What do Word Faith preachers teach?

One of the most common practices of Word Faith followers is to decree and declare things into existence. This can be for just about anything—healing, salvation, miracles, favour, and breakthrough of any kind.

One person teaches a fairly standard formula for coming up with such declarations:

1. "I decree/declare that"

2. "before [insert time/date]"

3. "[insert issue]"

4. "shall [insert solution/provision]"

5. "in Jesus' name"

Examples given include:

• I decree that before the end of this year, all my concerns, shall turn to testimonies in Jesus name

• I decree that before the end of this year, every jobless member or one looking for a better job here shall get there dream job in Jesus name

• I decree that enough is enough of sicknesses and diseases in my life today in Jesus name

• I am now a new creation… I belong now to the family of god, therefore I declare my instant deliverance in Jesus name44 Decree And Declare Prayer Points, Ps Ikechukwu Chinedum, https://everydayprayerguide.com/2019/11/03/44-decree-and-declare-prayer-points/

Now, where does this come from? Adherents turn to places like Job 22:28 "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways."—Eliphaz the Temanite.

We've already established that this was explicitly rejected by God himself (Job 42:7-8; see article 'ye are gods').

But there's also Romans 4:

They understand that this is God's creative power, but argue that we, being made in his likeness (Genesis 1:27), similarly have creative power.

They might refer to when Peter healed the lame beggar (Acts 3:1-10) as one example of us now having creative power with the Spirit in us.

But there's lots in everything else they believe, too.

Why can we declare and decree things into existence? Because we are gods. Because everything is spiritual and built on vibrations and energy—so our words are creative. What we speak in faith into the spiritual realm will manifest in the physical realm.

There are deep problems with this understanding, much of which we've already explored.

Can we create with our words?

One of the central ideas behind decreeing and declaring is that we can create with our words.

However, this rests on rather dubious understandings of certain proof texts.

The first is that we are gods (John 10:34-35), and so like God, with our words we can create (Genesis 1).

However, we are immediately struck with three problems. First, that the Bible says that only God can create (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Isaiah 44:6-8). Second, even commands must be offered to God to decide on (Joshua 10:12-14), for only he can decree what is to be. Third, John is not saying that people are gods, and neither is Psalm 82 which Jesus quotes.

Let's deal with each of these in turn.

Who can create?

The Bible is quite clear creation is God's prerogative alone. There is no instance of anyone or anything else creating anything. It's hard to imagine that if Paul, the great Apostle who healed everyone on the island of Malta (Acts 28:8-9) amongst many others, knew of this principle of creation, that he could leave Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23) and Epaphroditus sick (Philippians 2:25-30). Instead, he only healed those whom God willed to heal.

We can also take a slightly different angle.

Here, God is mocking and baiting those who call themselves gods who cannot in fact proclaim or declare the future. They have no power. And this sets up a wonderful truth that "there is no other Rock; I know not one". There is but one god.

A simple practical method for protecting ourselves is to establish accountability for what people say in our churches. Did they occur as the person declared? Just like in biblical times, if they were unwilling to test the prophets, they opened themselves up to false prophecies and false prophets, so today if we are unwilling to test declarations, we are opening ourselves up to false declarations and false declarers.

What about commands?

It is very interesting to note that the full explanation for this command is that it was:

1. Directed in petition to God: "Joshua prayed to the Lord"

2. Occurred in God's will—Joshua did not carry out his own will: "The LORD told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, for I am handing them over to you. Not one of them can resist you.”" (Joshua 10:8, NET)

3. The Lord did the miracle—Joshua had no power: "The Lord obeyed a man, for the Lord fought for Israel"

If we're going to get anywhere with commanding, it's not going to be like how the Word Faith people say we can do it. What they say is in direct contradiction to this. They say:

1. Do not ask God—just command.

2. Never ask about God's will—it is always God's will to heal, save and deliver.

3. Your belief and your faith will make the miracle manifest. The miracle is done (in the spiritual realm), you just have to grasp it by faith and it will be yours.

I've dealt with this elsewhere in more detail (see the Directionalism series as well as the concept of delegated power in Word of Faith #6). Here, I'll just leave it at the contrast shown, between what the Word says and what the Word of Faith preachers say.

Are we gods?

You can read about what John 10:34-35 "ye are gods" means in detail here. In summary, it does not teach that people are gods. Rather, some rulers, or some Canaanite gods, are being mocked that they call themselves gods, since they cannot establish justice in the land. They are being shown up by God who is the true owner of the world, who has all the power (reminds me of Isaiah 44:6-8 too).

So what Jesus is saying is, look at my deeds. Are my deeds establishing justice and helping the poor and needy? If they aren't, don't believe me, but if they are, then you're talking to the real God.

This still in no way means that if Christians were to do these things that they would somehow be gods. The passage in no way speaks that way.

