This is a sort of challenging lesson to share, as it does entail a few things that I have struggled with at times, but I think people need to hear it. I know that many people are familiar with the ramblings of televangelists "claiming" this and that "in Jesus's Name" all the time, and as they do so often they are talking about some pretty extravagant stuff - one, Jesse DuPlantis, even swore that "God told him" to get a $40 private jet. And, of course those of us old enough to remember the televangelist scandals of the late 1980s remember some of that stuff too - Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's air-conditioned doghouse, Oral Roberts saying "God was going to call him home" from the top of a tower if he didn't raise millions of dollars, and other such antics. Much of that stuff starts out with a Bible verse, and then with some esoteric nonsense from the New Thought movement and other sources, it gets twisted into what is called the "Prosperity Gospel," or as its detractors call it, "Blab it and Grab it." For a short time in my early 20s, I was mildly involved with some of that too, as I used to listen to people like Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn, and I even got to see the granddaddy of that movement, Kenneth Hagin, in person at a meeting he held in Ozark, Alabama, back in 1990. However, when you see the futility of that garbage, you quickly come to understand how harmful it is - I mean, seriously, if that crap worked, then why aren't the parking lots of the megachurches that preach that stuff filled with Porsches and Rolls Royces? Likewise, with all the inconsistencies and scandals that happen in those circles, one would think that people would catch on to the con, but they don't - "Christian TV" is still as popular today as it was 40 years ago, and variations of the same nonsense are still out there. However, instead of the "old guard" like Marilyn Hickey, Benny Hinn, Morris Cerullo, John Avanzini, Kenneth Hagin, and Oral Roberts (the majority of whom are now deceased), a new group of snake-oil salesmen are out there with an even more blatant display - people like Joel Osteen, Kathryn Krick, Steve Furtick, Todd Bentley, Paula White, and that Bethel crowd. And, when they become old and pass away, provided Christ tarries long enough, there will be another group of these who will pop up like bad weeds in a cornfield, and they keep reproducing themselves. Observing this though, a question popped into my mind based upon a position I take in studying stuff like this - is there any truth to what these people say, or is it completely a lie? And, if there is truth, how do we peel away the nonsense to get to it? That is what I wanted to talk about today, and hopefully this helps someone else who has been through the wringer of life as I have many times.
I have talked some in my Genesis study (which is now available as a book on Amazon if you are interested) about something called euhemerism. Euhemerism is a position that presupposes essentially that at the root of every mythology is a fact that inspired the myth. From a Christian perspective, this is the view that proves that the Flood legends of many cultures are indeed fact, because they confirm a central truth in Scripture that there was a great Flood - cultures from the Maya to the Chinese have flood legends. If it is a universal theme, then something must have been the source of the various myths and legends, and as a euhemerist myself and a historian, it is a goal to find out what that was. There are other things too like this - dragon legends, the existence of giant races of people, etc. The man this theory was named after was Euhemerus of Messene, and he based his theory on the fact that in Greek mythology, there are two classes of pagan deities - one is earthly, meaning they were based on actual historical figures like kings and such, and the second is a heavenly class, the Olympians, who could be observed in nature (Nickolas Roubekas, An Ancient Theory of Religion: Euhemerism from Antiquity to the Present. New York: Routledge, 2017: xv). As this theory evolved, two varieties of it came into existence. The first, secular euhemerism, presupposed that mythical imagery could be easily explained with natural phenomena, and the lack of a modern name for whatever it was led to the divinization of whatever the entity was. The second, Christian euhemerism, established that many ancient myths were corrupted versions of something factual that Scripture as God's Word documented, and that the scattering at Babel of humanity is what led to a variety of interpretations and corruptions of truth. I fall into this second camp myself. However, the discipline of euhemerism is not only applicable to the mythologies of ancient civilizations - it can be used as a tool to discern truth behind heretical belief systems. When approaching the "Prosperity Gospel," we must therefore do so from the perspective that it is essentially a mythology, and a corruption of actual truths. False teachers have used a core truth to wrap corruption around ever since the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden in Genesis 3. Therefore, it created two problems. For one, the falsehood far eclipsed the original truth, and people associate these teachings with complete falsehood, and rightly so. However, secondly, it also means that a core truth is being missed because we associate language related to it with a false religious movement like the so-called "Prosperity Gospel." Perhaps it is time to revisit those core truths, view them in their proper context, and perhaps it will help us make sense of things we experience in life. So that is where this teaching is going. I am probably going to be writing on this for a couple of days, so bear with me.
