Is the Concept of “Manifesting” In the Bible?

Have you ever heard people talk about “manifesting” some blessing in their lives? If so, have you found yourself raising your eyebrows and wondering if they are dabbling in occultism, or if somehow this is simply a Biblical concept you’ve missed out on–and need to catch up on?

Is the concept of “manifesting” even in the Bible at all? Let’s look at the Scriptural truth behind this today!

I will start off by saying that I do not believe in certain kinds of “manifesting,” and I do believe in one other kind of “manifesting.” I do not believe the Word of God supports what most people think “manifesting” is.

But I absolutely do believe in one other use of the word, which I will explain shortly.

Here’s what many people mean when they say they “manifested” something:

Usually, when this comes up in conversation, people mean that they believe they brought forth some big blessing into their lives–something they didn’t have before, like a new car, house, spouse, baby, new job, et cetera. And they generally mean that they used some sort of self-help technique to do that, like speaking mantras, or vision boarding, or meditating on the thing, or similar acts.

Regarding the technique of speaking mantras:

I do not believe in “mantras” for their own sake. But, I do believe in speaking the Word of God out of your mouth. Isaiah 55:10-11 says this:

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11 NKJV).

Therefore, I do believe in speaking confessions of life, health, and hope out of your mouth, as long as you make sure that everything you say is based on the Word of God.

We are supposed to be like Jesus; therefore, we are supposed to only say what the Father says, and only do what the Father is doing. That’s what Jesus did.

Also, in the Bible, the Greek definition of “faith” REQUIRES both a deep, gut-level belief in a thing, PLUS the simultaneous speaking of that thing out loud. There’s no such thing as Biblical faith without verbal confession of what you believe. So speaking the Word of God out loud over yourself is absolutely vital to the Christian life.

Regarding the technique of making a vision board:

I absolutely believe that every person can and should write the vision down that our Heavenly Father has given them for their lives. Habakkuk chapter 2 is clear about this:

“Then the Lord answered me and said:

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:2-4 NKJV).

We simply MUST write the vision. And it is clear that people who read it (which could include even God and His angels) will “run”–in other words, get to work on the vision and actively pursue it–when they read the written vision.

Making a vision board is a fantastic way to write the vision. There are many other ways also, such as invoicing the treasury of Heaven; but, I absolutely believe every person should have a vision board. I have several, and I’ll keep making more as the Lord leads.

(The Lord sent me my miracle baby after 11 years of infertility when I made a vision board for a baby, writing down all the promises from Scripture the Lord had given me, and writing down our dreams for our son’s life. He’s an amazing child, now almost 7 years old, and he’s the greatest blessing of my life after Jesus and my husband.)

And about the technique of meditation:

I absolutely believe in meditating on God’s Word. Scripture commands us to do this throughout its pages.

However, many people “meditate” as a New Age practice, rather than meditating on God’s Word. I don’t believe in using the technique in any kind of New Age or occultish thing, obviously. Any occultic involvement is sin; Scripture expressly forbids it.

But, the concept of “meditating,” according to Scripture, simply means to ponder and think about a thing over and over, chewing on it like a cow chews its cud. That is absolutely a Biblical practice.

So you see that a “technique” is one thing, but where it is pointed is absolutely a totally different thing.

There’s nothing wrong with the words “manifest,” or “manifesting,” or “manifested,” or “manifestation” themselves. They are just words that have a literal, practical meaning. And exercising techniques and methods to reach goals is definitely a Scriptural concept.

But, it’s important to recognize Who the Source is of all things.

God is the only Source of all good things. And Jesus upholds the entire universe by the Word of His power, as we read in Hebrews 1:1-4:

Therefore, if you adopt the godly disciplines of meditating on Scripture, writing the vision, and confessing the Word out of your mouth …

… and IF you point those techniques toward God, as acts of obedience to Him …

… then you will be blessed. And you will be blessed because GOD will bless you for these acts of obedience.

But, it is possible to use those same techniques and point them toward what you believe is “your” power, or even toward the enemy through use of the occult, and then they would no longer be from the Lord.

The direction of your thoughts, the motive of your heart, and your core belief about WHO and WHAT are producing results for you make all the difference between godly versus ungodly, holy versus profane, in these situations.

But back to the concept of “manifesting”:

Here’s what I do not believe the Word of God supports:

The Word of God clearly does not support that we have any power at all, in and of ourselves. However, the Word of God does clearly state that we can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens us. Look at John 15:5 and Philippians 4:13:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NKJV).

And also:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV).

So, in order to see any blessing at all happen in our lives, we must depend solely on Jesus. We see blessings “manifest” in our lives when we obey God with all our hearts, depend on Him, pray in faith, and ask Him to move with specific requests.

But here’s why I do think that the word “manifest” is still important:

The word “manifest” addresses a very important concept that we all need to be praying about every day. Here’s why:

When you pray in faith and ask God for something that is His will for you (which is ANYTHING the Bible says you can have or ought to have), He immediately says “yes” to your prayers.

To shore up your faith on this point, look at Mark 11:22-24:

“So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:22-24 NKJV).

But the problem is …

• even though God says “yes” to your prayer at the very moment you pray …
• … which means the thing you prayed for is yours in that very moment that you prayed …
• … there is often a gap in time between the moment you prayed versus the moment you actually see the thing appear visibly and tangibly in your life.

