To speak out the name of Jesus Christ is so powerful. 

Two years ago when I was in Costa Rica, was the first time as an adult that I felt spiritual heaviness. 

There was a fear that would creep in at night, and I would feel this heaviness over my body. I had never experienced this in my adult years so I let it just happen and didn’t know what to do about it.

Looking back now, I can see how I allowed that heaviness to carry into the last two years of my life. It felt like everywhere I was it would show up. It was a recognized fear, but I couldn’t pin point where it started.

When I found out that my route was being changed to Costa Rica, my initial thought was, oh crap, I would never want to go back there. The first memory that came to mind was that I would have to face the darkness again. 

I was so happy just to be able to leave the county again, but I couldn’t help but ask the Lord why the heck He would send me back to a country I was at exactly two years ago!

My squad of missionaries arrived at Costa Rica very late at night. 

The first morning I woke up and came downstairs to have breakfast with my team and our host asked us to bless the food. After we were done praying, she asked why we always say “in your name we pray, amen” and don’t actually say the name of Jesus.

It got me thinking about why I never say Jesus’ name. 

In Phillippians 2:9-11, it talks about how when we say the name of Jesus, our enemies flee, prison walls come falling down, and about how every knee shall bow. 

Since being in Costa Rica, I have been thinking a lot about the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made that we can be cleansed and made new. I walk around as an orphan and never fully accept the gift that Jesus gave me when he died for my sins.

It is like if someone gave you this amazing gift, and instead of opening it to find out what is inside and then using it, you set it on a shelf to look at it from a distance. 

He didn’t die on the cross so that we can set him on a shelf and admire His sacrifice and love for us at a distance. 

He did it so that we can experience a love like no other. A love that is fierce, near and never changing. His people deserve to hear the name of Jesus. 

So when will we all decide to dust off the sacrifice of the cross and decide instead to walk in the gift that Jesus gave us all freely?