What does ‘Name it and Claim it” mean?

Answer:

"Name it and claim it" is the slogan of the Positive Confession movement, which also goes by the name Word-Faith. At the heart of the movement's teaching is that faith is what we say and not what we have in someone else. "The term "positive confession" refers to the teaching that words have creative power. What you say, Word-Faith teachers claim, determines everything that happens to you. Your "confessions," that is, the things you say -- especially the favors you demand of God -- must all be stated positively and without wavering. Then God is required to answer. Word-Faith believers view their positive confessions as an incantation by which they can conjure up anything they desire: "Believe it in your heart; say it with your mouth. That is the principle of faith. You can have what you say" (Charismatic Chaos, pp. 281, 285)." [Positive Confession/PMA by J. Beard]

The obvious problem is that it puts everything backward. The created is seen as being in control of the Creator.

"Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?" (Isaiah 29:16).

"Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'?" (Isaiah 45:9).

"Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!"" (Jeremiah 6:3-6).

"You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?" (Romans 9:19-21).

This movement loses sight that we may ask of God what we desire, but it is the Lord God who decides what is needful and what to give to His children. Just because we ask is no more guarantee that we will receive from God any more than earthly fathers grant their children's every request. Parents know that spoiling a child (giving them anything they want) is a quick way to raise an unappreciative brat. God knows this better than we do. This movement is nothing more than a thinly disguised form of materialism.

By strange coincident, this question came in the day before I received an article on a book by one of the famous "name it and claim it" promoters. Please see: "Your Best Life Now? Really?"