Dear readers, written below is my response to someone who posted on the WhatsApp forum of the Youth Fellowship of my church that we can decree life into every gloomy situation. Two messages were sent prior to the one below you are about to read. This was my final reply. I hope you enjoy it:

I will keep my eyes ONLY on “Speak life (to your situation)” and “I DECLARE that this difficulty will only serve to strengthen & mature me” in my response – the bones of my contention.

I hope you are born-again in the hope of the resurrection of the saints; because I would need your patience and love (the fruits of the Spirit to the saints); I plead for your patience while you read my response and I will plead for your love after you have read it. It would be nice if I will be precise as the servant-girl who identified Peter as a member of the Galilean’s movement.


I have been a Baptist for less than half a decade now. But from where I came from, we used to practice a “non-Baptistic” approach to prayer – Speak life (to your situation) and “I decree-and-declare” prayers, known as “name it-and-claim it” doctrine.

While I was there, I prayed or rather I should say we prayed in line with the “Speak Life” and “Decree it” approach for my friend who had cancer (but died after a long battle with it), my friend who had sickle cell anemia complications (but died of its complications), my best friends who had diabetes and hypertension (but died because of them). I saw my friends pray in line with the “Speak life to your situation” and “Declare such and such” that their children who were autistic should be like other kids who did things ebulliently; one with a child with cerebral palsy “speaking” (as you directed us last night) that her only son be like other springy children.

We lost faith in God for a while until He led us to search the scriptures concerning what my contention with some part of your instruction (last night) is. We found that like the early Church fathers that we were to interpret scripture with scripture, and be silent where scripture is silent and speak where it speaks. These were our findings regarding our misinterpretation:


1. The misinterpretation of Job 22:28: “You will also decree a thing, and it shall be established for you”:

Who was quoted? Eliphaz, one of the friends of Job whom the Lord God rejected. Here is what God said concerning Eliphaz’s sayings: The LORD said to Eliphaz: “What my servant Job has said about me is true, but I am angry with you and your two friends for not telling the truth about me” (Job 42:7).

If we ended in Job 22:28, we would not see the disclaimer from God concerning every word from the tongue of Job’s friends especially Eliphaz. Therefore, we agreed that whatever God rejects, we do not accept.

We later found out that right from antiquity as well as in the Christian scriptures that decrees we issued out only by magistrates, rulers, government, the church elders and Jehovah God; and these decrees are brought about by the force of a written law.

Luke 2:1 is a typical example – “a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Proverbs 8:15 says, “By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just”.

Therefore, the question one should ask when I say “I decree such and such” is: are you a king?

2. The misinterpretation of Proverbs 18:20-21: ”Death and life and in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit”:

A curious reader would ask: whose tongue(speech) has the power to sentence one to death or appoint one to life? Firstly, we saw that the Book of Proverbs was an account of a king’s and queen’s instruction to their son, soon-to-be-king. If that verse was referring solely to their son, then, the speeches or sentences of kings have the “power of life and death”, a God-like power; Israel was split into two kingdoms on the account of the speech of King Rehoboam (1 Kings 12).

However, the scriptures not only show that magistrates, rulers, government, the church elders and Jehovah God have this power, but their appointed messengers too possess this power by proxy. The slanderous letters of King Sennacherib and his insolent messages by Rabshekeh were looked at: By his words, the Lord God killed Sennacherib and sent judgment upon Assyria. Likewise, the cursings of Shimei at David and his resultant death by the sentence of King Solomon was looked at. (Space wouldn’t permit me to write of the speeches of some wonderful women which led to the preservation of the lives of their love ones - Proverbs 16:24 says, Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones).

Apostle James warned teachers of the use of the tongue in the congregation of the saints. Those who were eager to teach but by their words cause people to stumble will incur God’s wrath.

Apostle Paul speaks intensely to Timothy to avoid arguments and unwholesome speech that lead to ungodliness.

So, what tongues incurs the sentence of death? Careless and frivolous talk, scorn, lies, slander, indecent speech. (2 Tim. 2:14, Eph. 4:29, Psalm 1:1)

What speech leads to life? The gracious words that lead sinners to Christ, comforting and encouraging words, kind words, words spoken against falsehood, pure words and words that enlightens.

In all, Proverbs 18:20-21 is bipolar: it consists of a speaker and a hearer; it is not a “self-centered” propagating pair of verses; Isaiah 3:10 says, “Say to the righteous that it will go well with them.”

3. The misinterpretation of Romans 4:17: It was the easiest to clarify: Paul states that is God alone the calls things that are not as though they were. The word for “call” is the same as “summon”. Paul was emphasizing divine election in the decree of God concerning righteousness. According to the name-it-claim-it doctrine, we can speak God’s word over our finances, possessions, jobs etc. and we will see supernatural effects in our favour. The doctrine claims that if we “confess” and have enough faith, God will be moved to do what we desire. However, It negates the sovereignty of the Lord God; it infers that the confessor is Lord of God; it is not in line with the mode of prayer according to the gospel – we speak to God the Father (only) through Christ alone.

Point three of your instruction says that we should DECLARE that our difficulty should SERVE us.

What would you say to us who are inspired by Romans 8: 39 to turn our gaze away from the difficulties but focus on the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? Should we not remember Apostle Paul speaking of his obliviousness to difficulties for the sake of the gospel (2 Cor. 11:1-30). Perhaps, we should declare to our difficulties because we do not do anything daily for the sake of the gospel.

I know your instruction was well-intentioned; the parts that praise God are good; but partial truths are as deadly as falsehood; they are yeasts that the saint should be zealous to avoid or battle against when he meets them. A tongue can only be cured by unchanging meditation of Christ. Christ is the author and finisher of our faith; and it is He alone that can speak life to all our situation (life which he has spoken concerning us before the foundation of the world) because of His love for us.

Really educating ...thanks op