This is OLD news, but I was in a craft store yesterday and they had the 'Prayer of Jabez' cross stitch. I hate that prayer...Or, not the prayer itself, but the cult following it seems to have generated. My grandmother has the plaque in her living room, and gave me a copy of the book. Pam and I discussed it when I was in Waco, and came to the same conclusions. Most of the "blessed company" don't like it either. Here it is in all its glory:
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying,
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." I Chronicles 4:10 NIV
(The NKJV translates it as keep me from harming others and causing them pain -- which actually makes the prayer better, in my opinion)
I'm not going to do a major pan here, because I haven't read the book yet. Maybe I'll borrow my sister's copy -- I chucked mine. Marla, did you or the Thinklings take that one on?
Here's the prayer I think should be substituted:
"Two things I ask of you, O Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches; but give me only my daily bread*
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?'
Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."
Proverbs 30:7-9.
Here's the link to what the Thinklings had to say about the Prayer of Jabez. Read the comments too.
*I missed transcribing that line. It's my favorite because it's also in the Lord's Prayer.
