What’s In A Name?

When my husband and I began to bring children into the world. We discussed the usual “ what are we going to name them.” While neither of us thought about what the name even meant. The name we chose became their identity.

We thought about borrowed names we liked, we can bind letters of family members names to create new ones. But we didn’t pick names out that had characteristics that we’d hope would be part of our children’s lives. We are avoided names of people we didn’t respect.

“A good name is more desirable than great riches to be seen is better than silver or gold“ – Proverbs 22-1

We didn’t realize the picking the names our children could speak and identity them, which is a big deal.

Identity and Significance

There is a three word question that most of us spend our life trying to answer, even if we don’t realize it. That question is: Who are you?

What comes to mind when you hear those three words? How do you answer that question? It’s a question that cuts you to the core of identity. It reveals what you believe about yourself. It reveals what value and where are you find your significant.

Some of us answer it with our location or our job title. Some first question we ask unfamiliar people are, “ what do you do?, or, “ where do you work?’ It is common to tie our unity to our work. But what happens when our job changes or our company dissolves? If our identity is in our work, we will have a crisis when our job changes.

Some of this place our identity in our family roles – husband, wife, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, mom, or dad. We define ourselves through our relationships with other people. But what happens when those relationships change? What happens when death or divorce enters the picture, or when the kids leave the house? Many of us discover relationships are not a stable place to put our identity.

Sometimes we tie our identity to our behavior – our successes, our accomplishments, besetting sins, sinful patterns, or even our shame. “ I am an addict,” and “I am a leader” are both identity statements. When we let our successes or our sins define us, it can become more difficult to embrace the identity God has for us.

Names Hold Meaning

If you were given a name based on the things that were true about you, what would your name be? I never minded my name until I studied its origins. My is “Kathy” is a derivative of “Katherine, which originates from Greek means “pure.” I’ve had a hard time with the meaning of that name, because I see myself as “pure.” Several Kathrines (spelled differently ) throughout the ages have been sainted: including Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Catherine of Bologna, Saint Catherine of Genoa. Are some remarkable saints during the early ages. They had a higher value and dogmatic life during their time. Many people believe that Catherine is a holy biblical name and it has higher value than any normal name.

Naming Is Tied To Authority And Intimacy

Naming demonstrates authority. When God created man, he gave him the name Adam, one of the first job he gave Adam was to give names everything under his care.

Well naming a child to authority in the Scriptures it also reveals intimacy. Nothing happens in the contacts of relationships. In Genesis 16:4, when Hagar was wandering in the wilderness and near death, he gave a name to God when he rescued her. He called Him “ the One who sees me.”

When you name someone, it shows there is an infinite knowledge -a relationship, and privilege.

Why God Renames His People

We serve a God who renamed people. He has a way of marking us and tearing down our own concocted identities.He doesn’t do this because He doesn’t value uniqueness. Nor does He do this because He doesn’t He wants us all the look that same, think the same or be the same. The scriptures declare God was an active participant in our creation. God value uniqueness – He created it. The reason he stripped us from our own identity is because He offers us a greater identity.

Even though I feel like I cannot live up to my name. The Bible has his phrases and our identity: fearfully and wonderfully made, scene, known, loved, children of God, predestined, adopted, not forgotten, no longer orphans, filled with the spirit, full of Christ, united with Christ, one spirit with the Lord, chosen, accepted, loved, forgiven, not forsaken, reconciled, free from condemnation, a new creation, complete in christ, holy, blameless, without a single fault, secure, heirs, free, no longer slaves, transformed, renewed, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, salt, light, not our own, but with a price, created in the image of God, baptized into Christ, honored, raised with Christ, dead to sin, alive to God, part of the body, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, the bride of Christ, renamed.

Wow, and I am concerned about my name meaning “pure.” Here is where value comes in, no matter your name, what it means, it only matters what God named you.

Jesus Gave Uo His Name Ans Identity

Jesus did not make a name for himself but took on a false identity of a criminal. He made himself nothing, but the Father bestowed on him and name above all names, Philippians 2 talks about the power of that name:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was god, he did not think of equality with God and something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took a humble position I was slain and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself and obedience to God and died of criminal death on the cross. Therefore, God related him to a place at the highest honor and gave him a name above all other names, that the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

A New Identity

Jesus gave up His name and identity for us. He became like us so that we might become like Him. When I think of this, I am reminded that there is no need for me to try and carve a name for myself. Any identity I concoct for myself won’t last, only the identity God gives me will last into eternity.

Zephaniah 3:20 states, “ on that day I will gather you together and bring you home again. I will give you a good name, a name of distinction, among all the nations of the earth. And I restore your fortune before their very eyes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

God sees us, He knows us. He knows who we are and who we are meant to be. And that will be the basis for our new name the one only He and I will know.

The Window Of Opportunity

“Since you ignored all my advice would not accept my rebuke. I will turn and laugh at your disaster. I will mark you when calamity takes over you“ -Proverbs 1:25-26.

