The name of Jesus (Part 1)
Verse of the day: Ephesians 1:20-21 “He exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come”
In six parts, our meditation will be based on the interpretation and the understanding of the name of Jesus.
Every born again Christian knows very well that all prayers should be done in the name of Jesus but after digging in the scriptures, I found out that a huge number of believers have not got yet the revelation of the name of Jesus. It has become a kind of formula in our prayers or a kind of reflex or automatism at the end of all prayers when we say: “…in the name of Jesus I pray, Amen”.
Before digging for getting the spiritual revelation of the name of Jesus, let’s talk about Jesus Himself by trying to understand his real power as described in the bible.
The verse of the day (Ephesians 1 :20-21) shows us in a clear way all the power that God put in Jesus and not only He gave him a great power but He made him seated at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked. Being seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms means having His full spiritual power and dominion.
Jesus doesn’t only have the power on earth but He also has it in heaven as He says it Himself in Matthew 28:18 “…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”; What means that He is not only obeyed by men and demons but even heavenly angels are under His authority and all divine power is now in His hands.
Today I preferred to first talk about the power of Jesus and in the second part, I will talk about the name of Jesus
The name of Jesus (Part 2)
Verse of the day: Philippians 2:9-11 “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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
In the first part, we started to meditate on the name of Jesus by talking about His power first. We understood through the scriptures that God deployed in Him all the power on all dominion and especially on every name that is invoked.
This morning we will discover the greatness of the name of Jesus through the verse of the day. The verse starts by saying that God exalted him, which means that God placed him above everything on earth whether on visible or invisible things.
Together with the elevation, God gave him a name which is above every name. It’s very important to understand that the name of Jesus is above every name. Every problem we face in life has a name. That name can be Cancer, Aids, Joblessness, Bareness, Poverty, Forced singleness…all those names or all the names we can quote or imagine are under the name of Jesus according to the verse of the day.
There is no other name through which God can deploy His power. Names like Bouddha, Mahomet, Mary…cannot allow God to act. The verse continues in saying that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow not only on earth but also in heaven and under the earth.
Bowing the knee does not only mean “worship” but it also means “to give in”. Every creature (visible or invisible) must give in before the name of Jesus.
I used to think that it’s only humans who must bow the knees in the name of Jesus but the verse of the day taught me that even demons (under the earth) cannot resist before the name of Jesus and so are obviously the angels (in heaven). The verse of the day ends by saying that every tongue (English, Chinese, Arabic, Kirundi…) must confess that Jesus-Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Let’s stop here for today’s meditation, and in the third part, we will dig in the scriptures in order to discover the power of the name of Jesus over demons.
The name of Jesus (Third part)
Verse of the day: Marc 16:17 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues”
In the second part, we ended the meditation by saying that in the name of Jesus every knee will bow, not only on earth but also in heaven and under the earth and every tongue must confess that Jesus-Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Today, we will discover the power in the name of Jesus over demons:
The verse of the day (Mark 16:17) tells us that in the name of Jesus, we have the power to drive out demons. The human body is the temple of God (1 Cor 6:19) and ONLY the Spirit of God has the right to dwell in it. Any spirit that occupies the human body must be driven out in the name of Jesus.
There is no other name on earth, in heaven or under the earth that has the power to drive out demons but only the name of Jesus. If someone is possessed by demons, we cannot deliver him in the name of God, El Shaddaï or Jehovah Jireh, because demons don’t fear all those names even though they are the names of God Almighty.
Sometime the name of Jesus fails to drive out demons simply because the person who confesses does not have faith in what he says. Let’s consider the Jews who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus by trying to imitate what Paul used to do (Acts 19:13-17). Instead of being cast out in the name of Jesus, the evil spirit asked the following question: “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”
In other words the evil spirit was saying: “I know the name of Jesus Paul talks about because it’s full of power but your name of Jesus has no power at all”. Since the evil spirits were in a good position in term of strength, they jumped on them and overpowered them all. They gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding (Acts 19:16).
Therefore, what is important is not confessing the name of Jesus but it’s rather believing deep in the heart in his power by faith after having accepted Jesus-Christ as the Lord and the Savior.
Spend the day in meditating on the power of the name of Jesus over demons and in the fourth part, will see the importance of doing everything in the name of Jesus
The name of Jesus (Fourth part)
Verse of the day: Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”
In the third part, we talked about the power of Jesus over demons because it’s the ONLY name evil spirits cannot resist.
We also found out that sometime the name of Jesus doesn’t drive out demons if it’s not confessed by faith and conviction.
