Using I AM to Get Stuff

Q

Hi Jack, I’m disturbed by something I’ve been seeing a lot of lately, and I was wondering if you could give me your input on it. There is a book that has been around for a while, that essentially tells you to say I AM, followed by whatever “stuff” you want, like money, position, etc.

I’m seeing tons of people not only promoting this teaching, but the book as well. I know that using I AM this way is wrong. But how do I speak to these people about this when some of them are having success they directly attribute to this practice? As always, thank you for your site and for answering my questions. 🙂

A

I haven’t read the book and don’t intend to because it sounds like another one of those “name it and claim it” tricks that turn God into a cosmic vending machine where you simply use His name to state what you want and expect Him to deliver it.

If there are people achieving some success from this, it’s not because they’ve mastered the power of God. Whenever the devil wants to promote something, he performs a counterfeit fulfillment to convince us that it works.

Personally I wouldn’t have anything to do with it, but I can understand how this could appeal to the selfish motives of our human nature. If this is the case with your friends, then you probably won’t get far in discouraging them. But eventually they will most likely see that this doesn’t work and stop of their own accord.