The name of Jesus is for us to call upon (Rom. 10:13; 1 Cor. 1:2). I was a Christian for at least thirty-five years before I found the secret of calling on the name of Jesus. I thought that calling on the name of Jesus was the same as praying. Eventually, from the record of the Bible, I discovered that praying is one thing and calling is another. Fifteen years ago, I did a great deal of praying, mostly on my knees. I did not know the secret of calling upon the name of Jesus, nor did I know that calling is different from praying.
Many of us have experienced praying, but with little inspiration. However, when we call on Jesus for five minutes, we are inspired. Try it! Many of us can testify that when we prayed in the old way, we sometimes prayed ourselves to sleep. But calling on the Lord never puts us to sleep. On the contrary, it stirs us up.
Acts 9:14 says that Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus, tried to damage all the saints. He intended to go from Jerusalem to Damascus to bind all those who called on the name of Jesus. This verse does not say that he was about to bind all those who prayed to Jesus, but all those who called on Jesus. By this one verse we can see that the early Christians were those who called on Jesus. Whenever they prayed, they called. They called upon the name of Jesus, and that became a mark of recognition.
The Bible does not say that whoever prays shall be saved. It says that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom. 10:13). Suppose that I am a sinner and I believe in the Lord Jesus. You help me to pray, and I say, “Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. You are my Savior. You love me. You died on the cross for me. Thank You.” Although it is good to pray this way, praying like this makes it very difficult for the Spirit to get into us. However, if you would help me to call, “O Lord Jesus,” louder and louder, it would make a big difference. When you preach the gospel, do not try so hard to change people’s thinking. Instead, help them to open up their being, their heart and their spirit, from deep within and to use their mouths to call upon the name of Jesus. If you help new believers to call on the name of Jesus in this way, the door will be open wide for the Spirit to enter in. There is no need to pray with vain words. After calling on the name of Jesus ten times, you will be in the heavens. Your sins will be forgiven, your burden will be lifted, and you will have life eternal. You will have everything.
Even for a believer of many years, the best way to touch the Lord Jesus, to enjoy the Lord Jesus, to share something of the Lord Jesus, is not to say very much, but to go to the Lord and call, “Jesus! Jesus! Lord Jesus!” Call on the name of Jesus and you will taste something. “The same Lord of all is rich to all who call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12). Many times, our words are too vain. It is better just to call, “Jesus.” If you call on His name, you will taste Him and enjoy Him. The name of Jesus is a wonderful name. We all need to call on Him.
We may also pray in the name of Jesus (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:24). This does not mean that we pray a long prayer and conclude it with the words “in the name of Jesus.” That is too formal. However, I do not oppose this, for I have done this many times. Rather, I would say that in our prayer it is good to call on the name of Jesus and say, “O Jesus! Jesus! I come to pray!” In the name of Jesus, you will have a real burden to pray, and it will be very easy to have the assurance that your prayer has been heard and answered. If we call on the name of Jesus, we shall have the assurance that we shall receive what we have asked.
After the Lord Jesus told us to pray in His name, He proceeded to say that the Spirit will come to dwell in us (John 14:13-17). This indicates that the indwelling Spirit has very much to do with our prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus. In order to pray in the name of Jesus, we need the Spirit. When we are in the Spirit, we are in the reality of the name of Jesus in which we are praying.
The name of Jesus is also for us to be gathered into (18:20, Greek, into). Whenever we come together to meet, we should be gathered together into the name of Jesus. Although we may meet for the purpose of having the life-study, we do not gather into the life-study, but into the name of Jesus. Whenever you come to a Christian meeting, you must realize that you are being gathered once again into the name. We have been put into the name of Jesus, but we are not yet very deep into Him. Hence, we need to come back again and again to be gathered into His name. We can all testify that after every meeting we have had the sense deep within that we have entered further into the Lord. The Christian gatherings will bring us more deeply into the appreciation of the name of Jesus.