For as long as it takes we are going to study the
gospel of John chapters fourteen to seventeen.
To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two postings
preceding this one.
You would have noticed that the messages do
not come as regularly as before. This is because time is tight and I work
longer and irregular hours at present. Please keep us in your prayers, since
many important developments also take hold of our time.
This message is a continuation of our
previous message and is also shorter than usual because of the mentioned
challenges.
“And
I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be
one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which
you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost
except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,” (John
17:11, 12).
I may have confused you in our previous message and
some may even think I am being misleading, since we always understood that the
power and authority is in the name of Jesus. It is, but it is not the name ‘Jesus’
that has the authority. ‘Jesus’ is only the Greek for the Hebrew version ‘Joshua’,
both of which means saviour. The name could be something totally different and
would still have the same power. The power is not so much in the name as it is
in being one with those who the name represents. To Father God the name of Jesus
is not the important issue, but it is being in
Jesus, the person to whom the name belongs, that is important. We see an
example of this in Acts 19:13-16 where God used Paul in extraordinary power and
“then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to
invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I
adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus
I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?’ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them,
mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house
naked and wounded.”
It is not the name of Jesus that makes
the difference, but the relationship of obedience with Him and Father God. Are
we prepared to identify with them, to be counted as one with them, to bear the
same name even when it costs us our comfort and our lives? “For
whoever would save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will
find it,” (Matthew 16:25). Whilst talking about those who would use His name to
advance their own interests without having a relationship with Him and His
Father, Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23: “‘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. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty
works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart
from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
The name of Jesus is not the miracle power, but the
willingness to share our entire being with Him. Jesus was very outspoken about
this all the way through His teachings, in fact throughout the history of
Israel as recorded right through the Bible. The Lord does not want to be shared
– not with our own interests, not with other ideologies, not with money and
everything it can buy, and He does not want to be used for selfish purposes. He
wants us only to Himself and that is where we will be safe.
To be continued.
Lord, I really want to be one with you.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth,
via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will
accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment