On Being Good and Faithful

Philippians 2:12-16a (PHILLIPS) So then, my dearest friends, as you have always followed my advice—and that not only when I was present to give it—so now that I am far away be keener than ever to work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose.  14-16a Do all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be God’s children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and diseased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place. For you hold in your hands the very word of life.

Observation

Paul is writing this letter from prison.  It is a letter filled with the joy of serving his Master.  He encouraged the Philippians “to work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility.”   This is the work we are called to allow and encourage within us because “it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose.” 

Paul is telling us that we are responsible for the obedience and cultivating a life of worship, praise and prayer.  God is responsible for the results – in us and through us.  Working out the salvation that God has given us may (and usually does) require a sacrifice of our pride, our rights, our wills, our comfort, our reputations. 

  • Paul had such clear perspective, kept his focus on the purposes of God while ignoring the cost to himself – the mark of a good and faithful servant. 
  • Paul did not concern himself with what people said, did or thought about his actions; his reputation was expendable if it’s loss was necessary to obey and faithfully serve his Master.
  • He did not grumble or complain about his circumstances or experiences (at least not out loud), but, rather, gladly, even joyfully, endured whatever was necessary to faithfully and fully serve his Master.
  • Paul constantly sought God for His instruction on how to honor, glorify and fulfill His will and purposes in every situation, trusting that he was there to be used by God, content in the assurance that God was in charge of the results of Paul’s obedience.
  • Paul didn’t waste time or energy in prayer asking to have his situation improved, but, rather, prayed that he might be effectively used (good and faithful in service) wherever he found himself. 

He allowed God to do the cost/benefit analysis, trusting in the wisdom, grace, power and plan of His Master.  Jesus was the ultimate good and faithful servant – the innocent bearing the pain and shame of the Cross for the guilty (all humanity) that the plan of God would be fulfilled.   Jesus is our example in setting aside rights, reputation, comfort and even life itself to have the faith to trust and serve the Father’s will and purpose, fulfilling His plan to redeem whosever will come.

Impact on Me

Oh, my!  Paul tells me to imitate him only in the ways he imitates Christ. This is a tall order when I consider his life and ministry.

  • Learning to be content in all circumstances – whether abased or abounding – with no grumbling or complaining
  • Always seeking to keep my feet in the footsteps of Christ, following His example as He marks the way He would have me go whether the road appears easy or tough
  • Letting God judge whether the cost to me is worth the benefit to His kingdom
  • Gladly, even joyfully serving when faced with a painful or difficult task
  • Being willing to sacrifice my pride, my rights, my will/wants, my comfort, my reputation to fulfill His will and purpose

These are all characteristics of a good, obedient, loyal and faithful servant. This is what I profess I want to be. Am I willing to pay the price?  Will I risk my reputation, my financial security, my rights for His cause, for the souls inhabiting the darkness of this “warped and diseased world”?  How much do I really trust God?  How much do I really believe that all I own is His?  How much of me and mine am I willing to spend if He asks me to do so?  These are questions that will determine what I truly treasure, count as precious and worth owning, and where my heart truly is.

Prayer

Lord, You are our Creator, our Redeemer, the only wise God. You made a perfect plan to redeem us before the foundation of the world. You are the only Master who can be trusted to be just and right in all You do and ask. Give me the wisdom to submit to You in all things, to seek You always for what You would have me do and be. Give me the courage to always choose obedience to You and Your will regardless of the cost to me. May I consider obedience to You the treasure worth all I am or possess. In Jesus’ name, make it so.

On Being a Humble Servant

 Mark 10:43-45 ESV But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. 

John 13:1-17 PHILLIPS 1-5 Before the festival of the Passover began, Jesus realised that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. He had loved those who were His own in this world and He loved them to the end. By supper-time, the devil had already put the thought of betraying Jesus in the mind of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son. Jesus, with the full knowledge that the Father had put everything into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper-table, took off His outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round His waist. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel around His waist. 

6-9 So He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  “You do not realise now what I am doing,” replied Jesus, “but later on you will understand.”  Then Peter said to Him, “You must never wash my feet!” “Unless you let me wash you, Peter,” replied Jesus, “you cannot share my lot.”  “Then,” returned Simon Peter, “please—not just my feet but my hands and my face as well!” 

