I was a fan of Bruce Wilkinson's The Prayer of Jabez (POJ) and so I was excited at the chance to do a blog review of his latest book, You were Born for This (Multnomah Books, 2009). Whereas I felt a careful read of POJ showed that Wilkinson was reasonably interpreting the biblical text and not preaching a "prosperity theology," this newest book leaves me concerned and confused that he is not edging but in fact leaping very close to such a warped theology.The basic premise of the book is that God wants to use every believer as his "delivery agent" to daily bring miracles of all sorts to individuals. All a person has to do is be spiritually alert God's nudges, bumps, cues and prompts and then let God's Holy Spirit do the miracles... whether financial, relational, or salvific.
Wilkinson has laid out a step-by-step method so that even the most hesitant, skeptical, or "untrained" reader will be able to grow in their ability to hear/see the signals that God is ready to do a miracle in a person's life and you can be the delivery agent. Negatively, the book could be seen as a formulaic guide to "making a miracle happen." Positively, it provides a reader friendly and practical guide so that any believer can be God's delivery agent in everyday situations of amazing miracles.
After reading the book, I cannot say that Wilkinson demonstrates poor theology or interpretation. In fact, he's pretty attentive to explaining things carefully (such as "how to make sure God receives the glory for a miracle). His stories are real life examples that are indeed miraculous, and yet not "fanciful" or "spectacular." Yet it is hard not to get the impression that you see "miracles on demand" if you follow the right steps... though again, I'm quite certain Wilkinson would not advocate such a position (and does not in the book).
I would recommend the book as a challenging and thought-provoking read, that pushes a conservative evangelical's thinking.
I've also placed this review at Amazon.ca
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