“Is there power in positive confession?”……Positive confession is the practice of saying aloud what you want to happen with the expectation that God will make it a reality. It’s popular among prosperity gospel adherents who claim that words have spiritual power and that, if we speak aloud the right words with the right faith, we can gain riches and health, bind Satan, and accomplish anything we want.

To confess positively is to speak words that we believe or want to believe, thus making them reality.

This is opposed to negative confession, which is to acknowledge hardships, poverty, and illness and thus (supposedly) accept them and refuse the ease, wealth, and health God has planned for us.……There are several things wrong with this philosophy.

The most dangerous is the belief that words have a kind of spiritual, magical power that we can use to get what we want.

The practice borrows not from biblical truths, but from a new age concept called the “law of attraction.” It teaches that “like attracts like”-a positive statement or thought will draw a positive reaction.

Everything is imbued with God’s presence and power-not "God" as the omnipresent Creator, but "god" in a Hindu/pantheistic way.

The net result is the idea that our words hold the power to force God to give us what we want-a heretical belief.

Additionally, the results attributed to positive confession are powered by the faith of the individual.

This leads to the old belief that illness and poverty are a type of punishment for sin (in this case, lack of faith). John 9:1-3…As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 "Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?"3 "It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins," Jesus answered. "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

and the entire book of Job refute this soundly.……The second problem is that the prosperity gospel misinterprets the promises of God. "Confession" is agreeing with what God has said;

“Positive confession” is demanding human desires.

People who push positive confession say that the practice is merely restating God’s promises as given in the Bible. …But they don’t differentiate between universal promises God made to all His followers Philippians 4:19…19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.…andpersonal promises made to individuals at a certain time for a particular purpose (e.g., Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

They also misinterpret the promises God does give us, refusing to accept that God’s plan for our lives may not match up with our own

Isaiah 55:9

9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways…and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

A carefree, perfect life is the antithesis of what Jesus said the Christian life would look like–and the lives that His followers lived. Jesus didn’t promise prosperity;

He promised hardship (Matthew 8:20).

He didn’t promise that our every want would be fulfilled;

He promised we’d have what we need Philippians 4:19…19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

He didn’t promise peace in a family;

He promised that families would have problems as some chose to follow Him and some didn’t Matthew 10:34-36…34 "Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.35 'I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,…and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!'(Mic 7:6).…And He didn’t promise health; …He promised to fulfil His plan for us and grace in the trials2 Corinthians 12:7-10…7 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Another issue with positive confession is that, although the “confessions” are understood to refer to things in the future, many of the statements are simply lies.

Certainly, verbally affirming one’s faith in God and deliverance by the sacrifice of Jesus is good.

But proclaiming, “I always obey God,” or, “I am wealthy,” is deceptive and possibly against the very will of the God we are to cling to.

Especially disturbing are the “confessions” about other people. God has given each of us the freedom to serve Him or rebel against Him in our individual ways; claiming otherwise is foolish.……Finally, the Bible is very clear that “negative confession” does not negate God's blessings. The Psalms are filled with cries to God for deliverance and we should follow that example

Psalm 55:22

22 Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

1 Peter 5:7

7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Even Jesus went before the Heavenly Father with a clear eye on the situation and a request for aid

Matthew 26:39

39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."

The God of the Bible is not a cosmic Santa Claus

James 4:1-3

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong-you want only what will give you pleasure.

He is a loving Father who wants to be involved in His children’s lives-the good and the bad.

It is when we humble ourselves and ask for help that He gives us either release from the circumstances or strength to get through them.……Does positive confession have any value?

In a way. Those who are confident they can solve a problem are generally more relaxed and creative.

An optimistic mood has been shown to improve health.

Happy people often have enough emotional distance between themselves and others to pick up on subtle clues which could lead to successful personal and business transactions. In addition, consistently voicing one’s goals keeps those goals on the forefront; those who constantly think about getting more money will act accordingly.……The dangers of positive confession far outweigh the benefits.

All of the advantages we've listed are psychological and somewhat physiological-not spiritual.

The only spiritual benefit to be had is the fact that people who expect God to move are more likely to see God’s hand in situations.

But words are not magic.

Our role with our Heavenly Father is not to demand, but to ask for help and to trust.

And to realize that our blessings are not dependent on the strength of our faith, but on His plan and His power.

…