Word of Encouragement (9/3/2020)

Today, I was going to talk about the firmness of God’s promises. But one of you had a question about receiving the fullness of God’s promises: how is it different from the “name it, claim it” approach to prayer? I thought this was a great question so I want to respond to it before we move on to the next topic.

As with many wrong, heretical teachings, the “name it and claim it” theology is not entirely wrong. It rightly points out the importance of faith in prayer. James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (1:5-7). And the Westminster Confession of Faith states that one of the characteristics of saving faith is “embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come” (14:2).

The problem of the “name it and claim it” theology is that it takes this truth too far. It is one thing to say that God uses our prayers of faith to fulfill His promises. But it is another to say that, if we pray with faith (i.e., name the promise of God and claim it), then we will receive everything we pray for. Do you see the problem with that kind of logic? It’s like thinking that, since royalties have crowns, we can also be royalties if we get a crown for ourselves.

Here, we are not talking about those who believe that, as long as you ask by faith, a big and fervent faith, God will grant it to you, no matter what. Many are Christian enough to know that what they are supposed to “name and claim” is something that God promised. The problem is that many misinterpret the Bible—especially by failing to distinguish between different types of promise—and think that every promise in the Bible applies to them as long as they have the faith to claim it, especially the materialistic blessings (thus the close association between the “name it and claim it” theology and the health and wealth gospel). Was God’s promise to Hezekiah to add fifteen years to his life meant to be universally applicable to anyone who has enough faith to claim it? This approach shrinks God into a one-dimensional being not much different from a vending machine: as long as you push the right button of faith, God will give you what you ask for. Is that so? Was it because Paul lacked faith that God did not remove his thorn in the flesh even after he prayed three times for his healing?

Yesterday, in speaking of the fullness of God’s promises, we emphasized the fact that only in heaven will we enjoy the fullness of God’s promises fully and completely. Until then, we get to enjoy only partial (but still abundant) fulfillment of His promises. Remember what I said yesterday? “According to His abundant grace and infinite wisdom, and according to our prayer and measure of faith, He grants us different blessings at different times in different measures for His glory and for our good.” So, just because we “name it and claim it” doesn’t mean that that is what we are going to receive at that particular time. But knowing that God uses prayers of faith to answer our prayers, we should pray with faith for what God has promised. But we end our prayer with “Not my will but Yours be done” with full confidence because we know that God is wiser than we and what He has in store for us is far better than what we ask for and His timing is perfect. I hope this answer helps.

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