By the Name of Messiah Yeshua

 It seems that it was just yesterday when we honored YHVH’s feast of Passover, and now here we are already past Succot and beginning the reading of the Torah Parashot all over again.  As recipients of the New Covenant, we do not only remember our natural history, but also an ongoing history of new creation life in Messiah Yeshua.  In light of this status, I want to review one of my Prayer Psalms and adjust it to life in the spirit.  In the Psalms we often read about the (human) enemy, such as:  “Be gracious to me, O Elohim, for man has trampled upon me; fighting all day long he oppresses me.  My foes have trampled upon me all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me” (Psalm 56:1-2).  But Ephesians 6:12, for example, states that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”. 

Psalm 135:5 declares emphatically that, “YHVH is great and that our Adon [Master] is above all elohims [i.e., principalities and dominions]” (literal Hebrew translation).

In the following scripture, we are again reminded that “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of Elohim, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

The Father has given Yeshua His authority to carry out His will upon this earthly realm.  The role of Yeshua, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:24-25 is to “…abolished all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet”. Thus, greater is He (the Spirit of the Son) in us than he that is in the world.  Yeshua and His Father are One. This is what He conveyed to His disciples. He, therefore, has all the attributes of His Father. Hence, what we know and understand about the Father is also seen in the Son; there is no distinction except that one is “The Father”, and the other is “The Son”.  

At the “last supper”, when addressing His disciples, Yeshua made the following powerful statement:  "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him". I can imagine what went through the minds of the disciples at that moment… Philip’s response, no doubt, would have been ours too:  ‘Oh ya, we know you Yeshua, but we want to know the Father.  In the past you have already said to us: "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).  ‘So now would you please show us, or give us some indication as to who the Father is'.    “Yeshua said to him, ‘Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me [Ephraim]? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father '?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves” (John 14:7-11). 

The early apostles all knew in what name and authority the Spirit was operating.   Acts 4:8-10 gives an account of Peter, who when filled with the Holy Spirit, declared to the "rulers and elders of the people,  ‘if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well,  let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Messiah Yeshua the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom Elohim raised from the dead-- by this name this man stands here before you in good health’”.

Here is an example of an adapted Prayer Psalm for a New Covenant Believer.

“Be merciful to me, Yeshua - Elohey Chesed (God of Mercy).  My spiritual enemies hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, they want to swallow me up; fighting all day they oppress me. O Yeshua El Elyon (Most High), all day they twist my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.  They gather together; they hide, they mark my steps and my thoughts when they lie in wait for my life.  Shall they escape by iniquity?  In anger cast down these principalities and powers, for You Yeshua are M’gee’nee (my Protector/Shield).  My enemies will turn back when I cry out to You, Moshi’ee (my Savior/Deliverer); this I know because You are for me Yeshua, and are in me. You measure out my wanderings, and put my tears into Your skin flask, for are they not already written in Your book? Even vows made to You are binding upon me, Shofet Tzedek (Judge of Righteousness); therefore I will render praises to You Yeshua, El Tikvatee (my Hope), and whenever I am afraid I will trust in You.  (adjusted from Prayer Psalm 56).