YOU ARE IN THE NAME!

Monday 16 December

For all people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. Micah 4:5 (NKJV)

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)

The prophetic statement that Micah made in the Old Testament has now come to pass in the New Testament. The reason he said ‘we will walk in the name of the Lord our God’ is because of an amazing truth. In the New Testament every believer lives in the name of Jesus. What does that look like in practical terms?

To understand this we need to be aware that His name now carries all authority in heaven, in earth and under the earth. Back in the gospels, this was not so. When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples and later on the 70 to heal and cast out unclean spirits in His name, he gave them the authority to use His name to perform miracles and cast out demons.

They were given the authority which is ‘exousia’ in the Greek meaning the ‘right and the privilege’ to do it. For example if I have a card for a prestigious country club and I give it to you, then all the rights, privileges, facilities and resources are now at your disposal and able to be accessed by you when you are in possession of it.

This is what it was like when the disciples used the name of Jesus. He lent them His name and while they had it they could do everything Jesus would have done if He was physically present. He gave them power of attorney to use His name on His behalf.

In the New Testament we don’t borrow it, we are born into it.

Ephesians 3:14-15 says ‘for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named’…

The reason we are named with the name of Jesus is because we inherited it when we received salvation.

So we walk in His name and do all in His name, because we were born into His name and now we live in His name.

Some say that it is about the mention of his name citing Philippians 2:9-10 which says ‘Wherefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.’

It actually has nothing to do with the sound or the mention of His name. ‘At the name’ is in reference to the absolute authority that has been vested into that name. Some people think they have to go around saying ‘in the name of Jesus’ repeatedly or their prayers will not work. When Jesus said in Mark 16:17 ‘in my name’ you will cast out demons etc, he was not telling you that you have to say ‘in the name of Jesus’ for the authority in that name to work.

People that don’t understand the difference are the same ones that complain or take offence when an evangelist ministers to people and doesn’t say ‘in the name of Jesus’ before and after each prayer. This is simply ignorance and immaturity on public display.

The truth is when you live in the name you can command things as if Jesus was the one doing the commanding because everything that Jesus can do, His name now does.

Remember the lame man in Acts 3? The pertinent phrase there is ‘And His name through faith in His name has made this man strong ’. In this case, Peter used the name as a point of faith for the man to be healed but it is not necessary.

Why? It is your personal birthright. His name is the ‘keys of the kingdom’ that Jesus talked about in Matthew 16:19. His name has all authority and power and you live in it. Walk in it and live in it because if YOU are in Christ then you are in His name!

APPLICATION

Learn to live with a daily consciousness that you are in the name so you don’t look at the name of Jesus like a magic formula but recognise the authority that is already in YOU.