Stage 3: Level 1 - Class 2

- A class on the name of Jesus

By Pastor Simon

Over the years since my eternal salvation the name of Jesus has brought me healing and deliverance. I praise God that even before I really knew anything about the peace of the covenant, the power of the blood or the work of His anointing I knew the authority of Jesus' name. I have known His name to be the name above all names ever since I was saved.

Testimony of deliverance

I remember especially the deliverance I experienced in His name while living in South Sumatra in Indonesia. At the time we were under intense persecution. It was not persecution because of righteousness but persecution because of my spiritual folly. I was not in the Word as I should have been. I didn't have my eyes on the Lord as I should have. My fellowship with the Father was not in any way as it ought to have been.

On top of this, fear - a spirit of fear - took advantage of my ignorance and spiritual weakness to move in on me. I got in such a state that I awoke one morning physically vomiting.

Finally I realised where I was at and cried, "I've had it with this. I don't have to put up with this. I know the origin of all this. I'm going to put a stop to this right now! In the Name of Jesus I take authority over you Satan and every demon you've thrown in against me. At the Name of Jesus every knee must bow. I resist you and command you to flee in the Name of Jesus!"

Instantly my stomach was delivered from its churning and within the day I was wholly set free from the onslaught of that persecution.

Jesus' name

How much do you use the name of Jesus? You and I need to be asking all things in Jesus' name - just like the first disciples and apostles did! It was in the name of Jesus that they acted.

Jesus gave us His name as our authority for asking in. He gave us His name as the name of authority to command in and drive off the enemy in.

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask any thing in My name, I will do it.

John 14:13-14 - NKJV.

He also gave us His name to make request to the Father in. He told us that by asking in His name the Father would grant us our request.

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.

John 16:23-24 NKJV.

Marriage name

We ask and receive in the name of Jesus because we are indissolubly linked to Him; we have a life-union with Him. Jesus came to the world to find His bride. The church responded by calling Him Lord. Each one who has come to Jesus to receive Him has responded by calling Him Lord. This is how Sarah, the wife of Abraham, in her condition of obedience responded to her husband - she called him lord. 1 Peter 3:6.

We have entered a life-union with Jesus - a marriage that God the Father has blessed. Jesus came to us offering a union of love with Him and we responded by accepting a life-union with Him. As a result, we have given up living in our own name to live in His name. The Bible declares,

He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 6:17 - NKJV.

You have been joined to the Lord. Jesus chose you and you responded by calling Him Lord. In some way, you experienced His deep love for you and you responded to it. You may not have fully realised at the time what you were getting into - what man or woman does at their marriage - but you committed yourself to a spiritual life-union with Him.

Now every time you use the name of Jesus you are expressing your relationship to Him. When you pray in the name of Jesus you are declaring who He is to you and you are proclaiming what He has done for you. When you pray in the name of Jesus you are announcing that He lives as the head of His body, His church, of which you are a part.

We are married to Jesus. As His bride He counts on us to care for His interests in the Earth. As His bride He has given us His name and with His name - in His name - we both petition in Heaven and require on Earth.

At the same time Jesus is expecting us not only to petition in His name but also to live and act in His name. In living and acting in His name we are living and acting in His character. In this way when we ask in His name our request is always acknowledged and our petition is always granted. (Colossians 3:17.)

One group of people - the sons of Sceva - attempted to use the name of Jesus outside of a relationship with Him. They tried to use His name as if it were an incantation of some sort. Their use of His name was fraudulent and as a result they got beat up!

The name of Jesus is not an incantation to a believer. A believer utters the name of Jesus to declare his relationship to Jesus. The name of Jesus has authority for the believer because the believer calls Jesus, "My Lord".

Acts in Jesus' Name

A study of the book of Acts will soon reveal to you that the acts the apostles did were acts done in the name of Jesus. This was the name all those miracles were done in. It was in the name of Jesus that signs and wonders accompanied the Word spoken by the apostles. (Mark 16:15-20.)

You'll find one of the first and most exciting of examples of this when Peter brings healing to the lame man. (Acts 3:1-10.) The man was begging at the gate called Beautiful and he looked intently towards Peter and John expecting to get something. Peter then said,

Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: IN THE NAME OF JESUS Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

Acts 3:6 - NKJV.

The lame man was immediately healed. Wholeness and strength came to his legs in such a dramatic way that we read,

So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them - walking, leaping, and praising God.

Acts 3:8 - NKJV.

The sight of this miracle - I'm sure you can imagine - brought people rushing together from all over the temple compound to surround Peter, John and the healed man. Peter knew he had to say something. By the Holy Spirit he boldly said,

His name (the Name of Jesus), through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Acts 3:16 - NKJV.

Early Church authority

The apostles and disciples always made a bold and plain statement that their authority was in the name of Jesus.

The elders of the Jews in Jerusalem were greatly troubled by their use of His name. They arrested Peter and John when the lame man at the gate called Beautiful was healed in His name. They brought them before their court, threatened them and ordered them not to speak or to preach in that name. Acts 4:1-22.

The moment, however, Peter and John were released they returned to the company of believers both to report what had happened and to pray. They prayed for an even greater manifestation of healing, signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.

Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.

Acts 4:29-30 - NKJV.

It was in the name of Jesus and the boldness of the Holy Spirit that signs and wonders accompanied the Word spoken by the apostles and disciples. It is in the Name of Jesus - and the same Holy Spirit boldness - that the Word we speak will be accompanied by signs and wonders.

Signs and wonders

Signs are attesting miracles. They attest to the working and words of God. They confirm the word preached. They accompany the preaching of the word. Signs and wonders are by the power of the Holy Spirit and they come in the name of Jesus.

The Gospel of Mark closes with this marvellous testimony,

And they (the disciples) went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.

Mark 16:20 - NKJV.

This took place in fulfilment of the promises Jesus gave His disciples. He said,

And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

Mark 16:17-18 - NKJV.

So we see that word confirming signs accompany believers who proclaim God's good news and all of these signs will be done in the name of Jesus.

There's healing in the name of Jesus. There's deliverance in the name of Jesus. The gifts of the Spirit are in the name of Jesus. When the name of Jesus is used in faith, love and authority, believers will always have signs and wonders accompanying the Word they speak and preach!

No other name

On the other hand, without the name of Jesus we have nothing in the way of salvation. Peter by the Holy Spirit plainly declared,

Neither is there salvation (deliverance!) in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:12.

Consider the supreme authority given to the name of Jesus - a name at the utterance of which everything in every realm must submit. The absolute obedience of Jesus right through to His death made the way for God to set His name above every name. Paul declares,

(Jesus) being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at THE NAME OF JESUS every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:8-11.

The time came when the name of Jesus was granted all authority over all things in heaven, in the Earth and under the Earth. It was in the knowledge that His name was to have such authority that He gave His name to us. He gave the church His name to ask and to act in.

Nothing is able to resist the name of Jesus! It is now as it was spoken by the prophet Joel,

It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

Joel 2:32

Pray in His name

This is all absolutely fundamental to our prayer life. It is so fundamental that we may rightly say that praying without praying in the name of Jesus is like writing a cheque without signing it!

The name of Jesus is to prayer as a signature is to a cheque - it validates it; it authorises it. The name of Jesus authorises prayer ensuring that its spoken petition comes to pass.

Study the name of Jesus in action. Take time to read the Book of Acts then follow the apostles into action using the name of Jesus as they and the other disciples did. Use the name of Jesus!

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This class is part of High Impact Christianity - now available as a six part book series!

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