Job 22:27–28 (NASB95) — 27 “You will pray to Him, and He will hear you; And you will pay your vows. 28 “You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways.**
James 4:13–17 (ESV) — 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Romans 4:17 (ESV) — 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Proverbs 18:20–21 (ESV) — 20 From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
James 3:6 (ESV) — 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
Matthew 12:36–37 (ESV) — 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
1.. Declare God’s
Psalm 96:2–4 (ESV) — 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
2 Ways to Declare
1) Your
2) Your
Matthew 5:16 (ESV) — 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Luke 24:46–48 (ESV) — 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
Mark 11:23–24 (ESV) — 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
2..
John 14:12–14 (ESV) — 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
James 4:2–3 (ESV) — 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
1 John 5:14–15 (ESV) — 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Questions to Grow On
Have you ever given or been given responsibility of something very important or valuable? Were there any explicit or implied conditions for the responsibility?
The belief behind “decreeing and declaring” is that believers have empowered speech to reveal unknown truth and to manifest non-existent things into reality. Three of the passages used to argue this point are Job 22:27-28, Romans 4:17, and Proverbs 18:21. How does the context of those passages along with James 4:13-17 give a different understanding?
The Bible promotes declaring the glory of God. What are some everyday ways you can declare God’s glory?
Read Mark 11:23-24. How does decreeing something contrast with praying for something? How does John 14:12-14; James 4:2-3; and 1 John 5:14-15 help to understand Jesus’ statement in the Mark passage?
How does the Bible’s teaching about prayer motivate you to pray and to pray differently?