The Powerful Name of Jesus

"In Jesus' name", "In the name of Jesus"... In my experience growing up, these are just a couple of the prayer validators I used and heard, which made our prayers heard in Heaven. Or so I thought. There was no doubt in my mind that the name of Jesus is powerful, well-resourced and accessible to us. But when I think about it now - our behaviour in praying and acting in Jesus' name didn't really indicate a true understanding of the power Jesus' name carries. If you had a church upbringing similar to me, then maybe your experience of the name of Jesus goes a little like ending prayers with Jesus' name, commanding things in Jesus' name, rebuking things in Jesus' name... Now I’m not saying this is wrong, but I have recently been gaining revelation on how those aforementioned methods are just not as effective as using the name of Jesus how HE intended.

Prior to this revelation, I would pray all my prayers ‘in the name of Jesus’. Of course, I was sure to check my requests and motives (maybe to make sure I wasn’t pulling God’s arm by using the ‘magic’ catch phrase and making my worldly requests come to pass.) I understood a bit about the authority Christ gave us when he ascended to be with the Father. I believed that people could and would be healed when being prayed for in the name of Jesus. I didn’t personally see much from my own experiences with prayer like this. But it was all I knew, at that stage anyway.

In January 2010 I was able to attend a conference with David Riddell. In the course material he mentioned praying or doing anything ‘in the name of Jesus’ means we should be about the Lord’s business. I confess, I didn’t fully grasp the meaning of this until later in 2011. It made a bit of sense, but the penny hadn’t fully dropped. In 2011, I was listening to a podcast, (I can’t remember which one, sorry) and the speaker explained what it meant to pray, or act, in the name of the Lord. He explained that it’s like having a credit account at Bunnings for the company you work for. Technically the Boss owns the account and is responsible to pay it up in full by a particular time. Bunnings assumes that when one of the employees buys stuff on the account that they are buying on behalf of the account owner. It is not likely that the employee will buy things on the account without the owner knowing. If they do – then that’s it. But let’s take this one step further. For a new employee, it’s likely that the Boss will have to authorise all the purchases that they will buy on the account. All the while building rapport and trust between the boss and employee. As the trust is earned and the Boss can see that the loyalty of the employee lie with the business, the Boss will lessen the authorisation and will trust that the employee will do what is necessary to complete the job.

This revelation totally changed the way I look at praying ‘in Jesus’ name’. Our ultimate model is Jesus, and he said, “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (Jn 5:19) So, if Jesus could do nothing of himself, then it’s not too much of a stretch to understand that we also can’t do anything of ourselves either. BUT. When we look at everything that Jesus did, then we have to understand that we too can access that power – as long as we are doing what we see the Father doing. Jesus taught us to pray by praying for the Kingdom to come “to Earth as it is in Heaven”. Therefore I was led to understand that we can bring Heaven to Earth if that is what God is leading us to. I was no longer content to pray and finish with ‘in Jesus’ name, amen’ if I wasn’t prepared to be ‘ordering’ it on behalf of Jesus. It caused me to seek God more in my prayer times to really find out what He is already doing on Earth so I could partner with Him. I want to align myself with His will in order to have a more effective prayer life which is basically a closer relationship with Him. Through this paradigm shift, I have seen healings and changed lives. I am still learning to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and go where He is leading. But in these last 4 months I have seen more changed through my prayers with them than in my previous 26 years of knowing Christ. God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. My level of faith didn’t change either. I can clearly remember several times I prayed with a certainty that someone would be healed, or a prayer would be answered, but at that stage those desires weren't manifested. The key aspect that changed was my understanding of the power in Jesus’ name. It’s all about jumping on board with what God is already doing. It's about making sure you’re being about the Lord’s business. God has given us the stockrooms of Heaven as our inheritance. These stockrooms hold a whole myriad of miracles and it’s up to us to be in such constant communion with the Holy Spirit that we can approach the store room, on behalf of Jesus (he’ll fix it up at the other end for us), and bring what we need from Heaven to Earth.

I personally have accessed this store room for a set of lungs for one of my friends, and love invaded her life and healed her. Earlier I prayed for the same girl, only using the name of Jesus, and there was no apparent change. My next blog entry will share with you in more detail about this story. It totally changed my life.