Jesus--Name Above All Names: Releasing His Anointing in Your Life (4 page)

But Peter said, Silver and gold (money) I do not have; but what I do have, that I give to you:
in [the use of] the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
walk!

Acts 3:1-6

If we would pray more for people in the Name of Jesus instead of judging them, we would see more breakthroughs in their lives and in ours. After all, it takes less time to pray than it does to judge and criticize.

Let me give you an example.

Suppose we see a young man walking down the street. Because he is stumbling, we assume he must be stoned on drugs or drunk on alcohol. Since he is dirty and unkempt, we figure he is probably homeless.

How many times do we look at such a person and say to ourselves, “What a shame for anybody to waste their life like that. What a terrible way to live. I just can't believe people let themselves get into such a sorry state.”

Yet it would take much less time and energy to simply say, “Father, in Jesus’ Name I pray for that young man to be delivered from his distressing situation. Send the perfect laborer into his path, someone he will listen to, someone who can speak a word in season to him. Thank You, Lord, that from this moment forward You are going to work in his life so that he will no longer be lost.”

Like Peter and John in the passage in Acts 3, we need to learn to pray our way through the day and rid ourselves of the mentality that prayer is a physical posture we assume somewhere at home or in church. Thinking that we need to be eloquent or sound fancy before God will hear our prayer is a mindset we need to overcome.

Prayer is simply talking to God. And we can do that every day, all day long. Like Peter and John, we need to pray in the Name of Jesus—with faith in that Name. Praying in the Name is part of our inheritance rights (as sons and daughters of God) through the blood of Jesus.

There is power in the blood of Jesus, just as there is power in the Name of Jesus.

There Is Power in the Blood

For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body,
How much more surety shall the blood of Christ, Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God?

Hebrews 9:13,14

I love to talk and sing about the Name of Jesus and about the blood of Jesus because I firmly believe that when we do, if we are sincere, demons have to flee.

If you want to create an atmosphere for miracles, just start praying, singing, preaching and exhorting about the Name and the blood of Jesus.

There is power in the blood, enough power to wash away a lifetime of sin.

Think about what you and I have. We have the Name and the blood of Jesus. The blood completely cleanses us from all our sins so that we are made as clean as if we had never sinned at all. (1 John 1:7.) All the power of heaven and earth is invested in the Name of Jesus, and that Name is given to us.

Now that we are washed in the blood, we can go forth, confident that whatever we ask or speak, Jesus has promised to provide and fulfill because we speak in the power of His Name, as presenting all that He is.

Don't put up with living a powerless life. Learn to use the power of God that is available to you by using the Name in prayer and praise—not in vain.

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Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exodus 20:7
KJV

The Amplified Bible
version of this verse reads:
You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false topic affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Several years ago I received a revelation about this subject of taking the Name of the Lord in vain.

Up to that time I had always thought taking the Name of the Lord in vain amounted to tacking His Name onto a curse word, or using it in some other form of profanity.

But when I read this verse which speaks about using His Name
lightly or frivolously,
the Lord began to show me how many times we believers—not just unbelievers—misuse His Name.

We use the word “God” in so many ways, and many times we are no more seriously praying or calling upon the power in that Name than on the man in the moon. We are just casually throwing it around. That is taking the Name of the Lord in vain just as much as using it profanely.

Mixing Positives and Negatives

Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?

James 3:11

I believe one of the reasons we are not seeing power released in the Name of the Lord is that in our speech we are mixing positives and negatives. When we do that, we come up with zero.

When we need a breakthrough, we cannot use the Name of the Lord positively, then turn right around and use it negatively and still expect it to have power.

The Lord spoke to me about that very situation (not in an audible voice, but in my spirit). He said, “Some people never get anywhere because they are positive one day and negative the next day about the same thing.”

When we pray and make a good confession in line with the Word, the angels go to work on our behalf. (See Psalm 103:20 and Hebrews 1:14.) But when we become weary and begin to grow faint in our mind and start saying all kinds of negative things, we start undoing everything we have been praying about. We end up right back where we started.

When people say something like, “Oh, my God—I'm so tired,” they are not praying. They are not talking to God. They are just using a phrase to express their feelings.

Now it's fine to say, “Oh, my God—I'm so tired,” when we are truly lifting up our heart to the Lord in earnest prayer about being in that condition. But most of the time this is not what we are doing. Without thinking about it, we are using the Name of the Lord in a light or frivolous manner. As we have seen, God has made it clear in His Word that anyone who does that will not be held guiltless. That is why we need to be careful about how we use that Name.

Everywhere I go I hear people, even believers, saying things like, “Oh, Lord,” or, “Dear God,” when they are not addressing Him at all. Using the Lord's Name in that way has become a habit. They have a habit of making statements such as:

“My God, grocery prices are high these days.”

“Lord, it's hot in here.”

“Dear God, I'm cold.”

“Good Lord—I'm so hungry I think I'm going to die.”

