The book, The Prayer of Jabez purports to be a book on Christian prayer, and in particular a book about one prayer, the prayer of Jabez, found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10,

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from harm, that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.

However, The Prayer of Jabez actually ends up misinterpreting this passage. And as a result, the book teaches several things that are contrary to Scripture:

1. God answered Jabez's prayer because of some virtue in Jabez; and if you're like Jabez, He'll answer yours too (pp. 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 24-25, 60, 76, 82-84, 87, 90).
2. There are ordinary Christians and extra-ordinary Christians, and God answers their prayers differently (pp. 40, 53, 61, 74-75).
3. God's work and favor in our lives will be apparent to us in answered prayers and obvious blessings (pp. 15-17, 24-25, 36, 44, 55, 83-84, 91).
4. Prayer releases God's power (pp. 25, 41, 48, 87, 92).

All of these teachings contradict Scripture's teaching on prayer. All of these teaching reflect a triumphalist, theology of glory, not a theology of the Cross. The Prayer of Jabez makes great claims regarding Jabez, his prayer, and those who pray it. Scripture nowhere attaches any promises to the prayer of Jabez.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, in the 92 pages of this Christian book on prayer, and out of only a handful of references to Jesus, I found only a single reference to Jesus' atoning work on the Cross (p. 74). In this reference, Jesus is work is merely the means for moving the Christian "to a higher level of honor and exponentially expanding blessings."

Here is the problem: Scripture teaches that God answers prayer for ONE reason and one reason alone: Jesus' perfect obedience and sacrificial death. God's answers prayer solely for the sake of Jesus. This crucial teaching is never made clear in The Prayer of Jabez. In fact, the book largely presents the very opposite view, namely, that God answers our prayers because of some quality in us.

The Prayer of Jabez teaches that God hears and answers prayer because of me, my faith, my virtue. This is a pagan notion of prayer. In fact, any notion of prayer that omits Jesus in this way is pagan.

Christians need to understand that the answer to their prayers do not lie in themselves, their virtue or their faith, but in Jesus alone.

Rather than seeking affirmation of God's love and favor in answered prayer and obvious blessings, Christians should be encouraged to seek assurance of God's favor in Jesus' cross and resurrection, regardless of their circumstances. This is the faith taught in Scripture and modeled by the saints of the Old and New Testaments.

Critics of The Prayer of Jabez may end up looking like kill-joys in light of the book's phenomenal popularity. The book has sold almost 5,000,000 copies to date.

Well, I don't know if nearly 5,000,000 Christians can be wrong, but I do know one book can be.

The Rev. Todd Wilken is the weekday host of Issues, Etc.