A song and an engraved coin

Sometime in the night, not sure whether I was awake or asleep I had a vision of a coin.

It spun in circles and the image engraved on the head of the coin stood out.

I heard “image bearer” and a phrase sung in a beautiful melody, a chorus,

“In His Name, in His name”  over and over.

There was a sweet Presence of God with it.

In the morning, I knew the Lord was trying to tell me something.

This post is me trying to work that out.

A name in the Old Testament was not just what you called someone.

It reflected whose son you were and your character.

To speak the name of God was invoking His Presence.

It  could not even be spoken aloud in its entirety.

This is why we get it spelled what is called the tetragrammaton YHWH.

The Name of God was Holy. It was revered.

It was only spoken out loud once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Out of the ear of the ‘common man’ and in the Holy of Holies.

The pronouncement of this Name was the highest point of contact between God and man.

It was the very dwelling place of God.

It was there in the Holy of Holies proclamation of salvation was made.

In the NT Peter tells the Sanhedrin the Name of Jesus is now THE NAME above all names.

It could now be spoken by any and every man not just the High Priest.

The veil was torn and God came near.

“In His Name, In His Name” was sung over me.

My mind went to how we use “in Jesus Name” as our Amen.

So, when did “In Jesus Name” become the way to end prayer?

Until the 1820s the early church was highly theological and liturgical.

Prayers were longer and most often ended with “through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Then Charles Finney came on the scene.

He argued that revivals were not solely dependent on divine intervention.

He would invite those who were considering salvation to come forward.

He would speak to each one and encourage them to confess their sin and choose to be saved.

He eschewed the previously considered hallowed prayer focusing on the Sovereignty of God.

He considered the long drawn-out prayers inappropriate at the “anxious bench”

 “In Jesus Name” was thought to reflect the faith he saw in John 14:14 If you ask Me

anything in My name, I will do it.

To quote him “When God has specially promised the thing, we are bound to believe we

shall receive it when we pray for it. You have no right to put an if and say Lord if it be thy will.

 This is an insult to God to put an ‘if’ in God’s promise when God has put none there. This is

tantamount to charging God with being insincere.”

So “In Jesus Name” became a seal to ensure the prayer was heard.

It is likely Mr. Finney would be appalled at the degeneration of the clause into a transactional phrase

used without relational context.

I don’t believe he was separating the agency of man from relation to the Sovereignty of God.

I don’t believe he was inventing a formula.

It was an exhortation to have faith in God.

John 14 has many caveats. Abiding in Him being one of them.

There is a problem in treating the phrase “In Jesus Name” as a magic password, a spiritual

“open sesame.” 

This is what we do when we treat “In Jesus Name” as legal spiritual enforcement of our own

will and desires.

If I have your power of attorney, I can sign a check, and the bank will honor it based on your assets.

Based on how much money you have in your account, not mine.

But I must use those assets for your best interests and purposes and not my own.

I cant go to the bank with your signature to buy a new car for myself.

That is fraud.

If I pray and add my token phrase “in Jesus’s name” I get my desired outcome.

Exodus 20:7 is the third commandment.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave

him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

That is not only using the name of God as a swear word.

To ‘take’ His Name in Hebrew meant to carry or bear His Name. I have His signet ring, His authority.

But if I use “In Jesus Name” as my ‘token’ and my prayer is diametrically opposed to His character

I am taking His name in vain.

I am not meant to take the weight of the name of the Lord to serve my own pleasures or ego.

That is spiritual fraud.

I shouldn’t use the name of God as my servant or enforcer.

Go back to my vision of the coin.

When Jesus was asked about whether they should pay taxes He asked them to show Him a coin.

They were asked whose image was on the coin. “Caesars” was the answer.

Jesus replied, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.

My ‘night vision’ and song “In His Name” was about the currency of heaven.

Now, it is possible to use Jesus’ Name as a currency.

It is a strategy that can work.

How awful if it does.

Our Father HAS given us the power of choice.

He allows us to go after the things we desire that are not necessarily His will for us.

He has always said we have the power to choose the path of life or death.

It might be a little bit like the Father saying,  “Fine if you want meat, I will give you meat” to

the Israelites.

He answered their prayer. But was that the best thing that could have happened?

Psalm 106:15 So He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul.

“In Jesus Name” or any other prayer as a formula that puts man on the throne is wrong.

That reminds me of Simon the magician from Acts 8!

He wanted the strategy and the power without relationship with God!

God might even allow you to do it but He also allows false prophets to commit spiritual fraud.

Does that mean He has endorsed them?

Do they have His favour?

No.

They have used His Name and faith as currency in the world, for things the world sees as success.

The fact they have been allowed to do it does not make it right.

Each of us have a choice.

He might let us spend the currency of our faith for the things of this world.

We are however invited by our Lord to buy from Him gold tried by fire.

Gold that survives fire is not the gold of this world. That gold does not make it to heaven.

You can’t take it with you!

Matthew 6:19 “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust

destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in

heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We are in fact God’s treasure. God’s coin.

His image is engraved on us. We are His image bearers.

We bear His name.

We choose where to spend ourselves. For the things of the world or the things of heaven.

The bible says you are His pearl of great price.

You are His lost coin in the parable.

He emptied heaven of its treasure to buy you back.

Do you think you have God in your pocket, His name to be spent as you please?

Or are you like John Wimber who said I am simply a coin in God’s pocket.

He can spend me whenever or wherever he chooses.

Is the name of Jesus your Talisman or does he own you?

He loves you so very much.

I hear the Lord singing this over us, “More than anything you can do, I just want you.”

Pray with me: I am yours Lord. Forgive me if I have used your Name for vain purposes.

On things that will not survive the fire between here and heaven.

I am Yours Lord. You can spend my life on Your desires. I choose You. Amen.