Name It and Claim It!

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21 informs us of a spiritual law that few Christians have a grasp on. Its implication is staggering to our minds when we realize that God has put whether we succeed or fail in life into our own hands through the words of our mouth. We have authority to speak life and success, or death and defeat to our lives. It is all up to us!

The wise Christian will make a habit of making a positive confession based upon God's Word. This principle is so vital to the Body of Christ, yet it has been a lost principle through the years. Satan has very cleverly devised a scheme to keep it out of the Church. In fact, periodically, there are those who make fun of it or call it false doctrine.

But they don't jump on God when He says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). This verse means that what you say can produce death or it can produce life. And whatever you do not name and claim, you are not going to get.

The Bible says it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). As a result, whatever God says I am, or whatever He says I have and am able to do must be true. Once I recognized that, began to set my life and my mouth in line with that, I began to see results manifesting in my life.

This law of God has operated in the realm of farming since time began -- no seed planted, no crop harvested. Nobody has a problem with that. They do not call the farmers the "Name It and Claim It bunch," because they understand and have accepted the idea that there is a law of sowing and reaping-a d that the reaping is predicated upon the sowing.

The same law that operates in nature also operates in the spirit. In nature, seed has to be planted in good soil and given time to germinate, grow and mature before harvesting. In the spirit, you plant your seed with your mouth-your confession. The seed you should be planting is the Word of God. Luke 8:11 tells us, "The seed is the Word of God."

In the realm of the spirit, there is seed; there is ground; and there is also a harvest. There is a spiritual methodology just like there is a natural methodology in farming. Example: You take the seed, dig a hole in the ground, put the seed in the ground, cover the seed with dirt, fertilize it, water it periodically and it will grow. That is the modus operandi of planting. This is exactly the same in the realm of the spirit. I am a "spiritual farmer."

When the farmer goes to the granary or feed store and asks for corn seed, his desire is to produce corn. He is naming and claiming it by specifying what he wants. And he does not expect to get peaches when he planted corn. When he puts corn seed in the ground, he begins telling everybody that he is going to have a corn harvest. He is naming and claiming!

If I plant the seed of God's Word in my heart by faith and I say that I am going to have a yacht, a house, a Rolls Royce or a new suit, why would someone get on my case? Or, if I plant and say I have good health and have healing, I am planting the seed of God's Word.

Luke 8:5-11: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. "Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. "But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?" And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God."

According to verse 10, these spiritual truths are mysteries-until revealed. The critics have seen and they do not understand, but they would never admit that. In order to cover up their inability to perceive mysteries, they shoot the truth down and jump all over us who have learned how to interpret the mysteries.

But I cannot stop declaring the truth because someone cannot or does not want to understand it. As for the critics, I want them to get it. It is so good. I just hate to see them choosing ignorance and being cheated out of the blessings God wants them to have.

This devotional was excerpted from Dr. Price's book, "Name It and Claim It! The Power of Positive Confession."