May 01, 2024. "What Does It Mean When We Pray, “In The Name of Jesus”

This impacted me, deeply. I hope it doesn’t lose something in the transcribing.

I have loved Rita Springer’s music & heart for many years. I was listening to her podcast last week, and she was having a talk with Country Artist Jo Dee Messina. In the course of talking about her story of becoming a Follower of Jesus, Jo Dee talked about a revelation she had about praying “In The Name of Jesus”. I’ll transcribe what she said, for it was, for me. Soooo powerful:

“I want so desperately to make this easy to understand… Like, “The Name.” “In The Name of Jesus.” How many times do you hear that? “We prayed in the Name of Jesus?”

I’m out in my pool area. It’s winter, so the stars are really low in the sky. I looked up.

Now, I have some land, so there was not a lot of light. So I can see the stars. While I was looking up, it seemed the stars were in layers (one above another, layers). I thought, “Man, there are so many.” And, I was talking to the Lord and said, “… and You know them all by name. What do You call them, Father? What do you call them?”

And, BOOM… an understanding of… every gas, every amount of gas, every molecule, every bit of oxygen, every bit of water, every bit of when they come and light the sky, and when they burn out – all of that together… THAT’S their name.

So, when we are praying “In the Name of Jesus”, it isn’t J-E-S-U-S. It isn’t just Y-E-S-H-U-A. It’s not the name that you write down on a piece of paper. It’s ALL that He IS! His Authority. His Power. His Grace. His Mercy. His Majesty. His Creativity…. And, then when they say He knows US by name, sure He knows Rita and Jo Dee. BUT, He knows every bit of what makes you, YOU! Yes, He understands the body and the genealogy, etc. BUT, He knows the you IN you. He knows every interaction, every relationship, every thought, every story, every stitch in the tapestry that makes you, YOU!

That’s what He knows when He says He knows YOUR name, and He LOVES you!.”