Acts:4:10
Peter Speaking to the Sanhedrin Council: "Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stand here before you whole."
Healing through the name of Jesus.
Yet it isn't a magic spell that will happen simply because you speak the name.
Salvation through the name of Jesus.
Yet it isn't simply a thought or an acknowledgment that you believe in Him.
The name of Jesus is a window into the very nature of God himself.
It reveals the awesome heart of God for a fallen creation that rejected him long ago in a garden.
Choosing to taste a fruit that produced only pain and sorrow an death, mankind traded the eternal God for the temporary satisfaction of putting down an appetite.
The appetite to "be like God".
To have a new level of vision and understanding.
Smooth words from a serpent that brought about the downfall of an entire race and the history that followed.
A history that is strewn with bad decisions, broken families and a rejection of this name, Jesus.
Jesus' name is offensive to the mind and heart that stands set apart from Him because of Sin.
How many men have come into the program at Rapha, knowing we are a Christ-centered recovery program, yet the first thing they want to make perfectly clear is that, and I quote,"No one is going to shove this Jesus-stuff down my throat." Somehow this conjures up images of me with a huge kitchen spoon and a bowl full Jesus, holding the offended man down and shoveling Jesus as quick as I can.
SO what do we know about this name Jesus?
Well, it is deeply offensive to humans and their personal belief's because it is an all-powerful name.
Philippians 3:18-19 tells us, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things."
They truly want to part or partial of this man Jesus, so they rail against anything to do with Him, all the while signing and sealing their own fate.
The name of Christ is so offensive that 56 nations in the world have outlawed preaching about Him. The funny part is that everyone of them are members of the United Nations. A body of men and women whose sole purpose is to promote world peace. Yet they have cast aside the Prince of Peace.
It is by this name, Jesus, that we declare healing from addiction.
Healing from addiction and the infusion of new life to the one who receives Christ.
Sounds simple doesn't it?
Well, it is.
It is a matter of recognizing that we have become powerless in our own lives. The faster we seem to go, the behinder we get.
Face to face with this truth of our own powerlessness, we acknowledge that we are in need of help from someone or something outside ourselves. I prefer the "SOMEONE" over the something.
Realizing that Jesus is the answer to all my questions----
Questions like "Why can't I quit?"
"Why do I keep doing the very things I don't want to do?"
Realizing that Jesus is the Power greater than myself or my own ability.....
A Power that can bring sanity and order to my insane, chaotic life.....
I give up.
I surrender will and life over to His care.
I place my entire being in His hands and ask, "Show me the way to live....really live...not simply exist."
You know...
You find yourself falling in love with Jesus as you begin this journey of recovery.
Be careful....
You might even become a fanatic for Jesus...
After all, weren't you a fanatic for drugs and alcohol?
God on you...
mb
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