"Name Dropping"

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:13 

Name dropping is a term that is used when someone mentions knowing, or being associated with, someone else who is popular, famous or of status. It is usually done in hopes of making the one doing it seem important. It can also be used to identify people with a common bond. Name dropping has been used to help one gain access into a particular place- "just tell them so-and-so sent you". It has been used to help others gain an audience before authorities. 

 

As I was in prayer the other day I thought about this "name dropping" because when I approach the Heavenly Father, I always do so in the "Name of Jesus". That name gives me "clout" with the Father. It also gives me access into His Presence. It allows me to capture His ear and gives me His attention. 

 

When I "drop/speak" His Name into my situation, it changes. When I speak His name, demons flee, sickness and disease are healed, chains are broken, captives are set free, confusion vanishes. His Name quenches the fire, shuts the mouths of lions, delivers from the pit, turns night into day, calms the raging sea, stops the storm. His Name gives rest to the weary, seed to the sower, help in time of trouble, strength in weakness, grace that is sufficient. It brings wisdom, blessings, peace, joy, salvation and abundant life. 

 

Some try to "drop/use" His Name as if they know Him. There were seven sons of Sceva who tried to use Jesus' Name in casting out an evil spirit. It didn't work. The evil spirit jumped on them and beat them up because they didn't know the One whose name they were using, and the evil spirit knew they didn't know Him/Jesus. But for those of us who know Jesus personally as Savior and Lord that is not the case. We have the right to "drop" His Name. We are His children, heirs and joint-heirs and are identified with Him.

 

Have a great day. Every born-again child of God has the right to do some "name dropping" (the Name of Jesus) when we approach the Heavenly Father and face life's trials.

 

For further reading:

Ephesians 2:9

Acts 19:13-16

Matthew 18:20

Mark 16:17

John 14:14; 15:16; 16:23-26

"Listen And Don't Rebel"

"For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." Hebrews 3:16 

The Lord had miraculously delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt and was bringing them into their own land, but they never made it past the wilderness. Why? Because when the Lord spoke to them, they hardened their hearts against His word. As a result, they fell into unbelief, murmuring, complaining and rebellion. 

 

God had a place of rest (physically and spiritually) planned for them. No more slavery, no more bondage, no more taskmasters, no more struggling, no more labor. They would possess houses they did not build and crops they did not plant. God had provisions for them. A land that flowed with milk and honey- abundance. He had a plan to prosper them, to give them a hope and a future. Yet all they got was forty years of dry, hot desert and manna. 

 

Had they only listened to and trusted His word; had they just obeyed what He said; had they not tried to reason it out they never would have lived a wasted life in the wilderness and died there. How familiar is that today. God has a plan for us. He desires to bring us into His rest. He desires to give us abundant life as well as eternal life. He is trying to give us good things-- spiritually and physically-- yet we are not listening to and heeding His word. Like them, if we would only listen to Him, believe and do what He says we would not live such wasted life. If we would only listen, we could receive the blessings of the "promise land". God is not slack concerning His promises, He can do it. But we can also harden our hearts and not listen, believe or obey. We can keep ourselves from "entering into that rest" that He provides and is desirous to bring us into. 

 

Does that sound like you today? Is He trying to get a blessing to you, is He trying to give you peace, is He speaking to your heart about His plan for you, but you aren't listening. You may be "hearing" Him, but "listening", "believing" and "doing" what you hear are two different things. Don't miss the "place" He is wanting to take you into because you are "hardening" your heart through unbelief, doubt and rebellion.

 

Have a great day. Don't miss God's plan and blessings by hardening your heart to His word. 

 

For further reading:

Psalm 95:7,8

Jeremiah 29:11

Isaiah 1:19

 

"The Answer Is -- Pray"

"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms." James 5:13 

What should we do in times of affliction? What should we do when we are facing trouble, hard times, difficulties or suffering? What should we do when we are in need? The answer is found in three little words from our scripture text-- "let him pray". Wait a minute, did it say to "pray"?

Praying in times of trouble seems to be a foreign idea to most. I think they misread the scripture to say-- let him worry; let him try to figure out a solution; let him seek the help of man; let him lean to his own understanding; let him give up because there is no hope; let him exhaust every resource then pray.