Windows of opportunity are finite, and before long they are gone. It may be a pending deal at work that requires you to negotiate, do not allow greed to abort a closing. You may have a brief time to woo someone back into a healthy home. But it requires humility and forgiveness from you as a servant leader. Or maybe the season for you to sit at the feet of a season servant of the Lord.

This availability will soon pass, and you will be the one in whom others look for answers. God opens windows of opportunity for you to pray for we move forward in faith. The Lord is clear glass of possibilities allows you to view vistas of his faithfulness and grace that become companions of your great next adventure in following Jesus. Windows of faith or passages into God’s purpose for you.

“ there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens“ (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

However, those who ridicule a relationship with Christ will look ridiculous to him and his followers. Clamity crushes those without rice and causes them to look foolish as the ball away without faith and hope. There is a time after death at the window knowing God is shot. The last judgment is the Lord’s opportunity to ask, What did you do for my son Jesus?”

At this point it is too late for your faithless with life, that person has the misfortune of spending eternity in hell without God. Our nation has the window of opportunity right now. If we do not turn away from our evil that window will close forever. And judgment will come.

This is why Christians labor in this life to lead people to the Lord. Their window of faith will soon be shut,

He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear

In Matthew 11:15, Jesus said, “who has ears to hear let him hear! What does it mean to hear the the teachings of Jesus?

What should we learn from Jesus‘s statement that those who have ears to hear should hear?

Listen carefully to Jesus’s Teachings

Those who have ears to hear must listen to the gospel of Jesus. The only way to be saying it’s a learn what the gospel says about salvation.

John 6:44-45 – “In order to come to Jesus each person must be taught. We met here and learn from the father.”

Romans 10:17 – “ so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

God has never taught the condition of salvation to any lost sinner by a direct revelation from the Holy Spirit or by asking directly on the sinner’s heart apart from the word. God decreed that people burn the truth by big talk that inspired message of the gospel given by inspired men.

But some who hear the teaching will resist it.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 – Some do not believe the truth, but have pleasure in and unrighteousness. The gospel is designed so that such people will reject the truth. Note that people rejected the gospel, not because it is not true and not because there is no adequate evidence for it but those of attitude problems in peoples hearts.

Other people attend church meetings but still you not listen. Instead they daydream or worse yet visit with their neighbors and distract others.

What is your attitude toward gospels truth? Will you reject it because you are to involved in things that please you? Where are you willing to listen and carefully consider, even when it contradicts your former ideas?

Understand with an honest heart

Having ears to hear also requires us to sincerely seek and understand the message.

Matthew 13:23 – In the parable of the sower, the good soil represents those who hear and understand the word and bring forth good fruit.

Yet some reject the gospel when they hear it so they do not understand.

Matthew 13:13-16 – Some hear but don’t understand because they close their ears and harden their hearts. Mini do not want to deny their own desires, change their way of living, or sacrifice their will to serve God. This will reject the teaching, and may not even understand it.

In which category are you?

Respond properly: Believe and obey

How many years to here also mean we must be willing to accept and obey the message.

2 Kings 17:13-15 – God rebuke Israel because they would not hear his law, but suffered and rejected his Statutes etc… They had Minto God’s word by the prophet, but simply did not obey.

Luke 11:28 – …What are those who hear the word of the Lord and keep it.,

Matthew 13-23 – The good soil refers to those who hear and understand a word and bear fruit (do the deed of the Lord).

Again, some people reject the message and refuse to obey.

Luke 6:46-49 – Those who hear and obey Jesus’s word or like a white builder, whose house survive the storm because it was built on a good foundation. Those who hear but don’t obey our building on the sand which will be washed away. Which one are you?

James 1:22-25 – If we do not do what the word says, we are like the man who looks in the mirror it does nothing about the problem he sees in his appearance. What good does it do look if we cannot correct the faults we find?

God created His word to produce understanding, faith, and obedience in the lives of those who have receptive hearts. But he also created each person with the power to choose. The gospel does not violate that power; It appeals to it. God designed the word to attract those who have open hearts but who repel those who are determined to continue in sin.

Revelation 3:20, Jesus died for us, and now He stands at the door of our hearts knocking. He asks you to receive Him and the salvation He offers. But He will never force His way in. You must make the choice to hear His voice and open the door. You do this by believing in Jesus, repainting your sins, turning away from them, confessing Jesus, and being baptized. Then you must continue to live a faithful life.

The choice is yours: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

How Strong Are You?

Great men and women don’t quit. They are overcomers. They ignore difficulties, resist tiredness, and fight opposition. They know negative events will come, so they prepare for them. Only the weak fail or quit when the going gets tough. That said, no one in the world can do it in their human form – that’s why we have God.

How great are you? How strong are you? If you are frustrated, defeated, thinking about giving up, or actually do give up at times, then you are weak. King Solomon encourages us to greater commitment and resolve by telling us that we can succeed.

