Has Manifestation Found Its Way Into Your Prayer Life?

Has Manifestation Found Its Way Into Your Prayer Life?

Posted on by Michele Morin

“I’m manifesting a new job in 2026.”
“I’m manifesting a quick end to the unrest in Iran.”
“Let’s manifest solid growth in our church this year.”

Manifest was the Cambridge Dictionary word of the year in 2024. Since 2020, public figures and influencers have been writing articles and social media posts that encourage women to “manifest anything you desire.” In other words, just picture your best life and bring it to pass, whether it requires a husband, a cure for your cancer, or a profitable new business.

I was asked recently, “What’s the difference between prayer and the practice of manifestation?” I had to look it up, of course, and discovered that to “manifest”1 is to “attempt to attain something desired by thinking or focusing intensely on it, especially as a spiritual or self-help practice.” It involves visualization and affirmation as one imagines achieving something, with the notion that imagining it will make it happen.

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that in our era of expressive individualism, we have come up with a “spiritual practice” that does away with the middleman (who in this case happens to be the God of the universe) and puts the emphasis on the force of our own will. However, I wonder if even firm believers in the efficacy and necessity of prayer have become susceptible to the practice of manifestation in the way we frame our prayers.

I wonder if even firm believers in the efficacy and necessity of prayer have become susceptible to the practice of manifestation in the way we frame our prayers.

As co-creators with God, certainly, we are invited to make plans and then work to achieve our goals. The difference comes with our posture toward the end result. In prayer, we present our desires under the proviso, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” There is no formula for achieving an answer from God, and God will not be manipulated.

When our prayers to God are offered with white-knuckled control over the outcome, we are trying to usurp God’s sovereignty, omnipotence, and omniscience, three of God’s incommunicable attributes (traits God does not share with his creation). Genuine prayer, instead, celebrates our creaturely limitations and exalts God’s right to call the shots.

Counterfeit prayer keeps me in the driver’s seat.
Genuine prayer acknowledges my dependence upon a good God who can do what I cannot, and whose vision for me is far greater than I can ask or imagine.

Holding You in the Light,

Genuine prayer acknowledges my dependence upon a good God who can do what I cannot, and whose vision for me is far greater than I can ask or imagine.

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  1. From dictionary.com ↩︎
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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four married sons and a growing fleet of adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

25 thoughts on “Has Manifestation Found Its Way Into Your Prayer Life?”

  1. Bullseye! My take on this is that it’s not new but quite ancient. It’s satan’s old whispers in our ears that we can be gods. I think the acronym for prayer ACTS is way better than manifesting. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. 

    T.Austin-Sparks summed this up long ago – “Only that which was the energy of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the power of Christ, will remain. God is not using your energies and my energies. He is calling upon us to use the energies of Christ. God cannot set His seal upon anything that is of man.”

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  2. Wow, Michele. You wouldn’t believe how timely this is. We do prison ministry and had a long discussion about this issue with the inmates yesterday. Thank you for your words.

    Linda

    Linda MacKillop/Author lindamackillop.com https://lindamackillop.com/ Substack: The Backstory https://lindamackillop.substack.com/

    Hotel Oscar Mike Echo https://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Oscar-Mike-Echo-Novel-ebook/dp/B0C7774LLX?ref_=ast_author_dp&th=1&psc=1The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Life-Eva-Gordon-Novel/dp/0825447321/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FKGBXEZ7XIAJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.m3eYI4gz0Xl8o2Jy2Pr4fs0W-sXBihAJ7Tu1PKQ-veg.9BNpBai1eOznCz2xxnMEzSKYg49yUTc_wz-h8IVAR30&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+forgotten+life+of+eva+gordon&qid=1761150081&sprefix=%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-1

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  6. One of the first times I heard manifestation mentioned in this way was in a TV game show. The winner said she manifested the outcome. I thought, “What?!” and had to look up what she was talking about. You’d think it would fail often enough to convince people there was nothing to it, unless there’s some satanic deception involved. We used to watch a TV show called “Manifest” about a group of airline passengers who mysteriously went missing for five years–now I am wondering if the manifest they were talking about wasn’t the passenger list, but this type of spirituality.

    I’m thankful I don’t have to depend on my own wisdom and power! I can trust God’s.

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    1. I agree! It does seem that the failure rate would stamp out the trend, but I wonder if it’s predominantly a practice among the privileged and the powerful who have a lot of ability to shape their own destiny (at least as they see it…).

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Thank you for enlightening me, Michele. I hadn’t heard of this practice, “manifestation.” With Barbara Harper above I’m relieved that ISDON’T to have to depend on myself. No doubt I would’ve made a mess of my life!

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  8. Michele – Thank you for an enlightening word. I’m in the midst of dealing with some challenges that seem to be in the way of promises God has given us… and It’s very tempting sometimes to think that “keeping faith” might be something like “manifesting.” – It’s not. I believe God’s promises but I also know has millions of ways of answering prayers, and it’s usually not the way I expected. He’s still sovereign, he’s still in charge and he still loves me more than anything else I could “want’> So, I’m holding on and believing that. God bless – I don’t always get to read your posts but when I do I’m often uplifted by them.

    Ray CarboneCarbone Productions, LLC 35 Baptist Road, #6-BCanterbury, New Hampshire 03224603/520-6964 https://www.linkedin.com/in/raycarbone/

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  10. I’ve often heard of praying for a manifestation of the Spirit, which I took to mean praying for an awareness of God’s presence. I certainly never thought of manifesting myself!

    As always, you’ve said it like no other: “Genuine prayer … exalts God’s right to call the shots.”

    Amen! He knows more than me.

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    1. A manifestation of the Spirit is biblical and something we desire. This trend of “manifesting” something is not that different from “wishing makes it so.”
      And I’m so grateful for God’s blessed no’s that have come over the years.

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  11. Michelle,

    Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by!! I truly appreciate it…I hope you are having a great week!!

    Hugs,

    Deb

    Debbie-Dabble Blog

    Liked by 1 person

  12. […] Has Manifestation Found Its Way Into Your Prayer Life? “It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that in our era of expressive individualism, we have come up with a ‘spiritual practice’ that does away with the middleman (who in this case happens to be the God of the universe) and puts the emphasis on the force of our own will. However, I wonder if even firm believers in the efficacy and necessity of prayer have become susceptible to the practice of manifestation in the way we frame our prayers.” […]

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