I declare...shenanigans

So if you don't know, I love to read...all the time. Recently, my book list has consisted of various things from Christian authors and I've loved all of them, they have all taught me so much and challenged me in the best of ways. But last night I picked up a new book, which was recommended by someone I really look up to so I thought I'd give it a shot. So I read the book I Declare by Joel Osteen. About 5 pages into it, I knew something was off with what this guy was saying...I finished it for the sake of being able to talk about it and why I think it's flawed.
Basically, this book is a month's worth (31) declarations to speak of your life to make it better. Um, ok. The thing is it's all "health and wealth preaching" which tells you that if you just speak favor over everything in your life, it'll all be glitter and rainbows. You'll get that promotion, get well, people will go out of their way to be nice to you. I don't know what Bible Mr. Osteen is reading, but mine doesn't say that...in fact, based on what I've read, this type of teaching is one of the most dangerous things that people can encounter. Why do I say that? Because even Jesus said it wouldn't be easy to follow Him...Matthew 8:20 says,

"Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Jesus was telling a would be follower, "Hey man, I'm homeless, follow me and you will be too...is it worth it to you?" 

Have you read 2 Timothy 3:12 lately? It says,

 "In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

Wait, persecuted? That can't be right, can it? I mean, according to Joel Osteen, all I have to do is speak favor and people will want to be awesome to me. I Declare says that, "You need to prepare for an exceeding, abundant, above-and-beyond life; a life where people go out of their way for no reason to be good to you; a life where you get promoted even though you weren't the most qualified; a life where you find yourself in the right place at the right time." Hold up, that doesn't sound anything like what we find in 1 John 3:13 which says,

  "Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you."

So what happens when things aren't good? What happens when you're speaking favor over your life but you aren't suddenly rich  or don't have people tripping over themselves to be good to you? Well, maybe you aren't doing something right...because Joel Osteen clearly says that everything will be awesome all the time if you simply "speak to you mountains" and they will fall. He even says, "You may be praying about things you should be speaking to. You don't need to pray about that fear anymore," and "If you have health problems, instead of begging God to heal you, you need to declare to that sickness, "Sickness, you have no right in my body. I'm a child of the Most High God..." 

Maybe I'm missing them, but I'm not seeing any verses about declaring things better...there are, however, numerous verses about praying. Take Philippians 4:6 for example:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present you requests to God."

So when people think that everything will be good, but it's hard...or when they've been told they can just tell their problems to go away and they will, but they don't...how does that leave people feeling? What about when a famous pastor has told them that all of these things will come to pass because of the fact that they are favored by God? Think that leaves them really wanting to know God and trust Him with everything? Or will it leave them blaming God for things that don't go as planned in life? I personally think it leads to nothing good and could create some serious trust issues between us and God who we should be trusting with every part of our being.

I don't mean to entirely bash Joel Osteen and his teaching here because I do think that there is a great amount of good that comes from a positive attitude in life...I think all of this is just poorly, and somewhat incorrectly presented. I believe that people need to be presented with the truth that truly living for God isn't easy, it's worth it though. I also believe that something not taken into account in this book is the fact that this positive attitude is a product of joy...joy that comes only from the presence of God in our lives, not telling ourselves to be happy all the time.

So why am I ranting about this? It's unrealistic. It tells people basically that life is always easy and favored when you live for God...but it's not. Life still gets hard, people die, jobs are lost, we get sick...when these things happen, we can turn them over to God or try to deal with them on our own. I think that "declaring" things better is just another feeble human attempt to play God...and when that doesn't work, we get frustrated and think that God isn't showing us the favor we deserve and that's when people turn their backs on God. And that's why "health and wealth" preaching like this is dangerous. 

Life with God is awesome, but it's not always easy and we can't just speak ease into existence and I pray that you and I always remember that.