The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 4

One would think after attending church regularly for the best part of fifty years it would be obvious there is some spiritual benefit to the practice. Pastors say that all the time. So does my wife. Yet, I am still surprised when the Holy Spirit actually speaks or clarifies something to my spirit during a Sunday morning service. That happened today. Tom Demaree of Pentecost Walk fame was our guest speaker. We missed much of the actual worship time because we were handing out bulletins and greeting at the door. Nonetheless, my mind, as it is apt to do, ran to this blog during the service. It was one of those flash things that sometimes happen. I flashed on how difficult it seemed to be to write this post. The problem was that I had not been writing this post at all--I had been writing the next one. The next post is about the place of praise, worship, and music as spiritual weapons. This one is about the name of Jesus. Psalm 138:2 says, "...for you have exalted above all things your name and your word." (NIV) We previously discussed the word of God, but not the name. Logically, since those two things are placed together in the Bible, we should put them together too.


"...God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord..." (Philippians 2:9-11) These verses show us that the name of Jesus is the name above every other name. Everyone with a different name, a lesser name, is going to bow down at the name of Jesus. That is everyone everywhere, heaven, earth, under the earth, everywhere. The name of Jesus incorporates every other name of God because Jesus is the completion of God's plan to bring many sons and daughters to Himself. Jesus is the name we are given to use in addressing God. It is the name above all other names.


The forces of hell cannot resist the authority in the name of Jesus. When we speak that name they have to bow. They are included in the verses above. They already know Jesus Christ is Lord. He is not their Lord. They do not follow Him. He is still Lord, the Christ, the Messiah, the second part of the Trinity that is God. As such He has all authority over everything that has been created. He created all things. All things were created through Him. (John 1:1) We have been given His authority because we have accepted His lordship over our lives. We are entitled to use his name. It has the same authority on our lips as He does in person.


We recently learned that the county Sheriff--any county Sheriff--has absolute authority within his county. He is unique amongst law enforcement officers. No other law enforcement agency trumps his jurisdiction in his county. In fact, they all have to yield to him. The deputy Sheriffs in the county carry the same authority within the county. Jesus has deputized us. We have all the authority He has when we use His name.

The encouragement here would be to invoke the name of Jesus in any situation that involves a demonic, spiritual force. Even in times when the spirits are unidentified, the name of Jesus can be used to beneficial affect. When something does not seem right, but we can not put our finger on the problem, we can still speak the name of Jesus and see things change. We have seen physical and soulical healings take place as a result of the name of Jesus being spoken over the problems. Try it. You will like the results.