Claim What He Names

Claim What He Names

The LORD said . . . “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:12, ESV

MANY CHRISTIANS TAKE AN EXCLUSIVE “not my will, but yours” approach to prayer (Luke 22:42, ESV) without any awareness that God cares about their own desires. Others take Jesus’ promise that “you may ask for anything you want” (John 15:7), and they run with it regardless of God’s purposes and plans. Somewhere in between is a middle ground that recognizes the fullness of what Scripture says. Yes, we need to defer to God’s will above all else; and yes, God does, in fact, urge us to ask according to the desires within us. But prayer is neither a formula for selfless automatons nor a formula for getting stuff. It’s a conversation within a real relationship between God and his people.

As you seek balance, go ahead and acknowledge that prayer has a name-it-claim-it dynamic—but not in the presumptuous sense so commonly preached in some ministries. We can’t just name whatever we want and claim it. We can, however, claim what God has already named. We need a word from him—some direction, some promise, some “yes” to our desire. We first let God name it; then we can claim it. That’s where prayer takes off. He sets the boundaries that fit his Kingdom purposes, and then we enter into those boundaries with desires rooted in the context of his Word and ways. He answers our truest, deepest prayers—and even many that weren’t entirely necessary, simply because he’s a good and generous Father.

The good news is that Scripture is full of his promises, and if you are engaged in a community of faith, you have plenty of people around you who will remind you of them. You will begin to recognize when God is speaking at critical moments to assure you of his plans and desires. You will hear his yes to whatever prayers he intends to answer through the pages of Scripture, in the preaching and counsel and conversations of believers, and in the symbolic language of faith you have developed with him over time. When that yes comes, believe it. Pray it. Hold on to it. God’s promises come alive in the hearts of those who cling to what he has said.

Pleading the promises of God is the whole secret of prayer.