05/27/2026
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 with such clarity, 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 His name that will improve upon it. So, call His name, but call it in faith, precision, and with 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
One 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 these ingredients, but I had to follow the instructions precisely, and bake them at an exact temperature for a specific 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, and 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 way, 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, being obedient to what He teaches, adjusting our spirits to the temperature called for by God’s will, and having the faith it takes to wait upon our Heavenly Father to bring all of these things to completion in the oven of our lives with Him, will not yield the perfect loaf of righteousness. No, without following his Word to perfection, we will not heal, or do the other miraculous things. Saying is not believing, but believing allows us to say... so, we must pray in certainty and 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 then you have changed the recipe and what you are making is something other than what was intended by our Lord the Creator. When we add to the gospel of Jesus, we are saying that we know better than the Father Himself, and we are creating a new thing that is of us… not Him.
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 how we wait upon them to bake 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 the deliciously wonderful taste that was intended by the author of the original recipe... 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 His commands 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, after a healing, Jesus says “Go and sin no more.” We read over this command so easily, but in this simple phrase we hear that He has forgiven sin... not just healed the body, or a life. Read the following scriptures; first about 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 then...
“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 completes the recipe... and is true to the taste that God planned… which is forgiven sin. Is this your understanding of what occurs when you call 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 your 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, all we must do is believe in God, Jesus His Son, confess our sins, accept redemption, and bask in the Grace of God. There is nothing hard about this... a child can do it, and the taste of righteousness is always perfect, and dependably 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, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, and the sweet taste of your forgiveness through His sacrifice and powerful name. Your desire is not to confound us, nor to make it difficult to find you, 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 additional ingredients, we can perfect it further, and add to your glory... but in your glory it is already perfect, and the taste of your will is exactly as you wish it to be. Your glory isn’t in the difficulty, nor 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 away from the temptation to take your plan for us and improve upon it, or to make it exclusive by the addition of more ingredients. Help us Gracious Father to teach the simplicity of faith to all those who would hear, and to place in their mouths the meal you have provided for them... the same one we took into ours... the selfsame taste of faith that you know to be 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 redeem us... for Holy, Holy, Holy are you the Great God of our lives, and the simplifier of the most difficult.
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:9 ESV
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Titus 3:4-7 ESV
So, we pray this today in the name of Jesus and say… Amen!
Rich Forbes