23 Oct Name Tag (Discovering the Power in the Name of Jesus) – Part 3

Many times when God wanted to change the destiny of a man, he first had to change the identity of that man.  He would start by changing his name.  In the Old Covenant, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (which means “father of many nations”).  He changed Sarai (which means “contentious”) to Sarah (which means “princess”).  He changed Jacob (which means “deceive”) to Israel (which means “peace”).  He even changed Simon Barjona’s name to Peter (which means “rock”).

At the time in which Jesus called Simon “rock”, he was anything but a stable rock!  Peter had invented “foot in mouth” disease!  As you can see, there is something significant in a name!

Over the last couple of weeks, we shared with you two major categories:

1.      The name in power – authority

2.      The name in prayer – answer

Under the name in power, we began to share with you “Four Nifty Nuances of the Name”:

1.      The significance of the name (Matt. 1:18-21)

2.      The superiority of the name (Phil. 2:9-10)

This week, let’s continue our lesson…

3.       The safety in the name (Prov. 18:10).

Here the Scripture tells us, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth  into it, and is safe.”  The Amplified Bible says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the consistently righteous man – upright and in right standing with God – runs into it and is safe, high (above evil) and strong”.  I like that, “safe, high and strong”!

In the time in which this was written, the tower was an important part of the people’s lives.  It represented safety to the people.  It is kind of an obscure concept to us, but if we will think back to the days of civil war forts and its walls of protection, we can begin to understand the concept.  There is safety in truly understanding the name of Jesus.

This reminds me of the little old lady who caught an intruder in her house late one night.  Startled, she began to shout at the top of her lungs, “Acts 2:38!  Acts 2:38!”  She then calmly called the police.  Upon arrival, the policeman noticed the intruder in the corner of the little old lady’s house with his nose against the wall and his hands up.  Upon inquiring, the policeman asked the bandit why he had remained stationary in that position until the police had arrived.  After all, she was a defenseless little old lady.  To which he replied, “Defenseless…I don’t think so!  She said she had an axe and two 38’s!”

It worked out pretty well for our little old lady, but we must truly know the Word behind the name in order for it to actually provide safety and protection for us (see Psalm 138:2)!

Everyone remembers the story of David and Goliath.  It is commonly thought that it was a stone that killed the giant.  While certainly there was a stone that ultimately hit the giant, there was an unseen force that propelled that stone into the giant’s forehead.  Let me explain.  In I Samuel 17:45, David approached Goliath by speaking “I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts”.  In the Hebrew this is referring to coming to Goliath in the name of the Lord of armies!  Armies of angels!  David knew just like Elijah did in II Kings 5, that even though He was surrounded by enemies and directly in front of one very big one…there was more with him than there were against him!

Before David even hit Goliath with the stone, David hit Goliath with the Word!  The Word is what set the stone on target and it is likely an angel grabbed that stone and propelled it into the giant’s head!  Never run at your giants with your mouth shut (see Psalm 103:20)!  Speak the Word and do it in the name of Jesus!  There is safety in that name!

4.      Your status with the name of Jesus (Mark 16:15-20, Matt. 28:18-19).

Here the Bible tells us, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.  And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.  So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following” (Mark 16:15-20).

The Greek word translated “name” is the Greek word “onamah”.  The word onamah represents His name, His authority, and His accomplishments!  Therefore I never approach life based on my name, but His!  Not my authority, but His!  Not my accomplishments, but His!  From the aforementioned verse, look at the restoration found in His name:

1. There is a restoration of dominance (in my name you will cast out demons).  Did you know that 40% of all Christians believe the devil is not a literal being, but simply a symbol of evil?  If I were the devil (which I am clearly not…you can ask my wife.  Of course, it would depend on what day you ask her!), one of my biggest tricks would be to convince you that I don’t exist and you are a narrow-minded, ignorant intolerant Christian if you believe in a real devil!  Now I don’t want you to get in a ditch in this area, either, and I do believe there are two primary ditches in this area in the Body of Christ:

1)  Everything is a devil. 

You don’t want to be like the person who was casting out devils and found a man with the spirit of procrastination.  He said to the devil, “Come out!”  To which the devil said, “I will in a minute.”  He found another individual with a spirit of gambling, to which he said, “Come out!”  The demon replied, “You bet I will!”   Finally he found a man with a spirit of gluttony and said, “Come out!”  The demon retorted, “I will for a cookie!”

2)  Nothing is a devil. 

If your 1948 toaster breaks down, it is not likely a devil, but a need for a cheap man to buy a new toaster.  However, if your toaster, washer, car, computer and wife all break down in one day…get a clue!  We have restoration of dominance in Jesus’ name.

2. We have restoration of communication in the name (in my name they shall speak in tongues).  Adam walked and talked with the Lord in the cool of the day.  That communication was broken by sin.  However, as we pray in tongues, spirit to spirit, communication is once again restored (see I Cor. 14:2).

3. We have restoration of protection (in my name they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not harm them).  Clearly this is not referring to foolishly and presumptuously tempting God.  If you are foolish enough to handle poisonous snakes on purpose, you are either really stupid or you have your own show on the “Discovery Channnel”.  This is of course, referring to accidental contact with an out of control animal kingdom or accidentally eating or drinking unsafe food/water (see Acts 28).

For example, when I was ministering inGuatemalamany years ago, I was served some very interesting looking “mystery meat” with lots of gravy.  To this day, I don’t know what it was but I live to tell the story!  There is restoration of protection in the name!

4. We have restoration of redemption (in my name they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover).  In Acts 3:1-16, we find an example of this redemption.  Here the Word tells us, “His name, through faith in His name, has made this man sound…”  There is healing in His name!

Not my authority….but His!  Not my ability…but His!  Not my holiness…but His!  Not my accomplishments…but His!  All that He is…not all that I am!   Next week we’ll continue our series.