Caution: Victory Ahead

How often to we close our prayers with "In Jesus' Name?"  I've done it since I was a kid, only it was more, "J'susnm we pra-Amn."  This morning, as I prayed -- for something I really wanted, mind you -- it occurred to me to use the name of Jesus that it may be so.  (I wasn't praying for a new car or anything like that, so I figured it would be OK.)  But it struck me how important it is to pray in Jesus' name.  He is not only our High Priest, our Intercessor, The Way -- there is power in the name of Jesus:

John 14:14 (NLT)
Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

Phillipians 2:9-11 (NIV)
 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When I am fearful or angry, when I don't know what to pray, when I don't feel like praying -- I automatically resort to saying His name over and over.  I started it as an alternative to...

"Dear Lord, I love you and --
*C'mon, Buddy!  Gas is on the right!!*
"-- I want to glori --
*Are you kidding me?!*
"glorify and praise you..."

...or as an alternative to not praying at all.  Saying His name over and over brings peace to my spirit, calms my heart and brings my thoughts to the place they ought to be when I pray -- directly to Jesus and His will.  Jesus spoke the world into existence. He commanded the healing and restoration of others.  He raised Lazarus from the dead with the power of His voice.  If all He has is imparted to us through His death on the cross and our surrender to Him, it only stands to reason that the use of Jesus' name can work blessing in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Romans 4:17 (NKJV)
God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

That's power!  Speak it so -- in Jesus' name!