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Bruce Wilkinson
The Journey of Jabez

As President and Founder of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, Dr. Bruce Wilkinson has a passion for guiding believers on a journey of discovery through God's Word. Drawing from a concept developed in his Master's thesis, Bruce Wilkinson created the Walk Thru the Bible Seminar. In just one day, just about anyone can learn the geography, characters and key concepts of every book of the Old Testament in chronological order. In November of 2000, Dr. Williamson introduced the first book in his Breakthrough series, an extrapolated sampling of his creative style of Biblical teaching, The Prayer of Jabez.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "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, that I may not cause pain." So God granted him what he requested-I Chronicles 4:10 (NKJV)

Dr. Wilkinson's little 96-page book became a blockbuster bestseller, topping every major publishing chart, including the prestigious NY Times Bestseller list, while selling a mind-boggling nine million copies. The book's success spawned a line of Jabez-inspired product, including everything from a Wilkinson-penned journal, devotional and Bible study to the proliferation of home décor and other accessories.

The book itself encourages readers to follow the example of a minor biblical characters whose audacious prayer was important enough to interrupt a litany of lineage in the book I Chronicles. Praised by some as an incredibly accessible evangelistic tool and panned by others by a shameless attempt to turn God into a genie, Dr. Wilkinson sat down with FamilyChristian.com to talk about the journey of Jabez.

FamilyChristian.com: For the record, how do you pronounce the name of the biblical person you've made famous: JAYbez, not JahBEZ or…

Bruce: Actually, the Hebrew way doesn't sound like either one of them.

FamilyChristian.com: Really? What's the Hebrew way?

Bruce: I can't remember. It's the accent on the second half. So you can call it anything you want.

FamilyChristian.com: Regardless of how it's pronounced, biblical names are very important for their meaning. So what does Jabez mean?

Bruce: Jabez means "pain." And none of us are really sure why his mother called him "pain." Maybe she didn't want another child, maybe the childbirth was terrible, maybe her husband just left or maybe she stubbed a toe on the way to delivery. We really don't know. But to name your child "pain," there was probably something really significant going on.

FamilyChristian.com: Of course your book, The Prayer of Jabez, is based on 1 Chronicles 4:10. The phrase "enlarge my territory" has caused a lot of communication and heated discussion. What do you think "enlarge my territory" means?

The Praye Of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson

Bruce: There are two separate things in Bible study. One is interpretation. One is application. And if you make them the same, you'll have problems. Interpretation means, "What does it mean?" and application is "How does its meaning affect who I am today?" What he literally meant was, "Lord, would you please take the boundaries of my property and would you enlarge it?" Same Hebrew word as when they divided the land up into 12 tribes. It was a boundary. And some translations use the word "territory," which means the land between the boundaries. So no matter how you define it, he was asking for a larger farm or a larger ranch. And in modern day, I think personally, he meant, "Give me more business." So literally, the true meaning is, "Ask God to bless your business." And so many Christians have trouble thinking it's right to ask God to bless your business. Why? I said to one man, "If your business honors God, and the way you treat your employees and your customers and your vendors and your reputation and the money God gives you through your business in a God-honoring way, why wouldn't you ask God to bless you?" We ask God to bless our churches and our families and bless our wives when they have children. So I encourage many businesspeople to pray the prayer of Jabez for your business.

FamilyChristian.com: Some, though, might say that's the same as "name it and claim it" or the prosperity gospel. What do you say when people ask you that?

Bruce: "Name and claim it" and "prosperity gospel" are two different things. Prosperity gospel is this concept that God wants everybody wealthy. And obviously, the Bible teaches the opposite of that. So I don't believe in prosperity gospel. Asking for your business to grow isn't a part of prosperity gospel. Name it and claim it has a false understanding too--that there's power in naming what I am praying for, it and of itself, rather than praying to ask God to make up His mind to do something for me.

I think it's very simple. We pray all the time, "Bless Walk Thru The Bible and help it grow." Well, there's nothing the matter with a banker praying, "Help our bank to grow." And many, many businesses have remarkable stories about praying and asking God to bless their business. So I don't believe it has to do with prosperity gospel or name and claim it. It's just a simple prayer.

FamilyChristian.com: What translation do you use to get the "that I may not cause pain?" For example, the NIV reads "that I will be free from pain," which seems like the opposite perspective.

Bruce: The reason why there are different English translations is because the Hebrew words aren't clear. They can either be "you're the causer of it" or "you're the recipient of it." And there's no way of knowing, because the context doesn't clarify it. It's the New King James. And I've gotten letters of criticism, "Why do you translate this this way?" I read the verse! So I believe both of them are true. You can't prove one or the other.

FamilyChristian.com: The book has had unprecedented mainstream success. What kind of response are you seeing from the mainstream press?

Bruce: I think the secular press can't cope with why there are millions of people buying a book on prayer of all things. And not even a famous prayer, a prayer that nobody's heard. They're trying explain it. What's the motive? Why would a person do this? And they've concluded that it's for money. The only reason that millions of people would do it is because of what they get out of it and what they get out of it is money. They've tried to lump the book into prosperity gospel, even though on page 24, I say it's clearly nothing to do with this because the prayer of Jabez doesn't define how you want God to bless you. It's just, "Lord, would you please bless me?" And blessing takes place. And you can be given something and it does not bless you. Some of the most wealthy people are the least blessed I know and the poorest people are the most blessed I know, so blessing is on the inside and Jabez is saying, "God, You know what will bless me. That's why I'm not defining it. Would you please bless me in the way You choose?"