Conclusion

We cannot create with our words. You can't get this idea from reading Scripture. Instead, we know that this is straight from the New Age 101 textbook, and needs to be exposed as such, and repented of.

Reminding God of his promises

Another way of looking at this is to consider God's promises and either 'claim' them in Jesus' name, or remind God of them, to fulfill them.

This is less of a Word Faith doctrine, and more mainstream Pentecostal. That's because it doesn't rely on speaking spiritual things into physical existence by the mere power of your words.

Instead, this claiming of promises is based on the idea that God has promised us certain things which are guaranteed based on his faithfulness and evidenced by such things as the giving of the Spirit to us, as Paul writes:

Examples of promises

Typical promises, then, that people tend to claim include:

Old Testament promises:

• “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV)

• ““Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7, NIV)

• “Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.” (Deuteronomy 4:40, NIV)

• “All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. ...You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. ...The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity... The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. ...you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.” (Deuteronomy 28:2–13, NIV)

• “The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.” (Psalm 145:20, NIV)

• “They will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God their Savior.” (Psalm 24:5, NIV)

New Testament promises:

• “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV)

• “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, NIV)

• “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7–8, NIV)

Many, many more could be mentioned.

When a promise is identified, it is usually immediately prayed about, claimed in Jesus' name, and multiple promises are cycled through.

This is far more biblical than declaring or decreeing because the power that it rests on is God's faithfulness to his word. It relies on God's will. This is as opposed to relying on our creative word.

There are of course questions as to whether the promises are made to every believer, and even if they are for the believer, whether God wants to fulfill it at that specific time.

Can we claim promises of God?

It's an interesting way to put things, to say that we can 'claim' promises of God. I'd be much more comfortable asking God about it, as that is an act of deference. Asking God also recognises that it may not be God's timing. He may promise something, but the fulfillment of it may be years down the track. If we were to 'claim' the promise, then, we'd make a fool of ourselves.

What biblical basis is there to claim a promise?

Pentecostals turn to 2 Corinthians 1:20:

In their mind, what this is saying is that God has made promises to us, and so if we are simply to pray according to those promises, we will always receive a yes.

Quite simply, though, it's saying that God is faithful and keeps his promises (2 Corinthians 1:18). This is in contrast to the flip flopping unfaithfulness of human promises (1:17).

Well, there's a simple test for that, to see which understanding is true. Are there any examples where believers prayed and they did not receive a yes?

There are:

Here, Paul prayed for a "thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan", to be taken away from him. God said effectively "no—rely on my grace to get you through".

Or how many times have we and others prayed for Jesus to come back, knowing that he has promised to, yet he has not returned yet?

And if Paul were to know what we knew today, when facing persecution, would he not have prayed, "the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven" (Deut 28:7)? But he did not. He was ready to die for Jesus (Acts 20:22-24; 21:10-14).

Paul nowhere claims promises like people do today. That's not his practice. Rather, he is open to what the Spirit wants, and submits to it—for good or ill, knowing that God's plans are higher than his.

Let's look at another example, from the Old Testament—but still involving a promise.

In this example, Moses reminds God of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to make them into a great nation. And God listened to Moses!

But take note, that Moses did not claim this promise, he did not demand it as if it was his right. Grace is not our right. Grace is given because God chooses in his love to give it, apart from our works. We do not have claim to God's graces as our right.

I really like how Moses asked for this. It's a better way forward that has a positive response from the God who is the same then as he is today.

A better way forward: ask

We are encouraged to humbly ask for God's gracious provision when we need it (e.g. Matthew 6:11, 25-34).

By asking, we are acknowledging that God has his timing, so even his promises that are made to us are up to his plans.

We also need to recognise that God may have provided us an answer already, and we do not see it—or refuse to. For example, when Peter was given the vision of the unclean animals and he refused to eat them (Acts 10:9-16). God wanted them to preach the good news to the Gentiles and they couldn't see it (for millenia he used the prophets to preach to the nations beyond Israel).

Furthermore, before we go for a promise, we need to understand if it is for us or not first. I find it better to just turn it into a request like: "Lord, you have done this before [for x person/people], would you do it again?" Since God is the same yesterday, today and forever, he still has the same compassion, grace, and power.

For a common example of what is misused as a promise, look no further than Proverbs. Here are Solomon's generalised psychological observations about human nature, but some Christians believe they are promises. A simple understanding of the genre in which you are reading would go a long way—and there is much information out there already that can help you exegete a passage.

Finally, we need to consider all the wisdom of God on prayer. "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2) is one encouragement, but it comes with some brakes that need to be applied:

Asking in meekness and humility doesn't sound strong or powerful, so I've heard it many times rubbished, in Word Faith contexts. I want to encourage what the Bible clearly says, though, and also add that I have heard of people before Word Faith times like John Wesley adopting this model of asking God for healing and deliverance. And he experienced many miracles. So this is how we can steer clear of New Age influences and techniques, while still seeing God move.