05/27/2018
In the name of Jesus Christ rests great power. We call upon it in faith, and by so doing it heals, saves, and provides for our forgiveness of sin. No other name has such strength in it, or reaches the Father’s ear, but before we can call on His name we must believe in the man, the Son of God, and obey. We can add nothing to it that will improve upon it. Call His name, but call it in faith, precision, and certainty.
“And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.”
Acts 3:16 ESV
Last night I made a loaf of banana nut bread for my Sunday School class. It contained bananas, flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and a few other ingredients. To successfully make this bread I had to combine all of the ingredients, but I had to follow the instructions precisely, and bake them at an exact temperature for a certain length of time. Like the bananas in my bread, saying the name of Jesus alone doesn’t make a loaf complete. It takes believing in the recipe and following the instructions of the author to the letter...
The name of Jesus isn’t like an ingredient in the recipe of healing, but much like making my bread just adding His name in a half-baked prayer doesn’t heal, or save. We must follow the instructions of the cook who created the recipe in the first place... we need to have faith that these ingredients, combined in this fashion, placed in an oven at this precise temperature, and waited on for exactly this length of time, will yield a tasty loaf.
Saying the name of Jesus without believing in who He is, obedience to His teaching, adjusting ourselves to His temperature in the will of God, and through the faith it takes to wait upon the Father to bring all of these things to completion in the oven of our lives with Him, will not yield the perfect bread of righteousness, nor will it heal, or do the other powerful things. Saying is not believing, believing allows us to say... pray in belief.
“For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”
Romans 10:13-14 ESV
Hear the preaching of the gospel of Jesus, and believe. Add nothing to it because when you do so then you have changed the recipe and what you are making is something other than what was intended by the creator. When we add to the gospel of Jesus, we are saying that we know more perfectly than the Father Himself, and we are creating a new thing that is of us.
Some of the best recipes in life are simple ones, but if we add additional ingredients to them to suit our taste, or change how we combine them together, or wait upon them in the oven... then what we taste isn’t what was originally intended... we haven’t been faithful to the recipe... we have something that might taste good to us, but it isn’t what was intended... it is something else.
“"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:21 ESV
Doing these things that Jesus teaches us, and believing in Him enough to obey isn’t hard. His intention isn’t to confound us... it is to save us and heal us body, and soul. I am always amazed and blessed when following a healing He says “Go and sin no more.” We read over this so easily, but in this simple phrase we hear that He has forgiven sin... not just healed the body, or the life. Read these scriptures; first the healing of an invalid, and then the life of a woman...
“Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you."”
John 5:14 ESV
And...
“Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."”
John 8:10-11 ESV
When we call on the powerful name of Jesus it comes to complete the recipe... and is true to the taste of released sin. Is this your understanding when you call on His name? Is this your belief when you receive healing? Is this the true power that applies the ingredients of healing to the physical wounds in our life? Believing in Jesus is having faith in redemption from sin; it is more than believing we will be healed, and the recipe is so simple, believe in God, Jesus His Son, confession, redemption, and Grace. Nothing hard... a novice can prepare it, and the taste is always perfect, and forever the same.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
Psalms 34:8 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, and the sweet taste of your forgiveness through His sacrifice and powerful name. Your desire for us is not to confound us, or make finding you difficult, but to make the recipe of faith one that any person is capable of completing in their life. Sometimes Holy Father, we look at what you have provided us, and think that it is just too simple, and that by making it complex, or adding ingredients, we can perfect it further, and add to your glory... but your glory it is already perfect, and the taste of your will exactly as you wish it to be. Your glory isn’t in the difficulty, or the sacrifices we make; your glory is in the love and faith we have in you, and that loving comes so easily when we look at the recipe of faith which is Jesus. Help us to trust in you, and to do those things that the gospel of Jesus, and your Word, teach us to do. Lead us from the temptation we feel to take your plan for us and improve upon it, or to make it exclusive by the additions We apply to weed out those we feel are undeserving. Help us Gracious Father to teach the simplicity of faith to all those who would hear, and to place in their mouth the meal you have provided... the same one we took into ours... the selfsame taste of faith that you hold as perfect, and complete. Praised be your name, and powerful is the name of your Son Jesus Christ. Heal us Father by His name, and by your mercy and grace... for Holy, Holy, Holy are you the Great God of my life, and the simplifier of the most difficult.
Rich Forbes