Thoughts for Life: #11 Your Amazing Authority

Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- During the last week of Jesus' life, before His mediatorial death and resurrection, He gave His disciples some special instructions concerning prayer.

These were among His deepest teachings. One of His primary emphases was that, hereafter, Jesus' disciples were to bring their petitions in His name. No leader has ever given such amazing authority to his followers. (Google image, Jesus instructing His disciples)

In order to be able to use this authority to the glory of Jesus and the advancement of His kingdom, we need to know the answer to three questions. What does the word name imply in Jewish thought? What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name? How can we use Jesus' name most effectively in our praying?

The Meaning of Name in Jewish Thought
The word name, as it was used in the time of Christ, implied three things:

The name of the person. To praise the name of Jesus is to praise Jesus Himself. To love the name of Jesus is to love Jesus. To dishonor the name of Jesus is to insult Jesus.

The name represents all we know of the person. When Moses hungered to draw close to Jehovah, he asked to see His glory. God replied that a human being could not survive such a divine encounter, for His glory would be greater than the physical body could bear.

But God promised to reveal Himself partially. He put Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand, and passed in front of Moses, removing His hand for a second so Moses could see the glory that lingered after God had passed by.

As He did so, He proclaimed His name—a revealing two-sentence name:

" 'The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished' " (Exod. 34:6-7). To know God was to know all that His name represented. To understand the name was to see God.

The name of Jesus represents all we know of Him from Scripture and personal experience. It includes His transforming power, His love, His mercy, His intolerance of hypocrisy, His desire for us to be holy as He is holy. It includes our knowledge of Him in His eternal glory, His creation of the universe, His incarnation, His atoning death, His resurrection, and His coming again.

The name is the person actively present. To the early Christians, to be gathered "in Jesus' name" (Matt. 18:20) meant for Jesus to be personally present in their midst, as He truly is today. To be sent "in Jesus' name,"
to do all "in the name' of Jesus (Col. 3:17), meant acting by the authority of Jesus, manifesting, His character.

When we act "in Jesus' name" today, we likewise believe that we are not acting alone, but with Jesus by our side, even thought He is invisible to our eyes.

(Chapter 4, pp. 32, 33, italics added)

Used by permission

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Let's pray-

"O LORD, your love endures forever, and you will perfect that which concerns me. Through the Word I am put together and shaped up for the tasks you have for me – I am thoroughly equipped for every good work. I am confident that you will complete this great work you have begun in me – you will bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. Amen."
Germine Copeland

Scripture Reading Psalm 138:8; 2 Timothy 3:17; Philippians 1:6

Today's Bible verses-

Ps. 118:33-35 (NKJV) "Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. (v.43) Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. (v.35) Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it."

Heb. 4:16 (NKJV) "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Today's quote:

~ Holley Gerth- "We reflect the image of God. We are beings with souls. We have hearts full of hopes and desires. God has placed invisible gifts within each of us. And when we give ourselves to Jesus, we are mysteriously created all over again. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We are not a factory-assembled product. We are God’s masterpiece."

Today's guest links:

Helping you accept imperfect and embrace Real life

By Jill Savage

Get signed up for the No More Perfect Marriages Seminar: Home Edition taking place this week! Jill Savage

Words of wisdom-

~ If we believe that Jesus will meet our needs and that He's our Good shepherd, we'll experience the peace that comes from believing in Him. His resources are boundless, and we need not worry about lacking anything. Let's be content in knowing He'll provide for us.

Today's guest post-

Be still

Be Still

April Ready

"Thank God for mothers. After my recent C-section, my mother came to help me recover until I was feeling better. Anyone who knows me knows I cannot stay off my feet. I always have to be doing something. Because of my constant need to move around, I was up and trying to help out with things in the house shortly after I came home from the hospital. 'You need to be still' my mother said."

Important news:

Beginning Wednesday, March 18, the pastors of CFC churches joined together to provide a daily devotional.
"Streams in the Desert" will provide a short scripture reading and a brief message from one of the pastors every day for the coming season.

It's posted on a dedicated Facebook page

The home pages of the website: https://www.cfconline.org/

[Online daily Streams in the Dessert devotional. Sign up for it to come to your email daily]

Sermon listing: https://www.cfconline.org/sermon-library

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