Do you believe in “manifestation”?
Actor Tom Holland does. “I genuinely believe in manifestation,” he says. “I have been so lucky in life. If I want something, it seems like all I have to do is say it in an interview and a couple years later it will come true.”
Pop-singer Dua Lipa does. “Manifesting is a big thing for me,” she admits. “I stand very firmly in the belief of putting things into the world. Subconsciously, you just work towards them. Nothing’s ever too big.”
Does manifesting actually work? It may seem so at first glance. Among the things Holland believes he has manifested: portraying Spider-Man, working with director Chris Nolan, and his relationship with Zendaya. Dua Lipa’s rise to stardom looks pretty magical too.
But manifesting has a dark side.
What Is Manifesting?
Manifesting, as it is generally talked about today, means thinking about your goals, practicing positive affirmations (like: “I am slender, strong, and physically fit”), and using techniques like vision boards to attract success, wealth, or specific life changes.
That doesn’t sound so bad. Want good grades? A relationship with your biggest crush? A million dollars in your bank account? Believe hard enough, and the universe will give you what you want … they say.
But at its core, manifesting is the belief that you can cause things to come into existence through the power of your mind. It is the “art, science and magic of attracting positive energy into your life through internal focus and meditation, and harnessing that energy to achieve material results.”
Sounds a little suspect—doesn’t it?
The Key Message of Manifesting
Modern manifestation practices trace back to a 19th-century New England faith healer named Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. He wondered why some of his patients got better yet others didn’t, even though he gave them the same treatment. He concluded the difference was his patients’ mindset—some of them wanted to get better more than others did. The ones who wanted to get well the most were the ones who lived. Quimby’s theory became known as New Thought or Mind Cure, and it led to self-help books like “Think and Grow Rich” and the teachings of prosperity-gospel evangelists.
But let’s be honest: The idea that what you believe and know determines your destiny goes back much further than the 19th century. Remember what the serpent told Eve in the Garden of Eden?
“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Satan was promising that if you followed his way, you would gain special knowledge that would make you godlike—able to control your own destiny. Essentially, you can define good and evil for yourself and create the reality you want.
At its root, manifesting is about YOU getting what YOU want and being in charge of YOUR own life. In a word, it’s about SELF.
Manifesting vs. True Faith
Does manifesting work? Well, it depends. It is based on a truth about how God set up the universe. But it is important to distinguish between godly faith and worldly “manifesting.”
“So Jesus said to them, … ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matthew 17:20).
Faith really does make things happen. Jesus assures us of that. Even tiny faith (a mustard seed is one to two millimeters in diameter) can move mountains of difficulty.
There are two aspects to faith. Manifesting gets the first one right, but totally misses the second one:
1) Faith gives you the hope and courage to actually work toward your goals.
That alone can make a lot happen.
But true faith has another aspect (and this one is the most important):
2) Faith works because God works. True faith connects you with God, surrenders to His plans, and gives Him permission to work in your life.
But manifesting tells us to put our faith in ourselves or the universe, not in God. If nothing else, that’s shortsighted idolatry.
But there is another, very practical reason manifesting is dangerous: We don’t know everything.
Do you believe that our God is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing? If so, then don’t you think that trusting Him with the future is the best thing you can do?
Often, what we think we want isn’t what’s best for us. Consider Solomon: God made him the wisest person ever because he asked for wisdom instead of wealth. (See 1 Kings 3:5–14.) Unfortunately, Solomon used his prodigious mind to “manifest” all that his heart desired—women, houses, servants, fame, success. But all that led Solomon away from the Lord. “His heart was not loyal to the LORD his God” (1 Kings 11:4).
He got what his flesh wanted, but in the end, he testified, “I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).
There’s a very high likelihood that manifesting your dreams would lead you away from God too. (Need another example? Read 2 Kings 20—when God gave Hezekiah what he asked for and it turned out to be a disaster.)
True Faith
Do you want to know what true faith looks like?
Then look at Jesus fighting temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). Three times Satan tempted our Savior to be selfish: 1) make food for yourself, 2) get all the wealth of the world for cheap, 3) have God save you from an adrenaline rush. Each time, Jesus refused to do something just for Himself.
He did the same thing at His death. He had the power to save Himself and get down off the cross. Instead, He stayed there so that you and I could be saved. That’s real faith.
True faith is putting your complete trust in our all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father in heaven. It’s believing what He says in the Bible is true and acting on it, because you know God has the best possible plans. It’s living on purpose for God’s glory and others’ benefit, rather than your own.
Do you want to be truly successful? Don’t manifest. Instead, choose to have faith in God.
Want to know how true faith works? Check out this presentation: “A Faith that Really Works.”