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“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my border [property], and that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil so that it does not hurt me!” And God granted his request. (1 Chron 4:10).

This was a prayer used in a Church we attended primarily to 'get' things from GOD. In fact, in a book I've just come across by Mike Wells, My Weakness for His Strength, v2, he points out,

Why do Christians say things like this?
"I did everything the Scriptures said and my unwed daughter got pregnant."
"I went through premarital counselling and prayed, yet my marriage fell apart."
"I have served God my whole life, and yet my mate died, and I am left alone."
"I followed the advice in all the books on financial responsibility, and still I lost my house!"

"I have done all this myself" goes the assertion, and a close listen reveals there is a hint of the "God owes me" attitude, the attitude of keeping the Law, obligating God, and becoming an enemy of Christ.

"There are many religious programs that feed this attitude: prayer programs, child-rearing programs, and relationship and church-growth programs. Do this or do that, pray all night every night, and God will 'owe you' a blessing."

"... There is a big difference between religion and faith. Religion is man-based, gives man activities, and then asserts that this earns for man the "right" to ask (require) something from God. Faith recognizes and values the activity of God, whose action toward us is what is important, and it is not based on our behavior. Faith is based in our response to His activity.

"Many wonder why keeping the religious law (whatever flavor that takes today) leaves them depleted, feeling hopeless, and somehow unacceptable. The explanation is simple; the attitude of doing in order to get is anti-Christ. God will never become anyone's debtor. "God so loved the world that 'He' gave." God is the initiator; He loves and He gives. There was no armtwisting by man to get the Father to give His Son..."

As usual, I asked the Lord what He wanted to say to us, and here's what He led me to, "Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world." (Jas 1:27)

“Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death.” (Rev 2:11)