When I had finished recording the podcast episode “Manipulating God”, I heard the Spirit say “don’t just plow the field, plant something”. I took that to mean He wanted me to share what “in Jesus name” means as the Father has taught me. As I began pondering a script for another episode, He said “it’s already written” and reminded me of this blog post that He inspired me to write several years ago. Reading it again gives me a chance to assess the progress He’s made in me, and where I’ve fallen short. Also to elaborate on what He showed me from scripture, originally.

Walking with the Spirit leads to revelation of the sort that exposes our fears and religious ideas. It startles me just how few words spoken by the Spirit have the power to throw down temples made by men and reduce them to rubble. Yet long after my own temple to man’s religious system was destroyed in my sight, there remain a number of buttresses and other fortifications within me that stand in opposition to the Spirit and Truth. As He pummels yet another of my religious relics, I’m reminded once more of Jesus’s declaration in Matthew 24:2 “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Whether the physical temple in Jerusalem, or the ideological temples and high places within our minds and hearts, I believe He intends to throw them all down to ruin, that His Spirit and Truth would reign supreme.

While out running errands one gloomy winter afternoon, my wife and I pulled into the drive through and spotted a hummingbird sipping nectar from a feeder hung above the porch. Surprised by the sight, I asked the barista about it and was told the Anna’s hummingbird winters over here on the Olympic peninsula. Once home we found an old feeder mom had and made a batch of nectar to hang in front of the picture window. For several months, there was one hummingbird who visited throughout the day and a single batch of nectar seemed to last indefinitely; that is, until the local hummingbird experts scolded us for not cleaning the feeder and changing nectar regularly.

Hoping to attract more hummingbirds in late spring, we added 2 more feeders and within days, our little outdoor bistro was “discovered”. Turns out that there are two types of hummingbirds here, iridescent green and red Anna’s, which winter over, and the smaller orange and brown Rufous, which migrate. Daily my wife, our cat Tigger and I, are dazzled by their amazing displays of aerial acrobatics the likes of which any “Top Gun” can only dream.

When I was young in the faith; and by that I mean stupidly immature, my approach to God’s Word was like that of an attorney who pours over the fine print of a contract to identify beneficial provisions and hold God’s feet to the fire to fulfill every last one of them for me. In so doing, I was trying to use God in a selfish and manipulative way to do what I wanted. Never did I pause to think about the inference of what I was doing, using scripture to back God into a corner so He had to do what He said He would do, as if God were a liar or swindler. Yeesh!

And yet, I’ve seen churches and individuals do that very thing, forever. For example, Matthew 18:20 in the Contemporary English Version says:

Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.

That wording seems to beg the question can any 2 believers decide to get together, invoke “Jesus name” and thereby compel Him to join them?