The fourth chapter of Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for forty days. While He was there, He endured attack after attack after attack from the enemy. Every time the devil tempted Him, Jesus replied by saying, “It is written,” and then by quoting a verse of Scripture.
From this chapter in Luke, we can learn that temptations come in cycles. Luke 4:13 says, “And when the devil had ended every [the complete cycle of] temptation, he [temporarily] left Him [that is, stood off from Him] until another more opportune and favorable time.” We know from this verse that the devil is going to attack, attack, attack. We have to resist those attacks. We must stand firm. He will leave us alone for a little while, but we better not get sleepy and lazy. We have to be watchful because he is waiting for another opportune time and he will come back and try something else.
We often ask ourselves: When am I ever going to get to the point where I don’t have to endure these attacks from the devil? The answer is when we get to heaven! Personally, I would be more concerned if the devil never came against me. This is because if he is not bothering me, then I am probably not bothering him! And if I am not bothering him, I am not doing what God has called me to do.
Even though the enemy will harass and attack us as long as we live, we can resist him; we can stand against him; we can push him away and cause him to retreat; we can fight back with weapons that render him powerless. If you want to really make the devil angry and send him running, use God’s Word to remind him of the cross and his defeat at Calvary. Let me give you some examples:
• Colossians 2:15: “[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].”
• 1 John 4:4: “. . .He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.”
• Isaiah 54:17: “But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong.”
• 1 John 3:8: “. . .The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].”
• Colossians 1:13: “[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
• Hebrews 4:12: “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword.”
• 2 Corinthians 2:14: “But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.”
The Word of God has power in our lives and it has power over the enemy. We need to not only know the Word; we need to believe it and to obey it. We obey it by doing what it tells us to do, by walking in God’s ways and keeping His commandments. As we know, believe, and obey the Word, we are keeping our eyes and our hearts fixed on God—and He has assured us that our victory is sure if we will do that.
I encourage you to truly know the Word. Know it with your mind and know it in your heart. Love it, memorize it, and allow its truth to sink into the depths of your being. As you do, you will find yourself incorporating the Word in your prayers, speaking God’s Word back to Him—and He always honors what He says.
Weapon #2: The Name of Jesus
A friend of mine, a man I taught in Bible college, was driving one day with his little three- or four-year-old son in the car with him. He did not realize that the car door on the passenger side was not closed securely, and made a sharp turn at an intersection. This happened before seat belt laws were passed, so the child was not buckled into the car. As my friend turned, the car door swung open and the little boy tumbled out of the car into the middle of oncoming traffic from every direction. The last thing my friend remembers seeing was a set of tires speeding toward his son, almost on top of the boy. Suddenly, he yelled, “Jesus!”
As soon as he could stop his car, he ran to his son and saw that the boy was perfectly fine. Understandably, the driver of the other vehicle was hysterical. My friend tried to comfort him and assured him that his son was all right. “My son is okay. Don’t worry. Just thank God you were able to stop,” he told the man. The man responded, “You don’t understand. I never touched my brakes.”
There is unbelievable power in the name of Jesus! His name is higher than any other name; it is mightier than any other name. It truly is the only name that will ultimately command obedience from all people and all principalities. Philippians 2:9–10 says that God has highly exalted Jesus Christ “and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth” (NKJV).
His name is higher than any other name; it is mightier than any other name. It truly is the only name that will ultimately command obedience from all people and all principalities.
In Ephesians 1:17–21, Paul is praying for the believers in Ephesus, asking that God would give them “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” that He would open the eyes of their spiritual understanding, that they would know the hope of His calling in their lives, and that they would know the riches of the glory of His inheritance. He also prayed that they would know “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come” (NKJV, emphasis mine).
If we really understand what Paul is trying to communicate in Philippians 2 and Ephesians 1, and if we believe that Jesus has been given the name above every name, we will see that we have incredible power available to us in His name. What does it mean for His name to be above every name? It means the name of Jesus is the name above the name of cancer. It is the name above the name of poverty. It is the name above the name of drug addiction. It is the name above the name of divorce. Whatever name we can think of, the name of Jesus is above that name—and we have been given His name because He has given His life for us. We do not have to be defeated by anything that comes our way as long as we know the power that is available to us in Jesus’ name.
