What is the difference between making declarations and praying?

 "Pastor, what is the difference between making declarations and praying?"

Yesterday I briefly talked about 3 ways to apply God's word to your life, which are Actions in obedience, Declarations of faith, and Prayer. But from your question, I'm sensing that section was too brief to be understood. So, let me take the explanation a little further:

1. Actions in obedience

Most scriptures would often leave you with a responsibility. And until your part is played, God is not committed.

For instance, Malachi says we should bring all our tithe into God's house and God would open the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing. God's part is to pour down a blessing, while yours is to bring the tithe. It doesn't require any declaration or prayer. And that means it would be foolishness to be declaring that your tithe is paid or praying that God will pay your tithe when you've withheld the tithe.

Isaiah 12:3 says, "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation". This means that if you want to enjoy the benefits of salvation, then you must be joyful. So your part is to be joyful, and God's part is to release water. No joy, no water! Imagine a life without water.

There are loads of scriptures that clearly points out what to do before God will release His blessing, let's be sensitive to these things.

The second and third way to apply God's word to your life is through declaration and through prayer.

There are scriptures whose action of obedience would only require you to declare what you believe. There's literally nothing to do than to declare the word in faith.

Some scriptures appear as promises that requires prayer to manifest in your world. You can't just declare them, neither is there anything to obey. You found something that you're interested in, that's why prayer is required.

Now let's talk about the difference between declaring God's word and praying His will.

When you make declarations, you attack the situation by God. But when you pray, you transfer the battle to God.

When David faced Goliath, Goliath had concluded that he was going to feed David's flesh to the dogs because David entered the battle with his sling and stones. David on the other hand wasn't going to attack the situation by himself but by his God. Let me share their conversation here:

1 Samuel 17:

44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

That wasn't a prayer at all, that was a declaration of faith in God. That's how we should attack situations and circumstances. That's how we should start off our day or any venture. The circumstance might look threatening just as Goliath looked threatening, and it might be clear that you can't attack it by your self. That's okay, attack it by God. Where the word of a king is, there is power.

You attack a situation by yourself when you declare your own words, but you attack it by God when you declare His word.

When you wake up in the morning, you make declarations, "The lines are falling unto me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage. The Lord shall preserve me from all evil, He shall preserve my soul, He shall preserve my going out and coming in. I shall be the head and not the tail, I shall be above only and not beneath. The Lord is my shield, my glory and the lifter of my head. The Lord will surround me with favour as with a shield". That's how you attack the day, instead of entering the day casually.

A brother shared a testimony yesterday on how he always lost his wife and baby at the delivery room, but he kept on declaring that he would not lose neither his wife nor the child and that they will live to declare God's goodness. The more he declared it, the more the wife opened up, till the baby came forth.

So don't pray when you should be making declarations. When the people of Israel complained about the Red Sea, Moses initially got it right by making declarations, but all of a sudden he went to pray about it. God's response to Moses didn't surprise me at all. Let's read from scriptures:

Exodus 14:

13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

Moses made declarations between verses 13 and 14, but his actions didn't appear like someone who was attacking a situation. In verse 15, God made it clear that he wasn't supposed to be waiting after declaring His word, he was supposed to approach the situation with his rod just as David approached Goliath with his sling.

Finally, there are some scriptures that appear as promises or God's will. There's often nothing to obey and they're not suitable to declare. The only way to appropriate them in your life is to pray to God about them. 1 John 5:14 says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us".

It was God's will to keep the people of Israel in slavery for 400 years, and afterwards He'd take them to their land of promise. But we were told that they stayed an extra thirty years, probably because they didn't pray about it. But when they began to pray, we were told that God heard the cry of His people and sent Moses to deliver them.

You'd find lots of scriptures like that, there's usually nothing to do than to pray about them.

If you approach God's word with this mindset, you'd get better results.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed!

#EmekaAnslem