No one likes adversity, which is affliction, difficulty, hardship, or danger. Which seems to be what everyone is dealing with today. And all people would choose to avoid it. It is easy for anyone to resent it. But it truly measures our strength and our faith toward God, adversity best proves godly integrity and perseverance.

Without adversity, how would we show faith or strength? We can talk about it but talk is cheap. We could believe we are strong, but that is even more deceitful. We could tell the Lord we would never deny Him, but until the trial is passed our words are in vain. The fact is it is adversity that exposes false professions of stony hearers, so take heed.

It’s a lie to think a believer’s life is without trouble (Job 5: 6-7). The advantage of a believer’s life is God’s promise to help with their difficulty. Psalm 34:19-20 reads “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him put of it all.” “For a just an falls seven times but rises again” (Proverbs 24:16).

It is also a lie to think that followers of Christ never faint all people have similar passions and faint sometimes. If we look at Psalms King David wrote about the times he was discouraged. And there were many. Even the Apostle Paul could be cast down, they never destroyed from their commitment and effectiveness. David and Paul taught us that we must rule our spirit and reject our feelings of defeat.

God brings adversity to provide our faith, as He did with Non. He will bring trouble to see how must we can rely on Him rather than ourselves. He will find our how we value Him compared to other than things in our lives. Do you worship Him only for a protective hedge, as satan said of Job (Job 1:9-11)? Will you still worship Him when too have lost everything?

We are headed through some rough times. Where will you find you strength?

God brings adversity to increase our strength, much like boot camp in the military. Faith is not built by prosperity, but rather by adversity, when we have God’s help. Because His purpose is our perfection, you should appreciate difficult times when they come. Wise men will rejoice in them very much (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).

Out difficulties do not exceed those of others. They may be different, but God tries everyone with equal adversity. There should be great comfort just in realizing this important fact. Everyone is tested and tried. But will God nothing is impossible as long as we allow God to be our strength.

God gives grace – inward strength by His Spirit to endure trouble (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). When we allow God to be our strength we can rejoice in knowing our difficulties will glorify God.

What Does The Military Do?

They exist to serve the people, defend the nation, protect vital National interests and fulfill national military responsibilities. The military does more than simply fight for our freedoms.

Some examples include:

Rescue operations

Medical assistance in impoverished areas

Food and humanitarian relief

Security embassies and other locations

Policing in volatile areas

National disaster relief

Law enforcement

Piracy and drug interdiction

Many do not realize without the military all this above would not exist.

I’ve spoken to many people who hate our military or despise our soldiers who go to war. They do realize that without these men and women we would not have many of the luxuries we have now.

I love Ronald Reagan’s quote, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance ; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes once once to a people.”

Sadly, we are so very close to losing our freedoms and the luxuries we are used to. And once it’s gone, we cannot get it back.

Choose To Stand On God’s Word

I’ve been driving myself crazy worrying about my Son. He’s been a financial mess for a month. He was owed a lot of money that the timing kept getting delayed. Finally I knew I had to choose to stand on God’s Word to release the Worry and anxiety I had over this situation. And today my son was payed the money that was owed to him. He can afford to eat, and pay his past due rent.

Have you ever experienced a moment when you really needed to hear from God? How about a time when you were so desperate for answers that you could literally SCREAM? “Why is this happening.” I’m sure we have all been there at some point in our lives. I have found that instead of stressing over a situation that God wants us to stand on His Word. Sometimes we tend to get so mixed up in the worldly things we forget there is a God who loves us.

Standing on God’s Word is a choice. It’s actually a wholehearted decision to trust Him at every turn… even when the doubt begins to creep in. I haven’t really thought of doubt as a sin until this situation with my son. But as soon as I let go of the anxiety and doubt over me. God really came through. Doubt is a faith killer. And Satan knows it. If Satan can keep you doubting and full of anxiety he is winning.That’s when you have to choose to stand on what God has said,

Waiting for answer or needing direction or just needing to hear a word from God concerning something in your life, listen for Jesus. The Bible tells us in John 10:26, “My sheep listen for my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” So as children of the King, you will need to be sensitive to His voice. And sometimes in order to hear His voice clearly, you will have to deliberately down out other voices.

This means drowning out the voices of other people in your life, friends, co-workers, and even family members and especially worldly wisdom. However, not only that, but at some point in order to clearly know what to do, you will need to lay down everyone’s opinion and words of advice to hone in on what Jesus is saying to you. Because you will have to weigh it all to the Word. (Knowing too many voices can cloud the right answer).

Many people don’t do this anymore, but I tell you fasting is a great way to hear from God. It seems like when you deny yourself something God’s voice comes rushing in. You will always want to check if what you hear rings true in the biby. Jesus told us to tell the spirits. If it’s not in the Word of God it probably wasn’t God who sent it,

Make the Word of God (Bible ) your lifeline. It’s your anchor of hope. You’re solid sustained. Your answer to any problem or decision you face. Your final authority. In every problem or situation you have in your life there is hope and a solution in the Bible. Choose it and stand on it. Because God will never fail you or abandon you. And you can stand on that.