 If you can see yourself prosperous, regardless of what the world says or circumstances say, you will eventually be prosperous. The practice of manifesting something has been on the rise in popular culture, especially with the rise of TikTok and New Age gurus that will tell you all you need to do is believe something or have this vision of your life and it will come to fruition through the power of the universe. Now the truth is people believe a lot of weird things and not every one of them I need to talk about on this channel. My problem comes in is when this belief system or this ideology begins to infiltrate the church and pose as some sort of Christian teaching as opposed to what it is, ultimately New Age beliefs. Not only do I find this teaching when integrated with Christianity to be dangerous, but I also believe it's abusive too. To so many hurting people who need real truth, real hope, real direction. Maybe you're still confused about what manifesting in the church context looks like. Look no further than the ministry of Andrew Wormack. Now to be clear my primary purpose on social media isn't just to call out false teachers or heretics, but for me this kind of false teaching hits close to home and that's why I want to address it. It preys on people, Christians specifically who have the tendency of still living in shame and conversely also bolsters our own personal pride and attention on ourselves and our ability. Let's watch this video to get a clear sense of what we're talking about. If you can see yourself prosperous regardless of what the world says or circumstances say, you will eventually be prosperous. If you can see yourself healed, you will eventually be healed. If you can see it on the inside as you think in your heart, that's the way your life is going to be. Man, those are strong statements, but I get that from Joseph's life. They are strong statements, wrong statements, but they are strong nonetheless. When you begin to see where this kind of teaching places our faith and confidence, it's on us, on our ability to manufacture our own reality. Let's just bring this to its logical conclusion. If it is a guarantee that if I believe I am prosperous, that I will become prosperous, what happens when I'm not prosperous? Okay, what happens if I'm guaranteed healing, but I believe I should be healed, that I want to be healed, but I'm not healed? What does that mean? You can see the kind of burden that this places on people. Oh, well, I just need to believe harder. I just need to have more faith. That's why it's not happening for me, because obviously God guarantees that this is going to be happening as long as I just believe it in my heart so it will be, so I'm obviously not believing it hard enough. It's obviously my fault that I'm sick. This tremendous burden that is placed on people's shoulders is so counter to what Jesus invites us into. Here it says, Jesus says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Ultimately, when we can trust in the sovereignty of God, that God is in control. That is where we find rest, not in our ability to manufacture our own reality, because the universe will bring it to fruition, or God will bring it to fruition simply because that's what we wanted. He says, as you think in your heart, that is how your life is going to be, but we're missing out on some key teachings of the Bible. The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps. You can speak as many things as you want and believe as hard as you possibly can, but that does not guarantee you the result or outcome that you want. But if it's not part of God's will and plan, it won't happen. The truth is God is gracious to withhold things that we desire so that we can focus on him more fully and enjoy him more completely. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. I used to be consumed with five-year plans. I would make a new goal list every single year, set up benchmarks for myself that I would have expectations that I would reach. Ultimately, that was like my game plan, and there was nothing wrong with having goals, and I encourage you to write down your goals and have goals and have dreams. But ultimately, when I didn't reach one of those benchmarks, when I wanted to, I would question God and say, God, why aren't you giving me this thing that I want that is good when I want it? Don't you love me? In those moments, he was teaching me to not put all my emotional and spiritual weight on those desires being fulfilled or those dreams being fulfilled or reaching those benchmarks, but rather to hold them with open hands to say, God, look, these are the things that are on my heart right now, but I give them up to you. If you want to bring them to fruition, then do it. But if you think that if they're not the right thing, then take it away from me, destroy it, crush it, so that I can more deeply focus on you and find my joy in you and not just the things and dreams and desires that I have in my own heart. Honestly, that is one of the toughest prayers you will ever pray, but it is so freeing for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God has already prepared work for us beforehand. It's not about us trying to manipulate God's plan, but rather trusting in what he's already written. The goal is as you enter this process of growing more and more like Jesus, your prayers and your plans gradually begin to get closer and closer with God's heart, that his desires become your desires, that his wants become your wants, that your dreams are the dreams that God wants for you. Ultimately, it's about relying daily on God to guide us and lead us in every step. The sad fact is many Christians have incorporated some level of manifestation into their Christian or spiritual walk. They have effectively appointed themselves as little gods who can manipulate their world like they're in Minecraft. But why do we do this? I think a lot of it is motivated by fear and anxiety and worry. We would rather trust ourselves and our own ability to control our lives than trust in the character of God, to believe him that his plan is good, to believe his promises. We have so much faith in ourselves and so little in God that taking the reins is the only thing that can ease our souls. But I want to invite you into this prayer to let go. God, I give you everything. I give you my life. I give you my plans. I give you what I'm going to do today, what I'm going to do tomorrow. Guide me. Lead me. I want to rest in you and your sovereignty. You can trust that God's plan is best, but unfortunately for a lot of people that are watching this pastor, Andrew Wormack's videos, their definition of what is best is in alignment with what God's definition is. It's not about money or living your best life. Now, God's best means trials, tribulations, but also finding deep joy in God. It means sickness, but it also means getting to experience and rejoice in the blessings of what God has provided for us and the things that we don't deserve and yet we get to experience. This is God's best that we can glorify him even through the trials and the struggles of our life that our eyes would be continually focused on Jesus and not the things of this world. That is what is best. At the end of the day, it truly comes down to do we want God or do we just want his stuff? Because this kind of new age Christianity is concerned with how we can manipulate our lives in such a way where we get what we want. But true biblical Christianity offers something so much greater redemption, freedom from sin, a restored relationship with God and inheritance into eternal life into his family. That is true prosperity. Thanks so much for watching this video, guys. If you enjoyed it and got something from it, I encourage you to give it a like down below and subscribe because I'm putting out new videos all the time. This content is made possible by my patrons on Patreon. If you want to support my mission of equipping people to follow Jesus daily, hit the link in my description and sign up today. It would be a huge blessing. I'll see you next time. God bless.