When Jesus was talking to His disciples and preparing them to live without His physical presence on earth, He said to them: “And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me [you will need to ask Me no questions]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]. Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete” (John 16:23–24). In these verses, Jesus was saying, essentially: You don’t have to ask Me anymore. You can now go to the Father in My name and when you speak My name, you are presenting to Him all that I am—not who you are, but Who I am!
Every time I pray in the name of Jesus, I am saying: “Lord, I’m holding up before You the victory that Jesus won and I’m a joint heir with Him. I’ve got an inheritance—not because I earned it, but because He earned it and put my name on the will and signed it with His blood! And I am going to pray boldly, and my prayers will be powerful because the name of Jesus is above everything else I could ever name.” The same is true for you.
So when we pray and ask for something in Jesus’ name, we are really presenting all that He is to the Father and asking as though Jesus Himself is making a request of His Father. We are not going to God on our own merits; we are approaching Him on the merits of Jesus. We are holding up before the Father everything that Jesus is, not everything we are. That is why, even when we do not d
o everything right, we can still expect God to hear our prayers—because we pray in Jesus’ name. Everything He is swallows up everything we are not, and His fullness makes up for our deficiencies.
Because the name of Jesus represents everything that He is—all of His righteousness, all of His perfection, all of His grace and love—that name is powerful. There is no power in your name or my name, but there is awesome power in the name of Jesus because of everything His name represents. As Andrew Murray writes: “The name of a king includes his honor, his power, his kingdom. His name is the symbol of his power.. . .The name of Christ is the expression of all He has done and all He is and lives to do.. . .#8221;4 He also writes: “He who gives his name to another stands aside, to let that other act for him; he who takes the name of another gives up his own as of no value. When I go in the name of another, I deny myself, I take not only his name, but himself and what he is, instead of myself and what I am.”5
Let’s think about this in practical, everyday terms. My name has not always been Joyce Meyer. I did not take Dave’s last name until I married him. Nothing of his belonged to me until we entered into the legal covenant of marriage. When we married, I did not have a car, but Dave did. When I got his name, I suddenly got a car, too. I did not have much money; in fact, I was in debt. Dave did have money; so when I married him, I had money too and was able to pay off my bills. I didn’t have access to anything of Dave’s until I married him and took his name. When I became Mrs. Dave Meyer, everything he had became mine. While we were dating, I still had my maiden name; I still had my debt and I still had no car.
We cannot “date” Jesus and expect to enjoy the privileges that come with true commitment. By that, I mean that we cannot just spend time with Him occasionally and try to keep up a relationship only because of the blessings He offers us. We can only enjoy the privileges of a relationship with Him when we are committed. Before I married Dave, I could have told people that my last name was Meyer, but that would have been illegal. Whether we like it or not, heaven works on a legal system. God has set spiritual laws in motion and we simply cannot ignore them or get around them. God knows what kind of relationship we have with Him, whether we are “dating” or whether we have given our hearts to Him in total commitment. When we are joined to Him in committed relationship, we can enjoy everything His name affords us.
When we are joined to Him in committed relationship, we can enjoy everything His name affords us.
Like so much about our lives as believers, there is no formula for using the name of Jesus and there are no rules about it—just a heart that believes in Him, trusts His power, and is submitted to His Lordship. When we employ the name of Jesus in prayer as we do battle against our enemy, our submission to God is essential. James 4:7–9 says: “So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]. [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent.. . .#8221; I like the way Andrew Murray explains the spiritual principles found in these verses. He writes that we “have the spiritual power to avail ourselves of the Name of Jesus just to the extent to which [we] yield [ourselves] to live only for the interests and the work of the Master. The use of the name always supposes the surrender of our interests to Him whom we represent.”6
In other words, we should not expect to be able to resist the enemy if we allow willful disobedience in our lives, even if we use the name of Jesus. We cannot take authority over Satan if we are living in sin. We all sin and do things wrong, but when I write about “willful disobedience,” I am referring to intentional sin. This is sin that we know is offensive to God, but we still refuse to repent and give it up. The Bible says to submit to God, and if we are doing that to the best of our ability, when Satan comes against us, we need to say out of our mouths: “I resist you, Satan, in the name of Jesus!” And we need to expect the power of that name to push him back.
