Tag Archives: name

CALL ON HIS NAME

Christian Life, ,

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear;
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Charles Converse / Joseph Scriven

Never has there been a greater invitation…no, solution… to the issues of life than to call on the name of the Lord.

When Adam’s family fell apart, his descendants began to call on the name of the Lord.

Genesis 4:26 NIV
[26] “Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.”

David responded to God’s goodness by calling on His name.

Psalms 116:12-13 NIV
[12] “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? [13] I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”

If you need to be saved, call on His name.

Romans 10:13 NLT
[13] For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

If you need help, call on the name if the Lord.

Psalms 121:2 NIV
[2] My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

“To call upon the name of the Lord is a sign of knowing Him and a way of connecting to Him. There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing Him personally. Calling on the name of the Lord indicates personal interaction and relationship. When we call upon the name of the Lord, as a form of worship, we recognize our dependence upon Him.”
(What does it mean to call on the name of the Lord?
http://www.got questions.org)

Psalms 116:1-2 NIV
[1]”I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. [2] Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”

For those who are connected to the Lord by faith, calling on His name is not only a way of life but also imperative. Why?

“In summary, those who call on the name of the Lord are those who recognize Him as Savior. Whether it is a first-time calling upon Jesus’ name for forgiveness of sins or a continuous calling as the relationship progresses and grows, giving Him lordship over our lives in surrender to His will, calling on the name of the Lord is vital to spiritual life. Ultimately, calling on the name of the Lord is a sign of humility and dependence on God our Creator and Redeemer.”

Jesus insisted, “Without me, you can do nothing!”

Trouble is, we think we can. Born with an attitude of independence, even as believers in Jesus, we find it difficult to hand over the controls to Him. We call Him “Lord” but we ignore what He tells us to do.

Luke 6:46-48 NIV
[46] “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? [47] As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. [48] They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”

We say we believe in Him but we still try to play “God” in our own and other people’s lives. We still have the crazy notion that we must handle the difficulties we face by ourselves. We think that God is only concerned with the really big issues in life. The rest is up to us.

To be led by God’s Spirit is the hallmark of every child of God.

Romans 8:14 NLT
[14] “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

Not to be led by the Spirit is rebellion and foolishness.

To be led by God’s Spirit is to call on His name in every situation that needs help. That means every detail of everyday life, like the branch in the vine.

Not to be led by His Spirit means that I must be God in everything I face. I must be God in my relationships with others. I must be God to my husband and my children. I must be God at home and at work. I must be God in my life in society and in my country. I must make the rules and obey them.

It’s either God or me. We can’t both sit in the driver’s seat.

Problem is, wheb we insist on doing the driving, the consequences are dire.

Luke 6:49 NLT
[49] “But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

So then, since we have entered by faith into a partnership with Jesus where He is Lord and we are not, we are obliged to live out what we profess. We have given back to Him His right to lead us but, to do so, we must call on His name.

Solomon gives us, in a nutshell, Jesus’ prescription for our lives…

Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
[5] “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. [6] Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.“

When we insist on playing God in our own and others’ lives, we rob ourselves, and them, of the opportunity to experience His grace in its many facets. We miss out in the wonder of His interventions, and the development of our faith into a robust, secure connection with Him that weathers every storm. Even worse, we mess with God’s purpose for ourselves, and our loved ones, to transform us into the image of Jesus through the ALL THINGS in which He works for our good.

My friends, this is imperative if we are to live “care free in the care of God.” We must learn to call on His name as a lifelong expression of our utter dependence on Him.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – MY NAME IS LEGION

Bible Study, ,

MY NAME IS LEGION

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. Mark 5:6-10

The conversation Jesus had with the demon-possessed man was a strange mixture of sane interaction with a man created in God’s image and capable of responding to God, and the crazed outbursts of terrified demons who knew who He was and feared the fate that awaited them. Although this man had endured terrible torment from the demons – it was a miracle that he was still alive – there was a sense in which they actually benefited him in the end. Because of their disclosure, there was no doubt in the man’s mind who Jesus was.

The demons kept butting in to keep the man from conversing with Jesus until they were silenced and dismissed from him and he was able to respond to Jesus without interference. Why did he plead with Jesus not to banish the demons from the country? Was this their last stand before they were driven out? Why did Jesus capitulate and send them into the pigs? Was it because He had not yet accomplished His final victory over them so that He could banish them to hell?

