There was a time when I thought it was selfish and improper to pray for a blessing on myself. I should pray for others. I should put others first. God would bless as it was deemed appropriate.

I can thank Bruce Wilkerson’s book The Prayer of Jabez for changing my mind about that. Not that I’ve read the (little) book. I never did. I didn’t need to. It was once quite popular — a Christian fad during 2001 and several years after. I used to hear about the book continually. People would quote from it, and summarize it, and refer to it. Other people denounced the book and it’s sudden popularity. Since then the whole phenomenon has been largely forgotten.

Anyway, back then, I got curious. So, I looked up the actual prayer of Jabez in the Bible. It’s in 1 Chronicles.