Ecclesiastes 8:8 and the Myth of “I Declare and I Decree”
(TLYM Online Blog Post)
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👨🏫 Introduction: Can Human Words Control Reality?
In recent years, the phrases “I declare” and “I decree” have become common in many prayer gatherings. These statements often imply that believers possess **God-like authority** to speak things into existence, control outcomes, or command circumstances into alignment.
But is this biblical?
Ecclesiastes 8:8 provides a powerful corrective—a text that humbles human pride and recenters divine sovereignty:
👉 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.” (Ecclesiastes 8:8, ESV)
This verse stands as a direct challenge to the modern “declare and decree” movement.
This blog post explores how Ecclesiastes 8:8 exposes the limits of human authority and affirms that only God decrees. Man does not.
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👨🏫 Human Authority Is Limited — Radically Limited
Solomon uses four unchangeable realities to remind humanity of its powerlessness:
1. We cannot control our breath.
Human life is fragile and dependent.
2. We cannot stop death.
God alone appoints the hour.
3. We cannot avoid the unavoidable.
Hard realities—symbolized by “war”—cannot be wished away.
4. We cannot outsmart God’s judgment.
Wickedness offers no escape or deliverance.
In short:
If man cannot control his life, breath, or death…
how can he control spiritual outcomes with spoken declarations?
Ecclesiastes 8:8 shatters the illusion that our words possess sovereign, creative power.
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👨🏫 God’s Decrees Are Unchangeable — Prayer Does Not Rewrite Them
Some may wonder:
If God decrees all things, can prayer change His mind?
Biblically, the answer is “no”.
My counsel shall stand. (Isa. 46:10)
God is not a man… that He should change His mind. (Num. 23:19)
“No purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)
Prayer is not a tool to bend “God’s will”—it is the means by which God accomplishes His will in us.
Prayer aligns the believer to God’s purposes.
It does “not” give the believer power to decree reality.
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👨🏫 Why Ecclesiastes 8:8 Refutes “I Declare and I Decree”
The “declare and decree” movement claims:
👉 Your words create your future
👉 You can call things into existence
👉 You can command outcomes
👉 You can decree healing, success, prosperity, victory
But Ecclesiastes 8:8 destroys this theology at its foundation.
If we cannot:
✅ extend our own life by one second
✅ stop our own death
✅ control the breath in our lungs
✅ escape the hard providences God sends
then we certainly cannot:
❌ decree financial breakthroughs
❌ decree healings
❌ decree territories
❌ decree destinies
❌ decree spiritual realities
The ability to decree belongs to God alone.
Man prays.
Man petitions.
Man trusts.
But “man does not decree”.
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👨🏫 Did Prophets Declare Things? Yes—But Not Like Modern Charismatics Teach
Prophets said:
“Thus says the LORD…”
This is key:
They were announcing God’s decree, not inventing their own.
No prophet ever said:
⛔ “I decree financial abundance”
⛔ “I decree healing”
⛔ “I decree a new season”
Such phrases are nowhere in Scripture.
The modern practice of decreeing is closer to “magic” than biblical theology—rooted in the belief that spoken words have inherent spiritual power.
Biblical Christianity teaches the opposite:
✅ “God decrees”.
✅ “We depend”.
✅ “He rules”.
✅ “We submit”.
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👨🏫 Theological Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 8:8 is a theological sledgehammer against human pride.
It teaches:
Man’s authority is limited.
Man’s life is fragile.
Man’s future is not self-created.
God alone orders life, death, blessings, and outcomes.
Thus:
The doctrine of “I declare and I decree” is not only unbiblical—
Ecclesiastes 8:8 directly contradicts it.
We cannot decree anything.
We can only pray, trust, and obey.
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👨🏫 Pastoral Reflection: True Prayer Is Submission, Not Control
