The third commandments is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” ESV
From these verses, we understand that using the Lord’s name is weighty, we must approach using his name with respect, honor and fear. I was raised to interpret this commandment only when using Jesus name as a curse word, or exclamation. But why should we not apply it when using his name in prayer as well, using his name according to our vanity.
If living into his Name, and denying our worldly selves as we serve His Kingdom, and live as children of God having the same rights as the first son, Jesus. How dare we put our selfish ways before his. Living with ourselves first is a dangerous act, for he very well may give us over to our own desires.
Like it says in Romans 1,
“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.”
It also says in Psalms, When God talking about the Israelites,
“So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.”
Oh Lord, I plead to you here in this book that I and my readers not be so foolish as to put our desires before yours that you might give us over to those desires. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, so that we may follow you and your perfect will.
“In Him we live and move and have our being.” Let’s look deeper into the meaning of his name.
Moses said, “Israelites will ask, what is His name? Then what should I tell them?”
“God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel. I AM has sent me to you. Say to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14
Paul taught the Colossians,
“For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So, you also are complete through your union with Christ who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 2:9
We are now in Christ! The I AM has come into relationship with us! Deep connected, loving, teaching, guiding kind of connectedness. The weight in which I feel when considering my access to relationship with the I AM is heavy. It changes the flippancy in which I go before the Father with my petitions. I understand that he wants to guide me, that I can come to a place of yielding to Him and following Him in my everyday interactions. We are asking for guidance from the One that sees and knows all, that is the first and last. He sees the beginning and the end. He knows what we need. We do not.
I must come clean, I have actually prayed, using the name of Jesus, that I could lose weight. And I am not so overweight, according to my doctors, I am one of her healthiest patients. Some would be happy to be my weight. I have allowed myself to be burdened with a worldly desire to look "perfect", as far as my own eyes are concerned. When I go to the Lord with this prayer, have I truly considered the Kingdom matters? If he granted me my wish, would I be closer to the Kingdom and drawing others closer to the Kingdom?
When my kids ask and plead for things that I know will not make them happy, I just shake my head, and think, here we go again, sometimes I say, “no”, knowing they are better off without the thing. Sometimes I give them the thing, like too much candy, knowing it is not good, but also knowing that my kids sometimes need to learn things for themselves.
Names
In looking through the Bible we also see that names carried more weight and meaning than the average American name. There are times when God deemed it necessary to change someone’s name. The new name given is a better depiction of that person’s spirit, a truer version of their identity.
Jacob was given a new name, Israel. Jacob meant “deceiver”, which seemed true to his character, but God gave him the new name Israel, which means “having the power of God”. Abram, meaning “high father”, was changed to Abraham, meaning “father of the multitudes”. God even renamed Abraham’s wife from Sarai (my princess) to Sarah meaning” mother of nations”. He changed Simon’s name to Peter, And Saul’s name to Paul. The name in which a person lived under carried a meaning, and identity.
When we come into the Kingdom of God, we are given a new identity, in our new identity we are meant to represent God, the I AM. We are meant to be Jesus’ advocate. His light and truth and love should come through us. A charge that I don’t always take very seriously.
John 15:16, “You didn’t choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.”
May we have our identity in Christ Jesus our Lord. Whom of you would include in a conversation with a new acquaintance your identity in Christ. No, we identify ourselves with our profession--measuring ourselves against a weak hierarchy of importance. True to my personal quest for belonging, I’ve had many different professions or trades, in which I care nothing to find meaning or identity. I’ve been a gymnastics coach, a hairdresser, an aerobics instructor, I’ve been on staff at a church, I’ve been the stock organizer in a medical clinic. No thanks, I will gladly put my identity in Christ first and foremost, but I’m not sure how to say that in an introduction.
“Hi, I’m Lorraine, I’m a Christ follower first, wife and mother second, and struggling writer and painter last of all.” I’ll work on putting that in more conversations, although Jesus did say, “They will know you are my followers by your love.” So, when I go to clarify that I’m a Christ follower, I hope it will be obvious.
Don’t get discouraged if you are finding it difficult to wrap your head around identity and the things of Jesus. Even the disciples struggled to understand the things of Jesus. He wanted to give them hope that when he was gone, they would still be able to access the power of God that they’ve been witnessing and experiencing all along, which we too have access.
In John 16:24, Jesus is explaining what will happen to himself, and telling the disciples that they will be sad:
“You have sorrow now, but I will see you again: then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. At that time, you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant life.”
There it is again, “ask, using my name.” Peter and John did put this into practice after Jesus’ death and resurrection. As they were living in their new identity, they were on their way to participate in a prayer gathering when they encountered a man that was lame from birth in Acts 3:6, it says, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” Then later in the chapter, Peter is explaining the healing in the Temple to the people of Israel. Vs. 16, “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus name has healed him before your very eyes.” And then about the same healing Peter explains to the council of rulers and elders and teachers of religious law, Acts 4: 10, “He was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene.”
His name is his Spirit, his image, his being, his desires, the name IS Him, and that is where we access relationship in its fullest and find His power. When we ask for things in his name, it is because we are living in his name. If we are living in his name, we will be able to “see” what the Father is doing.
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.” From Paul to the Ephesians 3:16
How can we live as if Christ was in us?