When you pray, don’t claim, decree or declare; just ask
This article is being published the week of Thanksgiving, so as we’re thanking God for all His goodness, blessings, tender mercies, and lovingkindness, it may be a good time to address the related topic of how we speak to God in prayer.
Some in the charismatic movement, instead of asking God for petitions in prayer, think we can “claim,” “declare” or “decree” our desired outcomes. They say they’re “believing for” what they want, even if it’s not promised in Scripture. They “command” and “take authority over” their infirmities. Some even go so far as to say we lack faith if we don’t talk that way.
A few huge red flags jump out right away. These people believe our words have supernatural power to create these outcomes; that line of thinking is related to beliefs about “manifesting” or “speaking into existence,” which are closer to New Age or New Thought ideas than anything in the Bible. And the motive for some people to pray this way may be even more disturbing, even if they’re not conscious of it; I’ll address that further down.
The Bible says ask
But first, let’s search the Scriptures. God never told us to decree, declare or claim anything. On the contrary, the dominant verb in texts about prayer is “ask”:
Matthew 18:19, “If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask …”
Matthew 21:22, “Whatever things you ask in prayer ...”
Luke 11:10, “For everyone who asks receives ...”
John 14:13, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do ...”
John 15:7, “You will ask what you desire ...”
John 15:16, “Whatever you ask the Father in My name...”
Colossians 1:9, “... do not cease to pray for you, and to ask...”
James 1:5, “... let Him ask of God ...”
James 4:2, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask …”
1 John 3:22, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him …”
1 John 5:14, “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us ...”
Jesus’ most extensive teaching on prayer was in the Sermon on the Mount. Right before He gave us what we call the Lord’s prayer, He said, “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). A little later, He taught this, in chapter 7:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
What son thinks he can have something just by declaring it? Does his father not delight in his child approaching him with a request made in love and trust?
Jesus revealed the Father’s will in that passage. We seek, not manifest. We knock, not bust the door down. We ask, not claim.
And not only does the Lord want us to ask, He wants us to ask persistently. Jesus taught us this in the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, for which He revealed the point: “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?” We don’t speak to our problems; we cry out to our Father.
Usurping God’s throne
Prayer is simply speaking to God. If we “take authority over” our circumstances, we leave Him out of it. That touches on the most disturbing aspect of “decreeing” things — it’s replacing God with ourselves.
Instead of God having the power and authority, we do. Instead of God being the creator, we are. It’s supplanting His word with ours. It’s usurping the throne of the King. It’s high treason against the Most High. It’s claiming what the serpent offered: “You will be like God.” It’s putting our faith in our faith.
But our faith is not in a thing or an outcome or a blessing; our faith is in a Person. We don’t believe for something, we believe in Someone. That’s why, when we give thanks, we thank Him and not ourselves.
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