How to use Christ’s name to bring power into your life.

Are you using Christ’s name to bring power into your life?  In my post last week I wrote about what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain and why we’ve been commanded not to do it. 

The Lord’s name carries great power and when we use His name for any other purpose than to invoke that sacred power we are taking it in vain.  

I felt I needed to follow up to talk a little more about that  “great power.”

Just because God doesn’t want us to use His name in vain doesn’t mean He doesn’t want us to use it at all. It is ok to use his name in earnest; with serious intention and effort.

Could you imagine if every time someone used God’s name it was to bring His power into their lives for some purpose?  We’d be bursting at the seams with holiness here!

To make my point I want to share a dream I had with you. 

Let’s make it clear that I don’t often read into my dreams much.  I think most dreams are proof that my subconscious has a sense of humor.  Every now and then though, I have a DREAM. 

So here it is.

I was in a house that was mostly windows and glass doors. My children were all with me.  I walked into a room and was startled to see a man standing outside one of the glass doors.  He had a kind smile and asked if he could please come in. Even though he looked nice enough something made me pause.

The question I asked him in response surprised me. “Are you good or evil?”  

He laughed and reassured me that he was very good and I had nothing to worry about. He was jovial and never stopped smiling so I decided it would be ok if he came in.

He walked into the living room where all my children were, and struck up a fun conversation with them.  They all seemed to instantly like him. Everyone was laughing and having a good time.  Even though the scene seemed harmless, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling I had.

I slowly walked backwards. I thought maybe I could just say a simple prayer and ask if it was ok to have him in my home. The Lord would let me know if he was good or not.

I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get the quick answer I needed. As soon as I asked the question the color black entered my mind. I knew he was evil and needed to leave my home.

I quickly walked in between him and my children, raised my hand to the square and told him in the name of Christ that he had to leave. He was shocked at first but was still kind as he immediately obliged and walked out the front door.

I was relieved as I shut the door but when I turned around he was still there looking inside a window. Still with a kind smile on his face he asked, “Are you sure I can’t just visit for a bit? Let me in, I promise you I am good.”

I felt confused for a moment. He did seem very nice. Maybe I was being overly protective. Should I just let him back in?  Then the answer to my earlier prayer came back into my mind with greater force.  I looked straight at him with confidence and with no question in my voice I boldly said, “You. Are. Evil.”

Finally his countenance changed and what I had been sensing revealed itself. His eyes darkened as his smile communicated deception instead of kindness.

He proceeded to go to every window or door in the house trying to get in. Each time he had more people with him and I saw even more walking towards the house. 

I just kept raising my hand to the square commanding them to leave. I started to panic at how relentless they were at trying to get in to my home. Finally, I turned to my kids and told them we all had to pray together for this evil to leave. We all knelt down and were immediately surrounded by light.   Then I woke up. 

I must say I’m kinda glad that I don’t often have dreams like this. It was pretty intense and I had to lay in bed for a bit to move my mind back into reality.  As I processed everything I couldn’t help but see what my dream was communicating.

The obvious message was that Satan is tricky, deceptive, and relentless. No matter how many times we recognize and reject him he will try again and again in different ways to find his way back into our lives. We have to increase our ability to discern between good and evil so we know what we can or can’t allow into our homes.  We can’t let our guards down if we are going to protect our homes and our children. 

All that truth aside there was one thing that really stood out to me. Over and over again in my dream I put my hand to the square and using the name of Christ I commanded evil to leave.  The second I did, he left my home. In my dream I was upset at first that he kept coming back and with more helpers  but I realized that they were never able to enter my home again. 

See a real reason to use the Lord’s name?  

So, what about this idea of using God’s name to command evil to leave?  You don’t hear a whole lot about casting out devils these days but we read about it plenty in the New Testament. Besides healing lepers it seems like one of the more common miracles Christ performed. 

Do we not need to cast out devils anymore? Is it just not a problem?  Does it only exist in horror movies? Satan would like us to think that.  

Satan is just as real now as he was back then but he wants us to forget that. Why? Because he likes hanging around. He doesn’t want us to recognize him and tell him to leave. 

Have you ever told him to leave?  Do your kids know that they can do the same?  Do they know they can just say Christ’s name in their mind and heart and evil influences will leave. 

I’ve used that power when I was feeling completely dragged down for over a week by relentless negativity. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to figure out what was happening and do something about it. 

Yes, using the Lord’s name to cast out evil is not something to take lightly, but I think we make a mistake by thinking we can only use that power in very obvious and  profoundly evil circumstances. I think we also make a mistake by forgetting to teach our children that they have this ability.

There is a story in Moses 1 (PGP) that clearly teaches that we can and should use the power of Christ’s name. 

Right after God reveals Himself and His love to Moses, Satan can’t resist but make an appearance. Notice how he always seems to show up when we are starting to believe in our worth? 

He comes into the scene to see what destruction he can do. He wants Moses to worship him as god. Of course Moses can’t be fooled, he sees the difference between God’s glory and Satan’s darkness. 

He tells Satan to take a hike, but Satan won’t leave (vs. 16). He stays and throws a big fit. Moses tells him to leave two more times with no results (vs. 18,20).  Finally, Moses is successful after telling  Satan to leave for the 4th time (vs. 21)!  Why didn’t it work the first 3 times?   It wasn’t until the forth time that Moses says more than “depart.”  

Moses received strength and called upon God saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan.

Moses 1:21 PGP

Christ is so powerful that just the mention of His name forces evil to flee.  

Here’s something more to think about. If the name of Christ can overcome the greatest source of evil in creation and we have access to that power; imagine the power we have to invite the opposite into our lives. 

AND If speaking the name of “Jesus Christ” can bring such incredible power; imagine the power that can come into our lives when we do more than just speak His name.

Is the quickest and most thoughtless part of our prayers, “In the name of Jesus Christ Amen?”  What will happen when we faithfully and purposefully pray in His name, act in His name, and take His name upon us?

We have more power available to us than we can even imagine. Recognize it, use it, teach it to your children. Satan will be very disappointed. 

If you liked it, thanks for sharing!