In my many years of the Christian walk and also many hours of studying Holy Scripture, I have deduced that there are three things based on God's promises that we can (and indeed should) pray for. I am just listing them here, and the Scriptural passages that back them up will come later in the discussion:
1. Protection from the destruction of adversity
2. Provision of needs
3. Direction in decisions.
I am going to take these now one by one and elaborate upon them.
First, protection from the destruction of adversity is an integral one to understand. We all know adversity happens - it is not adversity itself we are protected from, but rather destruction based on adversity. The story of Job is perhaps the best illustration of this because God allowed a lot of crap to happen to Job, but he warned Satan that there were limits to what could be done. The ultimate purpose of adversity is for growth and the development of character, and God has limits as to what can actually come against us. It also is not a "get out of jail free" card to exempt us from sin and death, because we live in a fallen world, and ultimately every one of us will face death unless the Parousia happens. That death can be untimely, or it could be the end of a natural process (old age), but it is inevitable. However, the will of God is the determining factor in that - if God doesn't want you to go yet, then you won't go. This is why divine healing is possible today and we cannot - despite some fatalistic Calvinist heresies that are more pagan than Christian - deny the fact God can heal of any disease, even the most terminal, provided he still has plans for the person suffering it on the earth. Therefore, it is not wrong nor is it a sin to ask for healing from illness, or even deliverance from adversity - we ultimately don't know God's will, but we are given promises we can rely on for protection. It is at this point I want to address perhaps the best-known of those promises now.
Ephesians 6:10-18 is the famous "armor of God" Scripture, and although I went in detail on that in my Ephesians study I published in 2014, it is important to understand. As part of my daily prayer regimen, I usually "take on" the armor of God daily, and there is a significance to each piece of that armor as it regards how we are protected. However, the key aspect of this is in verse 10, which reminds us that the armor is to protect us and enable us to stand against the enemy's schemes, and to stand despite any assault launched against us. This pairs with another Scripture as well, that being Isaiah 54:7 - "no weapon formed against me shall prosper." In my own prayer regimen, I combine this with the "armor of God" passage in Ephesians 6 as I pray protection over myself every day. Notice what these passages actually say though - they are not a guarantee against spiritual or daily adversity, but they guarantee that the person will be protected from destruction from such attacks. The promise here is that if God called you to something (and here, I reference Romans 11:29, meaning God cannot take them back once he has given those to you) then you must prevail to carry out that plan. This is God's own promise, not mine or anyone else's - it means that when adversity hits, you have the choice to ask for protection, and you can remind God he is obligated by his own promises to provide that. As this is the most basic promise God has made, it means that it is the one easiest to appeal to and usually that prayer is answered on a daily basis. Again, unlike the "blab and grab" televangelists say, this does not mean that you will avoid adversity, but rather that with God's protection you will prevail against it. And, even in the rare case God brings natural death through the adversity, the reason is that whatever God was doing in your life will impact and touch others regardless.
The second one is the complicated one that brings a lot of controversy to people, and it also is the source for a lot of bad theology because it is misinterpreted in popular spirituality so much. This of course is the provision of needs. The verse for this is located in Philippians 4:19, and it says simply "God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory." Focus here is on the word needs. Because we live in a fallen world, our bodies require a lot of needs - we need shelter, food, clothing, transportation to get about, and a few other things specific to the time in history we live in, such as open communication media and such. All over Scripture, from even as far back as Genesis 3 and the Fall, there is evidence God supplies needs - he clothed Adam and Eve in the Garden when they fell and were aware they were as naked as jaybirds, and later in Exodus he provided manna and quail in the wilderness, as well as fresh water from a rock, so the Israelites could survive in the wilderness. Later, he provided Elijah food brought by birds when he was hiding from possible execution by Ahab after challenging the demon god Ba'al. A little later on, his disciple Elisha fed a woman with just a little oil and flour during a famine. Then, going back to Genesis, God gave Joseph wisdom to prepare for rough times in Egypt. In the New Testament, we see Jesus multiplying fish and bread to feed thousands, turning water to wine to make sure party guests had refreshments, pulling a coin out of a fish's mouth to pay a tax, giving direction to Peter and the other disciples on where to cast a net to get the most fish, and on and on that goes. These circumstances all demonstrated a need that was provided for, and thus we have every right to ask God about our needs - if you are struggling to make bills because those job offers are not calling, you have a right to ask God to help with that. Like adversity though, needs are inevitable - without those basic necessities, our very survival could be at stake. But, what if it seems God doesn't listen to your prayers? Well, this is where I want to get personal in reflecting about my own circumstances at times.
First, I want to look at Genesis 32:22-32. In this passage, Jacob was on the run from Esau, and the reckoning had finally come for them to confront each other. Jacob was naturally scared - if he had the birthright, what would happen if his estranged brother killed his whole legacy? Obviously having this weighing on his mind, Jacob cannot sleep that night, and is sitting by a river just pondering everything when a strange individual all of a sudden comes up and engages in a tussle with Jacob. They fight, and fight, and fight, until the morning sun dawned on the eastern horizon. In this struggle Jacob was prevailing, and as a sort of defense measure to gain the upper hand, the other person dislocates Jacob's hip, but Jacob refuses to let go until he is blessed. Although Scripture says this being was an angel, there are Church traditions that talk about this as being Christ himself - remember, Christ is eternal, begotten not made, and even pre-existent before his Incarnation, so it makes sense. The mysterious figure (Christ?) does bless Jacob, and also bestows a new name - he is no longer the "deceiver," but instead is Israel, "one who wrestles with God and prevails." Jacob (now Israel) does not prevail of his own merit though, but because God let him. The result? The meeting with Esau turns into a joyful reunion, and all turns out well. So, what does that mean personally? This is where I want to be personal.
In my prayers over the years, I grew impatient to the point I would sometimes call God every name in the book, cussing him out, and then throwing ultimatums at him to do something. These were times when I was on the brink of losing a home, or needed income from a job, or something else I faced. There are these long, dead silent times where you feel God is not listening to you at all, and it does grate on the nerves a little - lest you condemn me, let me remind you that probably you have felt that way too at some point, so just "fess up" and be honest before you judge, OK? One verse I tend to remind God of at that point is Philippians 4:19, but I also remind him of his own parables in the Gospels, particularly one that comes up in Luke 11:11 - that is the passage where it says that if a son asks for a fish, will the father give him a snake? Or if he asks for bread, will he get a rock? The passage then goes on to say that if a wicked father loves their kids enough to give them basic nourishment, then shouldn't our heavenly Father do even better? I have to be honest with you - I often feel like I have been bitten by too many snakes over the years and have broken too many teeth trying to chew rocks, so it gets a bit flustering asking over, and over, and over and still meeting dead silence. This is true especially when you are down to a bottle of water in your refrigerator and have an eviction notice sitting on your kitchen table. I know what you are thinking too, because I have thought the same things - you know you have been a decent believer, because you tithe, you go to church regularly, and although you are not perfect, you are at least as consistent about your personal life as you are able to be, and yet you are seeing far more evil people getting blessed abundantly while with each passing day your savings trickle and those bills are coming due quickly with no resources to take care of them. You see false teachers like Kenneth Copeland jetting around in $40 million aircraft, yet you are trying to figure out how to even afford the bus ticket to get to your work the next day. I know - that has been me at different points in my life. You go through a cycle - am I doing something wrong, did I miss something, or what in hell is going on?? You are drawing blanks as this stuff floods your thoughts, and it is literally driving you nuts. You hear some TV preacher saying to "claim" things (which, conditionally, will only work if you send a thousand dollar "seed" to them - in other words, your monthly expenses) and wonder "is there a way I can actually do that which doesn't entail heresy?" You are scared, desperate, and impatient, and finally you lash out at God because his silence is becoming intolerable and deafening. You yell at God, you bargain with God, you put out fleeces to get answers, and nothing - you are ready to second-guess your own faith and wonder if it is even worth it to serve a God who seemingly could care less about your situation. But, if you know Scripture, you know God makes promises, and being God is the source of ultimate truth, he cannot lie (see passages such as John 14:6, Romans 11:29, Deuteronomy 31:8, Isaiah 40:31, and of course Philippians 4:19). So, if it is a promise he has already made, then he is obligated by covenant to fulfill it. And, this is where some clarification is needed so you understand the proper context of what this actually means.
God said he will supply our needs and not our wants. So, to begin, do you really need a Porsche, or do you really need a 14-room sprawling estate in Beverly Hills?? No, most of us don't. But, we do need proper shelter, and our jobs often depend on reliable transportation. And, if there is indeed a calling on our lives, our security with basic needs is what the salvation of souls only we can reach is contingent upon - if we are smothered in burdens, we cannot effectively do what God called us to do. This is why God is obligated to meet basic needs for us, and to help us to get to that next level. Now, there is anothe factor here too many don't understand. If you hear these televangelists screaming about "claiming this" or "confessing that," they are wrong on a fundamental level - are those things they supposedly are telling you to "claim" something that fits your own abilities? What do I mean by that? If you have an advanced degree, a good employment record that reflects years of experience, and the talents and skills necessary to be at a certain level in your life, you deserve to have what comes with that because you actually earned it and can stake a claim to what rightfully should be yours. If you have a background that merits you landing that $100K annual salary, then you have every right to pray and even claim that particular door to open. And, until it does, God obligates himself to keep promises to provide for your needs. A lot more of this also is intertwined with seeking direction too, but all three of these interrelate, which is why they are fundamental promises we have every right to ask God for. You will hear others on the other side of the spectrum - the "humbly proud" overly-altruistic crowd - say that we should embrace suffering, and that it is "our cross to bear." Ummm...let me put that to rest right now. What they are talking about is the idea of "being persecuted for righteousness's sake," and it has to do with being honest and bold in the proclamation of our faith, even if it could have consequences for us. That is actually a noble stand, and nothing wrong with that. However, the super-altruistic crowd get it as wrong as the "blab it and grab it" bunch when they say and twist that to mean that you just roll over and accept your fate - it will be alarming to see how many souls were condemned to hell because of the failure of these people to actually have a backbone to do what Scripture says and "earnestly contend for the faith." What we are talking about has nothing to do with the salvation of our souls and eternal destiny - these are things that affect us in the present moment, and I don't see anything in Scripture saying that it is somehow a sin to actually stand up to claim that which truly is rightfully yours if you have invested time and resources into it. I am going to one day do a whole other study tackling fake altruism as well, because it is just as big of a problem as the "positive confession" TV preachers, and both of them have their roots in the sin of pride. If the faux altruists really wanted to help and encourage people - and forgive the coarse language here - then they should get off their lazy, cowardly asses and maybe help out those who are really struggling and do deserve better because they earned it and maybe that is the answer God is providing. And, that gets me off on one other thing with this.
At times when we holler at God and cuss him out in our prayers, the fact of the matter is that maybe he has answered our need, but the channels he moved upon to answer either ignored him or they are just too prideful and cowardly to step up. I have seen a lot of that too, and it sickens me how supposed "believers" (even clergy) act when someone is really trying to reach out. My ex Barbara had something like this happen to her recently. She was having some serious medical issues at the time, and at the parish we attended here at Baltimore at the time she approached the Dominican friar who pastors there about it one Sunday after Mass. I have been in parishes where, if a parishioner expresses a need for prayer for an illness, the priest drops everything and prays right there at that moment. Fr. Grassi, our former pastor at St. James in Charles Town, WV, was like that - his heart for his parishioners was so compassionate, and he embodied what a pastor should be. You would think that a priest in a religious order - especially a Dominican friar like the priest at this parish in Baltimore is - to even have that charism more so. But, he didn't - when Barbara approached him about her medical issue, all he told her was that "it is your cross to bear," and then said a "God bless you," and that was it - no prayer, no compassion, no nothing. Later, we stopped going to that particular parish for another - and related - reason, but the Dominican failed in his calling that day. No hope, no encouragement, and not even a prayer - just a dismissive "it's your cross to bear" crap. Especially if someone has a pastoral calling, this is unacceptable. If you are in a church with a callous minister like that, get out now - go somewhere where the priest or minister actually cares. I have a similar beef with these self-proclaimed "social justice warriors" as well, like the campus minister at the school where I used to teach. For all his screaming the word "justice," this man is a fraud, and he is all about agendas and not service. A person like that should not be a position of pastoral care of any type, lay or ordained. While the "cross to bear" thing has some merit - yes, those exist - it also means that someone needs to be there to support an encourage you when that burden gets intense. Even Jesus, when he was being crucified, had a humble African named Symeon of Cyrene to help him. Where are the Symeons these days?? It seems like the Judases and hirelings are outnumbering them in the Church. I got a bit down a rabbit trail with that, but it also illustrates that maybe on occasion our anger is misdirected at God when the very person who could be the answer to our prayers chooses not to listen - we don't know that obviously at times, and may not even know who that potential person is, but because of their failure it hits us hard too. I know that illustrates another dimension we only see in retrospection, but you get the idea that often it feels like we are facing things alone, and God's apparent silence coupled by the lack of support from others tends to push hard against us. There are a couple of more points I will make with this before we move onto the third promise.
If God is calling you to be the encouragement to someone, I would strongly advise doing it. That person may be hanging at the end of a thread right now, and you may be the answer they need. It doesn't mean even that you have to empty your wallet and give it to them or anything like that, but maybe you have the very insight they are needing to help give that direction. Likewise, if you are the person at the end of your rope, don't settle for less than clear direction - after all, is it not God who claims he is not the author of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33)? If that is the case, it is God's obligation to do two things. First, he needs to provide clear, concise direction when you do as he commanded by asking him for it. Second, there should be no mixed signals. I know we have heard about the "still, small voice" and all that, but in all honesty, this is not always going to cut it. That "still small voice" may actually be just your own thoughts and feelings, and if you act on them you are still up against a wall. At that point the issue is not trusting God, but perhaps our own ability to clearly understand the direction, and a "still small voice" at that point is not practical. God does do the "still small voice," but it is dependent upon the situation as to whether it is clear or not. And while of course both Christ himself and St. Paul chided the Jews of his day for "seeking after signs" (Matthew 16:4, 12:39, and I Corinthians 1:22), it must be understood that we are still living a corporeal existence, and sometimes a small sign may be the only thing that shows us what we need. I believe in all honesty that the aforementioned verses about that were speaking more to two other things - first, the validity of Jesus as the Messiah, and secondly, the almost idolatrous reliance upon the supernatural that some hyper-Pentecostals display at times today - than to just a simple bit of needed direction. We all need a sign to direct us - that is what that red octagonal stop sign at the end of your street is all about - or else we could be steered wrong. A true believer will want to make sure they are flawlessly on-point, as deviating from the plan could be catastrophic. So, asking for a tangible sign of direction is not the issue, and it is indeed OK to ask for that. And, keep wrestling with God until you get it - you are a human being with limits, so it is OK to get a bit frantic in your prayers because you are being honest. I believe that if we understood all this better, it would make living out our faith far less complicated. We don't have to "act holy" to talk to God, in other words - we come to him as we are because he should already know us anyway since he created us. And that leads to something else I wanted to address.
I have gotten into watching the videos of this lady named Kaziah Hancock. Kaziah was someone I learned of years ago on Doris Hanson's online podcast "What Love is This," and much like Doris, Kaziah comes from a polygamous Mormon Fundamentalist background but she also came to know Christ and is a committed Christian today. The main thing Kaziah is noted for is her artwork - she has done some beautiful portraits of unsung heroes in the military, police forces, and other service roles, and if I am correct about this she donates those to the people's families. However, Kaziah is no sanctimonious Mother Teresa type, nor does she claim to be - when she speaks, it is real, and sometimes it is a bit rough for many ears as she is not shy about using a cuss word or two when she gets fired up about something. To be honest, I find that quality refreshing, and thankfully in this day and age it seems as if sincere Christians are actually not caring about how things are said, as sometimes the truth is not pretty and couched in Elizabethan "thees" and "thous." It is almost as if we have to in order to get the message across, and that is why I am not really that dogmatic about a little coarse language on occasion when it is spoken by Christians, and I am doing that myself when the occasion warrants too. Of course, when you were raised in a culture where saying the word "ass" meant you were hell-bound or something (even if it was out of the Bible and in reference to a donkey), it is a bit of a shock to the system at first, but then you see the heart of where it is coming from, and you find yourself resonating with it. The imposed puritanical piety of the past is not something that necessarily denotes holiness, as even some great saints of the Church had some behavior some would consider crass and inappropriate - the great Doctor of the Church, St. Athanasius, for instance, had no qualms with knocking the heretic Arius on his keister at a Church council. And, let's not even get into that eccentric class of Eastern saints called the Yurodivi (Holy Fools). Some of the things they said and did would scare the ever-loving out of the most straight-laced Baptist church lady in the South. But, the Church recognized them as saints. I kind of see Kaziah as a sort of Protestant Yurodivi, and I mean that with the highest level of respect - we need more like her, in all honesty. If you get the chance, look up her videos on YouTube and check her out for yourself - you will learn something if you do, and it will be a good thing.