The verse of the day (Colossians 3:17) tells us that in whatever we do, we should do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus but very often we are only interested in John 14:13 that says that Jesus will do whatever we ask in His name. Many people are interested in this verse (John 14:13) because it talks about asking but I believe the verse of the day (Colossians 3:7) is more interesting because it talks about all we do in word or deed. All a Christian can do like singing, worshiping, preaching, teaching, helping one’s neighbor, praying…must be done in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The verse continues in saying that after having done everything in the name of Jesus, we must give thanks to God the Father through him.
For a better understanding about why we must ALWAYS pass through Jesus, let’s read in Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them”.
It’s very important to understand that Jesus can ONLY save completely those who come to God through him. He saves them by interceding for them before the Father.
Interceding for someone means to plead in his favor. And since Jesus is the Son of God, whom He loves and with him He is well pleased (Matt 3:17), he is always listened. That’s why we should have the confidence of the efficiency or the perfection of our intercessor.
When we pray in the name of Jesus, we invite him to intervene for us before God because without him we will not be listened.
Let’s stop here for today and in the fifth part, we will see the consequences of being ashamed of the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus (Fifth part)
Verse of the day: Matthew 10:32-33 “Therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven”
In the fourth part, we ended by saying that Jesus can ONLY save those who approach God through him. He is alive to intercede for them. Very often in my prayers, I am thankful for Jesus to intercede for me because I know that I do not deserve to present myself before the throne of grace. When I pray in the name of Jesus, I know deep in my heart that God sees me through the blood of Jesus which gives me God’s attention.
The bible clearly says in the book to the Hebrews that we have a high priest (Jesus) who’s unable to empathize with our weaknesses because he has been tempted like us in every way without sinning (Heb 4:15).
The verse of the day (Matt 10:32-33) shows us that if I deny Jesus before men, He will deny me before my Father in heaven.
The only reason why Christians are ashamed to confess the name of Jesus before men, is because they want to please them. Paul writes in Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ”
If someone is born again, it means that he gives his life to Jesus and accepts to testify for Him. The problem is that the society in which we live is against the name of Jesus. People can tolerate when you pray or talk about God but when it comes to talk about Jesus, there is always a kind of resistance and sometime we feel a kind of aggression.
Consequently, some Christians prefer not to talk about the name of Jesus in order to keep good relationship with their family, their colleagues, their boss, the authorities…and if that is the case, the verse of the day says that Jesus will disown them before the Father.
Keep meditating and tomorrow we will end the teaching by talking about baptism in the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus (Sixth part)
Verse of the day: Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
In the first part, we ended the meditation by saying that a child of God must acknowledge Jesus before men because if I deny Him before men, He will deny me before His Father in heaven.
Today, I wish to talk about baptism in the name of Jesus because I noticed that there is a huge confusion among God’s children. All started with a doctrine saying that any baptism that is not done in the name of Jesus is a wrong baptism. People justify this by leaning of the verse of the day (Matt 28:19) when Jesus said to the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. They say that everywhere in the New Testament, all the baptisms have been done in the name of Jesus and not in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let’s take the example of Acts 2:38 “Peter replied: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Let’s try to discover the revelation on the subject in order to avoid all kind of confusion. Let’s first examine the verse of the day: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19). Jesus did not ask to baptize the disciples in the names (Plural) of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit but rather in the name (Singular)…which means that He wasn’t talking about three names of three people but one name of one God.
Baptism is a sign of obedience by accepting to die and to rise up with Jesus (Romans 6:3-4) and what counts is the faith with which we do it. Therefore, if one person is baptized in the name of Jesus and another person is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, both are baptized according to the command of the Lord.
Here is the end of the teaching and this is what must be remembered the most: we need to pray in order to get the revelation of the powerful name of Jesus because without it, it’s almost impossible to get a spiritual victory.
All that power in the name of Jesus is only possible to those who accepted Him as their Lord and their Savior.
Word of encouragement
If you really believe God is the controller of your life, tell me why you’re afraid in the middle of trouble? Fear is the enemy of Faith! The devil always uses fear to attack your faith. If you can dominate fear in your life, then your faith becomes strong.
Don’t worry about what will happen tomorrow or in the future because God takes care of it. Don’t wonder what people would think about your situation because your situation is supposed to be the situation of Christ if He really lives in you (Gal 2:20). If you totally surrender your life into His hands, you’d challenge Him to be responsible of every detail of His life in you and if something terrible happens to you, it’s ONLY because He allowed it to happen for a reason (if you’re connected to Him of course).
From that point, life will be enjoyable and less stressful. That’s the rest of God preached in Hebrews 4.9-10. Everything should be covered by a prayerful life