The Biblical Key to Claiming Prophetic Promises

There is a fascinating story in Second Samuel about how to respond to a prophetic promise from God.

The Lord gave David an awesome word through the prophet Nathan. It had multiple elements, but it ended with a promise to establish David’s house, his kingdom, and his throne forever (2 Sam. 7:16). David’s lineage would sit on an everlasting throne, fulfilling the ancient promise that the scepter would not depart from Judah (Gen. 49:10). David responded very humbly, gratefully, and worshipfully, of course, because this was an unprecedented promise from God and huge in the history of His people and this world. It would ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus, the descendant of David who reigns forever. Clearly this was something that was on God’s heart to do.

But after David finished expressing his thankfulness for this extraordinary prophecy, he prayed that this promise would come about:

Now, O Lord God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as You have said. So let Your name be magnified forever, saying, “The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel.” And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, “I will build you a house.” Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You (2 Samuel 7:25-27).

Why would David pray back to God the very thing God just said He was going to do? If this was God’s plan, why did David feel the need to say, “Yes, do this, I pray that You will fulfill this word”? Because God wants us to respond to His promises with faith, to speak them out, and actually to wage war with them. He doesn’t want us to assume the fulfillment will drop into our laps. He wants us to activate and go to battle with the promises He has given.

The way we wage war with His promises is to open our mouths and pray them. They become part of our prayer life, our declarations and decrees, our insistence in faith that His will be done. According to Scripture, there is nothing wrong with praying God’s promises as though they are still in need of a response. Many of them are invitations, not inevitabilities. Jesus said to ask, and we will receive. He said to speak to the mountains in order for them to move. This may be subtle in Mary’s response to Gabriel, but she essentially had the same response that David did: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). We stand on what God has said by faith and pray that it will happen as He has said.

Here’s what that looks like: “Father, I’m asking for this with thankfulness. I’m not going to worry about it and question whether it will happen. I’m going to ask. And I’m going to believe, speak, and persevere.” We pray back to the Father what He has said to us and believe that He is true to His Word.

Many times we begin to worry, even over things God has very clearly spoken in His Word. And in our worry, we forget to actually ask. But God gives us such wonderful promises—everything we need pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3)—for us to use as a basis for asking. When we know His Word, we can know His will. And when we know His will, we can ask with holy confidence for what He has said.

I hear many Christians say they don’t know if God wants to heal them or not. But the Bible tells us that the Son of God came to destroy the works of the evil one (1 John 3:8). It tells us that Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the enemy (Matt. 8:16; 12:15; 14:14; 15:30; Mark 6:56; Luke 4:40; 6:19; 9:11). So it is very clear that it is God’s will to heal because Jesus is the exact image of God (Heb. 1:3), and He healed them all. Isaiah says that by Jesus’ stripes, we are healed (Isa. 53:5). John prayed in the will of God when he asked that we would prosper and be in health just as our souls prosper (3 John 2). So we can take these promises and pray them. We can go ahead and ask God for healing and then thank Him for the healing because He said that’s what He would do.

Holy Confidence in the Lord

This holy confidence in asking and receiving is not presumption or arrogance. It comes from knowing who God is and carrying what the world needs from Him. Jesus was excited when He told the disciples it was better for Him to go away so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7). His Spirit would then live inside of everyone who believes and empower them to do the works Jesus did, and even greater works than these. That’s how good it’s supposed to be for those who believe the promises and know how to wage war with them.

Jesus had holy confidence. When He was talking with the woman at the well, He told her that if she knew who He was, she would be asking Him for a drink of living water. That’s not arrogance or presumption. He just knew who He was, and He knew He had something to give her that could change her life. In the same way, we need to realize who we are and what we have to give the world. We have Christ within us, the hope of glory. It’s no longer we who live but Christ who is alive in us. We need to start believing that, not with head knowledge but with a heart passion, absolutely convinced that as He is, so are we in this world.

The Holy Spirit is bringing an awakening that causes the sons and daughters of God to wake up and realize the treasure and the glory we have within us, not from our own merits but from the extravagant gift of God. We need to be able to ask for God’s promises to be fulfilled for us, in us, and through us, not as beggars who are thirsty for a drop of mercy but as children of God who are filled with His Spirit and co-heirs with Jesus. We need to know who we are.

Until we know what we look like, we can’t have the confidence to receive God’s promises as co-heirs with Jesus, or to manifest who He is in this world. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he.” If you think you’re just a Christian who has attended a few events and heard about healing and prophetic ministries, you might be persuaded to give it a go and see how it works out for you. That’s a great start. But it would be much more powerful if you reckoned yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ and realized that He is the one alive in you. The same Jesus who walked the earth and healed them all is the One who is at work within you to continue doing His works. You don’t have just a little bit of Him. You have Him—His Spirit. He is your new identity.