Difference Between Faith and Unbelief
Notice John 16:23: “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” Jesus gave us the right and the authority to use His Name in prayer. He gave us the authority to use His Name. He gave it to us. We now have that right. He said, “. . . In my name shall they cast out devils. ..” (Mark 16:17). We have a right to use that Name against the devil. Thank God, that Name has authority. We have the right to use that Name to call out demons that bind men’s souls with darkness and disease.
I was holding a meeting in east Texas the first week in September in 1952. I was studying along this line, and there were two things I began to see about the authority in Jesus’ Name. Those two things changed my life. They helped me immeasurably. Even as a Baptist boy preacher I had believed in divine healing, and I had ministered to the sick. But there were certain cases, particularly mental cases which were evidently caused by demonic obsession or possession, which almost frightened me when I came up against them. But as I began to study about the Name of Jesus, I realized something, which I will try to illustrate with this example.
When you go to your automobile, you have a key that unlocks the door. You say that you unlock the door, but really you don’t unlock the door: the key does it. You also have a key that fits the ignition. Ordinarily, you couldn’t start the car if you didn’t have a key. Again, you don’t actually start the car; the key does it. The key is the important factor to the entire process of unlocking and starting your car. I began to look at the authority in the Name of Jesus from this standpoint. In other words, I’m not the one who is going to cast out any devils. I don’t have any authority in myself, in the natural. But Jesus gave me the key to all the authority I would ever need – and it’s in His Name.
Jesus’ Name is the key! His Name has the authority! All I have to do is use the key, and the key does the work. This alleviated the fear I had. I was able to use the Name because the Name is the key, and the Name works!
