Jabez Prayer Wheel: Guaranteed 100% Answer to Prayers!

Note from Amoy! (Historic Xiamen, China). Jabez Prayer Wheel void where prohibited by law, common sense, or lack of faith. Also: I'm not criticizing the Jabez book itself. It's well written and insightful--but only if read in entirety, and the verse preceding Jabez' prayer is kept in mind. But some truly believe simply parroting this prayer always guarantees the answer you want. I think prayer is always answered, but not always as we expect. And thank God for that, because I've winged prayers aloft that I later regretted--and was thankful He was wise enough--and loving enough--to answer differently.  Dr. Bill

Toying Around When we first arrived in China in 1988, we could not buy good toys locally, so I made playthings from cardboard, paper, string, and wood. Even adults played on my 50 lb. wooden rocking horse (I threatened to publish a photo of the Foreign Affairs' Director on the horse if he didn't renew my contract; he is now one of Xiamen's top leaders).

Shannon, 1992

I did my best, but I was not Santa's toy-making elf, so in 1992, both Shan and Matt were thrilled when Sue and I promised them a real store-bought toy when we returned from a Beijing meeting. But dear old mom had a trick up her sleeve.

The Black Lacquer Plate Plot Sue gave Shannon a beautiful Chinese cloth box, which the 6-yr.-old gleefully opened to discover not a toy but a black lacquer plate. Only Shannon's eyes betrayed his disappointment. He smiled, thanked us, and walked away with the plate clasped to his chest. I could have cried (and kicked his mom).
"Come back Shannon!" I said. "Mom's fooling you. We do have a toy for you!" Shan hesitantly unwrapped a second package. He laughed as he held up a plastic basketball game, then hugged, kissed and thanked us. He started from the room, prized toy under his arm, then stopped in the doorway and said, "But it really was a nice plate."

I did cry at that point.

Toys 'R Us—I want everything! A few months later, Shannon saw his first Toys 'R Us. He was overwhelmed by the towering shelves of toys and said, "I want this! I want that! I want…" and he stopped, thrust his arms out happily, and said, "I want everything!" (The Hong Kong Toy's R Us had a sign at the entrance saying "Please leave your values at the counter." It was a typo--but later made sense!).

Hong Kong Toys R Us

The World 'R Us—We all want everything! So which was the real Shannon—the one who accepted the plate, or the one who wanted everything? They were both Shannon, but even the 6-yr.old who hid his sadness at not getting a toy was easily led to exclaim, "I want everything!" And we've all been this way since Eden.

Adam and Eve did have everything—except for one tree. But they gave up their inheritance for that one forbidden fruit—and ever since, we have all hungered for everything, and used clever psychology and even theology to justify it.

Maslow 'R Us. Maslow's 'Theory of Needs' helps explain what drives us. He said we all seek first to survive (physical needs and security), and then to belong (to be with others), and then to have self-esteem (for those others to look up to us). But even Maslow could not explain the highest need, which he called "self-actualization" (SA).

Ultimate Drive or Desire? SA is our need for purpose and fulfillment, but Maslow admitted, "It is unfortunate that I can no longer be theoretically neat at this level." Unlike 'lower' needs, Maslow said SA is not a driving force but an unexplainable universal 'desire.' It is unexplainable because scientists cannot admit that our ultimate need is to fill what Pascal called the "God-shaped abyss" in our hearts—a spiritual silence we try to drown out by an endless and mindless accumulation of anything and everything, living a lifestyle that is all style but little life.

Evolution from Simian to Shopper (Homo Ebaggit)

Consumer or Consumed Only two centuries ago, a "consumer" was a squanderer, or a wasteful person, but yesterday's vices are today's virtues. In 1955, the economist Victor Lebow said,
"Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate."

Distressed Jeans or Distressed Consumer

Cult of Consumerism People who want everything are easily led to buy anything—such as a $200 pair of ripped and stained "distressed" jeans. But today, even churches reinforce Sony's Youniverse campaign, which says we are the center of everything and deserve everything.

The church of the Dark Ages amassed a fortune by squeezing poor peasants for money to free loved ones from purgatory. As Tetzel said, "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory springs."

Today's Tetzels

In this even Darker Age, today's Tetzels amass fortunes by focusing not on the afterlife but on this life, promising an immediate tenfold return from God if we donate to their 'ministries.' (Why not bypass the middleman and give us the money so God can repay them tenfold?)

