It’s probably been a while since you thought about Bruce Wilkinson and his hot selling book, The Prayer of Jabez. But, given the reception it received in evangelicalism, its reception tells us something about ourselves worth considering. And, I don’t mean that to sound overly cynical. One way or another, it struck a chord.
Mike Wittmer’s reflection on The Prayer of Jabez is worth reading:
My present study of evangelical fideism led me yesterday to revisit the gift book that rocked our pre-9/11 world, the “little prayer with the giant prize” (17), The Prayer of Jabez.
. . . All to say I appreciate and highly respect the source of Bruce Wilkinson’s booklet, but I have some questions about his execution.
As far as I can tell, here is Wilkinson’s argument:
1. We should ask God for more.
I basically agree with this, though I think Wilkinson possesses an American preoccupation with size (e.g., p. 57—would having less than 100 kids at VBS be a failure?) and a too low view of providence. He is not content with having God work through normal channels, but argues that men and women of faith should be experiencing miracles on a daily basis, (p. 16, 24, 33), which he helpfully defines down as “an intervention by God to make something happen that wouldn’t normally happen” (p. 43). . . .
Read the whole thing here.
