In 2000, Bruce Wilkinson released The Prayer of Jabez. This small book attempted to create prosperity theology in disguise on an obscure story and prayer in the Old Testament. As James Mulholland points out a year later in Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity, since then this Jabez book gained prosperity and “Thousands of Christians are repeating an obscure prayer first uttered by a man named Jabez over three thousand years ago. Many have become convinced his words are the formula for prosperity” (Wilkinson 2001, 5).
Our cultural baggage influences the prayers we pray and why we think we pray. It is because we live “in a materialistic, self-centered culture, such a prayer will always be attractive” (Wilkinson 2001, 5). The culture that has discipled us has made us think we need materialism to succeed, and that God desires us to be blessed with materialism. Sadly, this prayer of Jabez has been embraced by followers of Jesus and pastoral leaders to the point where it has compromised the gospel and what it means to follow Jesus in a prosperous world like ours—rather than drawing us closer to the heart of God, this prayer of Jabez has been used to disciple us further into the culture of the West that plagues us everyday and night through the media.
A Prayer of Resistance
As Mulholland states in Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity, we must understand that the obscure prayer of Jabez has value in the story of God, but “the Prayer of Jabez isn’t the prayer Jesus taught us to pray” (Mulholland 2001, 6). This prayer that has been prayed by many is actually “counter to the heart of the gospel and the priorities of Jesus,” and even more, it is counter to how Jesus taught us to pray (Mulholland 2001, 6).
This book from James Mulholland, released by HarperSanFransico in 2001 looks at the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that Jesus did teach us to pray and a prayer that reminds us of “our relationship with God and the world” in rightsized priorities (Mulholland 2001, 6-7). This book maintains that our prayers, if we would examine them, would undoubtedly “expose our selfishness and our misconceptions about God” (Mulholland 2001, 10). We are also challenged in this book to see how praying the Lord’s Prayer unplugs us from the Matrix of the world around us, disconnecting us from a desire for prosperity, more than driving us towards a Western way of thinking and being.
Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity
Throughout Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity, James Mulholland explores how special this prayer is that we call The Lord’s Prayer. When the disciples were asking Jesus to teach them to pray, they weren’t asking for another ritual prayer—their culture had plenty—instead, “they were asking about the proper attitude of prayer” (Mulholland 2001, 12). In this prayer from Jesus, we realize that the proper attitude is not a matter of posture or eloquence; it is a matter of humility and trust (Mulholland 2001, 14). The posture in which we pray is as important as praying the right words, because we are reminded that “although there are many poor motives for prayer, Jesus was especially offended by two kinds of prayer: the prayer of self-righteousness and the prayer of self-interest, which he called ‘praying like the hypocrites’ and ‘praying like the pagans’” (Mulholland 2001, 14).
We cannot allow our prayers to be prayed like those with bad theology or other religions. Our type of prayer—a prayer given to us by Jesus himself—is supposed to be different. In its difference, it cannot look like the prayers of this world and the prayers of those around us. Prayer is not for prestige, it is for surrender. In prayer, we aren’t trying to influence God, but rather “to allow God to influence us” (Mulholland 2001, 17). The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that invites God to influence us from the heart, mind, and spirit—inside out.
Repairing Our Understanding of Prayer
Through looking at the Lord’s Prayer, one line and petition at a time, Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity, prophetically challenges readers to see that “the point of prayer is not to tell God what we want, but to receive what we need” (Mulholland 2001, 24). This prayer, when prayed with the right humility and confession, with the right “sincerity, it cleanses our hearts of self-righteousness and strips our motives of self-interest. It challenges the false and inappropriate ways we approach God and each other” (Mulholland 2001, 25). Even more, Mulholland maintains that “praying like Jesus reminds us of our responsibility as children of God. God is not distant. God is at work in the world…Prayer is setting those lists aside and humbly seeking ways to establish God’s kingdom and do God’s will, on earth as it is in heaven. It is a pledge rather than a petition” (Mulholland 2001, 26). The prayer that Jesus gave us “acknowledges our dependence upon God and our need for deliverance from the seduction of silver and the greed for gold”—this is what is behind the prayer Jesus gave us, a prayer of deliverance from one kingdom to another (Mulholland 2001, 26-27).
