Blessed Is He Who Comes In the Name Of the Lord

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  From the house of the Lord we bless you.  --Psalm 118:26

When I was in high school I remember going to youth camp every summer.  We would have breakfast every morning, then go to devotional time, then do sports, have lunch, and have free time in the afternoon.  Every evening after dinner we would all meet together at the open-air auditorium and have a worship service.  There was usually a guest preacher called in for that entire week, so we would hear a series of sermons from someone who was not our pastor.

The worship services were structured very much like the Sunday services at the churches we attended.  There would be participatory singing of spiritual songs (not the stuffy hymns they sang in church), then some general anouncements, a soloist or band to sing a song to get us prepared to sit still, a prayer, and then the sermon.  One very vivid memory I have after almost 40 years was of one particular pre-sermon prayer.

You see, most of us had grown up in church.  We knew that during a prayer, we all reverently bowed our heads and listened.  The prayer generally began with "Dear Lord," or maybe "Our Heavenly Father," or sometimes the one-word beginning, "God."  We all knew we could check out mentally for a few minutes, until we heard the next code words, signalling that the prayer was almost over.  Those code words were, "In Jesus' Name."  Whenever we heard someone say, "In Jesus' Name," we knew that the next word would be "Amen."

But this one youth pastor got up to pray, and his prayer was a bit different.  He prayed that we would all live as intentional Christians.  He prayed that every thing we did from this moment on would be in the name of the Lord.  So he was praying along, and said something like, "Let us all live our lives in Jesus' Name."  Instinctively, half the group sat down.  We all jumped back up again when he started another phrase that didn't begin with "amen."  Some of us thought he might have remembered something or some one who needed special prayer, that he had forgotten.  So we listened a little more intently.  He said something like, "We want to do all that we do in Jesus' Name."  He wasn't doing what we thought he would do.  He didn't say, "Oh, before I forget, Lord, bless the guy who broke his ankle on the softball field yesterday," or "bless the kids from Friendship Baptist who all came down with food poisoning."  What he did say was different that any prayer we had heard.  So we all started listening a lot harder.  Thinking back, I'm sure he said the words "In Jesus' Name" at least ten time. When he finally did say "amen," we didn't know whether to sit, or stand, or sing Amazing Grace.

I have been thinking a lot about that particular prayer in that particular worship service that one summer at camp.  Last week, the leader of our small group Bible study said that God had given him a word for us that week, and the word he gave was "intentional."  Intentional living has been a theme in some of the radio sermons I have heard during rush hour this week.  So let's think for a few minutes about living intentionally, like Jesus did.

I mentioned praying.  We are taught in church to pray in Jesus' Name, because of what Jesus said in John 14:13-14:

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.

Most of us equate this with praying.  We ask God for blessing and favor in Jesus' Name.  Unfortunatley, many of us go days without praying.  Even the most spiritual among us may go hours between prayers.  In 1 Thesalonians 5:17, Paul told us to "pray without ceasing."  If we are always in an attitude of prayer, then our thoughts and our words will always be in Jesus' Name.

Let's take this a step further.  What if we were all like David.  You remember the story of when young David came to the battlefield with provisions, and he heard the giant Goliath taunting the army of Israel.  David had heard that Saul the king would give great wealth to anyone who fought and killed the Philistine champion, and he was astounded that not one of the soldiers in the army of God would stand up to him.  David started trying to encourage the men.  Don't you want the king to give you his daughter in marriage, and don't you want for your family to be tax-exempt?  More importantly, don't you want to defend your king, your country, and your God from this heathen?  David didn't want great wealth, or to be Saul's son-in-law.  He stood up to face Goliath when no one else did.  And what did he say to him?  "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel." (1 Samuel 17:45).

If we were all like David, we would face our battles in the name of the Lord.  If we were like Paul, we would always be thinking prayer and praise to God, in Jesus' Name.  I think, though, that God intends for us to do more than that.  He doesn't just want us to speak in His name when we pray.  He doesn't just want us to fight our battles in His name.  Micah 4:5 says, "All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever."  Not just speak.  Not just fight.  We will walk in His Name.

That means everything we do, everywhere we go, we represent Him.  Whatever we say, we say in His authority.  Whatever we purpose in our hearts to do, we will do it with all our hearts, as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).  For some, this is a 180 degree change.  We are used to walking in fear.  But "perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:18), and "God is Love" (1 John 4:8, 16).  We are used to walking in shame.  Shame steals our confidence.  Philippians 1:6 says, "For we are confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

There is an ancient Irish hymn that many of us older Christians will remember;

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;
be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word,
be thou ever with me, and I with thee Lord;
be thou my great Father, and I thy true son;
be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
be thou my whole armor, be thou my true might;
be thou my soul's shelter, be thou my strong tower:
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
be thou mine inheritance now and always;
be thou and thou only the first in my heart;
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, thou heaven's bright sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won;
great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

Look at that third verse.  It reminds me of Exodus 4:14, "The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still."  Each one of these verses begs our meditation, for they are steeped in Scripture and edify the faithful.  Echoes of the following scripture may be found in the text: Colossians 1:15-23; Colossians 2:2-3; Proverbs 9:1-6; Revelation 5:12.  I would encourage you to meditate on these scriptures while you reacquaint yourself with the hymn text.  I would also encourage you to live deliberately, in Jesus' Name--in all you say, in all you do; as you rise up and as you lie down; and in the battles you may fight from time to time, remember to come against the enemy in the Name of the Lord Almighty.  Be blessed.