Yesterday we were talking about using all the names of God to build our faith in who God wants to be for us, as we ask Him for different things. I do believe however that the main reason that Jesus told us to ask ‘in His name’, the name of Jesus, was because it is the most powerful and highest name, not just on earth but in the whole of the heavenly realm. It is so sad that in our society the name of Jesus is more often ‘taken in vain’, Exodus 20:7, than honoured, but I think that God is encouraging us, as His people, that now is the time to reclaim and use His name in the same way that Peter did at the Beautiful Gate on his way to the temple. Acts3:1-8.
Peter told the lame man, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk’ – and he did- as Peter took his hand and raised him up. Peter knew that the Holy Spirit was now living in him, and he remembered Jesus’ words “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father, and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father”. John 14:12-14.
Paul explains to us that when Jesus went to the Father after having given His life for our sins, ‘God has 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. Philippians 2:9-11. So when we pray with faith, or speak ‘in the name of Jesus’, there is some amazing authority there which I believe many of us in the church have yet to grasp.
It’s like God has given us His bank card, and the pin number is ‘the name of Jesus’ . As we said yesterday this is not just a mantra or formula, it is about us realising where Jesus now is. It is about knowing that He, and therefore His name, are ‘far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come’. Ephesians 1:21. It is also about realising who we are now in Christ, and who He now is in us. Colossians 1:27. We have access ‘in His name’ to all the resources of heaven, and I believe that as we stay in thanksgiving to God for these incredible spiritual truths they will become more and more of a reality for us in the coming days.
Part of our motivation for writing and sharing these blogs was to see God’s people living fully in their inheritance in Christ. Being able, as it were, to access the bank of heaven, the vast storehouse of riches that Jesus has paid for on the cross, so that as we move forward with thanksgiving in every situation in which we find our faith challenged, we will find ourselves more and more in tune with the heart of God and more and more able to discern His will. Today let us not just thank God for all His names but let us thank Jesus that His name is the highest name that there is and that there will ever be, to the glory of God the Father. As we stay connected with the Holy Spirit through our praying in tongues and through our thankfulness, power will be released as we speak His name in faith. We will find that the pin number ‘In your name Jesus’ will work mightily for us and we will see the kind of answers to our prayers that we have longed to see.
