| Written By Administrator Friday, 17 July 2009 |
Philippians 2:9 to 11
"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father".
There is no other name that Heaven so respects and Hell more trembles at
than at the name of Jesus. At the very mention of this name, God responds
and Satan runs away.
What's so great in a name?
A name represents a person. In the Bible, it stands for a person- his
nature, character and personality.
When we think of a certain name, we immediately see in our minds a person
and that person's character.
Let us look at two very familiar verses:
Psalm 9:10 "Those who know Your name will trust in You."
What does this mean? It certainly does not mean that those who know that
God's name is Jehovah will put their trust in Him as a result. Rather, the
psalmist is declaring that "anyone who knows who You are, what kind of God
You are" will respond in trust and commitment.
Proverbs 18:10 "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to
it and are safe."
How is the name of the Lord a strong tower? When the Enemy attacks us, we
meditate and focus on the Lord's character and His nature. We find refuge
in who God is. As a result, His name becomes a fortress over our life and
we are protected from all harm and evil.
What happens at the mention of Jesus' name?
The verse we read right at the top declares that at the name of Jesus, there
is such power and authority released that every situation must immediately
respond in one way: by submitting to the Lordship of Christ (or) by giving
way to the plan of Christ. In other words, whenever and wherever the name
of Jesus is exalted, He begins to have His own way there!
At the name of Jesus, sin has to bow. This is why salvation is released
when a person calls on the name of the Lord (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:13).
At the name of Jesus, sickness has to bow. This is why healing is released
in His name and the sick are cured (Acts 3:6).
At the name of Jesus, Satan must bow. This is why deliverance from evil
powers takes place as His name is proclaimed (Acts 16:18).
Because all power and authority has been given to Jesus, His lordship is
exercised in any matter where His name is mentioned!
How do we experience the manifestation of Christ’s lordship and authority
through His name?
1) Depends on the depth of our relationship with Jesus
John 16:26,27- I am giving you the authority and right to use My name before
the Father because you have loved Me and have believed in me. (Paraphrase)
The disciples had the right to use the name of Jesus because they had a
personal relationship with Him. This is why Peter said to the crippled man
at the Temple, “Silver or gold I do not have but WHAT I HAVE I give you. In
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6).
Acts 19:13 to 16- The sons of Sceva tried to invoke the name of the Lord
Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of
Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” The evil spirit
answered them, “Jesus I know and I know Paul, but who are you?” Then the man
who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave
them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
These Jews got such a treatment because they had no personal bonding with
Christ.
There must be a 'personal submission' to the lordship of Christ before 'our
situations' can submit to the lordship of Christ. It is foolish to expect
God to work in the 'area of our circumstances' if we do not want Him to work
in the 'area of our character'. Does this mean that only a perfect
Christian can experience the power in Jesus’ name? No, but we do need to be
serious in our walk with God in order to have His authority released and
activated in the different areas of our life.
2) Depends on our humility towards God
John 16:23,24- The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Acts 4:30- Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous wonders
through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.
When I tell a person, “Go in my name”, I mean, “Go as my representative”.
When Jesus says, “Ask in My name”, He means, “Ask as my representative”.
When we pray in the name of Jesus, we are telling the Father that we want
Him to answer us because we belong to Jesus, because we are representatives
of Jesus.
We must remember that no matter how much we grow in our walk with God, it is
not our personal achievements that give us favour with the Father and obtain
answers to prayer from Him; but it is our personal trust in Jesus that gives
us access and answers from Him (John 16:27; Ephesians 2:18).
When a person respects a representative and grants favours to him, it is not
because of how great that particular person is but only because of the one
he is representing. Many Christians think that their prayers are answered
because of the greatness of their faith or the depth of their godliness.
This is a grave error and a sin to be repented of (Acts 3:12,13). Whoever
we are and whatever we have is because of Christ and Christ alone!
To pray in Jesus' name is not so much about attaching a phrase at the end of
our prayers but it is about having the attitude and clear understanding that
we have nothing to claim in ourselves. It is the spirit of humility that
matters, not the words!
