How “Name it - Claim it” is Supposed to Work

Jim Ladd

If you’re like me, you have a deep disgust for the prosperity movement and the historical “name it-claim it, blab it and grab it” theology. However, I recently had a conversation with Pastor David Reyes about this idea having Biblical roots. Jesus taught us the proper and appropriate practice of naming it and claiming it in John 14. Thanks to David for helping me see this perspective.

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Sounds like an invitation to ask God for literally anything and He will do it. And it is. To get clarity about how this invitation is designed to work, we need to check out the context in which Jesus said it. So read it again, this time in context with the conversation that was being had:

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Jesus did not speak and make promises on His own authority, but the Father spoke through Him. This authority is now given to us so that we might do the works that Jesus had been doing, and “even greater things than these.”

How are you and I going to do what Jesus did, and even greater things? By asking the Father, in Jesus’ name, to do for us whatever we ask.

That is, by naming it and claiming it.

Here is the deal: if you follow Jesus, He is going to bring you to places where doing what God wants to do seems absolutely impossible. Places where God’s will is yours to participate in, and it seems completely impossible. This is His intention, so that He might show Himself to us and, through us, to the world.

You probably have already had cases where you needed to name it and claim it. Where you needed to speak to the mountain and order it to be moved and thrown into the sea.

Don’t hesitate!

This is not about a new Mercedes in your driveway. It is about God accomplishing His will on the earth through your exercise of the authority Jesus passed on to you.

Let’s do this!