“Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise”
Colossians 3:16
Ever have anyone tell you that they were naming and claiming God’s word for their life situation? Now while that sounds like a good thing to do, I must tell you that I cringe when I hear someone say it. I do not believe that we can go through the Bible, find a promise from God’s word that we like, and claim the results for our circumstances.
In the first place the “name it and claim it” or “prosperity gospel” is not Scriptural. In fact it actually is a teaching that misinterprets and misunderstands God’s word. It takes faith from trusting a holy God to work out our circumstances, to a way of controlling God in order to get what we want. Personally I believe the “name it and claim it” gospel is nothing more than an agenda to manipulate God.
Secondly I believe “name it and claim it” also teaches that our thoughts can control our reality. It is nothing more than a new twist on “the power of positive thinking” reasoning. While we may not always like our reality, God’s grace will help us deal with circumstances the way they are, not the way we want them to be.
Thirdly I believe this doctrine presents a false view of God by teaching that He wants to do nothing more than make us healthy, wealthy, and happy; but that he cannot do it unless we have enough faith to believe that He will. In other words, it teaches that we have control over God and how he acts in our lives.
In reality, Jesus taught in Matthew 13:44 that we are to actually “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him”
(not lead Him). Obviously Jesus is teaching us a lesson in renouncing self, not gratify it. The apostle Paul also showed us the way to live by telling us that he had learned to “be content in whatever state he was in” (Philippians 4:11). Seems pretty obvious to me that someone who is always “naming and claiming” in order to get God to
do what they want has not learned how to be content in any of their situations.
There is value in how we treat Scripture. We should never search out the verses we WANT for our lives. We should allow God to give us the scripture HE HAS for our lives. My advice? Don’t claim God’s word. Let God’s word claim you!
Darlene