Judgment day still lies in the future and the demonic powers still serve their purpose in the world until Jesus returns.

This man’s deliverance was a process, part of which was to acknowledge his condition, symbolised by his name. It seems that his confession, “I am a rioting mob!” brought about his final release. The demons fled into the pigs who reacted violently by hurling themselves over the cliff into the lake.

This is an incident we need to keep uppermost in our minds. This happening proves Jesus’ authority and power over the demonic realm without a doubt. There is no power struggle here, no equal contest between God and Satan, between good and evil. There is no question here as to who is in charge. Jesus is Lord, always was and always will be. Even in His human life, He stood and because He is in us and we are in Him, we can also stand.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY…

Apologetics, ,

WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY…

Then He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'” Luke 11:2-4.

I wonder how well the disciples understood what Jesus was teaching them about prayer. Did they grasp the underlying truth of God as their Father?

Unlike Matthew 6, there is no preamble to this version of the prayer. Although Jesus taught them that prayer is not about words, words are used to express the thoughts and emotions of the heart. What a world of meaning is wrapped up in the word ‘Father’! There is no prayer outside of this relationship which was made possible through Jesus.

“Yet to all who received Him, to all who believed in His name, He gave the right to be called children of God…” John 1:12.

Prayer is the way sons communicate with their heavenly Father. Prayer is the conscious turning of the attention away from self to the One who is our source and sustainer, changing the focus of our attention from self and our issues to God and His attributes. Whatever words it might take to do this, they are only the vehicle through which this change of awareness happens. Therefore, when a son focuses his attention on Father God, he is praying.

This Father with whom human beings are privileged to have a relationship because of Jesus, is not outside our realm of existence and experience. Heaven is not a place up there or out there but a dimension that completely saturates the physical realm as air saturates the earth. God is everywhere and He is therefore as near to us as our breath.

Prayer is therefore, firstly, a change from my environment to the environment of God, of His presence and nearness. Secondly, it is an awareness of who He is. To hallow His name is to concentrate on His glory, “the sum of His magnificent attributes and the eternal fame of His mysterious works”.  Where my attention was taken up by the issues of my life, I deliberately change my focus to the greatness of the God with whom I am engaging in love and trust as a son.

To engage with Him in this way is to put my personal concerns into the context of the bigger picture of His kingdom and will. It is also to put my failures into the context of His mercy. Since He has dealt with my load of guilt and the barrier of sin that separated me from Him, I dare not hang onto the offences that separate me from my fellow man.

Just as I am dependent upon Him for every crumb that passes my lips as a little child, I too, I depend on Him for the “bread” of heaven that nourishes my soul. And, knowing how tainted I am with the self-centred greed that has infiltrated my soul from birth, I look to Him to save me from my self-destructive ways that would ensnare and destroy me without the grace of His Spirit who is constantly at work in me.

This simple pattern prayer teaches me the essence of the attitude and disposition of a son to the Father, submitting to Him and being involved in the things that are on His heart. This is not about putting God first. This is about putting Him in the centre of my thinking and living.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – SELECTIVE DEAFNESS

Apologetics, , ,

SELECTIVE DEAFNESS

“John spoke up, ‘Master, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped Him because he wasn’t of our group.’  Jesus said, ‘Don’t stop him. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally.’

“When it came close to the time for His Ascension, He gathered up His courage and steeled Himself for the journey to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements for His hospitality. But when the Samaritans learned that His destination was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality.

“When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, ‘Master, do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?’ Jesus turned on them: ‘Of course not!’ And they travelled on to another village.”  Luke 9:49-55.

Talk about selective hearing! James and John’s attitude was proof that they had not taken in a word Jesus had said about true greatness.

What had these men learned from their association with Jesus? From non-religious guys who were part of the “out” group as far as their religious leaders were concerned, they had developed the idea that they were now part of a new “in” group!

They were very protective of their status as followers of Jesus – disciples of the newest and most popular rabbi in Israel. Although He had many followers on the fringe, Jesus had not invited anyone else to be part of the “in” group and they wanted to be sure that no one gate-crashed their party.

