These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Mark 16:17-18.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
At the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow. His Name is above every other name that is named. His Name comes out of My Name for I AM, I WAS, and I EVER WILL BE the God of your Salvation. When you have Him you have Me. You enter into My Life by the door of Salvation, by the Name of Salvation, which is Jesus (Yeshuah in Hebrew, which simply means “Salvation”). It is the most powerful name in the heavens and on the earth. The words “Jesus is Lord,” spoken from your heart in faith, change the entire course and destiny of your life. There is no other name given among men by which you must be saved.
And He told you that those who believe in His Name would cast out demons, Mark 16:17, and He gave you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Luke 10:19.
Have you used the Name? Peter and John made good use of the authority He gave them through faith in His Name. After receiving the Holy Spirit they raised up a man crippled from birth and gave him a whole new life by commanding him healed in the Name of Jesus, and he immediately was jumping and walking and leaping about.
And that is today’s Life Lesson on what to do when Satan attacks: “The Name of Jesus.”
Jesus told you that all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Him and then He authorized you who believe in His Name to use His Name upon the earth to do the works He did and greater. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that 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 Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14. And He gave you a second witness on this, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” John 16:23-24.
I have given you the most amazing and awesome resource that I can give you, My Son. And when He returned to Heaven I gave you His Name, which gives you His authority as His agent on earth. It is the Power of Attorney that He has entrusted to those who believe in His Name. Use it as He would to do My works and declare My Words into the earth. And this delegated authority has given you the same authority over Satan and his demons as He has, which is COMPLETE authority with no room for argument.
But the apostles and early community of believers were very aware that they were handling an awesome power that was not of themselves alone, they could activate it but they were not the originators of it. And Peter describes this coming from faith in the Name, but actually the faith of Jesus combining with their faith when they invoked His Name. Let us take a look at how they ended the crippled man’s bondage by the devil.
Just after Pentecost had been fulfilled and the Holy Spirit was poured upon the believers, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” 5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” Acts 3:1-6.
Peter and John knew they had something better than silver and gold. Silver and gold could never have given this man the ability to walk but they knew the Name they had, that had been given to them, would do it, for they knew the One behind that Name and they had seen Him cure crippled legs. And they had a mandate to do the works He did and greater if they just called Him into the situation by calling His Name. So after they spoke in faith the Name they acted upon it:
And seizing the lame man by the right hand, Peter raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:7-10. By bringing in My Son they had a supernatural result.
But Peter and John had more to share with the astonished crowd. While the lame man, who was no longer lame, was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at portico of Solomon, full of amazement. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” Acts 3:11-12. Peter knew the power was not in his own name but in the Name of Jesus, and he was not ashamed to say so, “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the Name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.” Acts 3:16.
And then Peter used the miracle they had witnessed as a teaching moment to bring the crowd to salvation. And it was so effective that many of those who heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. Acts 4:4. But this upset the priests and Sadducees who then put Peter and John in jail overnight for teaching about Jesus.
On the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. They placed Peter and John in the center, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:5-12.
Peter let all know that the power came from the Name of Jesus that had healed a man crippled from birth so he was in perfect health. And you have been given this same Name. And this is why the devil goes after that Name and makes such irrational hatred against it and those who preach it that even after such a show of miraculous power the chief priests and religious letters tried with every process they could use to keep them from using and teaching the Name of Jesus. And it continues to this day. They try to shut that Name out of schools, governments, public places, and anywhere the devil can get a stronghold. This is the action of the antichrist for the devil knows that when that Name is used his head is crushed and his power broken.
And yet there are many believers who do not know what they have, the Name above every other name, to whom one day, the Last Day, every knee of every person, angel and demon must bow to that Name, for bowing to that Name is bowing to Jesus Himself.
Never let go of that Name by which you were, are, and will always be saved at all times and in any situation. He is salvation in every situation. “Jesus is Lord” says it all for your life.
And if someone tries to silence you, say the same response that Peter and John gave those who put him in jail for using that Name, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20.
And they did not stop but kept right on teaching, preaching, and healing in the Name of Jesus. And so should you.
My apostle Paul went to jail and finally was put to death for peaching about Jesus. And one time that got him 39 lashes and no comfort was casting out a demon in the Name of Jesus, “It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. Acts 16:16-18.
But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, 21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.” Acts 16:19-20.
The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
They tried to silence believers from using the Name but they could not. At midnight, from that innermost cell, Paul and Silas were singing praise songs and praying in tongues when I shook that prison and all chains were loosed and the prison doors opened and the jailer, his household, and all the prisoners got saved.
The devil tried to stop them but it only increased the numbers of those receiving Jesus as Lord for the is time through you.
Do not hold a conversation with Satan as Eve did, command him and that is it. And there are two commands that Jesus most often gave Satan: To be quiet and to get out. Imitate Jesus as His disciples on the earth.
And they were always conscious and aware of Jesus with them in the power of the Name. “There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed.” Immediately he got up. And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.” Acts 9:33-35. He said “Jesus Christ heals you” and he relied on that. And Jesus showed up and healed him.
And Paul loved the Name of Jesus. It had changed his life and given him eternal life. And he used it freely to accomplish My works which I assigned to him. He cast out demons in the Name of Jesus so successfully that other exorcists who were not successful began trying to use the Name without being authorized, they were not believers so they could not exercise the power of attorney given to those who believe in His Name. They are not His agents and His Name is not a magic charm but the calling in by faith of My Son with whom nothing is impossible. And the result? “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” Acts 19:11-16.
I love you. Never forget you have the Name of Jesus and there are no limits as to the Kingdom work you can ask and then declare in His Name.