When the “name it and claim it” sermon ended, I felt that familiar knot in my stomach again. Something about speaking prosperity into existence felt eerily familiar—like something I’d seen before, but wrapped in different packaging.
When I was young, my sister and I watched The Secret when it aired on cable TV. It was all about the law of attraction, letting your thoughts manifest reality, speaking things into existence and affirmations. Back then, I dismissed it as New Age nonsense. But now, sitting in church decades later, I was hearing the same ideas—just with “Jesus” instead of “the universe.”
Speak it into existence.
In my youth, I trusted the adults—the mature ones who’d experienced life longer than I had. I willingly accepted whatever they had to say. However, something happened in my 30s—like a switch in my brain flicked—that made me listen more actively than passively accept what people older than me said.
My addled brain, probably indoctrinated by buzz words, has heard ideas in the church that closely resemble the law of attraction, but framed differently, especially about the source. Someone inside me, the one suppressed by thought-terminating clichés, felt uneasy. But I listened and nodded in submission anyway.
My gut told me that the ideas I’ve been hearing in church are the same as the law of attraction/manifestation/positive affirmations. However, it took me years to fully understand how they are functionally identical after I began reading about the Word of Faith movement. The parallels were undeniable:
Similarities:
1. Words/Thoughts Create Reality
- Word of Faith: Speaking things into existence through faith-filled declarations
- Manifesting: Speaking/thinking things into existence through focused intention
2. Positive Confession/Affirmation
- Word of Faith: “I am healed,” “I am prosperous” (claiming biblical promises)
- Manifesting: “I am abundant,” “I am successful” (affirming desired reality)
3. Visualization
- Word of Faith: Seeing yourself healed, wealthy, blessed
- Manifesting: Visualizing your desired outcome in detail
4. Belief Requirement
- Word of Faith: Must have faith without doubt
- Manifesting: Must believe it’s already yours, no doubt allowed
5. Blame for Failure
- Word of Faith: “You didn’t have enough faith” or “you spoke negativity”
- Manifesting: “You had limiting beliefs” or “negative energy”
6. Focus on Material Success
- Both emphasize wealth, health, success, and material abundance
Differences
| Word of Faith | Manifesting |
|---|---|
| Power source: God/Holy Spirit | Power source: Universe/Energy/Self |
| Biblical language and scripture | New Age/spiritual language |
| Christian framework | Secular/spiritual but not religious |
| “In Jesus’ name” | “Into the universe” |
| Faith as the mechanism | Vibration/energy as mechanism |
| Prosperity as God’s will | Abundance as natural law |
Seeing it laid out like this was jarring. I’d spent years nodding along in church, suppressing that nagging voice that said, “Wait—isn’t this just repackaged manifestation?”
Perhaps, if I had just listened and not allowed myself to be gullible and easily persuaded by what the older people said, I might not have fallen this deep. Still, I am glad to be awake now, which reminds me of Peter Enns’ The Sin of Certainty, stating that faith in the Bible is not about being sure about what to believe, but about trusting God regardless of not knowing.
I believe that the Bible does not model a faith that depends on certainty for the simple fact that the Bible does not provide that kind of certainty. Rather, in all its messy diversity, the Bible models trust in God that does not rest on whether we are able to be clear and certain about what to believe. In fact, the words “belief” and “faith” in the Bible are just different ways of saying “trust.” And trust works, regardless of where our knowing happens to be.
The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our “Correct” Beliefs
Now that I am awake from a deep slumber, I have been having a dilemma whether I should continue speaking things into existence, as I was taught for years. Then I read:
Our hope is in the Lord, not in our own words, not even in our own faith (Psalm 33:20-22). Our faith comes from God in the first place (Ephesians 2:8; Hebrews 12:2) and is not something we create for ourselves.
The realization didn’t come with relief—it actually came with grief. I even felt ashamed about how I ended up here. How many prayers had I turned into formulas? How many times had I blamed my lack of faith when my “positive confessions” didn’t materialize? The Word of Faith movement had taught me to treat God like a cosmic vending machine: insert the right words, get the desired outcome. But wasn’t Jesus the one who taught us to pray, ‘Your will be done’ and not ‘My words be done’?
Trust doesn’t demand proof before it believes. And maybe that’s what I’d been missing all along. Not a better manifestation technique, but permission to not know, to not be sure, to not control outcomes with my words.
If any of this resonates with you—if you’re feeling that same knot in your stomach during prosperity sermons—you’re not alone. And you’re not crazy for questioning it. If you find yourself caught up in the Word of Faith movement and any church that aligns itself with Word of Faith teachings, here are some helpful resources:
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