A Name as a Weapon

 

  During the Battle of Gettysburg, the Federal troops shouted the name, "Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg!" Over and over as the Confederate Brigades marched forward to their doom on July 3rd, 1863.  Clearly, what the Northern soldiers were referring to was the Battle of Fredericksburg, which had taken place six months earlier.  It was at that battle that the North had suffered a devastating defeat, suffering over 13,000 causalities.  Now the Union troops shouted the name, "Fredericksburg" like it was cannon blast, to remind the Rebels it was now payback time.  A similar series of events took place one month after Gettysburg.  At the Battle of Chickamauga, on September 18-20, the Union Army suffered another crippling defeat by the Confederates when the Federal troops were forced to retreat  back into the town of Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

Only a few weeks later, the same Northern Army defeated the same Rebels who had just the month before beaten them so badly.  As the Union soldiers assaulted the Rebel positions on Lookout Mountain they shouted again a name, "Chickamauga, Chickamauga!"  Just like what happened at Gettysburg, they again shouted, as if the very word itself was a weapon to assure victory.  The Union won that day, too.

 God's People shouting, speaking, and declaring the Name of the Lord is recorded throughout the Scriptures.  "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run in to it and are safe."  Proverbs 18:10

 In the Book of Acts 19:12, 13, demons are cast out of the afflicted by, 'The Name of Jesus'.
Paul writes to the Philippian church, "That at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, in heaven and on earth, that Jesus is Lord." Philippians 2:9,10.  The Book of Isaiah proclaims that some day even the mountains, the hills, and the trees themselves will rejoice at the Name of the Lord.  Isaiah 55:12,13

We Christians, speak, shout, proclaim, and lift of the Name of Jesus.  Which when spoken, truly becomes a weapon.  The devil, the fallen angels, and the gates of Hell hate when Believers use His Name as a weapon in prayer, and a weapon in worship. It has been said that the devil likes to remind us of our defeats.  By shouting the Name of Jesus in our dark times, we remind the devil of his defeat.  As the old gospel song says, "in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of Jesus we have the victory.  In the Name of Jesus, In the Name of Jesus demons will have to flee..."  Amen