As we continue our study concerning the name of Jesus, we need to review some basic but important points we should not forget from last week of which applies to this week’s study.
The foundational verses of our study are John 14:13-14, when Jesus in His last meal and His last night with His disciples tells them, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” In our study we only placed our attention on the three words, “in my name” which are very commonly used by believers in Christ when praying in private or in public.
A key question we asked was, do we really understand the meaning of the use of these three words when we pray? We saw that when we use Jesus’ name or ask God in prayer for something in Jesus’ name, we need to understand it is in Jesus’ authority we come to God, it is not because of our own merit.
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him.
We also saw that when we use the words, “in Jesus’ name” or “in the name of Jesus” when we pray, we are implying that we understand that we are praying in accordance to God’s will and not ours, as exemplified when Jesus prayed in Matthew 26:39 (NLT), He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
As a result of knowing about Jesus’ authority and wanting God’s will for the situation or person we are praying for, we can come to God praying in “the name of Jesus” or in “in Jesus’ name” with confidence. These next two verses express this very clearly. Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” 1 John 3:21-23, “21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.”
We also studied last week that when praying, “in Jesus’ name” or “in the name of Jesus”, that these words are not magic words as a magician would use, such as, “abracadabra”, “shazam” “hocus-pocus”.
The reason we pray “in Jesus’ name” or “in the name of Jesus” is as Jesus states in John 14:13 “…so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”
When we pray in “the name of Jesus” or “in Jesus’ name” with the understanding of the points we just stated, what results are we experiencing and or expect to experience?
In Acts chapter 3 we see an example with immediate results when Peter confidently says to a man crippled from birth in Acts 3:6, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”.
When confronting a situation, maybe not like Peter with the situation of the crippled beggar, but a situation in prayer for someone else or for ourselves, how confident are we about with what we do not have and what we have?
Peter knew he did not have what the beggar wanted, “Silver or gold I do not have” but that really does not require any confidence to know. However, Peter confidently knew it was not silver, gold or anything of monetary value what the beggar really needed. This is why it is important before and or when using Jesus’ name in any situation we need to know what is God’s will for that the situation, persons or persons. As we see in this instance what Peter confidently knew was in accordance to God’s will for what the beggar needed, which was not what the beggar thought he needed. If the beggar would have received what he thought he needed he would have continued in the same state physically and spiritually, there would not have been any change in him and or no glory would have been given to God.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see.
The confidence of knowing what the beggar did not need and what he needed is from confidently knowing God’s will at that moment. The confidence that Peter had, he not only expressed when he said, “…but what I have I give you.” Acts 3:6. But it was most importantly expressed when he said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Acts 3:6.
Peter’s confidence was not only verbalized but it was exhibited or verified by his action of faith. “Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.” Acts 3:7. If we are going to use the name of Jesus in a situation similar to what Peter experienced and or in prayer. We need to not forget it might be easy to verbalize our confidence by the tone of voice we use when we say what we know to be the will of God. But as with Peter, are we also expressing what we know God’s will is by our actions of faith?
In Acts 3:6-10 we see the very point of what Jesus said in John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” Note what is underlined or highlighted in yellow.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:6-10.
In these previous verses we see that the miracle was not only done in the name of Jesus, but the result was that the glory was clearly given to God by the healed cripple “praising God”.
Nevertheless, Peter addressing the large crowed which had gathered still had to clarify in verse 12 it was not John or himself with any special power that healed the crippled beggar. “When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? Acts 3:12
In verse 16 Peter uses the opportunity to tell the crowd the important point about faith that we had previously studied concerning the healing. “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.” Acts 3:16
We need to be careful that we are not just using or uttering the name of Jesus when we pray by habit or in a casual way. Peter clearly states twice that when Jesus’ name is used it is accompanied with faith.
Synonyms for faith are, trust confidence, conviction. We can not have confidence or trust in someone’s authority when using their name as a reference in a Job application that we do not know. However, if we are well known by that person we are using as a reference and when asked if they know us and the kind of recommendation would they give about us we will be very confident that whatever they say about will help us to get the Job.
How well do we know Jesus and how well do others see that we know Jesus especially when we use His name?
Pastor John
