pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Power in the Name

Something as simple as a name can have a lot of meaning.  The names of famous people can invoke memories or emotions.  For each of us we also have a list of names that do the same things for us personally.  To others, our name has the same effect.

No name carries the power that the name of Jesus carries.  In today’s story a man finds healing when Peter and John call on the name of Jesus.  When the twelve were originally sent out, it was in the name of Jesus.  Then and after Jesus was resurrected, these ordinary men did many amazing works and miracles in the name of Jesus.

Jesus continues to be the cornerstone today.  He is the gate through which all of us must pass to enter eternal life.  Jesus himself declared that He is the only way to the Father; Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  The Holy Spirit only enters into each of us after we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Even to this day, Christians all around the world often end their prayers with the phrase “in the name of Jesus.”

A song I learned recently begins with the words “there is power in the name of Jesus” repeated several times.  It is followed by the words “to break every chain”, also repeated several times.  As broken, imperfect creatures, only the name of Jesus saves us.  He is the true cornerstone or foundation upon which our faith stands.  It is only through and in the name of Jesus that we find salvation.  In the personal relationship we each can have with Jesus we find grace, love, forgiveness.  Call on the name of Jesus and allow Him to break every chain.  Call on His name and be redeemed.

Scripture reference: Acts 4: 11-12


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Do You Hear?

What name best identifies you?  Is it father, mother, sister, grandma, brother, grandfather?  Is it accountant, teacher, lawyer, mechanic?  Is it artist, athlete, musician, dancer?  Is it giver, helper, volunteer, caregiver?  In our life we fill many roles and sometimes the roles vary by who we are around and what we are doing at the time.  Often the names others give us and know us by reflect who we are and how we are known.  Sometimes we even live into the names we are given.

In the quiet alone times with God, do you hear Him calling your name?  He does call out to each.  God calls out to each of us by name – Susan, Paul, David, Alice, Greg.  Jesus called the twelve to follow Him and become His disciples.  In doing so they were called to a new way of life.  Through their time with and in relationship to Jesus, they came to see themselves as worthy, loved, redeemed.  As we hear Him calling our name and begin to live into that call, we too come to see ourselves as worthy, loved, redeemed.

As God calls out and stakes an increasing claim on our lives as we grow in the faith, one of or true names becomes more and more evident: child of God.  As we grow into this name our other names become secondary.  Instead of father we become known as a Christian father.  Instead of a lawyer we become known as a Christian lawyer.  What we ‘do’ becomes secondary to who we are as God increasingly is our first consideration in all of our choices, decisions, priorities.

Being a child of God is a journey.  Once we realize we are a child of God, we begin living into a new identity.  We will still stumble, fall, make mistakes.  But as a child of God, when we stumble, we will fall into His arms of grace.  As a beloved child of God, we never walk alone.  Do you hear Him calling your name?

Scripture reference: 1 John 3: 1-7