3) Depends on our reverence towards God’s name
Exodus 20:7- You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the
Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.
Psalm 111:9-………..holy and reverend is His name.
Matthew 6:9- ……….let Your name be held holy.
To take God’s name in vain is to use it lightly, irreverentially and without
meaning. Sad to say, many people unknowingly and ignorantly commit this
sin. Let’s consider a few examples:
It is so common to hear the expression “O my God” when a disaster or
calamity strikes. But very often, this phrase is used as just another word
in the English vocabulary. The speaker needs to stop and examine whether he
is using the term because he is really seeking refuge in God and expecting
God to intervene in that situation.
Sometimes we sing songs and hymns to God but they are nothing more than
lip-exercises. Are we any better than the Israelites who were “near to God
with their lips but far from Him in their hearts”?
In prayer, people use the term ‘Lord’ and other such spiritual terms.
Again, does the person really mean it or are they just words used as
‘gap-fillers’ to give him time to think what he is going to say next?
We take God’s name in vain when we involve Him in matters of purely selfish
interest and then justify our actions by saying “God told me” or “This is
for the glory of God”. We can also misuse the name of the Lord by forcing
others to do what we want by telling them “God wants you to do this”.
A final example that we shall consider is when we call ourselves Christians
and children of God but lead lives which bring shame to God. Paul rebukes
the Jews for having caused the name of God to be blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of their double standards of living (Romans 2:24). These
days, people are more worried about somebody bringing shame to their own
name or their family name than to God’s name.
We really need to be so careful when we make mention of God’s name either
directly or indirectly. A simple rule of law that we could follow
concerning the use of God’s name is to “speak it only if we mean it”!
4) Depends on our faith in the name of Jesus
Acts 3:16- By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was
made strong.
The apostle Peter not only had the right to use the name of Jesus but he
also had the faith in that name (vs 6,16).
Mark 16:17,18- And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My
name, they will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues; they will
pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will
not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people and they
will get well.
Do we believe that in the name of Jesus these signs shall manifest? Is our
faith that simple?
It seems that the greatest difficulty for believers today is to believe!
Many sincere Christians think that they have to labour and struggle to have
faith. Yet the plain truth is that faith can never be created by our own
human methods. Faith is the direct result of our fellowship with Jesus!
If we come back to what Peter said, we find that even when he owes the
healing to ‘faith in the name of Jesus’, he also very clearly says that "his
ability to believe" itself came through Jesus. This is why Jesus is
described as ‘the Author and Finisher of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2). It is
He who gives us faith.
The level of our faith depends on the extent of our intimacy with Jesus.
When we have fellowship with Jesus and spend time with His word, we begin to
know His character and His nature. This results in faith being built up
within us and then as we speak the name of Jesus, we find power and
authority released.
5) Depends on our proclamation of the name of Jesus
Romans 10:13- Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Acts 4:17- We must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name
(vs 17) We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard (vs 20)
We must call on the name of Jesus and exalt Him in every area of our lives.
We must not be discouraged by apparent silence. The blind Bartimaeus called
on Jesus and the angry passers-by responded with rebuke and scorn.
Nonetheless, he refused to give up and finally, the Lord Himself called him
and gave him his sight (Mark 10:46 to 52).
A pastor of a church was once driving his car with his little child seated
beside him. At the main junction, he had to take a turn to the right but
unknown to him, the door on the passenger side was not secured tightly. As
the car made the turn, the car door flew open and the little boy rolled out
of the vehicle right into the middle of the traffic coming from four ways.
The last thing the father saw was a set of car wheels just about on top of
his son- moving at a very fast rate of speed. All he knew to do was cry,
“JESUS!”
As soon as he could bring his car to a halt, he jumped out and ran to his
son, who was perfectly all right. But the driver of the car that had almost
hit the child was absolutely hysterical. The pastor went over to him and
started trying to comfort him.
“Man, don’t be upset!” he said. “My son is alright, he’s ok! Don’t be
concerned about it. Just thank God you were able to stop at the right
time!”
“But you don’t understand!” the man responded. “You see, I never touched
by brakes!”
