The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson
Ok, so I've been reading lots of short books so I can feel like I am accomplishing something. This one has a very good concept. The book focuses on four different topics to cover during your prayer time (but don't limit it to these four!):
1.) Pray that God will bless you. Its not bad, its not selfish, and God wants to bless you if you ask.
2.) Pray that God will increase your territory. Not necessarily physical property you own, but that He would increase your ministry opportunities.
3.) Pray that God's hand will be with you. You can't really complete the ministry opportunities he sends you without God's hand supporting you and helping you through it all.
4.) Pray that God will keep you from temptation. When you do #1, 2, and 3, you are now on enemy territory doing things God's enemies don't want you doing. If you do not feel tempted in any way, you are not a danger to God's enemies. But when you go about your daily routine, God can shield you from all those enemy attacks. Ask him to.
And that's the basis of the book. Very motivating the first time I read it, and inspiring the second time. However, my life is so busy right now, that to try to get myself into the habit of praying this prayer every day is more time-consuming than I can handle. I agree with everything in the book, but when I say my prayers, its hard enough to remember to pray for all the other stuff. I am intrigued, however, by the concept of asking God for daily blessings and am curious to test the author's claims about its power. Perhaps I will add one of these four to my prayers and then as I get into the habit, I will add one more "part" each time. Anyone care to join me in trying this?
1 comment:
Be careful. If you're "testing" some of these prayers, it could be misconstrued as you "testing" God. And in fact, this might be what you're doing. I know that you're only trying what this writer said to do, but what if it's the same thing? What if by casting doubt on prayer (talking to God) you are casting doubt on God answering your prayers. Are we not told to never test God?
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