10-11 “The man who has bathed,” returned Jesus, “only needs to wash his feet to be clean all over. And you are clean—though not all of you.”  (For Jesus knew His betrayer and that is why He said, “though not all of you”.) 

12-17 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His clothes, He sat down and spoke to them, “Do you realise what I have just done to you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and you are quite right, for I am your teacher and your Lord. But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done. Believe me, the servant is not greater than his master and the messenger is not greater than the man who sent him. Once you have realised these things, you will find your happiness in doing them. 

Observation 

The point of the Bible is to tell us God’s story and His plan for our redemption.  All of the passages are there to reveal Who He is, what He desires of us and for us, and how He responds to our choices.  Jesus the Christ, the manifestation of God in human form, called Himself “gentle (meek) and humble” (Matthew 11:28-30), defined servanthood as the path to pleasing God, and spoke of Himself as serving all of us by giving His life as a ransom for us all (God’s redemptive plan to restore the intimate relationship He desired with us and intended from the beginning).  In the passages above, Jesus demonstrates for His disciples the type of servant they are to be if they want to be like Him and considered great and first in God’s Kingdom.   Footwashing was an important element of hospitality for the culture of the time as feet became dirty walking on dusty roads.  As important as it was, the lowest, almost always Gentile, servants were the ones to do it.   When Jesus “took off his outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round his waist,” He took on the persona of a menial foreign slave.   

This is why Peter protested.  Disciples were supposed to serve their Master/Rabbi, not the other way around.  Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of Man, God, was demonstrating the kind of humility and servanthood He required to truly be one of His disciples.  “But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done.”   Jesus had come to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the servanthood of Messiah (Isaiah 42:1-4, Matthew 12:16-21), the bowing low of God to redeem His creation, His people, so that He might restore the intimate relationship with us disrupted in the Garden of Eden.  

Did you catch that He washed ALL of the disciples’ feet – including the feet of Judas who was about to betray Him?  This level of humility requires more that setting pride aside temporarily.  This level of humility requires complete surrender, total submission to the will and purpose of God Who does not want any to perish (2 Peter 3:9).   This was a powerful discipleship lesson which was apparently caught and embraced as His disciples later identified themselves as servants (or slaves) of God and committed even to die in His service – John (Rev. 1:1), Paul (1 Cor 3:5-6), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), James (James 1:1), Jude (Jude 1:1).   

Impact on Me 

I have participated in footwashing services and it is a very humbling experience.  However, this passage is not meant to tell me how important footwashing services are, but, rather, that I need to be willing to set aside my pride and any status provided by my position to gladly and humbly serve those who have nothing to give me in return.  Jesus is demonstrating to me (and us all) the kind of humility and service I am to emulate if I want to be like Him in this day and age.  

Merriam Webster defines “humble” as “not proud: not thinking of yourself as better than other people.”   A servant is simply one who serves others.  Servant in the New Testament is often translated as slave.  We don’t like that word as it has a bad taste in our historical context.  The position Jesus took above was as low as He could go in His culture.  What is the lowest I can go in service today – an unpaid volunteer in homeless ministry, serving orphans in a foreign land, working to change the lives of the poorest so they can have a better future?  I know people who do all these and will never have any recognition on earth but much treasure in heaven. 

Jesus is showing me that it’s not a sign of weakness to serve someone — it’s a sign of love, strength and humility – all treasures in His kingdom.  Jesus is saying to me, “Don’t view yourself as better than other people – even your enemy – for I died for him/her, too.”   This is a hard lesson to embrace and live. 

Prayer 

Father God, You are Love and created us in Your image.  You gave Jesus to walk this earth as a human to show us how to live in and for You.  I am humbled by how lowly Jesus stooped, how much He sacrificed, to restore intimacy between us.  I am woefully inconsistent in my attempts to emulate Jesus’ example.  However, I pray that as I find each new pocket of pride, You will, by Your Holy Spirit, help me to place that pride on Your altar to be burnt up.  I truly want to be more like Jesus day by day as I journey through this life.  Make it so, Lord, in Jesus’ name.   

On Choosing God’s Side

Joshua 5:13-15 MSG And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, “Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies’?” 14 He said, “Neither. I’m commander of God’s army. I’ve just arrived.” Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, “What orders does my Master have for his servant?” 15 God’s army commander ordered Joshua, “Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy.”  Joshua did it. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG  Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. 