 

In the minds of many prayer seems to either be too simple a solution or too hard to do, therefore, people try everything else before they will bow their knees to God and seek His help and counsel. Prayer should be the first thing a Christian does. It should not even be a question about what to do. It should come automatically and natural for us.

 

What do you do when you are in a time of trouble, need, difficulty or want? Is turning to God in prayer the first thing you do or the last thing you do after you have done everything else that you know to do? There is a principal to prayer that we often forget-- "seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33) When we seek Him first in prayer about our situation, everything we need will be given (added) to us. The wisdom we need, the grace we need, the answer we need, the solution, the help we need, will all be given to us. Prayer is the only place where we are guaranteed to get the answer and help that we need when going through affliction. "Ask and ye shall receive".

 

Have a great day. What do you do when you are in trouble? Do you pray or do you look for another solution?

 

For further reading:

John 16:23, 24

Matthew 7:7

James 4:2; 5:16

Proverbs 3:5,6

"Abundant God"

"...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10b 

There is nothing about God that is little. He is an abundant God who does things, and gives to us, in abundant measure. When we have a need, He supplies all our need "according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus". This means that whatever your need is, He doesn't supply it according to the size of your need, but He supplies it according to the size of what He possesses. If you lack wisdom, He gives it liberally- not sparingly. When you give, He gives it back "good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over". When you need grace, He gives grace that "much more abounds". 

 

When Jesus walked on earth and He fed the five thousand plus people with the fish and bread, He didn't just give them enough to make their stomachs stop growling, He fed them until they were "full". When He told Peter and the other fishermen to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, the catch was so large that their nets began to break. When Solomon asked for wisdom to govern God's people, God gave him so much wisdom that the Queen of Sheba replied that only "the half had been told" to her. 

 

Why do we tend to ask God for "little/just enough" instead of "all" that we need? We act as if we are going to "bankrupt" Him. We act as if we are asking too much of Him. We act as if we are being "greedy" by asking for "all" our need to be met. He is God who does "exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think". So go to Him with your need today whether it is a need in your spirit, soul or body. He has plenty and will give you plenty enough, and more, to meet it.

Have a great day. God is an abundant God who gives abundantly.

 

For further reading:

Ephesians 3:20

Romans 5:20

Philippians 4:19

Matthew 14:20

1 Kings 10:7

James 1:5

Luke 6:38

"Perfect Cover"

"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Genesis 3:7 

Since the first sin in the garden mankind has always tried to cover his sin on his own. There is only one problem with that-- he can't. Adam tried to sew fig leaves together to cover his nakedness/sin. He grabbed the first thing that was available that he thought would work. We all know what happens to leaves after they are detached from the plant-- they tend to dry out and crumble. Therefore, man would have to continually be replacing it with another one or something else. He never thought about making a covering of animal skins which would have held up better and lasted longer than a leaf. Using an animal skin was God's idea. He knew what it would take to cover man's nakedness. He knew what would take care of it once and for all and would not have to be constantly replaced.

 

Mankind is still trying to do what Adam did in the garden. He is still trying to come up with his own plan to cover his sin. He is trying to do it through sewing the fig leaves of good deeds and good works together. He is trying to do it through religious rituals. He is trying to do it through self-consciousness and so on. All the things he tries to use will "dry out" and "crumble" and leave him "naked" still. But God chose the "skin" of a Lamb as a covering for our sins that will take care of it once and for all. Of course, that Lamb was His own Dear Son Jesus-- the Lamb of God that takes away sin. 

 

Are you trying to cover your sins by your own means or religious devices? Are you trying to "sew" something together to take care of it? Your effort is in vain. There is only one thing that can completely cover, and it is the covering that God chose-- Jesus. Today exchange your inadequate, faulty covering for His that takes care of it once and for all.

 

Have a great day. All man can do to cover his sins is sew "fig leaves" together that will dry and crumble. But God gave the perfect covering when He gave His Son Jesus. 

 

For further reading:

Genesis 3:21

Hebrews 9:11-28; 10:9-14

John 1:29,36