Because He Said So

"Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,' so that we confidently say, 'THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.  WHAT SHALL MAN DO TO ME?'"  Hebrews 13:5-6

When I was in college, I was introduced to a popular teaching known as “name it and claim it.”  The crux of the teaching went something like this: “What do you want?  What big item, dream, healing, or wish is in your heart?  It is yours in Jesus … so just name it and claim it.”  Multitudes of people fell in love with this teaching, and began naming and claiming everything under the sun.    

Does the Bible really teach a name it and claim it theology?  The correct answer is “sort of.”  But the one who names it is not you or me, it is the Lord Himself.  We can claim by faith anything that He has first named for us.  If He hasn’t named it, you have no claim to it.  Moses surely couldn’t name and claim going into the Promised Land, because God had given him an emphatic, “NO!  And don’t ask Me about this again!” (see Deut. 3:26).  Paul couldn’t name and claim a mission trip to Bithynia, because “the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them” (Acts 16:7). 

Overcoming Obstacles

"In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil" — Job 1:1

Israel’s Moran Samuel made her country proud when she won the gold medal at the international rowing competition in Italy earlier this spring. She made us even prouder when she sang Israel’s national anthem, the Hatikva, on her own.

Apparently, the Italians did not have a copy of the right recording. When Moran realized that there would be no anthem played as she received her award, she asked for the microphone and simply began singing it herself, completely cool and collected.

When Moran was interviewed by the news shortly afterwards, she had this to say: “If you look at an obstacle as an obstacle, there’s a good chance it will knock you down. If you look at an obstacle as a challenge, then you’ll do the maximum to overcome it. There can be small challenges, like the anthem and me taking the mic and singing, and there can be bigger challenges.” She should know. She’s been paralyzed from the chest down since she was 24.