Observation 

Let’s consider who this commander of God’s army might be.  I believe it was Jesus.  He allowed Joshua to fall down and worship Him, something an angel would not do, and Jesus is identified as the commander of God’s army in Revelation (Revelation 19:9-16 NIV).  Regardless, any meeting with any angel must have been a jarring, overwhelming experience since the glory of God often accompanied them (Luke 2:8-10).  This man must have exuded the appearance, confidence and presence of a mighty warrior for Joshua to accept his self-identification as the commander of God’s army.   

It was a common practice for armies to take their gods with them into battle.  The gods worshipped by mighty conquering armies were seen as fearsome and powerful.  The Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant into battle, but the Ark was more than some weapon or token of supernatural backing.  The Ark carried the presence of the one true almighty God who gave them victory as they engaged the battles He called them to fight.  When the man says, “Neither,” he is giving Joshua a third side to choose. 

“What orders does my Master have for his servant?”  Joshua took the third side – God’s side – and did not hesitate to submit his authority to God’s commander.  He had seen enough of the ways of God in Egypt, in the wilderness and crossing over Jordan to adopt God’s plan without hesitation.  The battle plan for Jericho was going to be fought with the weapons of obedience, faith, and submission to the same God who brought them out of Egypt and through the wilderness. 

Impact On Me 

How often do I only see or consider two sides – my side and the opposing one?  How often do I assume that God is on my side rather than ensuring that I am on His?  How often do I launch into battle without seeking God for His battle plan?  Jesus consistently shocked His disciples by challenging what was considered pleasing to God, choosing His side.  Which of us would come up with a salvation plan that starred a meek and humble man, a troublemaker rejected by the accepted religious authorities, a crucified Savior?   

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.”  In my experience, choosing God’s side is not always easy, comfortable, safe or logical.  I had to learn the hard way that I was not always going to understand or be my version of successful or even be liked in my faithfulness.  At the very least, my pride will have to die in submitting to Jesus as Lord.  I want to be like Joshua at this moment and like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when the time comes to choose sides. 

Prayer

Almighty, All-Wise, Merciful God, Your battle plan for redeeming humankind may not make sense to me but I choose Your side, Your plan, Your weapons.  Train me to recognize how to use love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, humility, kindness and all Your other virtues as weapons to fight Your battles for the souls You desire to save.  Change my definition of success to align with Yours.  May I clearly hear and quickly obey Your commands on each and every battlefield where You send me.  I ask it all in the name of Jesus.  Make it so. 

On Proclaiming His Truth

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 NIV Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

1 Corinthians 1-5 MSG. Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim His truth. If you praise Him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and Him. But when you proclaim His truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience His presence with you. The one who prays using a private “prayer language” certainly gets a lot out of it, but proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language brings the whole church into growth and strength. I want all of you to develop intimacies with God in prayer, but please don’t stop with that. Go on and proclaim His clear truth to others. It’s more important that everyone have access to the knowledge and love of God in language everyone understands than that you go off and cultivate God’s presence in a mysterious prayer language—unless, of course, there is someone who can interpret what you are saying for the benefit of all.

Observation

Corinth was highly influenced by Greek culture, sitting on a land bridge providing a major trade route between Greece and the Peloponnesian peninsula. From the time of Socrates and Plato (about 400 BC/BCE), the Greeks began to preach and teach that laws, ethics and morals should be determined personally rather than by society or government. By the first century AD/CE this experiment in freedom of thought and celebration of individual rights had produced a culture generally known for being argumentative, divisive and polarized around issues. This resulted in the worship of many gods (who treated mortals as expendable pawns in a game), contentious philosophical debates and high incidence of litigation (hmmm, this sounds a bit too familiar…).  

The city’s patroness god was Aphrodite (aka Venus), the goddess of licentious love, whose priestesses served as ritual prostitutes; thus, Corinth became infamous and a byword for sensuality and prostitution.  When pagans in this city converted to Christianity, they had to be completely rewired regarding:

  • freedom and their rights (sacrificing individual rights for the benefit of the Body of Christ),
  • godly love (exchanging erotic for agape),
  • spiritual manifestations (recognizing the difference between demonic and Holy Spirit activity),
  • obedience (learning to trade what seemed right in their own eyes for Scripture as their legal/ethical/moral foundation),
  • submission (living by Christ’s example of sacrificing individual rights to fulfill the will and purpose of God) and
  • so many other redefinitions of cultural, religious and spiritual disciplines.