I hear such language even when I am with preachers, intercessors, worship leaders or missionaries, etc. In fact, I hear it so often that there is no point in trying to correct them every time they do it. But it grieves me because I know they are hurting themselves severely when they do that.

The Lord has shown me that many people in the body of Christ need to improve dramatically in this area. We all need more reverence for the Name.

Reverence for the Name

…let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence
and godly fear.

Hebrews 12:28
KJV

I will not sit and watch television programs or movies in which the Name of the Lord is vain. It doesn't matter what the show is about or how much my family and I may want to see it, if it takes the Name of the Lord in vain—off it goes.

Why?

Because that is irreverence. I love the Lord too much to be entertained by someone taking His Name in vain. He has done too much for me to do that.

I truly believe that if we expect the Name of the Lord to release power in our life when we need it, then we must reverence that Name the rest of the time.

Most of us today have no idea what reverence the people had for the Name of the Lord under the Old Covenant. They had such awe for it that they wouldn't even speak it. Many times they just referred to it as “that Name” because they knew the power that was in the Name.
¹

David lived under the Old Covenant when he faced Goliath, the giant champion of the Philistines (Israel's enemy) who cursed David by his gods and threatened to give his…
flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field
(1 Samuel 17:43,44).

David was in a crisis situation, but he answered the enemy's threats by declaring,
…You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied
(v. 45).

Then David said, “I'll have your head today!” (v. 46).

When David went out to do battle against that heavily armed giant, he carried with him nothing but a slingshot and the Name of the Lord. But that was more than enough to defeat his brazen enemy.

That's what you and I need to do when we encounter opposition from our spiritual enemy, the devil. We need to use the spiritual weapons the Lord has provided for us, and, as we have already seen, one of those weapons is the Name. The Name of Jesus pierces the darkness.

Deal with the Spirit Behind the Problem

For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

Ephesians 6:12

When someone is aggravating or frustrating us, it doesn't do any good to judge or criticize that individual. In the Name of the Lord we need to deal with the spirit that is behind that person.

There have been times, like on the golf course, when I have been around people who just constantly curse. In those times I have learned to get away by myself and say, “In Jesus’ Name I take authority over you, vile demon of cursing. You shut your mouth. I am not going to listen to that all day.”

At others times I hear people criticizing, murmuring, grumbling and faultfinding—and I am supposed to spend the whole day with them! Again, I get away somewhere and say, “Father, I take authority over that critical spirit and bind it in Jesus’ Name. I am not going to listen to that all day long.” (See Matthew 18:18.)

Sometimes people ask me, “Do you always get instant results?”

The answer is no. People have a free will, and they can override my prayer and confession. But I am learning in my own life to pray first before taking any other action. Prayer is a positive, energizing way to handle problems. If I need to say something directly to the individual, I will, but I always want to follow the Holy Spirit's leading in these types of situations.

The point is, we need to be more prayerful about the people and situations we come in contact with every day. We need to remember that there is power in the Name of Jesus.

The Name Is No Joke!

Let there be no…foolish and sinful (silly and corrupt) talk…; but instead voice your thankfulness [to God].

Ephesians 5:4

Another thing I got into the habit of doing that God really chastised me about was using foolish, silly talk with His Name.

For example, one night our son came over right at dinner time. I had a nice meal laid out on the table, and he just kept talking on and on about a lot of things I really didn't want to get into. When I saw that he was in no hurry to leave, I jokingly said to him, “Out, in the Name of Jesus!”

The moment I did that, heavy conviction fell on me because the Lord had been teaching me in that very area. I hear people say a lot of things like that in jest, but we need to be careful not to make jokes with the Name.

I once went to lunch with a powerful Christian intercessor who shares the Word on a regular basis. Five times in one hour I heard her take the Name of the Lord in vain (lightly and foolishly). Many times believers do that without realizing what they are doing.

When you use the Name of the Lord, make sure you are sincere. If you make a mistake because of bad habits, if you hear yourself slip and use the Name in an improper way, stop immediately and repent. Ask the Lord to forgive you for taking His Name in vain, but realize that you are actually hurting yourself when you use the Lord's Name in an improper way. If you expect the Name to release power in your life when you need it to, then you have to reverence the Name the rest of the time.

Power is immediately made available to us who believe when we speak the Name—power to use against the devil and all his hosts, power to help ourselves and power to bless others. I'm not talking about a dribble of power, but a mighty outpouring that can cause the blessings of God to chase us down in the street and overtake us!

A master key to that power is to speak that glorious Name—Jesus!—with reverence and respect.

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…I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is terrible and to be [reverently] feared among the nations.

Malachi 1:14

By the time you have reached this point in the book, I hope you have come to realize that the Name of Jesus is more than just an ordinary Name. There is power in the Name, and in this verse the Lord Himself warns us that His Name is to be reverently feared.

The word “fear” here means to show reverent trust, love and obedience toward Him.
¹
In Proverbs 1:7 we are told,
The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge…and godly Wisdom…