"...Dr. Wilkinson encourages folks to pray Jabez's prayer VERBATIM EVERYDAY (p. 11). This is contrary to Jesus' instructions of "when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do." Wilkinson seems to be selling Jabez's prayer as a scripturally sanctioned incantation that can guarantee blessings. So, you decide - Who's instructions on prayer are you going to follow: Dr. Bruce Wilkinson's or Jesus'?"
"...To Dr. Wilkinson, the key isn't God's choice to answer Jabez's prayer. To him, the key is that Jabez stumbled upon the RIGHT FORMULA for asking things of God. Wilkinson reverses the cause and effect and declares that Jabez was honorable because he figured out the right way to pray."
"...If any good is to come from the Jabez phenomenon, it will be that people will spend more time in prayer to God. "
"...I'm not concerned that the book has been printed or that people actually believe the things in it. I'm concerned because we're seeing the camel's nose of what I perceive as heretical beliefs poking into the tents of formerly sound mainline denominations and independent churches. Dr. Dobson's endorsement has caused the book to literally fly of the shelves and I think he has given creditability to what would have previously been denounced as a prosperity gospel or "name-it and claim-it" theology. For me though, the real tragedy of Bruce Wilkinson's book will be in the carnage created as desperate souls follow his advice and pray Jabez's prayer for a month and see no change or things getting worse around them.
The book has no discussion of what to do when the prayer seems to fail (and a child dies, a marriage fails, a job is lost or healing does not come, etc.). Many of them will turn to themselves seeking the reason. Wilkinson seems to have guaranteed that the prayer will work and the implication must be that a failed prayer means failed faith or something else wrong with the individual in question. They will hurt and they will feel alone and like spiritual failures, unable to confess what they're going through to a church that has embraced The Prayer Of Jabez. Many who fail to see the promised results will turn from God thinking that Christianity is a sham. They will question God's existence or His faithfulness because, in my opinion, the book teaches a shallow 'results-oriented' faith that is supposed to guarantee success as a opposed to a deep, abiding, loving relationship with our Father that will sustain us through heartaches, failure and success. So that there will be people there to pick up the pieces, please pray that God will use you when the time comes."
"...I would like to close by asking Dr. Wilkinson and his followers a few questions: Would the Apostle Paul have been beheaded if he had prayed Jabez's prayer? Would the Apostle Peter have been crucified upside down if he had Jabezed? And would John the Beloved have been exiled to the Isle of Patmos if he had possessed his very own copy of The Prayer Of Jabez?"
I read it, and while I don't pray it, I saw no harm in it. The problematical enlarge my territory line, as tought by Wilkinson, does not refer to material possesions and stock portfolios. He meant, rather to pray for the enlargement of one's territory of influence on behalf of God.
It's a pity that rags like The Enquirer portray the book as a "rags-to-riches prayer, but that simply is not the case. Jabez is not the most profound book I've ever read, but I can see where it has value for some.