Thoughts: Decreeing and Declaring

 To decree something is to issue a formal and authoritative order that has the force of law. Decreeing and declaring do not make your prayer more powerful; they are based on misinterpretations of scriptures, and these misinterpretations overstate the authority Christ gives us and are rooted in our will, not God's. Decreeing and declaring are speaking a command or authoritative order with the idea of causing something to come into existence.

Romans 4:17 is one of the verses that those who believe in decree and declaring quote. This verse refers to an attribute of God in that Abraham believed God, who calls those things which are not as though they were. Those who believe in decreeing and declaring think that they can speak things into existence based on this verse.

Job 22:28 is another verse that they base their belief on. "Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established". This is actually spoken by Eliphaz, who was rebuked by God for his words.

Ps. 2:7 states "I will declare the decree the Lord has said" or, as the NIV says, "I will proclaim the decree of the Lord". Here, the author was repeating what God said.

What is the biblical precedent for decreeing and declaring? Decreeing and declaring are similar to the positive confession movement. Asking for something from God or decreeing it may be presumptuous.

Decreeing and declaring have similarities to magical incantations. Abracadabra (I create as I speak) in Aramaic or in Hebrew, "it came to pass as it was spoken". This is the concept that our words have the power to literally cause things to happen. This originates from Gnostic teaching and is foundational to New Age, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christian Science. It is a form of divination and witchcraft.  Isn't abracadabra similar to "you have what you say"? This is a phrase that witchcraft uses.

Wasn't Satan asking Jesus to decree when he told him to turn the stones into bread? 

Do we need to ask if this is an instance of mind over matter or visualization? If so, we are looking at New Age or Christian Science ideas.

The idea of speaking something into existence says that we have the same creative power as God. Where does that leave us when we should be asking in the will of God? The Word of Faith movement teaches decreeing and declaring. They also claim to be "little gods".

Unfortunately, there are times when those who subscribe to decreeing and declaring find that what they decree or declare does not come to pass. The excuse they will be given by others within the movement is that they lack faith. To have someone tell you that you do not have enough faith can be damaging to your belief in God. 

There are a few questions we need to ask:

1. Are we trying to be God?
2. Are we trusting God or are we trusting in something else, like the words we speak?
3. Does this remove the sovereignty of God?
4. Who is in control here?
5. If we were to go to a king and try to order him around, how do you think he would respond? Why would God respond any differently?
6. Could we be considered presumptuous or even arrogant here?
7. Could this come across as an attempt to bully God?

Thoughts: Unforgiveness

 * Sarcasm is a result of hidden anger; it is a type of striking out at the world for perceived injustices. Unforgiveness can and does have an impact.

* Unforgiveness creates a tie or cable between you and the other individual. With this link, the other person has the power to influence every aspect of your life. This influence is not always noticeable to you, but you have actually placed yourself in a position of vulnerability to the unforgiving person.

* We need to realize that with Jesus' death and resurrection, we are forgiven and loved. Whether we accept the forgiveness in love is up to us. God loves and forgives us no matter what. It's not what we do but what He did that determines the love and forgiveness. Yes, we can disappoint him and walk away from him, but he will never walk away from us. Peter saw and experienced a depth of forgiveness and love that I'm sure was difficult for him to comprehend. He denied Jesus, yet Jesus enfolded him.

* Rejection is one of the most difficult feelings to overcome. Hatred and love are black or white. Rejection is a pushing away by one party, with the other party unclear as to why or what they have done to warrant snobbery. Rejection is cruel and most often is selfish. It presupposes that another does not quite attain the standard we have established, and the resulting failure to measure up results in ostracism

. To know that one is hated or loved sets firm foundations; rejection has movable boundaries. There is no definite rationale given. A person who has experienced rejection more than once in varying intensities fears it and strives to protect themselves from it. Unfortunately, the protective walls serve to keep others at a distance, exacerbating the feelings of rejection. One can choose to build walls or not accept rejection, for rejection must be claimed as one's own before it can affect one's life. Some of us claim rejection when, in actuality, there is none, but because of our perceptions, it becomes, in fact, to us reality. The best way to handle rejection and other hurts we may have is to set the wheels of forgiveness in motion, not to let the other person off the hook, per se, but let ourselves off the hook. Get on with life. There will be other things to counter, and to better handle them, we need to be unencumbered. Backpacking gets hard enough without adding stones to the pack.

* Thought for the day: I refuse to allow you to tell me how to feel, because you are having a bad day. It is my responsibility to become the sunshine through your dark and cloudy sky.