Another version of the Prosperity Gospel or Name It and Claim It teaching has to do with finding a verse in the Bible and then claiming that verse. Proponents of this thinking believe that God must fulfill his promise to us in whatever verse we are claiming because what God says in his Word, the Bible, is true, and we can trust it to be true. So someone might pray: God, your Word says in Isaiah that by your stripes we are healed and I know you are not a liar and that your Word is true and I claim that Scripture in Jesuss name and therefore I will be healed of this stomachache! We need to have faith in what the Bible says, but we have to be careful that we arent trying to force God to do what we want. That is arrogance rather than humility. God loves us, but we cannot demand things of him as though our faith is in charge rather than God.If someone believes it is our faith that heals us and forgets that it is God who does it, we should ask that person how much faith Lazarus had. Remember, he was decomposing in a tomb when Jesus raised him from death. His faith obviously didnt matter. It was all God. It is God and Gods grace that heals, not our prayers and not our faith. Though we are exhorted by God to pray to him, we cannot compel him to do what we wish.
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About Eric Metaxas
Eric Metaxas was American conservative talk show host. Eric Metaxas is an American author, speaker, and conservative radio host. He has written three biographies, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery about William Wilberforce (2007), Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy about Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2011), and Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World (2017). Read more on Wikipedia →
Themes
- God — Spiritual reflections on the divine, faith, and creation