That gap in time can be very frustrating, because God’s Word says that we have to BELIEVE that we have received the thing the moment we pray. Yet, we don’t see anything change until God gets good and ready to send it to us visibly and tangibly.

The key to understanding that gap in time is this:

The thing you asked God for IS yours, positionally. In other words:

• God has said “yes” to your prayers;
• He has ascribed that thing to your account;
• He’s working on all the factors involved with getting you that item at the exact right time, as only He understands timing; and
• You will see it … in time.

The thing you prayed for really is yours when you ask. And God expects you to believe that, confess it, and thank Him for it. He even expects you to prepare by faith for its imminent arrival into your hands. In other words:

• If you prayed for a baby, start getting that nursery ready and taking your pre-natal vitamins.
• If you prayed for a new job, get out your interviewing outfit and press it. Brush up your curriculum vitae and start applying for every job you can find that you might enjoy. A new job is coming!
• If you prayed for a new house, start getting your old one ready to sell!

If you really believe that God gave you what you asked for the moment you prayed, you’ll act like it. Faith without works is dead. “Acting like it” demonstrates your faith and pleases God.

However, there is a gap in time between when we ask for the thing and the moment we experience the thing in our hands.

God does send immediate, visible answers to our prayers sometimes. But, very often, the thing we prayed for doesn’t show up immediately.

It might not take very long to receive the answer, but it does frequently take some time. and of course, sometimes it takes a very long time. (Abraham waited for decades for his miracle baby, but God sure did a good job in sending that baby at the right time!)

Nevertheless, the Word of God is true. You still received the thing the moment you prayed. You might not have it in your hands yet, but it has been ascribed to your account in Heaven, and it belongs to you.

And so we must thank God for it and believe that we have the thing, the very moment we pray.

But between the moment you pray and the moment you can touch the answer, you must still contend for the answer to come.

Jesus taught us in Luke 18 that persistent, fervent prayer is necessary. Even though God sometimes bears long with us, He will speedily come with His visible answer at the right time. So we have to keep praying.

But what are you supposed to pray for during that time?

After all, you might ask, “If the thing belongs to me, and God assigned it to my account the moment I prayed, why do I need to keep on asking Him for it?” And that would be a good point.

But here’s the key:

You don’t have to ask Him for it. However, you DO have to ask Him for the thing to appear in your life.

And the whole time, you aggressively THANK Him for it, confessing your faith to Him that He IS keeping His promise, and that the thing is yours, and that He will send it into visible manifestation at the right time.

This is what I consider to be the correct, Biblical usage of the concept of “manifesting.”

This is how they prayed in the Bible. Look at this Scripture:

“Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.

Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil.

Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:13-17).

This Psalm was written by Moses–a man who knew God face to face. And look at the cry of Moses’ heart here:

• He knew God was compassionate, yet he begged God to demonstrate–or “manifest”–His compassion to His people at that moment.
• He asked for God’s mercy (i.e. merciful help) to come early: in other words, sooner rather than later.
• He prayed “Let Your work APPEAR to Your servants” (capitalization mine). Why pray that? Because Holy Spirit led him to. He knew the holy dichotomy between the fact that God had done a thing, but that he (Moses) couldn’t see or touch it yet. So Moses was contending for the thing to appear in his and the people’s lives.

“Let Your work appear to Your servants.”

I believe that that, my friend, is EXACTLY what we mean when we talk about “manifesting” in a godly way. “Let Your work appear to Your servants.” When we pray that, we are acknowledging that God has done the work, but that we don’t see it yet. So we are contending–begging Him, really–for Him to push through the work into visible, tangible manifestation in our lives.

So yes, the concept of manifestation is in the Bible. “Manifestation” just means you can see and touch that blessing. But we have to keep our facts straight about Who brings that blessing to us, and what causes Him to do so.

Long story short, here is what I believe:

The concept of “manifesting” is actually in the Bible, but only in its literal definition. All the techniques one uses to obtain things in the Kingdom must be pointed at Jesus. We believe God, pray, fast, and contend until we see God bring us the manifestation of His promises in full, visible form.

And we know we have a thing the moment we pray for it, but we keep on contending until we can see it, touch it, experience it, and reap the benefits of it in our lives.

Christians should NEVER hold any faith in our own natural fleshly ability, or even in some sort of mystical power that “manifests” things when we say the right mantras, make the right vision boards, or meditate in and of those activities’ own merit.

But, God will honor those disciplines as acts of obedience to His principles, even for unsaved people. His principles work, even for unsaved people. But they work because GOD is doing the working, even for unsaved people.

So go ahead: Pray for things to manifest in your life today.

If you’re praying with a right heart, focused fully on Jesus, then when you pray for things to manifest, you’re really asking God to close the gap between what is yours positionally, because you’ve asked Him for it and His Word promises that He said yes, and what you get to experience, see, and touch in daily life.

“Let Your work appear to Your servants.” We have to keep on praying for God’s blessings to manifest, all the way until we see with our natural eyes absolutely everything we’ve asked for.

Does this explanation of Biblical versus unbiblical “manifesting” help you? If so, leave a comment below!