Ps 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
In my prayer time this morning the Holy Spirit gave me a real revelation about this verse, which has always been a puzzling one to me, and I would like to share it with you. The second part of the verse, “Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy Name,” was mentioned in the service at church on Sunday, and I had been meditating on it since.
What the Lord showed me ties in with a promise and a warning.
The promise is Jesus’ words in Jn 14:13 “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” This is repeated in slightly different format in Jn 15:16 “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” and again in Jn 16:23 “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.”
In each of these verses, Jesus tells us that His Name gives us the authority to ask for whatever we want, and God will honour the authority of Jesus’ Name and give us our request.
So, does that mean that you can ask in Jesus’ Name for your best friend’s husband to leave her and marry you? Absolutely not! But didn’t Jesus say we could ask for ANYTHING in His Name? Yes, He did, but the Word of God says “You shall not commit adultery.” The Word outweighs the Name. We can use the Name of Jesus till we turn blue, but if what we are asking for does not line up with the Word, then it will not happen, because God will always honour His Word above His Name.
The warning relates to Jesus words in Matt 7:21-23 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Sadly, many things are done “in the Name of Jesus” that simply do not line up with the Word of God. In recent days I have seen two posts on social media that highlight this. One was an article about a church in the USA that has hired a psychic medium as part of its ministry team. The other was an ad for a “Christian Witches Convention.” These things are being done in Jesus’ Name, so doesn’t that make them ok? Again, absolutely not! In both cases, these run directly counter to God’s Word in Deuteronomy 18:9-12, which lists the occult practices and declares that those who do such things are an abomination to God. We cannot paste Jesus’ Name onto something that is against His Word, because He will honour His Word over His Name every time.
These examples are, of course, the extreme, but the principle applies across the board: if we try to put His Name on that which His Word forbids, He will not honour it or us. What’s more, we may find ourselves guilty of taking His Name in vain – using it for a purpose for which it was not intended.
Jesus has given us the authority of His Name, both for our prayers and for our service, but we must always be sure to use His Name in a way that lines up with His Word.
Like manly Christians in Australia, I am deeply disturbed by the things I see happening all around us.
Babies are being murdered in the womb, with threats of that being extended right up till the time of birth. This is the same spirit that, in the days of the Old Testament, saw babies thrown into the furnace that blazed in the bowels of the idol Molech, and in other cultures have seen children sacrificed to heathen gods. Our nation, and most of the western world, is staggering under a massive load of blood guilt.
Morality has been turned on its head, and insanity seems to have taken over.
Jesus Christ is mocked, and those who seek to uphold His standards are treated as criminals, whilst those who blaspheme Him are kowtowed to and honoured.
Evil is called good, and good is called evil.
And all this, my dear fellow Christians, is happening ON OUR WATCH!
The time has come for true Christians to get serious and address our own shortcomings as well as those of our nation. We are all familiar with 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a call to prayer, but too often we forget the first requirement in that passage: “If My people … WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES …” To humble ourselves means repentance. It means acknowledging that we are part of the problem, that we have done what we should not have done and have failed to do what we should have done.” It means being willing (to borrow an expression from the world) to BE the change that we want to see in our nation.
Therefore, I am going to be very bold, and call the true Christians in our nation to a
NATIONAL DAY OF REPENTANCE
on Saturday 4th May 2019.
Who am I to make such a call? I’m not a big name or a national celebrity, just a preacher who believes she has heard the heart of God. I don’t have the connections to make this happen; only God can do it. If you are a Christian in Australia and this resonates with your heart, please pick this up and run with it. Copy the image below and share it on your social media. Tell your friends and plan to get together on the day. Tell your pastor and other pastors you know, and urge them to call a time of prayer for that day.
I am so excited that this new ministry, King of Glory Ministries International, is finally up and running. In many ways it is a continuation of the vision that I had for Glory to the King Ministries, which sadly closed down in 2015. I am now convinced that I should not have let it close down at the time, but simply should have changed the direction a little to accommodate the changing circumstances. In the intervening years I have continued to minister personally under the name of Word and Fire Ministries, and that will continue to be my personal ministry. However, as always I knew the ministry had to be about more than just me, and King of Glory Ministries is.
Whilst this ministry carries on the primary vision of seeing Jesus lifted high as King of kings and Lord of lords, and of seeing His people come to a place where we fully and truly represent Him, there is now an even greater emphasis than before on helping individuals to fulfill their calling in God, and supporting struggling ministries. I am believing for the Lord to bring to us people who share our heart, to carry this ministry throughout Australia and around the world.
In the King’s service,
Rev. Dr. Lynn Fowler