FamilyChristian.com: You got ahead of me! I was just going to ask how you would define blessing.

Bruce: Blessing means to pour out kindness upon, to show favor for, to cause your face to shine toward. In the New Testament, some of the translations, in the Beatitudes, use the word "happy." Blessedness and happiness. It means content and peace and fulfillment and joy.

FamilyChristian.com: Well, regardless of the reaction, the book is definitely influencing a whole lot of people. What are some of the books that have influenced your life?

Bruce: I love to read spiritual biographies and one that's ministered a lot to me over the years is Hudson Taylor's life story, the two-volume one. It's really wonderful. I'd also say [Charles] Finney's life story and George Mueller's life story and D. L. Moody's life story and George Cowan's life story, Oswald Chambers' life story. I love reading how God worked in the lives of people that have sought to live for Him, flat-out.

FamilyChristian.com: What are you reading now?

Bruce: I'm reading a business book right now. I'm reading a book by Tenney right now, The God Chasers. I'm reading a Louis L'Amour book right now. That's when I need a break. So it's ebb and flow. Sometimes all religious, sometimes not. I'm always reading one secular book on management or leadership all the time.

FamilyChristian.com: Who have been your spiritual mentors or influences?

Bruce: Dr. Howard Hendricks has been a mentor for 25 years. He was my professor at seminary and influenced me a great deal. He became a friend and has been a board member for 25 years. My board chairman, Mr. Paul Johnson, who is a large building contractor from Detroit, has been our chairman for 25 years. He's been a wonderful mentor. He's the chairman of Moody Bible College and other ministries and has great wisdom. I think a couple of pastors along the way have been mentors. My dad was and mom when I was younger.

FamilyChristian.com: How has the success of Jabez changed your life?

Bruce: First of all, it was totally unexpected. Secondly, on a personal basis, in 2000, I asked the Lord to teach me this year how to be twice as productive as last year. When I began to pray that, Jabez wasn't anything. "Lord, I have no more time. I have no more energy but that doesn't mean I can't do twice as much for You. Would you please teach me how to do that?" Well, Jabez hit and along with all of the responsibilities of trying to cope with everything at Walk Thru and World Teach, this year, we're writing 14 books!

FamilyChristian.com: More in the same series or different kinds of books?

Bruce: Well, we wrote Prayer of Jabez devotional, which is brand new material. And then we wrote The Prayer of Jabez Bible study, which was the hardest one to write. Then we wrote Secrets of the Vine. Then we wrote Prayer of Jabez for Teens, then Prayer of Jabez for Children and then The Prayer of Jabez for Children devotional and The Prayer of Jabez for Kids. It's been very, very challenging. Plus, handling the onslaught of what the media wants from you.

One day, I was working at home and ABC, Atlanta Journal and then People magazine called-in one day. People magazine called and said, "We're thinking about doing a story on you because of what's happening in Jabez." I said, "Thank you." "But we want to know if you have an interesting enough life." I don't know how you'd answer that but I said to them, "I don't know if I do. I have a pretty normal life in many ways." And they began to ask questions and said, "We're going to do a story on you."

I can't go anywhere now and I'm a private person, as our family is. And then [I realize] that God gives a larger platform for a reason that He has in mind. [I need to] be a steward of the platform for Him It's added a lot of stress to our lives. A lot less sleep in our lives, but it's been good. I'm glad for it. And it is teaching us to do much more with less time.

FamilyChristian.com: Do you ever feel like you're put in a Jabez fishbowl as far as how everyone sees you and now everything has to be filtered through the Jabez lens you've created? People will probably ask you about this book for the rest of your life.

Bruce: I think they probably will for the rest of my life but you know, we just spent two hours signing and I would say a third of the people, when I was signing Secrets of the Vine, the majority of the people told me, "I like Secrets better than Jabez."

FamilyChristian.com: Why do you think that Jabez has been so successful?

Bruce: Well, there are a lot better books on prayer than this one. I've read a lot of books by Andrew Murray and E. M. Bounds and Evelyn Christianson and people who are prayer warriors. And there are a lot of books that are better on vision. There are smaller books. There are larger books. So when you really try to nail it down, I think there is a reason. Although you could say there's a lot of contributing reasons. It's a small book, but there are a lot of small books. It's a book on prayer. There are a lot of books on prayer. Why is it really selling? When people buy copies and give them away like they're doing, it's because they want other people to experience what they've experienced. And I honestly feel that when people come up to say something to me, they hardly ever say, "Thank you for Jabez." They say, "I can't wait to tell you what God did in my life." And God is getting so much attention.

FamilyChristian.com: There's a whole assortment of Jabez product now, including the journal. Why do you think journaling is so important?

Bruce: I feel journaling-next to reading and praying and praising-is the fourth most important spiritual discipline you can do. It's not a diary but an interaction between you and the Lord. I've been doing this a long time. And it's a way in which you stay focused and process things with the Lord. You pay attention to your day or your upcoming day and you react to it with the Lord. It just is a wonderful discipline to help you grow.

FamilyChristian.com: What is God teaching you now?

Bruce: I think the Lord is asking me to re-think, now that all this is happening, "How do you maximize your life for Me? Reevaluate what you're doing because things have changed." And we didn't change them; they were changed for us and it is, honestly, a daily discussion between my wife and myself and the Lord, "How should we respond to all of this?" It is a giant sifting and a reprioritization.

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