I love stories that remind me that Jesus' name is still the Name above every name. The first, most dramatic time I saw the unmistakable power in the Name of Jesus was during a performance by my dear friend, Jason Hildebrand. He was performing his one man show on the Life of Job. I was sitting at the back that day and a fellow came in. I had never seen him before. Through the first 20 minutes, the guy was disruptive and noisy until Jason got to the part of the Scripture in Job where God speaks and says, “Who are you, oh man....”. It was remarkable. It was like someone came and tied this guy up with a rope and duct tape to quiet him. He became as still as a soldier on guard. Then he got up and ran out of the building.
The landlord for our church on Queen Street owns our building and also the one that is attached to it. Our church is on the second level of one of his buildings and for a little while we had a psychic next door. She would read your tea leaves or your palm for $25.00 (not that we ever went there). She did not last long. My husband, who is also the pastor of our church, asked the landlord, “Why did she move out?” He said, “Because of you guys; As long as she shared a wall with your church, she could not read the tea leaves or the palms. She could do nothing. So, she gave up and moved. “
One memory I have is a Saturday night at our church when we were feeding the streets. The place was packed. It was a wild night - my husband Bill had to break up a few fist fights. Then, after everyone was fed, when the service started, there was a woman. She started yelling and blaspheming God as Bill tried to bring a word of hope to these dear people. Bill asked the lady kindly to be quiet and she just got louder. So, Bill bowed his head and prayed in Jesus’ Name and the woman was instantly silent. That evening there was a youth group visiting us and one of the youth, maybe 16 years old or so, who had grown up attending church, had never seen anything like it. That night she gave her heart to Christ as she saw the undeniable power of the Name of Jesus.
We have seen many people healed on the streets and in the church. Beautiful stories of people who did not have options. They needed God to step in and we would pray in the beautiful Name of Jesus, and God touched them.
Now we are dealing with a terrible fentanyl crisis all around our church. I was listening to a song today called Walking Free, by Micah Tyler. It is a song about all of these people who met Jesus and are now walking free of their addiction because of Jesus. We look to Jesus to do that again as we pray with these young people. There are SO many of them. May Jesus come and do His work.
I love the Bible verse in Isaiah 61:1 that says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives be released and prisoners will be freed.”
Jesus' Name, the Name above every name, has not lost its power!
Dear Jesus,
Your Name is above every Name, and we praise You and are thankful. Thank You that we can come to You and lift up loved ones and pray in Your strong Name Jesus! Come and set the captives free!
In Jesus Name,
Amen