Give me a break...our American Christianity is a joke...it's all trying to make a buck...look at the christian bookstores...they'll try to cash in on anything...

If Jesus walked into one of them, He'd overturn all the tables...just like He did in the temple

"Blessed Life?"

Rating: 1/5

You know, it's too bad the patriarch's of the faith had not the wisdom and insight of Bruce Wilkinson...they might have saved themselves a whole lot of paing and suffering.

Poor Jeremiah would never have been "stuck in the muck" for all that time.

Hosea never would have needed to marry a harlot.

Paul's thorn in his side would have been removed.

None of the apostle's would have needed to die a martyred death. On that line of thought...none of the Christian martyr's throughout the ages needed to die such horrible and torturous deaths.

Christians in the middle east and in China are suffering only because they cannot get their hands on this "wisdom" espoused by Wilkinson.

We can also cut out Christ's words from the bible, much in the same way Thomas Jefferson cut out the miracles from the bible. There is no need to read about how He came to bring the sword and not peace (Matt. 10:34-36) or how the Son of Man has no place to lie his head (Matt. 8:20).

Carried to it's logical conclusion, it commits the ultimate blasphemy...Christ needn't die...if only our Lord had the wisdom of Bruce Wilkinson. What a pity.

But, praise be, Bruce Wilkinson can help us, by this prayer usher in that hope that is promised in Rev. 21:4 and we will suffer no more.

Please, people, all joking aside, read your bibles. Start with 1 John 4 then read Matt. 7:15 and Acts 20:29. Maybe, just maybe, your eyes will be open to the false teaching that is in these pages.

Definitely NOT a "Health and Wealth Gospel" book!

Rating: 4/5

Wilkinson does not tell us how he interprets the passage of scripture he talks about in his book. For example, he doesn't compare scripture with scripture, nor does he interpret the prayer through personal experiences. (Wilkinson's personal experiences only illustrate the results he has gained through the prayer, not his reasons for interpreting it in this manner.)

However, it's obvious that he has interpreted Jabez's prayer through the Holy Spirit because this entire little book is about the Great Commission--that is, the spreading of the good news of Jesus dying for our sins. Of course, Jabez himself could NOT have used his prayer in that manner: (1) Jabez lived long before Jesus, and (2) Jews in those days didn't try to convert the world to Judaism.

Nonetheless, Wilkinson's interpretation of the prayer is a useful one for Christians. For one thing, it encourages us not to interpret the prayer of Jabez or any other prayer for our personal gain (materialism or selfishness). Instead, Wilkinson reminds us to pray all our prayers for God's glory instead of our own. He asks God to empower us to serve Him. Wilkinson thinks he's asking God for opportunities to spread the Gospel (in part, he is); but God uses prayer to change our hearts, and it's clear that God has used this prayer to change Wilkinson's heart away from selfishness toward a life of serving God.

God has also touched my heart through this book. Although I don't pray the Jabez prayer, and I'm not planning to reread Wilkinson's book anytime soon (since I prefer to read the Bible itself over other Christian books), I have gained by reading it because it reminds me of the duty and delight of a saved believer to tell others about Jesus.

Because the Jabez prayer overlaps and compliments the Lord's Prayer, I have taken portions of each prayer with Psalms 51:2 to make my own prayer, which sometimes helps me to overcome weak temptations to sin: "Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. Protect me from evil. Cleanse me from evil."

Normally, it's better just to read the Bible instead of a book about the Bible. But this book is an exception.

Anyone who thinks this is a book on selfish prayers needs to (re)read it, and pay closer attention to the first three chapters. The Health and Wealth Gospel existed before this book was written, and is 180 degrees contrary to the teachings of Wilkinson's book.