Sunday, May 27, 2001
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Sunday, May 27, 2001 |
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The Prayer of Jabez
By JUSTIN KOLLMEYER
Have you read this little book by Bruce Wilkinson? It's the craze these days. It has been a New York Times best seller. It got a front-page write-up in the Atlanta Journal Constitution "Faith and Values" section a couple of weeks ago. It keeps flying off shelves even in airport bookstands and non-religious bookstores. They can't keep enough copies printed. Wow! What's this all about? Well, I hope you'll get the book and read it and see for yourself, but I'll try to give you a quick peek into it right now. Bruce Wilkinson is a leader in the Christian world, having started the Walk Thru The Bible ministry, among other things. Here's the way the Prayer of Jabez "phenomenon" started, as I understand it. Several years ago Shirley Dobson, wife of author Dr. James Dobson, invited Wilkinson to speak at the "official" National Day of Prayer ceremony. She had previously heard him speak about this Prayer of Jabez, and she wanted him not only to speak at this ceremony, but she thought it would be nice to have his thoughts printed into booklet form to hand out to the participants that day. "The rest is history." From a few copies printed, to a few thousand, to many millions, the book has been both a success and a blessing to people all around the world. Why this success? Why have so many been blessed? I would see several answers to these questions. First of all, the book is short and easy to read. It's written like a letter (or an e-mail) to a friend. It engages us with stories and personal sharing. Wilkinson makes points with "chocolates," not with "hammers." But even more important than style is the substance. The integrity of the message begins with the remembrance of an obscure biblical character whose name appears only once in the whole Bible (I Chronicles 4:9-10). What is even more interesting is that in this scripture the biblical author is simply giving a genealogy, listing names and "begats," when, very much out of the ordinary, he slips in a quick little story about only one of the many names, Jabez. Jabez, we learn in quick-fire comment, was "more honorable than his brothers." Why? The only reason would be his prayer that he prayed. And having prayed his prayer, "God granted him what he requested." What did he pray? His prayer went simply like this: "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." Wilkinson writes, "At first glance, the four requests may strike you as sincere, sensible, even noble, but not terribly remarkable. Yet just under the surface of each lies a giant paradigm breaker that runs exactly opposite to the way you and I usually think." I offer you only a very brief personal comment about each part of Jabez's prayer. I think you'll see why the miraculous power of God is right at our fingertips when we utter this same prayer. To pray "Oh, that you would bless me indeed" is neither selfish nor a request for simply more human capacity to do something. This is the faith-filled cry to have God do his God-sized thing in our lives. The blessing of God is unlike any human blessing. His blessing is divine, superhuman, beyond the ordinary! His blessing is all-powerful and all-conquering. To pray this and RECEIVE THIS is nothing short of miraculous. To pray "Enlarge my territory" is not a real estate prayer. It is not a "gimme more stuff" prayer. Instead, it is a call to God that we might have more and more opportunity with more and more people to impact their lives with God's own will and ways. This is not getting more for me; it's getting more for God. God is looking for those who want to do more for Him. When our hand goes up, watch out! Miracles for God are right behind! To pray to God, "Let your hand be upon me" is the reality confession that my own power is not enough. I can do my best, and still fail miserably. As long as I take tiny steps over-cautiously, I fool myself into thinking I can go it alone. But as soon as I take even the first full stride in life, I admit I am totally dependent upon God. Then, when I declare dependency on Him, He takes over and miracles start jumping up all around! To pray "Keep me from evil" is not a request that I won't say a bad word once in awhile. It goes far beyond that! This is acknowledging that to be "on the front line" for God (where we pray we will be!) is to be where the evil one is attacking us with his unwelcome weapons criticisms, distractions, opposition, oppression, doubt, fear, insecurity, selfishness, apathy, just to name a few. These evils in our lives show us that the devil is worried about us doing too much for God, so he shows up with these destructive bombardments. When God keeps us from these evils and in his strength miracles abound! Of course, this only scratches the surface of the great strength of this little book and this gigantic prayer. I hope you'll read the book, talk about it with your family and friends, make it a part of your daily prayer routine, and watch the miracles flood your life! Thank you, Bruce Wilkinson. Thank you, Shirley Dobson. Thank you, Jabez. But most of all, Thank YOU, God! Kollmeyer is senior pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on Ga. Highway 314 in Fayetteville, between Lowe's and The Pavilion. Contact him at 770-461-3403 or at pjk@popdove.com.
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