Manifesting is back. But it's not just showing up in NYT self-help bestsellers and prosperity preaching. The belief that our words create reality merely by being spoken is taking hold in the lives of women who believe in Jesus, read the Bible every day, and have grown up in the church. And it's wreaking havoc.
I've heard women say things like:
"I wake up in the middle of the night paralyzed with fear when I realize I forgot to pray for my family's safety before I fell asleep. If I don't pray just the right way, then they won't be okay."
Or:
"I'm afraid to pray for someone's protection because I don't want to speak danger into existence."
Or:
"I totally shut down because my husband told our son not to jump on the sofa because he could fall and break his neck, and now I'm worried it might happen because he said that out loud."
I'll be honest, these were not things that came into the conversations I have with women from evangelical churches in the counseling room until recently. My educated guess is that women are being deceived by TikTok influencers and Instagram gurus who promise women peace and power if only they learn to harness the power of the spoken word. And the consequences are not insignificant. Women are losing sleep, becoming afraid to pray, and feeling responsible for preventing terrible things from happening by saying exactly the right words in exactly the right way.
Who Has the Power to Speak Something Into Existence?
I admire the bravery of the women who are honest enough in the counseling space to bring fears like this into the conversation and ask for help. And I'm so happy to be able to offer them sure hope in the truth of Scripture. There are several directions we go in these counseling sessions, but the first question I always ask is this:
Who in the Bible has the power to speak something into existence?
"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." (Genesis 1:3)
God speaks, and there is light. God is Creator. We are creation. Throughout Scripture, we see God's unique authority as Creator. He speaks, and what he commands comes into being. He does not need to perform a ritual, repeat a phrase, get the timing right, or worry that a failure to speak will somehow prevent his purposes from being accomplished.
We are not God. We do not possess his creative authority. And I think there's something profoundly important about remembering that distinction when we're tempted to believe that our words somehow determine what will happen in the future.
But Doesn't the Bible Say Our Words Have Power?
Yes! The Bible says LOTS of things about how we speak. There is life and death in the power of the tongue. Proverbs has much to say about the ways our words can build up or tear down. We see the power of words throughout the ministry of Jesus. James devotes considerable attention to the tongue and the damage it can do.
Our words matter. They can encourage or discourage, comfort or wound, bring truth or spread deception. We have a very real responsibility for how we use them. But there's a difference between recognizing the power and responsibility of our words and believing that our words have the power to create reality. Our words can influence people and circumstances. They do not give us God's authority over what will happen. We can speak carelessly. We can sin with our words. We can hurt people deeply. But we cannot speak something into existence simply by naming it, nor can we guarantee someone's safety by praying in precisely the right way.
Are We Trying to Make Ourselves Like God?
Let's go back to Genesis. Remember the temptation in the Garden of Eden? The serpent told Eve that if she ate the forbidden fruit, she would be like God (Genesis 3:5).
Isaiah describes the enemy's own fall; ""You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly... I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" Isaiah 14:13-14
And isn't there something of that same temptation when we begin to believe that we can exercise control over reality through the words we speak? We want peace. We want protection. We want to know that the people we love will be okay. Those are understandable desires. But the promise that we can secure those things by harnessing the power of our words is a different matter altogether.
It places an impossible burden on us. Suddenly, we are responsible not only for what we say, but for what might happen if we fail to say the right thing. We become afraid of our own words. Even prayer, which is meant to be an expression of dependence on God, can become a source of anxiety and an exercise in trying to control outcomes.
And that is not the freedom Scripture offers us.
There Is Freedom in Not Usurping God’s Throne
In every area of our lives, whether we've ever wrestled with the idea of manifesting or not, there is so much rest and peace and relief from anxiety when we let God be God. We are not the Creator. We are not sovereign over the future. We do not have to find the perfect words, say the perfect prayer, or somehow protect the people we love through the power of our speech.
We can pray honestly. We can ask God for protection and healing. We can speak carefully and lovingly to the people around us. We can take seriously the responsibility Scripture gives us for our words. And we can entrust what we cannot control to the One who can.
There's a reason we find such comfort in the words of David, who even being a king, realizes that there are things above his pay grade:
My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 131
We don't have to be God. We can acknowledge, submit, and worship Him as God.
And there is a great deal of Jesus glorifying freedom in that.