Anyone of the “them” group who happened to “get” what Jesus had been teaching and act on it was frowned on, not encouraged, because he was not one of “us”. They proudly announced to Jesus that they had put a stop to a man’s enthusiastic participation in doing the “kingdom stuff” by casting out demons, thinking that He would applaud them for their loyalty to Him. They were not anticipating the surprising rebuke they received for their trouble! ‘Don’t stop him,’ Jesus said. ‘If he’s not an enemy, then he’s a friend.’

James and John were such fiery characters that they had earned the nickname, “sons of thunder”. To protect their inner circle they were prepared to use their new-found authority to incinerate people who dared to oppose them, especially the hated Samaritans! Thinking that Jesus would applaud their outrage for the snub they had received, they wanted His approval for their plan to wipe out the village.

What did Jesus think of these goings-on from His disciples? For all their response to His teaching and demonstrating His yoke, they were still thinking and acting in exactly the same way as they did before they met Him. It seems that everything He taught them bounced off them like a ball off a wall. In fact, an “outsider” had caught on to what they, the “insiders” had missed. To cast out demons “in His name” meant that the unknown man, who was not a disciple, was doing what their rabbi did, in the disposition of their rabbi.

How sad that many of Jesus’ self-proclaimed “followers” today have just as much of a “we – they” mentality as the disciples had. Being a Christian is being part of an exclusive “club” and to be a Christian minister is to have an elevated position in this club.

To get the real picture, let’s go back to Jesus’ visual aid on greatness. He insisted that to be truly great, one must use one’s position to elevate others, not to put them down or lord it over them. Get down to the level of the lowest and treat them with dignity and respect.

Jesus was the greatest and truest model of what He taught, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8 (NIV).

Are you as selectively deaf as the disciples were?

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – A MOB DISPERSED

Bible Study, ,

A MOB DISPERSED

“Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’

‘Mob. My name is Mob,’ he said, because many demons afflicted him. And they begged Jesus desperately not to order them into the bottomless pit.

A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged Jesus to order them into the pigs. He gave the order. It was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over the cliff into the lake and drowned.” Luke 8:30-33.

For anyone reading this for the first time, this is a strange story. It sounds a bit like science fiction, doesn’t it?

But for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught up in demonic involvement, and for those looking on, this was a very real and frightening situation. This man was inhabited by spirit beings who had completely taken over his life, using his body to host them and controlling his mind and his behaviour. They were representatives of the realm of absolute evil, controlled by the devil who had rejected and rebelled against God.

Their presence had turned this man into a raving lunatic who had no control over his thoughts and behaviour. He was on a path to destroy himself and everyone and everything around him. There was no physical power strong enough to bind or muzzle him.

It was only the presence of Jesus, whom the demons acknowledged to be the Son of the High God, and to whose authority they had to bow, that calmed the situation down enough for Him to speak to the man and get a sane reply.

Why did Jesus ask him his name? Was it out of curiosity or was it for a deeper reason than that? The first step towards this man’s healing was for him to acknowledge who he was. In Hebrew thought, a name was a prophetic utterance of character. Who he was, was expressed in his name.

Jesus wanted him to acknowledge who he was. The name, Mob, was not the name his parents had given him. It was the name he had acquired through the process of bad choices and the eventual invasion of demons who controlled what he had become.

Why did the demons beg to be sent into the pigs? Why could they not have just been told to go somewhere else? They knew that the time was coming when they would be judged along with their master, the devil, and all his other henchmen, but that time was not yet. In the meantime their territory was earth and their victims, people. They needed to inhabit human bodies but to enter humans needed their co-operation through deception and that took time. In their desperation not to be left body-less, the pigs were their next option. Perhaps Jesus gave His permission because pigs were regarded as unclean animals and unfit for human consumption according to the Torah. They were fitting hosts for unclean spirits.

We have to remember that Jesus, as a rabbi, was always exposing His disciples to learning experiences. What would their impression have been? In the midst of this chaotic environment, one person stood out as being in charge – Jesus! He was not fazed by the hullabaloo this man was causing. He was not afraid of his violence. His presence calmed him down, allowing him to give Him a sane answer and His authority was unmistakeable, over the demons and over the man.

Jesus had taken charge of a violent storm and restored calm. He had taken charge of a violent man and restored peace. They were slowly building confidence in Him as the one He claimed to be – the promised Messiah. With their own eyes they were witnessing what the kingdom of God was all about.

This is the Jesus we have been invited to trust. Have you trusted Him?