of Jabez for [fill in the blank]"? But the craze is first the fault of the consumers who went crazy over a book which is not intended to make one go crazy over; and second the fault of the (I'm assuming Christian) publishers who responded to the fans and sacrificed ministry principles for excessive profits.
It's okay to pray that the Lord will bless you. Whatever the blessing - whether it's a new ministry, or a new Corvette (yes, I'm afraid sometimes the Lord does bless us with material blessings) or a new child or a new disease (unpopular though it may be, sometimes the greatest blessing is a ticket Home!) - it's always going to be something with which we can glorify Him.