What’s the Difference Between Prayer and Manifestation?

So, not long ago I wrote a book on the Lord's Prayer, and one of the questions I've gotten on prayer is, is prayer the same thing as manifesting? You might have heard people talking about manifesting today. Well, what's the relationship between prayer and manifesting, and should Christians manifest? So, manifesting has to do with bringing your desires, your goals, the things that you dream about into reality. And the way you do this is through your thoughts, changing your thoughts and your thought patterns, your beliefs.

It really depends a lot on this principle of the law of attraction. If you think positive things, positive things will come to you. Similarly, if you think negative things, negative things will come to you. A basic definition of manifesting is something like this.

Manifesting is the act of making something happen by imagining it and consciously thinking that it will happen. It's interesting because a lot of people are talking about this today, social media influencers, sort of new age, but back in 2006 there was a book called The Secret that basically argued the same thing. The Secret argues that the law of attraction operates within the universe and that you become what you attract. And so, positive things happen to positive people and negative things happen to negative people.

Here's how the author put it in her words. Every human being is a creator and they are creating their life. So, it's not that our thoughts are powerful, it's that we are powerful. And so, when we focus on a thought and we really hold that focus, that thought will manifest in our life.

Really interesting. So, you are a creator and you are powerful and what you're doing through changing your thought patterns is you're manifesting your dreams, your desires, your will. Manifesting puts you in the shoes of the creator. You are the one through your power who is creating this reality.

And in Christian theology, there's a really important distinction that's always been emphasized, the distinction between the creature and the creator. And this actually I think is something that makes the idea of manifesting in some sense satanic. I mean, it's just out there because it puts you in the shoes of the creator.

It has you thinking. It's by your power that you're going to bring about this great reality, whatever it is. And the fact of the matter is there's no evidence to support this idea of manifesting. Well, how is this different from prayer? Prayer in the Bible is focused on God's will. Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. The idea of manifesting focuses on your will.

And so there are two different wills here that we're talking about. At the heart of Christian prayer is offering our desires up to God for things that are agreeable to his will. And one of the big differences then is whose will is being accomplished here. And as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, daily we're coming before God and we're saying, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. One of the concerns that I have is that prayer helps us recognize our dependence upon God, upon someone outside of us.

It brings us to a place of humility and submission. But again, you note that this idea of manifesting focuses on you. You as the one who is powerful to bring about this reality that you want, that you're attempting to manifest. Now, even though sometimes people who talk about manifestation will bring up the universe or God, the focus really is you. It's this sort of self deification. And so insofar as the idea of manifesting puts dependence upon self as opposed to dependence upon God, it's a serious problem.

By the way, this isn't just something that happens outside of the church. There are many within different movements of Christianity that will talk about speaking things into existence. I think this is especially prevalent in prosperity gospel circles where you're speaking your reality into existence, you're speaking your healing or your new job or whatever it is.

Again, this idea of positive thinking, the power of positive thinking, if you just speak it into existence, if you just think about it, then you're going to have it. That's not what Jesus meant when he talked about praying to God and seeking those things that were agreeable to his will. Again, it takes away our dependence upon God and our focus upon him as the creator and sustainer of all things, and not just the creator and sustainer, but the redeemer. That makes us creators, sustainers, and redeemers, but the fact of the matter is we can't create our own reality and we can't save ourselves. We certainly can't save ourselves from our sins. One of the great comforts of biblical Christianity is it allows us to acknowledge I'm not the creator. I'm not all powerful.

I can't save myself. But it points us to the God who did make all things, who does sustain reality, and who offers us his grace in Christ if we'll come to him by faith and offer up our prayers. At Sola Media, we produce theological content that applies the riches of the Reformation to the modern church. Our work is only made possible thanks to the generosity of thousands of supporters across the globe. Thanks to our Sola partners, who give generously every month, we can confidently pursue our mission to come alongside the church and produce resources for Reformation. But to continue our pace of publishing, we need your support. Would you consider joining many others and giving monthly as a Sola partner? This month, if you become a partner, we'll send you a complimentary copy of Michael Horton's book, Ordinary, Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World. In an age marked by burnout and sensationalism, Paul says that the Christian life looks like learning to live quietly, minding our own affairs, and working with our hands. To get a copy of Michael Horton's book, Ordinary, and to learn more about what it means to recover this kind of Christian living, simply head over to solamedia.org forward slash partner and help us reach even more people with the riches of the gospel. That's solamedia.org forward slash partner.