Thoughts on The Prayer of Jabez
by Guy Spiro

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I’ve written previously about the 23rd Psalm and how it can be used so effectively to deal with difficult times as well as to strengthen and solidify our awareness of the divinity within us. Recently I was led to examine and begin to use another little gem from the Old Testament, the prayer of Jabez.

     In the midst of the begats, that list of who was born to whom that very few people ever really read, the writer pauses to talk a little about Jabez. The passage, 1st Chronicles 4:9-10, is short but it has had a large impact over the past few years. Selling several million copies, The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson has taken the Christian world by storm and has provoked interesting reactions.

     In recommending Wilkinson’s book, I’m compelled to warn that it comes from a fundamentalist understanding. What is of value has to be separated from the limited and fear based thinking of the author. Interestingly, but also predictably, the book has also been stridently attacked by Christians even more conservative in their thinking than Wilkinson, who must find himself in an odd position. On the one hand, having new thought churches and even new agers embrace (some of) his understanding of the prayer must be somewhat appalling. On the other hand, being attacked by his more conservative brethren must put him on some middle ground that I imagine he finds disconcerting. I’d enjoy speaking with him about this sometime.

     Here is the prayer that has stirred up all the interest.

Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory. That your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil.

Stripping most of the religiosity from this pearl of spiritual technology, we have a very short and succinct tool for living a more abundant life in line with the current of God’s beneficence.

     “Oh, that you would bless me indeed,” This is a powerful affirmation that one is aligned with the source of all. Everything in existence comes from the One, and when we are aligned, there is nothing that cannot be manifested. This line expresses the reality of that state and gratitude for it.

     “and enlarge my territory.” Jabez here goes on to state that with all of the blessing he has already received due to his realization of oneness, the blessings continue to multiply. Wilkinson says that this is to be taken as asking for a larger ministry and that is a fine thing, but it need not be limited to that. I think that the prayer will work more powerfully for those seeking to generate more light, but can indeed be used for whatever one desires.

     “That your hand would be with me,” speaks to Jabez’s listening to and following the inner guidance that is always there for us if we will but pay attention. Again, when we align with the flow of creation of which we are a part, then things tend to go well for us. How many times in your own life have you followed inner guidance and benefited from it?

     “And that you would keep me from evil.” Evil is a large and contentious subject. Some would argue that evil does not exist, while others see evil everywhere. I believe that what Jabez is speaking to is evil in the sense of error. When we fall from the realization of our divinity, we begin to believe in limitation and lack, and then fear corrupts our consciousness with the inevitable undesirable results. Evil is a mistake that, when we are aligned with the God part of ourselves, we no longer make.

     It is understandable that those who still see God as an entity separate from creation, that judges and condemns, will be disquieted by this interpretation of the prayer of Jabez. If one lives in that sort of universe, then this prayer is dangerous, if it is even to be taken seriously. But for those of us who see God as all of creation itself, the source of all that is, and gladly lending itself to joyous manifestation of all of the gifts of existence, the prayer of Jabez is empowering and to be made use of to the extent of our understanding of it.