Anytime we stand up to the devil and come against him, we need to do it in the name of Jesus. Satan is not afraid of us, but he is afraid of the blood of Jesus; he is afraid of the Word of God; he is afraid of the cross and he’s afraid of the name of Jesus. A Spirit-filled believer does have power over Satan, but only in the name of Jesus.
Whenever we use the name of Jesus, it is important to remember what the Bible says about the power of that name:
• His name has power to save. “And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
• When we meet with others in His name, Jesus promises His very presence. “For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
• His name brings healing. Peter said to a crippled man, “. . .In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6, NKJV). Peter added further illumination to this miraculous healing when he explained, “By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole” (Acts 4:10, NKJV).
• His name sets us free. Because of Christ’s triumph on the cross, in Jesus’ name, we have victory over spiritual darkness. Jesus told His followers, “And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons . . ” (Mark 16:17). (See also Luke 10:19–20; Colossians 2:15.)
We need to keep the power of Jesus’ name in mind every time we pray and to remember that using His name is a privilege that comes from our relationship with Him. As we continue to grow in intimacy with Him through prayer, His name will become more and more precious to us and we will become more and more convinced of its awesome power.
We should reverence the name of Jesus and never use it in vain (uselessly or frivolously). Some people think nothing of taking God’s name in vain one moment and then trying to pray in His name the next. Taking the Lord’s name in vain is not merely connecting it to a curse word. We take His name in vain anytime we use it lightly or loosely, without honor. If we had a live wire with about 220 volts of electricity running through it, we would not throw it around carelessly; neither should we treat the Lord’s name with disrespect.
In the Old Testament, God’s people had so much reverential fear of the name of God that they would not even speak it. It was literally considered too holy to even pass through human lips. When Moses asked God what His name was, He replied, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God is so much and so wonderful that He cannot be accurately described. His name represents all that He is. Once again, I want to say that we should all strive to show the utmost respect for the name of Jesus (God). The more we realize what is wrapped up in that wonderful name, the more results we will see when we pray in Jesus’ name.
Weapon #3: The Blood of Jesus
Just as we release the power that is in the name of Jesus by speaking that name and just as we release the power that is in God’s Word by speaking His Word, we also need to release the power that is in the blood of Jesus by including in our prayers something that declares our position under His blood, such as: “I apply the blood of Jesus to my life and I believe I’m protected as I stay under that blood.” In his book Let Us Pray, Watchman Nee wrote: “Since we belong to God, Satan intends to frustrate, afflict, or suppress us and allow us no foothold. This is his aim, although his aim may not be achieved because we may approach the throne of grace by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, asking for God’s protection and care. As God hears our prayer, Satan’s plan is definitely defeated.”7 That’s what we want. We want the enemy defeated, and we can declare victory over him in prayer through the shed blood of Jesus.
Exodus 12:1–13 gives the account of the miraculous events of the first Passover and illustrates the power of the blood. In t
his story, an angel of death was going to pass through the land of Egypt to kill all of the firstborn sons in every household. But God instructed His people to take the blood of lambs and put the blood on the side posts of their doors and on the lintels (above the door spaces) of their homes. Then God said, when the angel of death came, he would “pass over” the blood-covered doorways, and no one inside those homes would be harmed.
We also need to release the power that is in the blood of Jesus by including in our prayers something that declares our position under His blood.
Today, Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He shed His blood for us at Calvary so that we could be free from the curse of sin and death. I do not think we avail ourselves of all of the benefits of the blood of Jesus the way we should. I believe that if blood on the doorways of the homes of the ancient Hebrews kept the angel of death from visiting them and bringing devastation to their lives through the death of the firstborn sons, we also need to be diligent to apply the blood over our lives by faith and seal the doors of our lives through which Satan can gain access to us.