314. IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, RISE UP AND WALK

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 11)

This morning, 18^th March, 2025, I opened the Bible to a random scripture of Acts 3 for devotions and although I remembered reading a part of it some days or weeks earlier, I decided to still reread it and so, went through the entire chapter. It was the true story of the man that had been lame from birth who had been begging for alms at the gate of the Temple called Beautiful and how Peter and John worked a miracle through Jesus Christ and healed him, causing him to be walking, leaping and praising God.

Although I read the entire chapter, I meditated that morning on how Peter told the man “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (v. 6) and how he told the people who were amazed, wondering and marvelled at the miracle wrought because they had seen that the man they knew had been impotent and begging was now walking and leaping, “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong.”

In the middle of my devotions and as I sometimes did, I took up my phone and recorded some words I felt it was important to keep as personal notes, in terms of the scripture’s application for my own life. This was recorded at 5.58 a.m. (based on the time saved on my phone) and was five minutes and fifty-four seconds long. I saved the recording as “Prayer mentioning Jesus’ name”, intending to revisit the my voice scribblings at some future time, so as to have my thoughts sorted and possibly to write properly about it, I usually did this when I voice recorded or typed notes on my phone during my devotions, of important points raised and of lessons learned or to be reminded of.

Listening back now to my phone now, these were the notes that I recorded:

“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and through my faith in his name…and make your petition. I am seeing that based on Acts 3 verse 6, when Peter told the lame man that “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” That is in verse 6.

Then, later on when people gathered around and were astonished, that the man that they knew had been lame from birth and had always been begging at the gate of the Temple called Beautiful, that he was now walking and leaping and praising God and he was around Peter and John, they gathered and they were astonished and shocked.

And Peter rightfully used the opportunity to promote the Lord Jesus Christ and to give glory where it was due, letting them know, just like what Joseph did when Pharaoh was thinking, oh, you have this power! And even Daniel. They were always humble, always transferred the honour and the glory to where it rightly belonged, to the one who enabled them to do the great exploits. That is the mentality that we should have but he used the opportunity to promote the Lord Jesus Christ and he said “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong.”

So, I am thinking, you know, when making your petitions, you can ask, you can say, “I am asking this in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” or “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I am asking that this be done, through faith in his name, through my faith in his name.” Because God chooses to operate through faith.

Through faith in his name, I am asking that this be done and I am asking further that it redound to his honour and his glory and that through the miracle that I am asking that he work in my pathetic little life, that it would cause people to take note and to wonder (let me see the exact language): It would cause them to be filled with wonder. This is in verse 10. “And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.” And then it says in verse 12 “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us…?”

So, we can ask as well in the petition, that it would cause people to take note of the change in the situation that the Lord has wrought, the miracle that he has worked and that they would be filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto (us) and that they would greatly wonder (and that speaks of curiosity) and marvel at what has been done. And that through that, the Lord will create the opportunity for the promotion of the good news, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that should be my prayer and I am basing that upon the authority of Acts (3 in terms of) what happened with the lame man. There are so many lessons that you can learn. And that is in keeping too with Hannah’s prayer, where she said I will give this back to you basically. So that should be I think, a good model for me to follow in terms of me raising my petitions.

1. You ask that the Lord will work the miracle in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (If you want, (you can say) more than that. He’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the only Potentate, right. All of these things), in his name and by my faith in his name. Through faith in his name, you are asking that this miracle be wrought because (laughingly and emotionally) nothing short of a miracle could help you and you know that. You are asking that this miracle be wrought.

2. You are asking that after it has been done, that people would take note of it, that it would cause them to be in wonder, amazement, that they would marvel, right. They would be filled with wonder and amazement, that they would marvel. And wondering speaks of curiosity (so they) would want to know how this miracle came about, how it could have happened.

3. And that the Lord will then use that to create the perfect opportunity, the platform, for the promotion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the furtherance of his Kingdom, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would come through that.

That is my desire and I am going to pray that and the Lord in his sovereignty will decide whether to grant or not.”

Some time that morning after I had completed my devotions and the recording and gone about my day’s business, maybe about three hours later or so, I opened my Facebook page and got a shocker. My eyes were immediately drawn to something I had typed on that very day in 2017, March 18, 2017 to be exact, which Facebook was showing me as a memory. I could hardly believe it but yet I did. I understood and believed that it was Jesus Christ at work. This was no coincidence. The single quote I had put up on March 18, 2017, eight years ago, on the very same date as today was:

“In the name of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth rise up and walk. (Acts 3 vs. 6-10)”

I froze for a moment when the realization hit me and the immediately went for my phone and snapped a picture of the evidence, as attached below.

I am trusting God to do great things in my life in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and through my faith in his name. I am trusting him to answer my prayer favourably, particularly that which pertains to my desire for a spouse and family of my own, despite my age. I believe the message that the Lord is conveying to me in his mercy and grace, is that this will be a turning point in my life, that things are about to change and miracles are going to be wrought by God in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and through my faith in his name.

I also believe that people will greatly wonder, them having known the pathetic and impotent position that I have been in for years, where nothing seemed to change and where I felt crippled by life, unable to move forward and that it would create the perfect opportunity for the name of Jesus Christ to be glorified, the gospel promoted and by the grace of God, it will cause people to believe on Jesus Christ and be saved or if already saved, to get back to truly believing in his limitless power to do anything and to transform any life, without anyone’s permission and just like that, according to his sovereign will.

(Written on 18^th March, 2025)

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