The Name Above All Names

Names can be a very important thing in life. Some people have names that stand out, some have humorous name, some have short ones and some have long ones. But have you ever met someone with a name that has power in it? There is only one name that I know of and ever will know that does. It is a name that is both worshipped and hated. Some use it in praise to the one who is known by it, and some use it as a curse word without any regard to who it is they speak of. Some are encouraged by the name and some are persecuted for loving the name. Some taught in this name and others were commanded not to teach in this name.

Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers, and brought then without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the counsil: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Acts 5:25-28

What is this name that was so loved and yet so hated? It was first told to a young woman by an angel.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. Luke 1:26, 30-31

Jesus, the name above all names, by whom we have been given the power to become the sons of God. For without His name we were the very enemies of God. This is the name by which all things past, present, and to come were made and are being made. For Jesus Christ of the seed of David, the Son of God, the last Adam, the second man, the firstborn among many, came that we might have life and life abundantly! His name is heard throughout all the world and His power is shown for all to see!

If we as the children of God so easily let babblings and cursing fall from our lips while the world takes the very name of the one who gave them breathe and uses it as a curse word: who then will the unbelievers hear the name of Jesus spoken from in a glorifying way? We as the people of God, and the peculiar people, ought to speak of our Lord to all who hear. We need to speak of Him whether we’re down or up, and I don’t mean just calling Him Lord or God, but let us speak of JESUS evermore so as the days grow dark and sin grows exceedingly. For it is in this name that the dead are raised, the sick are healed, and the sinner is made a saint!

Faith Life

Satan attacks when we feel our strongest and 99.99% of the time we fall if we are not grounded in Christ. But as a brother once said, "The joy of rising over-shadows the failure of the fall." So praise God for that!

I would like to share a little testimony of what happened after I left Bend on Saturday. I had just pulled into Madras and coming upon two different highways, I couldn't remember which of the two was mine. So I took the one that seemed right. Had I not taken this route, which I soon found out was the wrong one, I would not have picked up the 50 year old hitchhiker that I did. To make a long stary short she had found out about the faith trip. It was at this point that she made a comment that left me thinking all the way home. She said, "It is one thing to test your faith for five days, it is another to live it for life."

Heb. 11:5 tells us that by faith Enoch was translated. Why? Because he pleased God. Then verse 6 of the same chapter says that without faith it is impossible to please God. How much of what we do each day pleases God? If we had been given a house, car, job, and a nice savings in the bank in those five days of faith, we would have said the Lord provided. But after it is all over, we return to our troublesome car, our unpleasant customers, our low income and high bills, and our ever so busy schedule, with all the worries and cares that come with them. We stop looking at how we might please God but rather how we might, by our own strength accomplish the tasks before us, hence pleasing not God, but ourselves.
The faith trip shouldn't just last five days of our lives, it isn't something we need to do a few times a year to see if we still have faith; It is something we should be living! In this I am not saying we need to leave everything behind physicaly, unless God calls us to do so, but rather we need to give and receive according to the measure God would entrust to us with. We need to seek out those things that please God. For as it says in 2 Peter, "Wherefor the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." 2 Peter 1:10
So let us seek out that which pleases our Father, following the example of His Son, who humbling Himself, took up the cross, despising the shame, and died on the cross; yet now sits He at the right hand of the Father making intersession for us!

By His Faith,
Nathaniel