“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” I Chronicles 4:10
You may recognize this as the Prayer of Jabez. It was the basis of a popular Christian book from 2000 written by Bruce Wilkinson with the same title. Wilkinson began the book saying, “Dear Reader, I want to teach you to pray a daring prayer that God always answers.” Consequently, the book was very popular and received wide acclaim. However, the statement was never qualified in the book and led many to believe that prayers for material prosperity would always be answered by God in the affirmative.
While it is not wrong to pray for such things, we are not guaranteed that God will give them to us as Wilkinson suggests. The Kingdom of Glory theology promotes material and physical blessings to those who ask, yet omits the fact that God may not answer according to our desires. When this happens, the Kingdom of Glory theology will say that one did not ask enough or with a sufficient amount of faith. This can be very detrimental to one’s spiritual life and even cause them to doubt God when they do not receive that for which they petitioned.
Prayer is God’s way of bringing us in line with His will, and it may not be His will to give us material blessings or to keep us free from pain. It is, however, His will to grant us spiritual blessings and to increase our faith. He may choose to do this by allowing us to live without or even to permit illness and pain in our lives. In His gracious will, He is able to use such things for our good and it may be a means by which He strengthens our faith and causes us to rely more upon Him.
We are free to pray for the same things that Jabez prayed for, but we should always do so asking that ultimately God’s will would be done. The greatest prayer will always be the prayer of Jesus, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” If God desires to give us material blessings or grant healing, that is truly wonderful. However, if He does not, we remember that He has given us the gifts of faith and true life all of which far surpass any material or physical gifts we could receive here on earth. Remember, such gifts are only temporary anyway. The true, lasting gifts are those that belong to the Kingdom of God and are the ones most desirable.
Know that you are loved!
Peace and Joy,
Pastor Kilian