#WednesdayWisdom is back! This week, let’s talk about a troubling phenomenon that’s making the rounds on social media: the idea of “manifesting”. This term is typically used by that one friend who says “I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual,” you know, the friend who swears that burning sage cleanses and protects their household against evil spirits. Listen fam, I don’t know about you, but as for me and MY house, sage goes in spaghetti! 😂 All jokes aside, this word just rubs me the wrong way in a “spiritual” (non-Christian) context.
I’m a firm believer in, “Speak what you seek until you see what you’ve said”, but I don’t call it manifesting because MAN-ifesting is man-made. My declarations are based on Jeremiah 29:11. God knows the plans He has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future! I speak things over myself according to what the Bible says, and when I ask in His name, His plans unfold in my life according to HIS will, not mine. He knows more than I do. Even if what I think I want now doesn’t “manifest,” all things that happen in my life happen for my good, meaning it’ll all make sense eventually.
MAN-I-FESTation is something that I MANually cause to FESTer—“fester” meaning “to aggravate”. In other words, if I’ve gotta stir it up to make it happen with “MAN” power, I’m living life according to my own will and desires and not what God wants for me. If I’ve gotta stick my hand in it and make it work for me, it’s not for me. If it’s for me, it won’t be manual, it’ll be automatic. That doesn’t negate the work I’ll have to do to maintain it, that just means it’ll happen when and how it’s supposed to as I follow God’s instruction MAN-ual.
I looked up the biblical meaning of “manifest,” and “manifestation,” and according to Bible Study Tools, it means "to make apparent" (Mark 4:22; John 17:6; Romans 3:21; 1 Timothy 3:16) “very evident" (2 Timothy 3:9), and “prove.”
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| Image source: Crosswalk |
What I’d like to focus on here is “to make apparent,” a definition explained in 1 Timothy 3:16, “Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”
Jesus was the earthly manifestation of God. He was evidence in the flesh that proved that God exists. Jesus is often referred to as the “Son of Man,” and “man” is the root word of “manifestation.” Jesus has already been manifested. He’s already come down to earth and vindicated us of our sins by dying on the cross and rising again on the third day—and just before He died, He declared, “It is finished.” Did y’all catch it yet? If the MAN-ifestation of God said, “It is finished,” then there’s nothing left for you or I to do except to believe that it’s finished. According to Google, the word “finished” means “(of an action, activity, or piece of work) having been completed or ended.” Isaiah 64:8 says, “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Jesus didn’t say, ‘It was finished,’ or ‘It will be finished’, He said “It IS finished.” That means that we, God’s “pieces of work” are already COMPLETED—we don’t have to wait until tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year to be whole. We can claim wholeness right now.
Once again an excellent and timely message! TGBTG!!
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