Have you ever had to make a reservation to get into a certain restaurant? Like no walk-ins, packed for months kind of place. How about needing to know someone or have a membership to get into an event? Here’s a funny story about that!
For my 30th Birthday, my family and I took a trip to Waco, TX. We of course did all of the Magnolia things and since it was over Easter weekend, we decided to find a nice Easter Brunch to go to after church on Sunday. Mom and I researched and did our part to find a unique place - Baylor University. We reserved our table weeks ahead of time and anticipated a delicious meal in a fun, new place. When we arrived, we went to the desk and shared our name for our reservation. The young lady couldn’t seem to find our name, so she asked for help. After two women had trouble locating our reservation, we were asked for our membership number. Mom and I looked at each other puzzled and both responded that we didn’t have one. The women seemed to then understand why they could not find our names on the list - we weren’t on the list. Apparently, this was a members only brunch and after weeks of thinking we had a spot, we in fact did not! Thankfully after praying silently that we’d be able to get in and then explaining our situation (being out of town, having no other place to go on Easter, being fine with a table outside) they were able to accommodate us. Our little table overlooking the entire stadium ended up being much more our style than sitting in the crowded dining room!
All that to say, we weren’t on the list. We didn’t have the Baylor membership they were looking for to validate our reservation. Did you know that it used to be like that when going to talk to God? Before Jesus came, died, and rose again, believers were only able to go through Priests in order to submit their requests and talk to the Father. That means every time they had a need, they had to travel to the temple, present their request to the Priest, and the Priest would go into the Holy of Holies to submit that before Father God. Such a process.
While continuing my study of the Book of John, I was reading in chapter 16 verses 16-24 where Jesus is talking to His disciples about leaving and returning again. He was referring to dying on the cross and being resurrected. John 16:22-24 reads, “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. The truth is, you can go directly to the Father and ask Him, and He will grant your request because you use my name.”
Jesus explained that after His resurrection, His followers could use the name of Jesus to communicate with the Father directly. Just “use my name” He said! Think of it this way - your best friend asks you to come to an invite only event. You get to the door and all you have to do is mention her name. That may be an oversimplified analogy, but it’s true. By Jesus dying on the cross for us, He tore the veil (barrier) between us and the Father. Jesus is the Great High Priest and He has died for our sins to make us acceptable to God. That is why we can use His name, Jesus, and go to Father God with our requests.
Hebrews 10 even talks about entering the Most Holy Place (where the Father is) with boldness! We can only do so if we believe and receive what Jesus has done by shedding His blood. Verse 22 tells us to go also with “true hearts, fully trusting Him”. We can believe that what we ask will be heard and God will answer!
We are invited to receive salvation through Jesus. It really is a free gift. Once we accept it, we are given rights as His children, which means we are privileged to speak the name of Jesus over our lives, situations, and families. He even tells us that we have authority over these things in the name Jesus! (Luke 10:19)
It is not a prideful thing - “Of course I can ask this, I deserve it! It’s all mine when I say this name.”
It’s a privilege thing - “I’ve accepted Jesus and can humbly and boldly speak His name, believing God will answer because I am His child and He loves me.”
Heavenly Father, thank you for my friend reading this. Thank you for dying on the cross for all of us, making a way for us to receive salvation and go directly to the Father with our heart cries. Lord, I ask that you'd help us to remember to speak the name of Jesus over our lives and our situations because it is true and powerful. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Comments