Seek Ye First—or Demand Ye First? Ironically, our Father does want to bless us—and is eager for us to ask! Jesus said that if earthly fathers know how to give good things to their children, how much more our Heavenly Father! (Matt. 7:9-11).

But how do we ask for our Father's blessings? Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be given to you" (Matt. 6:33). And Jesus said to pray first for the Kingdom, and then ask for our daily bread. But today, we are taught better prayers than Christ's, and told to skip the Kingdom part of it and go straight for the desires. And now, we don't ask, but demand an answer.

The Prayer God Always Answers? The preface to the book "Prayer of Jabez" begins with, "Dear Reader, I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers!" This is followed by stories of people who succeeded simply by repeating Jabez prayer for months and years. Not surprisingly, an entire Jabez industry now caters to people who want a foolproof prayer to get anything and everything. You can now buy a dozen versions of the Jabez book and endless Jabez trinkets, from mugs, cups, ties, rugs, plaques, key chains, etc to $250 Jabez jewelry.

Magic Jabez God Box

Dr Bills Patent Pending Jabez Prayer Wheel

Jabez Magic One ad promotes a Jabez Prayer inside The "God Box" pendant. The God Box is identical to boxes sold to hold spells and potions—which isn't surprising, because the Jabez Prayer is used like a magic prayer that God must "always answer." But the Jabez merchandise ignores the verse before the prayer, 1 Chron. 4:9: "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers."

As Jesus said, and Jabez demonstrated, 'Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be given…"

The World-Changing Jabez Prayer Wheel! The Magic Jabez God Box reminds me of Tibetan Prayer Wheels, with written prayers inside that fly off to Buddha when the wheels are spun. Chinese temples take it a step further, with motorized prayer wheels that send prayers heavenward 24/7.

The ingenuity of Tibetans, Chinese, and Jabezite Christians inspired my spiritual invention, the Jabez Prayer WheelTM, a brilliant concept destined to change the world (I say with all humility). My wood-handled tin can prototype is adorned with plastic gems as a reminder we want answers in cash, jewels, etc. A backup Jabez Prayer in the swinging locket doubles the prayer's punch, and the locket swings faster than the can, so "The Prayer God Must Answer!"TM gets faster results!

Coming Soon! An electric Jabez Prayer Wheel, because "You Do Deserve Everything. 24/7!TM"

New Improved JP for Young Hearts 2.0

Jabez is Child-Tested! Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." So I suggest baby rattles with Jabez InsideTM so even toddlers can learn that they too deserve everything, and can get it by simply wielding, "The Prayer that God Must Answer!"TM

Backyard Millstone, Xiamen, 1992

Does this sound farfetched? Then consider the half dozen Jabez titles for tots: PJ for Kids! PJ for Little Ones! PJ for Teens! PJ: Living Big for God! PJ for Young Hearts! And the Jabez industry is evolving rapidly. The cover of the first Jabez for Young Hearts' had what looked like a balding poster child for poverty. But JP for Young Hearts 2.0's new and improved cover shows a child opening a shining pot of gold. There may not be gold at the end of the rainbow, but Jabez for Young Hearts 2.0 will ignite any child's passion for his very own personal "Prayer Pot of Gold."TM

Millstones. But neither we nor our children need infallible prayers because our Heavenly Father is faithful and always answers our prayers—though sometimes the answer is not what we expect.
I love giving to my sons, but I would not give them something I know would harm them, or something they would not take care of. In the same way, our Father hears and answers all of our prayers, but sometimes answers "no," or "wait."  And sometimes, we have to just grow up and work ourselves out of a situation we've pushed ourselves into.

I cannot imagine how I would feel if my sons tried forcing me to give them whatever they desired—yet we teach children magic prayers to force God to answer prayer! I am reminded of Jesus' warning in Mark 9:42, "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck."

Heirs of "Everything" Jesus' life and teachings prove that we do not need 'trick prayers' because even tiny mustard seed faith can move mountains. Most importantly, Jesus taught that as God's children, we are already to everything—but we will not receive our inheritance until we have grown up.

Child, Heir –or Slave? Galatians 4:7 says, "So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." But Galatians 4:1 explains, "What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate."

