True To His Name

Greetings;

I have just finished a great week in Wales, Oldham, England, and a weekend in Clay Cross, England. Sorry for the late blog posting, but internet connection was a problem when I needed to post the blog. God is good and it a blessing to see His presence, goodness, and blessing at work in the lives of people around the world. Yesterday I was at a wedding of a daughter of a good friend here. It should be a great day!

Last week I addressed the honor of knowing who we are in the purpose of God. We bear His family name and we must never take His name in vain. Sometimes we think that just adding His name to certain things we say or do is the magic formula for His blessing, but His name is really the character, nature, way, power, and authority in all that we are and do. We should realize that everything we do we do as Him, not merely for Him. Everything that Jesus did as a man He did as a testimony of who His Father was in heaven.

I believe that we do a lot of things in Jesus name that are not in his name. Jesus did everything that the Father told Him to do, but the Father didn’t tell Him often. Most of the time He simply did what He saw the Father doing. He only did those things which were true to the character, nature, way, power, and authority of His Father in heaven. His expressions in life were a testimony of the family name. He didn’t do things that were not true to the character, nature, way, power, and authority of His Father. When he did something it was the Father doing it. He would heal a sick person and you would know that the Father heals. I don’t find any place where Jesus said be healed in the name of the father. He never said, In the name of the Father, bread be multiplied!  In the name of the Father, go get the water and bring it to me. In the character, nature, way, power, and authority of the Father, water be wine. He didn’t give that explanation. He didn’t hang on the cross and say, in the name of the Father be forgiven. He simply forgave and it was true to His Father’s way. The substance of who He was rang true to the substance of who His Father was. He understood the testimony of the family name!

In the way that Jesus represented His Father’s name He also never misrepresented the Father. His desires and actions were true to the legitimate character of God. He never said, Father do you want me to stop loving them?  That would be an illegitimate question. Father do you want me to forgive them? That would be an illegitimate question for a Son of God to ask His dad. So if a child of God asks their father; do you want me to forgive them? That is not a question for a child of God to ask. It is not true to the character, nature, way, power or authority of God the Father. Father, do you want me to forsake them now? That is not a question a child of God would ask God. We have a Father who will never leave us or forsake us. Questions invoking the breaking of covenants or the forsaking of love are not questions a child of God should ask.

We have this thing we do to justify the flaw in our character. We say, be healed in Jesus Name, be multiplied in Jesus Name, or be forgiven in Jesus Name. Jesus didn’t say that if we forgive people in His name they will be forgiven. He said if we forgive people they will be forgiven. If we are busy adding His name to things we think are in His name pretty soon we start doing things we want and we add His name to it. I forsake you, in Jesus name. I abandon my children and no longer work, in Jesus name. I cannot forgive you, in Jesus name. I curse you, in Jesus name. I despise you, in Jesus name. I command you off the face of the planet, in Jesus name. I declare there is no future and hope for you again, in Jesus name. Be possessed, in Jesus name. Be sick, in Jesus name. None of these things can possibly be in Jesus name! Sky be purple, in Jesus name. Drug addiction be not harmful, in Jesus name. Adultery be not harmful, in Jesus name. After all I made a mistake. I married the wrong partner in my name, there is the right one, in Jesus name. The four children that I have with four different women was in my name, but this new one is surely in Jesus name. I want to try it new and just have sex a couple of times, in Jesus name. It is ok! I know, I have the Spirit of God and I feel in love. I was deceived before, but I love this one and in the sight of God we are already in Jesus name. These are all ridiculous confessions that are indicative of ridiculous thinking. We must remember who we are! We are the family of God and we must not take His name in vain!

What is God saying? I want you to have a culture of honor. I want you to know who I am. I want you to know who you are. I want you to know the effect of us together in all that you are and do. These are not commandments. These are realities of who we are. I still say in Jesus name but to be honest I think that it is often a religious form. It is not necessarily wrong to say, but I think I have done some things that weren’t in His name and I blamed Him and I added Jesus name to it. I am not saying to stop saying in Jesus name, but It is really in Jesus name? There is not anything about our lives that is not about His name. Let’s not take His name in vain! In this we can expect His kingdom to come and His will to be done upon the earth, because we are His family. We are His family and as He is holy, so are we!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson