Jesus' name is not a name to be played with. Dr. Tony Evans says calling on Jesus' name is not like saying abracadabra.
This is a person behind the name, and if you don't know the person, don't expect the power. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. When you're given the power of attorney, you're able to make decisions and act on behalf of someone else.
Carrying their authority. In a similar way, when we declare our faith in Jesus Christ and pray in His name, we're invoking His divine authority to communicate directly with the Father and petition for His will. Let's revisit this powerful sermon Dr. Evans delivered on prayer as he explained the rights and responsibilities of praying in Jesus' name.
He will do by means of Jesus Christ. God is, in the words of theologians, holy other. Another word for that is transcendent.
Another homegrown word for that is He way out there. God is way out there. He exists in a whole nother realm. But we live here in the realm of the five senses. How can I get that realm way out there?
To join me in this realm, way down here, in a way that's vibrant and meaningful. God has established a mechanism, a means through a person to connect the two realms. That's why 1 Timothy 2 5 says, there is one mediator, one in between person, between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. So the reason that Jesus is critical is He is the designated person, the second member of the Trinity to connect the two. The Bible says He mediates or brings to bear the promises of God.
Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6. So the word of God, the ways of God are mediated or transferred by and through the person of Jesus Christ. When we talk about His name, we're not talking about His nomenclature alone.
We're talking about the person who stands behind the name. So when you talk about in the name of Jesus, you need to know the Jesus whose name you just used. And if you want to learn something new and unique and Total surrender.
Let me say that again. If you want the Father to respond to the Son because of your request, there must be total surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. When you look at Colossians chapter three, you find something very interesting. Beginning in verse 17, listen to these words. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Let me read that again. Whatever you do in word, what you say, or deed, what you do, because we're always saying I'm doing something, do all, not some, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Of the Lord Jesus, when you decide my whole life is owned by him. Let me quote another verse. You won't like it, but I need to quote it. It's found in 1 Corinthians chapter six, verses 19 and 20.
Hold on to your seatbelt, because this will rock your world. He says in 1 Corinthians six, 19 and 20, you are not your own, you've been bought with a price. Yes, you don't get to own you once you become a Christian. You don't get to own you. He says you are not your own.
I bought and paid for you with my blood on the cross. So don't say what you're gonna do when I say something different, you don't own you. He wants total ownership, if you want answered prayer. If you want to see the rule of God demonstrated, there must be surrender.
Then the supernatural will become more natural. So that's why growth in intimacy is critical to experiencing his authority. You want to draw near to him. You want to get close to him. That's why the scripture talks about how much the father loves the son. They are so into each other that they never turn each other down. Cause they so into each other. He wants us to be into him like that. You abide in me and my word abide in you.
Ask me whatever you want to, and I will do it for you. Cause we hang out together. How does this work? It works like this. Whatever the father thinks, the son thinks exactly the same thing cause they always on the same page. Whatever the father thinks that the son thinks, the Holy Spirit thinks, cause he's part of the triune God.
So they always on the same page. The closer you get to the Lord, whatever the father thinks, the son thinks that the spirit thinks because he renews our mind, we think. So we begin to think what the spirit thinks. That's exactly what the son thinks. That's exactly what the father thinks. So when you get on your knees and pray, you can only pray for what you think. But if the spirit has affected what you think, and it's the same thing that the son thinks, that's the same thing that the father thinks, they got to answer your prayer cause you're all praying for the same thing. Because you have now come on a divine wavelength. Now let me tell you something else. You must settle the Lordship issue.
You must pursue intimacy because the more intimate you are, the more you will yield to the Lordship naturally and easily because you will see his power and authority. But then you must also be willing to publicly identify with him. You can't be a secret agent Christian, a spiritual CIA representative, and a covert operative.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let me put it this way. It's not enough to believe in God. That's not good enough when it comes to having God move on earth.
He moves on earth through his son. So your belief in God and love of God and appreciation of God, that's nice, but it's not sufficient for intervention in history. That comes through Christ.
If you want intervention in history, then Jesus Christ, you must be willing to be identified with him. People ought to know that you're a Christian and you ought to be found guilty of all charges. You should not apologize for your faith. You should not be apologizing that you are a follower of Jesus the Christ. To call on his name in the day of trouble means you have publicly confessed him before men.
Romans chapter 10, verses nine and 10. He says, if you confess with your mouth, that is open declaration that I am a committed Christian, I belong to Jesus Christ, open declaration, not hidden. He says, those who call on me who have confessed, he says, will be delivered. So if you call on him, you better have confessed him. You better have been an open Christian because why would you help somebody who's ashamed of you? Now, well, you know, God, God blessed me and I don't want anybody to know I know you.
I don't want anybody to know we hang out together, but bless me, I'm coming to church for my blessing. He wants to know you're not ashamed of him, that you're not ashamed of a savior who loved you and died for you and gave his life for you, that know that you're willing to be associated with him, then you can dial 911 and get divine intervention. He says in John chapter 14, beginning with verse 12, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do because I go to the father. Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do so that the father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
In other words, anything that's gonna make me and my daddy look good, I'm gonna do, glorified. If you're gonna make me look good by your prayer requests, that's why I wanna give you a secret, to give you a secret, this is a secret. When you go to God and you've been fully, you're fully surrendered and you go to him in the name of Jesus, don't tell nobody I told you this, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to tell God, if he answers your request, what he'll get out of it. Because God loves to hear his glory on display. He loves to know he'll be glorified in the process.
His name will be great. There are numbers of things we're asking God for collectively, I'm asking him for purposely, and I always tack on, and here's what we gonna do for your name if you give it, in Jesus' name, amen. So you are to expect the supernatural, look for the supernatural, anticipate the supernatural, because Jesus is all about the supernatural, because he goes to his father so that he can minister and be a mediator to us on earth. So we dealt with what it means to pray in his name. We've looked at the prerequisites to praying in his name. If you are a rebel, stop praying. If you're not surrendered, your prayer is hitting the ceiling and bouncing back. So what can you expect when you pray in his name?
What can you expect? You can expect God to intervene. First John chapter five has something very interesting. First John says this in chapter five. John says in verse 13, "'These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you might know,'" keep the word know in mind, "'that you have eternal life.'"
So when you place faith alone in Christ alone, he gives you an inner confidence of your salvation, a conviction that you're his child. When we return to our lesson in just a moment, we'll hear Dr. Evans unpack what that knowledge and confidence means for the believer. First though, I want to tell you about a special package we put together as our way of saying thank you when you make a donation at this time to the alternative broadcast. It includes all 12 full length messages from our teaching series on igniting kingdom prayer, along with a powerful companion book, Kingdom Prayer, Touching Heaven to Change Earth. This special collection will take your prayer life to the next level so you can experience more of the intimate connection and two-way communication it's intended to provide. We'd like to send you a copy of this powerful kingdom prayer book and two-volume audio series as our gift so you can review it on your own or share it with your family or Bible study group.
All we ask is that you make a contribution to help us keep the alternative broadcast coming to you and others here on this station. Visit us today at tonyevans.org or reach out to our resource center for some in-person help at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's lesson. Let's rejoin Dr. Evans in 1 John chapter five. When you place faith alone in Christ alone, he gives you an inner confidence of your salvation, a conviction that you're his child. But now notice what he says right after that. Verse 14, this is the confidence which we have before him. So the word confidence, the word know. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked from him.
Ooh, you see how many times I've said the word know? That is inner persuasion or confidence. He says this, if you are my child and you come to me in prayer and it's according to my will, that means it is consistent with my word, and you ask me, I will give you a knowing that is an inner persuasion, an inner confidence of yes that I am going to do it, that I have heard your prayer and I'm going to answer it. Sometimes people ask me, well, how do you know God is going to answer it? One, it's consistent with his word, and two, he gives you an inner knowing, an inner conviction, an inner confidence, an inner persuasion that this is gonna happen. Now, I know what you're thinking right now. I smell it.
What you're thinking right now is, wait a minute. I have prayed according to his will. I have had that inner knowing that God was gonna answer and nothing has happened. Nothing has changed.
What went wrong? Watch this. He will give you, if you're consistent with his word and it's something that he wants in your life answered, an inner knowing. You will know, he says. This inner conviction says I am going to answer, but what it doesn't tell you is how long.
You know that's right? He doesn't tell you how long you have to wait for the answer. So let me tell you how long. Anybody been waiting for something for a while? Okay, well, the first question is, are you praying in his name?
Are you surrendered? But given that, when there is a gap of time between a legitimate prayer in Jesus's name, the knowing that he's gonna answer, but the lapse in time between the answer, it is for one reason and one reason alone, preparation. Either God is preparing it for you or he's preparing you for it or he's preparing the two for each other. It is for preparation. God will use whatever time is needed for the preparation to occur, for the request to be answered, and you to be qualified to receive the request when it comes.
Now that's the good news. The bad news is you can delay the time because you can delay the preparation. You can decide I'm not gonna be surrendered. You can decide I'm not gonna obey.
You can decide, and you can just spend that time on. So God may have decided it's gonna take one year and you may be at 25 years because he never got the surrender, so you never got the preparation so he can never answer. It should have taken Israel about a month, a month and a half to leave Egypt and get to the promised land. They walking around in circles for 40 years because they never accepted the preparation that the wilderness was designed to give.
So they're going in circles. Many of us are going in circles because we either don't pray in Jesus' name or we refuse to be prepared. We refuse to submit. We refuse to grow in intimacy. We don't have time for him or his word, prayer, fellowship.
We don't have time for the things that bring intimacy, and we wonder, God, why are you taking so long? God is saying, why are you taking so long? He says there is a knowing that occurs when we are in framework with God.
It's powerful for, watch this, physical and spiritual healing. James chapter five, verses 13 to 15. He says, the prayer of faith, he says, in the name of the Lord, so he brings the name in, will heal the sick and it will deal with the sin. What God is saying is, if I could ever get to the spiritual, we could do a lot better with the physical, and that brings in a monster. The name of Jesus gives you power over the devil because much of what we deal with has come from him or through him or by him. In Luke chapter 10, verses 17 to 19, he told his disciples, you have authority over the devil in my name. You tread among the demons.
You tread on top of the demons. Many of the issues we have are demonically exacerbated. See, we think the problem in the divorce was our personalities.
That wasn't the problem. The problem is the devil got a hold of your personalities. And when the demons got a hold of your personalities, your personalities got amped up.
And you were meaner than even you thought you were. You were more irresponsible than you thought you were because what demons do is they infiltrate a sinful situation and they magnify it. So unless you can trample on a demon, you can't solve the problem that the demon exacerbated. But if you don't even think the devil is involved and demons are involved, you're not gonna address the spiritual.
You're gonna just try to address the social or the political or the financial without addressing the demonic inspiration of it that you didn't tread on. I love this in chapter 19 of Acts, verse 13 to 17. Okay, Paul is casting out demons. The sick are being healed. The supernatural is occurring regularly in Jesus's name.
Well, some dudes see this and they say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Paul using his name Jesus and stuff happening. Why don't we do that? Because they concluded there's magic in his name. It's a magical name here. Paul doing all this stuff in Jesus's name. So they came to this demon possessed person.
The sons of Sceva and they use the name of Jesus. Then Acts 19 says the demon spoke up. Demon spoke up and the demon says, Jesus we know, Paul we know. We don't know who you folks are. It says the demon jumped out of the man and jumped onto the folk who was using the name of Jesus, stripped them of their clothes.
And it says, and they ran out naked. Why? Because when you don't know how to use the name and you still use the name, you just invite the devil to jump all over you and make things worse on you while you call in Jesus's name. So Jesus's name is not a name to be played with.
Nor is it dice, is it magic you just throw out there. This is a person behind the name. And if you don't know the person submitted to the person, intimate with the person, following the person, yielding to the person submitted to the person, don't expect the power.
Power comes from a person. When you go to the bank to withdraw some money, I guarantee you, they're gonna say, show me your ID. When you go to get your ticket from the airport and they go to print the ticket, they would say, may I see your ID?
They're not gonna take your word for it. When you go to a hotel to get your room and you say, I have a reservation, my name is John Doe, they're gonna say, give me your ID. Cause they wanna make sure that you're not a fraud.
They wanna make sure that you are who you declare yourself to be and that you have the right and privilege to get what is being offered. When you get on your knees to pray and you go to your heavenly father and say, father, I want this, I need this, help me over here, deliver me over there. God has a question, show me your ID. Upon what right and authority do you have right now to come to my throne and to make this request and to expect me to let you in to my holy throne? Where is your ID? And oh, if you understand the name of Jesus, you got an ID, just like when it comes time to go to heaven and if Peter would say, on what ground should I let you in the glory, I hope you don't say my good works.
I hope you don't say I'm a nice person cause that'll get you booted out of heaven. There's only one thing that's gonna get you in the glory and that is I have somebody who died on the cross for my sins, who was my personal substitute, who I've placed my eternal destiny in the hands of for the gift of eternal life. That's your ID for glory. But while you're on your way there and you go to God for answered prayer and the father says, what's your ID?
All you got to do is tell him, I come in the name of the Lord Jesus, who I've submitted my life to, who rules over my life, who controls my life, who I'm not ashamed to be identified with or as the words of the apostle Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who pleads. Anybody wants some power? Anybody wants some victory? Anybody wants some deliverance? Anybody want to see some heaven?
Well then give God the glory by giving Jesus the honor. Dr. Tony Evans in a classic message from the archives called Praying in Jesus' Name. This is just one of the 12 lessons in the two volume series on igniting kingdom prayer.
Yours is our thank you gift on CD or instantly downloadable MP3s, when you make a donation to help keep the alternative broadcast on the station. And as a special bonus for a limited time, we are also including a copy of the companion book, Kingdom Prayer, Touching Heaven to Change Earth. Just visit tonyevans.org today to make the arrangements or if it's more convenient, call our 24 hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members assist with your request. Once again, 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. God has unlimited power, we have continuing needs. It literally seems like a match made in heaven. So why aren't more believers seeing their needs met? We'll uncover the answer on the alternative broadcast right here tomorrow. Be sure to join us. We'll see you next time.