When we try to manipulate God with magic prayers, or even religion, we act not as heirs but as slaves trying to usurp what is not ours. We will never receive our inheritance until we have shown obedience and stewardship. As Jesus said:

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' Matt. 25:23

Prayer—a Two-Edged Sword God not only hears and answers our prayers, but he knows what we need even before we ask (Matt. 6:8). But blessings are a two-edged sword, because with answered prayer comes responsibility. As Jesus said in Luke 12:48b,

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

One of my favorite passages is Jeremiah 29:11-13, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." But every time I read those verses, I am also careful to read what follows:

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Heart or Lips? Do we seek our Father with all our heart or is our relationship just an endless plea for everything he can dole out? No wonder Jesus said in Mark 7:6, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."


The Greatest Gift is Giving Jesus taught that the best way to receive is to give. Luke 6:38, "Give and it will be given to you…For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Or as God says in Malachi 3:10, "Prove me now…if I will not open upon you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it!" But even more important than giving is simple obedience (1 Samuel 15:22, 23)

God Answers All Prayers. If prayers seem unanswered, the problem is not God's but ours. Perhaps we are not acting as heirs but as children—or worse yet, as slaves to the spirit of this dark ,age that teaches we are the center of our own Youniverse and that we deserve everything, here and now.

Ironically, I have learned to be thankful even when my Father says "no," or "wait," because when I have stubbornly persisted in some prayers, and he has at length answered them, I have regretted it! But even my wrongheaded prayers were used for good, because they helped teach me faith and patience, and to trust that my Father knows not just what is good for me but what is best.

In closing, repeating Jabez' prayer or reciting Biblical promises is fine for encouraging ourselves, but we do not need infallible prayers because our Father is infallibly faithful. We all want everything, but our Father wants to give us even more than we can think or imagine! But His answer to our prayers may well be "no" or "wait" –at least until we show ourselves wise stewards of what he has already blessed us with.

Visit us in Amoy (historic Xiamen), in China's Fujian Province, with these Amazon eBooks! 

"Discover Xiamen" $2.99

"Fujian Adventure" $1.99

Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill

School of Management, Xiamen University
Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"

www.amoymagic.com

Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

Harvard says the New Life is NO Life? Escape the Treadmill!

Ahoy from Amoy (historic Xiamen, China).

In February, 2017, a Harvard Business School article claimed lack of leisure time is America's newest status symbol. If you can't afford a vacation or even a break to catch your breath, it shows you are a hot commodity.

Wealth used to imply leisure, but not today. Thanks to 24/7 connectedness and increased competition, people are online and on-the-job 24/7--and proud of it. What a sad commentary on life.

Death by Overwork HBS noted this is mainly an American issue--though Japanese of course work longer hours than we do--or they did until 2015. Japanese even have a word for "death by overwork": Karōshi, or 過労死. But unlike Americans, Japanese aren't proud of having no life, and they certainly don't aspire to it. Japanese are stuck with it, but as of 2015, Americans work longer hours than Japanese--and we're proud of it?

U.S. Death by Overwork.  Not surprisingly, Americans are now dying from overwork--especially interns on Wall Street and in hospitals, who work 80 to 100 hours per week. You'd think the medical industry would have more sense than to put patients' lives in the hands of interns who haven't slept for 40 hours.

Here in China, by the way, 600,000 Chinese die annually from overwork--1,644 deaths every day of the year (and forget the notion of laid back Mexicans and their long siestas; Mexicans work the longest hours in the world).

The price? 55 = 1/3 > 40. Perhaps Americans embrace the "'No Life' Life" because we feel we have no choice, but there's a heavy price to pay. In 2015, research showed that people working 55 hours per week were 1/3 more likely to have a stroke than those working 40 hours. Is it worth it?

Solomon would have said it's all vanity. It's also insanity--especially for believers.

On November 24, 2008, I posted on Our Daily Noodles "3 Reasons Why 6 > 7" to show that not only do we NOT need to live such a lifestyle to survive, but also that we can get much more done in 6 days than 7 when we live in our Father's strength and not just our own.

As Lily Tomlin once said, "The problem with the rat race is even if you win, you're still a rat." Get off the treadmill! Or as the Chinese have said for centuries, "Don't view the flowers while galloping past on horseback" ( 走马看花 ; basically the same as our "stop and smell the roses").

Or as Christ put it, "Consider the lilies of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that not even Solomon in all of his glory was arrayed as one of these."

The Most Successful People Set Limits!  If Trust in our Father isn't enough to get you off the treadmill, then consider this: much research has shown the most successful people check email only once or twice a day, limit their use of social media (or don't use it as all), and take time off for hobbies! In the midst of the war, Churchill took off each afternoon to paint. A Hong Kong billionaire takes off every afternoon to go fishing.

It's your choice, but if you don't set limits, you will die early. Is it worth it to you, and to your family?

Because things are even worse today than when I posted "3 Reasons Why 6 > 7" in November, 2008, I repost it below.

Blessings from Amoy!  Dr. Bill

3 Reasons Why 6 > 7  (Nov. 24, 2008)

"The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27
“Viewing flowers on horseback" 走马看花 Chinese proverb.

The Sabbath: 3 Reasons why 6 is Greater than 7

In "The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", Max Weber wrote of Christians' drive for success but he neglected that Christianity is also the only religion that drives us to rest, because is we obey God we can accomplish more in six days than in seven.

With over 260 grad students and no assistant, plus my many other responsibilities, and various works, I am busy. But in spite of this, I almost never work on the Sabbath--and if I have to work on the Sabbath for some reason, I make up for it by taking off another day.

I do this for three reasons.

One: Rest: my body, mind and soul need all need it.
Two: Reward: the Sabbath is a weekly foretaste of the rewards promised by our Father. If we don't stop to enjoy, we are racing through life like the Chinese viewing flowers on horseback.
Three: Trust: resting, in spite of my hectic schedule, demonstrates my faith that my Father will multiply my labor so that I can bear more fruit in six days than seven.

1. Rest. We were created both for work and rest. For example, consider sleep, which is our Daily Sabbth. No one really understands why we must sleep 1/3 of our life away, but we do. Those who do not sleep (there are some) die early. Those who sleep too little fall ill. Rest is necessary for both body and mind.

Shakespeare wrote in MacBeth:

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.

D.H. Lawrence wrote that sleep is how God recreates us nightly:

And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.
~D.H. Lawrence

Adequate sleep prolongs our lives:
"Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed." ~Arthur Schopenhauer

2. Reward Our mind, body and soul need rest weekly as well as daily. Many speak of eternal rewards, but even as sleep is the "little slice of eternal rest" now, so the Sabbath is a weekly foretaste of eternal enjoyment. Sleep is a nightly inner renewal; the Sabbath allows us to enjoy a weekly outer renewal.

God Himself gave us the example. He created heaven and earth in six days but on the seventh He rested, to enjoy what the fruits of his labor. We need the rest, and we need the time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We rest each Sabbath, and enter each week a renewed creation.

Breaking the Sabbath Breaks You Jesus warned against making the Sabbath a mere religious ritual. "Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." But he never said we could break the Sabbath with impunity. Breaking the Sabbath will break us, even as going without nightly sleep will destroy our health and, eventually, curtail our lives.

3. Faith. In this hectic day and age, many of my friends work around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up. That is because they work from their own strength and not the greater Inner Strength our Father gives us within--or that fount has dried up because they have not taken their nightly and weekly rest. Ironically, many say they are working 24/7 for God, but if you are driven instead of led, you might want to consider who is in the driver's seat.

Success requires 1) Direction, and 2) Energy to persevere.
If we do not stop, if we do not take the time to hear that still small voice, we will go our own way on our own steam--and we will run out of steam.

Why 6 > 7? When I was in business I learned the hard way that I could accomplish much more in six days than in seven. I learned that I could succeed where other much more capable people failed when I was led, not driven, and they were driven but not led.

Plan to Rest It does take faith to stop, but come Saturday night, I put the computer away and don't work until Monday, and if something is urgent, I trust my Father to work it out, or help me avoid getting in such a bind in the first place. This, of course, requires planning as well as faith.

And I continually remind myself that Sabbath-Keeping is not a ritual for show but a gift to grow, and if I trust my Father, and dismount long enough to smell the roses in the garden He has given me, He will do more through me than I could ever do through myself.

With God, 6 > 7.
Without God, even 7 is not enough.<6 7="0.">

Dismount that galloping horse and smell the roses.

It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. ~John Steinbeck The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more. ~Wilson Mizener

Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill

School of Management, Xiamen University
Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"

www.amoymagic.com

Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com