Why I Read This Book
Over the years, there have been many good reads on the Lord’s Prayer. As part of my doctoral studies at Kairos University, I have been researching the theological, practical, and historical implications of the Lord’s Prayer. This is truly one of the most unique but also extensive reads. Mulholland takes on the Lord’s Prayer in just about 133 pages in such a way that we find the prayer to be a manifesto and act of deliverance. After a short forward by Philip Gulley, Mulholland unpacks the threat of praying the Prayer of Jabez in “Jesus and Jabez,” an introduction looking at how we must pray the right prayer in the right way.
The book then breaks down the Lord’s Prayer into six lines and petitions; Chapter 1 (When You Prayer), Chapter 2 (Our Father), Chapter 3 (Thy Kingdom Come), Chapter 4 (Give Us), Chapter 5 (Forgive Us), and Chapter 6 (Deliver Us). I am with Mulholland keeping the petitions of Deliver us and Rescue us together as he does in Chapter 6, but I would separate Kingdom and Will, which he keeps together in Chapter 3. Still, this read puts the revolutionary nature of this prayer back on display with historical, practical, theological insights—but nestling it back into acts of obedience and right thinking in this world of greed and consumerism. I love how Philip Gulley introduces this book in his Introduction, stating “Those of us concerned that the church has lost its way, who mourn the church’s sad allegiance to a culture gone wrong, will find much to celebrate in this little book” (Mulholland 2001, x). I agree wholeheartedly with this affirmation. I read this book because I wanted that fresh look at faith in a culture gone wrong.
Prayer Revels Our Priorities
At look at our practices as a local church and our ways of living deserve deep reflection because “our priorities are not the priorities of Jesus” (Mulholland 2001, 71). The Lord’s Prayer is such an act of deep reflection that reveals our priorities—reminding us of the priorities given to us by Jesus and lived by Jesus. This prayer reveals our bad priorities, pardadigms and our greed. In praying for our daily bread, we face our need for dependence but also our own greed. Mulholland reminds us that “Greed not only does great damage to the poor; it is also our spiritual affliction. It is a sign of faithfulness. We hoard more than we need today because we are afraid God will not provide for tomorrow” (Mulholland 2001, 74). Praying for daily bread challenges us to trust God with each day, resisting the pull to secure our own future through excess. It reorients our hearts toward contentment, generosity, and a kingdom way of living.
About James Mulholland
I don’t know much about James Mulholland, and there’s limited information available about him. From what I could find, he has pastoral experience in both Methodist and Quaker churches and has authored several books. The only one I’ve read—and the one I’m referencing here—is Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity. While I likely wouldn’t agree with him on everything, this book is well written and offered me some meaningful insights to reflect on. It’s a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to think more deeply about the priorities embedded in the Lord’s Prayer. It will give you some thoughts to really journal and reflect through when it comes to this prayer of dependence on God.
A Recommended Read
The Lord’s Prayer has many theological strengths, but we must see it also as a prayer of confession and realignment. This book properly reminds us that “without confession, we remain slaves to our temptations and sins,” praying the Lord’s Prayer holds a mirror to those temptations and sins that want to enslave us (Mulholland 2001, 121). In wrestling with the theological implications of this prayer, we also face that confessing our sins, including the “temptation of prosperity is the first and most difficult step toward spiritual health” (Mulholland 2001, 123-124). Mulholland continues to remind us that confession “will always humble us. In admitting our love of money, we become conscious of the ugliness of greed. In acknowledging our infatuation with wealth, we can more easily see how it ensnares us. In confessing we have too much, we are freed to live on so much less. Once we are honest, prosperity begins to lose its power to entice and destroy” (Mulholland 2001, 123-124).
This prayer forces us then back on the rails of what we are called too. In Jesus’ ministry “Jesus refused to be satisfied with anything less than God’s kingdom,” and we shouldn’t be surprised to see that is how Jesus taught us to pray as well. As Mulholland points out, “Each of his responses [in his prayer] reminds us of the priorities of God. “Lead us not into temptation” is a cry for the strength to resist the seductiveness of wealth. When coupled with the plea “Deliver us from evil,” it is the commitment to challenge the kingdoms of this world, even those we have been born into and that entice us each day” (Mulholland 2001, 126). This is what the Lord’s Prayer is all about, reminding ourselves through acts of cofnession and deliverance who God is, what we have allowed to shape that hole that only God can fill in our lives, and it reochestrates us back to God’s rescue and pull back into his rule and reign as it continues to break into the world around us.
