Yet being blessed seems to trump seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness for the author. You don't reach the next level of blessing and stay there. Multilevel blessing has less to do with Christ than it has to do with New Age self-improvement. The implication is that you're then a true Jabezite and God has to bless you. The prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4 was never meant to be normative for Christian prayer nor an example to follow.
Prayer is far more than mere formulaic repetition.
While he may receive lip service in the book, it too easily lends itself to a generic self improvement interpretation. While Wilkinson rightly identifies how easily believers fall into the mindset of not expecting God to work in and through us, he is using the wrong passage for a model of Biblical prayer. The prayer of Jabez amounts to an Evangelical rosary - just pray this every day and your life will be blessed. While Wilkinson 's motives are no doubt good, he ends up creating a false model of prayer that is hardly Christian. Christian prayer is not about a formula or six steps we take.