Actually, this all reminds me of the contemptible, reprehensible "Prayer of Jabez" fad that happened a few years back. You know the one: all the little books in the bookstore telling you that you, to use your term, should use God as a vending machine for worldly possessions, and that all you needed to know was how to pray properly. All based on a single verse of the Bible, crammed in amongst a huge line of "begot"s, the only place Jabez is mentioned, 1 Chronicles 4:10, which says:

Quote:
Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.