Jesus-Name Above All Names

Warner Faith

Chapter One

And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe....

Ephesians 1:19

Imagine what it would be like to have so much power that your circumstances could not defeat you-power so great that its strength, its force cannot even be measured. In this passage, the apostle Paul tells us that is exactly what is available to us through Jesus.

Many people want to experience that kind of power in their lives, but they don't understand how to release it. An important key to releasing that power is speaking the Name in faith.

The Bible says that Jesus has a Name that is above every other Name, that it is the highest Name, the most powerful Name in heaven and in earth-and His Name has been given to us. All we have to do is believe.

What do we believe?

In John 20:31 we read, ... believe that Jesus is the Christ (the Anointed One), the Son of God, and that through believing and cleaving to and trusting and relying upon Him you may have life through (in) His Name [through Who He is].

When we believe in Jesus, develop a personal relationship with Him and pray in His Name, God's power becomes accessible to us.

We receive everything God has provided for us in Jesus through faith in that Name - continual love, peace, joy, healing, prosperity, security, strength to be more than a conqueror in any situation and power to turn our circumstances around.

Think about that for a moment. When we become children of God, everything in that Name belongs to us.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge....

Hosea 4:6

Millions of people-including Christians-have no clue about the tremendous power that is found in the Name.

I know that is true because I used to be one of them.

I was a Christian for many years who went to church every week, sometimes several times a week, was on the board of my church and part of an evangelism team, whose husband was an elder in that same church. But I had no clue about the power in the Name of Jesus.

Like many, if not most, Christians today, I was powerless because I was clueless.

Oh, I "used" the Name of Jesus. I tacked it onto the end of my prayers like I had been taught. But I had no idea what I was doing. So I lived a powerless Christian life. I was powerless to bring about any real change in my life or in the lives of my family and others.

Do you know that you can live a Christian life and still live one without power?

Sad to say, there are probably more Christians living powerless lives than there are Christians living powerful lives. But that is not the way God intended it to be. That was not the way it was in the beginning of the church.

And with great strength and ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus ...

Acts 4:33

Why were there so many dynamic things happening in the early church?

Why is it that we read in the book of Acts about people being healed, demons being cast out and breakthroughs occurring in many people's lives?

Why were the early Christians able to perform so many miracles, signs and wonders?

The early Christians knew the power that was in the Name of Jesus, and they used that Name on a regular basis in the way God intended it should be used. (As we will see later, there is a way it should not be used).

When the apostle Peter used the Name to pray for a man who had been lame since birth, the man was healed. (Acts 3:1-8.)

Phillip preached to large crowds of people about the kingdom of God and the Name, and ... as Phillip preached it, they were baptized, both men and women (Acts 8:12).

Paul used the Name when he coma manded a demon to come out of a woman who was ... possessed by a spirit of divination [claiming to foretell future events ...] ... Immediately the spirit came out, and she was set free. (See Acts 16:16-18.)

It is obvious that these early disciples understood the power in the Name of Jesus, and they knew how to use that power to receive His blessings and bless others.

... stretch out Your hand to cure and to perform signs and wonders through the authority and by the power of the name of Your holy Child and Servant Jesus.

Acts 4:30

From this passage we can see there is power in the Name of Jesus for times of crisis and power to perform signs and wonders like healing the sick and casting out demons. The Word of God also reveals to us that there is power to save anyone who calls upon that Name. (Acts 2:21.)

The Bible says there is salvation in the Name of Jesus and that there is no salvation in any other name except that Name. (Acts 4:12.)

Salvation simply means believing in the Name of Jesus and making a decision to place your faith in Him. (If you have never done that before, and you would like to, there is a prayer you can pray at the end of this book).

In Colossians 2:9 we read: For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature].

Then in verse 10 we are told: And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority....

Get hold of that. All the power of God has been invested in the Name of Jesus, and that Name has been given to the church.

Wow!

His glorious Name is powerful. In order to release that power, as I discuss later in the book, faith is required. If we are seeing very little power manifested in our daily lives, we lack faith in the Name.

I can go around saying "in Jesus' Name," can pray "in Jesus' Name" and can even rebuke demons "in Jesus' Name," but if I am not really releasing faith when I pray and speak in that Name, I will not get the results I would if my faith were stirred up.

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds.

2 Corinthians 10:4

I believe the reason God wants to stir up powerful men and women today is because we are engaged in a war, a spiritual war ... against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12 KJV).

This war cannot be fought in the natural, carnal world. The devil and his demons are our enemy, and we can only fight against them in the spiritual realm with spiritual weapons.

As the King James Version of 2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us, ... the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [or "natural"], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds [things that hold us in bondage]....

One of the most powerful spiritual weapons God has given us to use is the Name of Jesus. (See Luke 10:17.) It is a spiritual warhead.

As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, shouting loudly, Have pity and mercy on us, Son of David!

When He reached the house and went in, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to Him, Yes, Lord.

Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith and trust and reliance [on the power invested in Me] be it done to you;

And their eyes were opened....

Matthew 9:27-30

I know about the power in the Name of Jesus. I have been praying and preaching in that Name for more than twenty years. But God visited me some time ago and stirred up my faith in the Name by giving me a fresh understanding of the full power and authority it holds for every believer.

Now, when I say the Lord "visited" me, I don't mean I saw an apparition. I mean He just began to deal with my heart about the Name of Jesus.

I have been mediating on Scriptures about that Name for some time. I especially do that just before I go out and minister to others. It always stirs up my faith so that when I stand in front of people I can pray for them, believing with all my heart, so that power can be released all over the auditorium to break the yoke of bondage off of people's lives.

I cannot stand on a platform and truly pray for people without really believing or having faith that something is going to happen.

When we have faith in the Name of Jesus, we can go up against any circumstance that challenges our faith with the power that is available to us in that Name.

So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

Romans 10:17

Faith is a force. Jesus pointed out that it is a power invested, or resident, in us that can be released through prayer and the words of our mouth. (See Matthew 9:29.)

In the King James Version of Romans 10:17 we are told that ... faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If you hear the Word on healing, your faith will be stirred to receive healing. If you hear the Word on finances, your faith will be stirred up for finances.

When you hear the Word of God on the power of the Name of Jesus, your faith in the Name of Jesus will be stirred up. As you read this book, speak the Scriptures on the power of Jesus' Name aloud. By the time you finish reading this book, you will begin praying differently. You will begin having more faith in what you ask for in prayer.

You will begin to have an attitude of confidence because you believe in the power that the Bible says is yours through faith in the Name. You will be able to press on to the finish line of God's plan for your life and enjoy all the blessings that He has set aside for you! You will have stirred up your faith in the power of the glorious Name of Jesus-the Name above all names.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Jesus-Name Above All Names by Joyce Meyer Copyright © 2000 by Joyce Meyer
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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