Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on “Name it and Claim it”
August 28th, 2006 by Stephen
Someone I knew prayed for healing and did not receive it. I recounted this to another Christian and his reply was: “it would seem he never claimed his healing, which would make me totally unsurprised that he didn’t receive it. You can’t receive something you don’t receive. ”
One might suppose that this person passionately believed he knew something about this subject that was not known to myself and my friend, but to me it seemed insensitive – as though we must understand the secret formula required to see God heal.
It may be that Christian TV evangelists and purveyors of “TV dinner” Christianity are to blame for this, making it look as though one can simply turn on blessing from God as though the Holy Spirit were on tap.
Fortunately we can turn to the common (or is it uncommon?) sense of a man such as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who said (when discussing the gifts of the Spirit):
“Secondly, we must never use the word ‘claim’. It is incompatible with sovereignty. People say, ‘Claim this gift; claim healing.’ You cannot claim healing. The Apostle himself claimed healing three times and did not get it. Never claim; never even use the word. We are to submit ourselves – it is the Spirit who gives. The claiming of gifts, or claiming even the baptism of the Spirit, is something that is clearly incompatible with the whole of the New Testament emphasis. No, no, he is Lord, he controls and he gives. You can supplicate but you must never claim. Never!”
