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The Name of Jesus

by Jerry Ousley  
8/05/2016 / Christian Living

Names help us to remember people, places and things, although as I get older it takes a while for me to pull a name out of my head. I've strained my brain before trying to remember who this guy is that's come up to me on the street and started talking like he's known me all my life. I may even recognize his face but just can't pull a name out, only to discover later that his name was the same as mine; "Jerry." How hard could that be to remember?

There are times we go overboard with names. For instance, we have a church in our fair town that I guess wanted to cover all the bases. The name I'm giving here is fictitious because, well I really don't want to offend anyone but the real name is similar: "Pentecostal Holiness Church of God of the Lord Jesus Christ House of Prayer Tabernacle" and we added, "Halleluiah, amen!" How would you like to write that on your offering check every Sunday?

Sometimes names are hard to pronounce. My doctor is a lady from India. She's a wonderful doctor and I couldn't even begin to pronounce her name and apparently I'm not the only one because one of the nurses told me that they all simply call her "Dr. P" (her last name begins with a "P"). My name is a bit hard to pronounce to some: Ousley. I've been called Oosley (I hate that one), Osley, and a few others I don't care to repeat. I've often said "I don't care what you call me as long as you don't call me late for supper." (You knew I'd get around to mentioning food didn't you?).

In our prayers we often end them with something like, "In Jesus' name," or "In the name of Jesus." For many it has become a habit, although not a bad one. However, what's wrong sometimes with habits is that we do them so often we begin to lose the meaning of the words we're using. Literally when we say "in the name of" whomever's name is being used means that we are acting on the authority of that person. An ambassador from the U.S. to another country is the representative of the U.S.A. and is acting on our behalf.

This principle is the same when we use the name of Jesus. Our Lord said in John 16:23-28, "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." In this passage Jesus explains about using His name. As believers in Him we have been granted the right to go before the Father God Almighty ourselves. That's what our Lord meant by "you will ask Me nothing," and "I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you." He is telling us that because of our belief and our faith in Him that we have been given the privilege of addressing God directly without our Lord as a "go-between." We have no need of a priest to take our matters to God because we can do that directly.

Now here's the key. You might be saying, "I've asked in Jesus' name. I've pleaded in Jesus' name and I've even gotten down on my knees and begged in Jesus' name and still I don't have what I've asked for." The key isn't speaking those words as "magic words" but in what we have asked for and in accepting God's answer. James 4:3 tells us, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." That should make a lot of us a little sheepish. When we pray in Jesus' name it means that we are praying on behalf of Jesus. We are asking what He would ask for. We are seeking God for answers that Jesus would want us to know. When we ask selfishly, foolishly, or for frivolous things more often than not we don't receive an answer from the Lord because we aren't praying on behalf of Jesus; acting under His authority; asking for what He would ask for, (which is really a big "NO;" remember that "no" is an answer too). How do we know what Jesus would ask for? That's simple; read your Bible. You'll find many prayers of Jesus in the four Gospels and that's a very good place to start to learn how to act on His behalf In Jesus' name.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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