Let us move onto the third promise now, that being direction. Direction is something we are commanded to seek in the Bible itself. We are told in Psalms for instance that the Lord is "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path" (Psalm 119:105). Of course, for those of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, the first thing that comes to mind with that verse is that song based on it by Amy Grant, and that is probably the only way some people learned it (Kind of like one version of the Salve Regina in the Mass - many associate that with Whoopie Goldberg's rhythmic performance in Sister Act). This verse is the reliance of the psalmist on divine guidance, and it is just the start. Another verse along those lines is this one in Matthew 6:33, which says "seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." This too is often committed to memory via a Maranatha chorus based on the verse that came out in the 1970s. Then, there is this one - Psalm 37:23, which affirms that "the steps of a righteous man are ordered by God." The other one is a more physical example in the Gospels with the story of St. Peter walking on water - direction is the key component here too. Proverbs 11:14 also is integral here about tangible direction - it admonishes us that the abundance of good counsel is guaranteed safety. What does this all mean? It means that seeking counsel and direction from God is not only a promise he gave, but also a command - we are admonished all over Scripture to be dependent upon God. So, if he commanded it, promised to give it to us, and it has been understood in that context for the 2000 years of the Church's existence, it means that like Jacob in Genesis we have the sanction to demand that God honor the promise HE made to give us direction, and we can challenge him without being considered an apostate by those self-righteous souls who would take issue with that honest contention. So, yes, it is perfectly within reason to demand God give us direction, and a tangible sign he's listening if necessary. We can also ask for counsel to come to us, or who to seek out for it, and that is part of the promise and the command too. I would honestly think that God would be more prone to answer a request like that because we are doing exactly as he asked, and not relying on ourselves but rather seeking him for the answer. But, it isn't that easy - God's silence can be deafening, and even the well-intentioned reassurances of others that when God is silent he is working the most doesn't cut it when a rent payment is looming and you need an answer yesterday. And, as human beings, we lose patience - we don't need to apologize for that either, as it is just how we are wired and created. Therefore, if you are seeking that direction, continue wrestling with God as Jacob did to get it, because you are just staking claim to his promises.
Now, before wrapping up, let's talk about "claiming" a bit. Is it right to "claim" something? If you turn on TBN, Daystar, or some other religious channel, you hear people like Kenneth Copeland and Creflo "Cashflow" Dollar screaming at you to just "claim it!" What do they mean? In their less-than-honorable and problematic declarations, they are talking about what is called verbal manifestation - this means if you speak it, you can speak it into existence. That is something only God is capable of, and it is part of a non-Christian heretical esotericism that the Bible itself does not teach. Of course, people who do teach this use the verse in Hebrews 11:1, which says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Because of that, it takes some enigmatic thing called "the force of faith" to speak things into existence. This is another reason why much of this "prosperity gospel" stuff is also called "Word of Faith," because that is where they get this from. It ties into other weird esoteric practices that hyper-charismatics have baptized from New Thought and the occult too, such as "affirmations," or statements that say essentially you are this, or that, or the other - it also promotes self-deification as often these affirmations are preceded by the words "I am," and that is a core concept of people like Joel Osteen and also bears affinity with self-help gurus like Oprah too, and it is totally unbiblical and heretical. But, can we claim anything? Let's deal with that.
If you stake a claim to anything, be it in a religious context or even a more practical legal context like property law, one thing is clear - is their some interest or right to the claim to make it valid? As a paralegal, I used to work on cases that dealt with that issue to some degree, and in all honesty you have no right to claim anything unless there is a specific clause that says you can. That being said, I personally believe that if you have earned the right to something, you can stake a claim upon it. This has nothing to do with the soul or eternal salvation or anything related to that, but is strictly a temporal natural law issue. If you have worked in a certain profession for years for instance and have built up a level of competency and experience, then you have the right to be seriously considered for a position that will be qualified by your background. If you earn a Ph.D. or other higher degree, you are not required to settle for less - you have claimed a place at a bigger table, and you have the right to go after positions that merit your credential. On God's terms, it makes a very real application to the verse in James 2:17 and 2:26, which says faith without works is dead. It means that if you are to ask for something, you should do so in confidence knowing it is what you qualify for. While God can definitely give direction for a new vocation - and we should ask him for that - it should not be a descent into confusion when you have to settle for less than what you are worth. Therefore, if you have earned that opportunity, stake the claim on it - this is rightly "claiming" what now you can actually lay claim to. It is something that is earned, deserved, not contingent upon your soul's salvation, and meets the needs you have, and by all means God is obligated by his promises to give you the direction to stake that claim, and then provide the way to achieve it. And, that is not the same as the garbage Benny Hinn and others spout about "naming and claiming" things you are not realistically entitled to. I hope that clears some issues up.
I know this was lengthy, very frank, and it also was something I believe people need to hear. Take it as you will, and hopefully something in this will be liberating to someone who reads it. Thanks again, and will see you next time.