This passage in Paul’s letter is dealing with a lesson in discernment, and the exercise of humility, submission and good judgment in the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the public expressions of Prophecy and the gift of Tongues (which requires its twin Interpretation of Tongues). 

Impact On Me

Early on in my Christian experience, I was confused about the differences between (1) Tongues as my prayer language and the Holy Spirit Gifts of Tongues and Interpretation and (2) the difference between the prophetic messages of the Old Testament Prophets and the Holy Spirit Gift of Prophecy. I was so blessed to sit under a teaching by Jack Hayford that helped me to put these in proper perspective. You see, because I had grown up in a denomination that did not encourage it, I had never read the Bible for myself. My family were loving, generous, honest, responsible, law-abiding, caring and kind to others, but we had no understanding of how to discern what spirit was responsible for any manifestation, resulting in either considering all manifestations as God-inspired or mistrusting all manifestations just in case one was not. 

When I embraced a personal relationship with Jesus, I was so new to reading the Bible that I didn’t even know the real difference between the Old and New Testaments and needed the Table of Contents to find a book’s location.  Because our first non-Catholic church was pastored by a former tent preacher who had a deliverance ministry, I was highly motivated to learn from the Word about how the Holy Spirit operated so I could discern the true spirit at work around me.  One of the very important lessons was that the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit are meant to serve and glorify God, not draw attention to or elevate in status the one through whom they flow. 

Side note:  There is a very distinct difference between magic and the miracle power of the Holy Spirit. Both have to do with the exercise of supernatural power through a person. Magical power serves the person exercising it; it is power that originates from the devil, is used to control others and draws attention to and glorifies the magician. Holy Spirit power serves others; it is power that originates from God, sets people free and glorifies God.  Magic powers operate according to the whim of the magician; Holy Spirit power operates when, where and how the Holy Spirit wills it. Magic powers provide wealth, power, status to the magician; Holy Spirit power brings glory to God.  

Apparently, in their enthusiasm, the Corinthian services had become chaotic and clamorous because of an overabundance of uninterpreted messages in Tongues.  Remember, they come from a culture where the focus is on individual rights and status. So, Paul is instructing them in the purpose behind these vocal gifts of the Holy Spirit and reminding them that they are transitioning to Jesus culture, sacrificing individual rights for the benefit of others to fulfill God’s will and purpose. 

Paul encourages them to privately pray often and long in their  prayer language (Tongues) so that they may deepen their relationship with Jesus and be built up in the power of the Holy Spirit. However, when speaking in public, the Holy Spirit gift of Tongues is only exercised with its twin, Interpretation of Tongues, so that the message can be understood by the audience.

Paul is also instructing them in the use of the Holy Spirit gift of Prophecy, which has a different function and purpose than the prophetic messages of the Old Testament Prophets.  In Christ, we are under a new covenant, one between God and the man Jesus, a covenant that Jesus will never break, and, therefore, when we are in Christ, guarantees us grace. So, the function and purpose of prophecy under this unbreakable covenant is to strengthen, encourage and comfort others (“letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you”). 

Prayer

Lord, You are the most amazing and awesome God, Who seeks intimacies with us and even provides the resources, tools, and encouragement to us regardless of where we are in the transition from earthly culture to Jesus culture. I thank you for providing me with a prayer language and for the ways that You reveal Yourself, the mysteries of God, to me as I set aside time to pray.  I thank You for all the gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit and ask You to school me (and us all) in the proper use of these. Lord, search me, instruct me in humility, meekness and obedience, and destroy any hindrance to the pure and powerful operation of those gifts and ministries in and through me so that You May be glorified and others may “grow, and be strong and experience His presence”.  I pray this all in the name of Jesus.

On Jesus Asleep In My Boat


Mark 4:35-41 PHILLIPS   On the evening of that day, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”  So they sent the crowd home and took Him with them in the little boat in which He had been sitting, accompanied by other small craft.  Then came a violent squall of wind which drove the waves aboard boat until it was almost swamped.  Jesus was in the stern asleep on the cushion.  They awoke Him with words, “Master, don’t You care that we’re drowning?”  And He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Hush now!  Be still!”  The wind dropped and everything was very still.  “Why are you so frightened?  What has happened to your faith?!’ He asked them.  But sheer awe swept over them and they kept saying to each other, “Who ever can He be? – even the wind and waves do what He tells them!” 

From the Jesus Storybook Bible:

“Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm.  “Hush!,” He said.  That’s all.  And the strangest thing happened….  The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.   

Immediately the wind stopped.  The water calmed down.  It glittered innocently in the moonlight and lapped quietly against the side of the boat, as if nothing had happened.  The little boat bobbed gently up and down and there was a great quiet all around.  Then Jesus turned to His wind-torn friends.  “Why were you so scared?” He asked.  “Did you forget Who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?” 

Jesus’ friends were quiet – as quiet as the wind and the waves.  And into their hearts came a different kind of storm.  “What kind of man is this?” they asked themselves anxiously.  “Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” they said because they didn’t understand.  They didn’t realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God. 

Jeus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.  [Excerpted from the JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE] 

Observation 

This lake was familiar to them, and was their usual fishing grounds.  As fishermen, they knew how to handle a boat in rough water and how to judge the weather to know when a storm was coming.  This storm surprised and frightened them with its intensity and their inability to control the situation.  If they were panicky and terrified, it was surely a wild, violent and powerful storm.  Surely they would have thought it strange that Jesus could remain asleep in the chaotic buffeting of this storm, but they were so focused on the wind, the waves and the water washing into the boat that they had stopped thinking. They did expect Jesus to save them if they could wake Him up!

Jesus was teaching them to move their thinking, their understanding, out of the natural – what is humanly possible – into the supernatural – what is possible for God.  When it came time to feed the 5000, Jesus would take a meager and insufficient little boy’s lunch and supernaturally made it more than enough for everyone to eat and be filled.   When the incurably sick came, Jesus would heal every disease, changing them from unclean to clean by His touch.   This stormy trip would prove to be another lesson in allowing Jesus to be in control regardless of the circumstances.   

So, here Jesus gives them a dose of truth and grace by asking, “Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  Then, instead of bringing the boat under control, He calms the sea.  He wanted them to understand, to embrace, that all needs, all circumstances, all storms, all insufficiencies, all scary situations are subject to God’s power and authority in and through Him.  “Jesus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.” 

Impact On Me 

“Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  These are questions I revisit in every scary storm of life, every time when there is not enough, every time sickness threatens, every time evil seems to be winning.  So many looked forward to 2021 as a new year where we could leave the stormy times of the past few years behind – years filled with pandemic, death, rioting, rising crime rates, conflict/anger, injustice, political infighting, misinformation/conspiracy theories, war and every other disruption of our “normal fishing grounds”.   So far, 2021 has proven to be more of the same.

For any student of history, all of these are not new; they are part of the human condition, repeated over and over from ancient times – the legacy of that first mutiny by Adam and Eve in the Garden.  Paul tells us that all creation is groaning along with us on our life journey until our hope is fulfilled (Romans 8:22-25 Phillips). The only guarantee now of security and peace in my life, the only foundation on which hope can be built amid the chaos of this world, has been, continues to be and will forever remain this same Jesus that calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee all those years ago.   

So, when I am buffeted by a storm, I need to stop to revisit the questions above and remember that all creation (seen and unseen, emotional/physical, natural/supernatural) is subject to Him.  “The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.”  Jesus has promised to never leave me or forsake me so He will always be in my boat.  Whether He is awake or asleep, when I think my boat is about to be overwhelmed by the storm, I need to go back and sit down next to Jesus, trusting that we will make it to the other side – regardless of the intensity of the storm along the way. 

Prayer

Lord, You are the Creator of all that exists.  You have all authority and power in heaven and earth.  You are executing Your plan created from the foundation of the Earth regardless of how it looks to me.  It is overwhelming to realize the You love and care for me in spite of all I am and do.  How many times have I given in to my fears and run in panic to You or even away from You.  Yet, You still rescue me.  What kind of love is this?  Holy Spirit, renew my mind so that my thinking can move from the natural to the supernatural, that I may see with the eyes of Jesus and understand with the Father’s heart.  Teach me to walk fully in Christ, functioning in my perfect place in His Body, equipped with the weapons of His warfare and always choosing Your side of every battle, keeping my eyes on Jesus regardless of the circumstances swirling around me, content to ride out every storm sitting next to You as You sleep in my boat.  Make it so, in the name of Jesus.