What's in a Name?

What is in a name? Names are how we are identified, and if we don’t like the name given to us we call ourselves something different.  We will get offended if someone called us out of name or they can’t pronounce it correctly.  Names are powerful, and everyone has one. I currently do not know anyone without a name. God,” He knows us by name” Isaiah 43:1 (emphasis added). It’s only fitting that we should know Him by name as well.

God has names that identify His character, nature and attributes. His names are broken down into categories which are the Jehovahistic, Elohistic and the Adonistic. My desire is to equip you with names of God, to help you create more intimacy and grow in your pray life. I am only going to list a few of the names in each category. I would like to encourage you to research the rest of the names of God. This is helping build a foundation.

Let’s look at the Jehovahistic (Compound Redemptive) Names of God.  These names are generally associated with the needs of man. Compound in nature these reflect man’s perception of how God responded in a time of need.

Jehovah-Elohim                                            Jehovah-Adonai

The Eternal Creator- Gen 1:1                          The Lord My Sovereign King- Isa 66:1

Jehovah-Gibbor                                           Jehovah-Nissi

The Lord Mighty- Isa 43:13                           The Lord My Banner-Psalm 60:4

Jehovah-Ropheka                                       Jehovah-Shalom

The Lord My Healer-Exodus 15:26              The Lord My Peace- Isa 26:3

Jehovah-Masgawb                                      Jehovah-Tsur      

The Lord My Defense-Psalm 59:9                The Lord My Strength- Psalm144:1

Jehovah-Sehlah                                          Jehovah-Olam Ore

The Lord My Rock-Psalm 18:2                   The Everlasting Light- Isa 60:19

Now we will look at the Elohistic (Covenant) Names of God. These names are the associated with the nature and attributes of God, rather needs of man.

            El                                                                 Elohim  

            The All Sufficient One- Gen 35:11             The Strong and Mighty God- Gen 1:1

           

            El-Elyon                                                     El-Shaddai

            The Most High God-Gen 14:19                 God Almighty- Gen17:1

            Emmanu-El                                               Elohim K’Sad

            God with Us- Matthew 1:23                       The God of Mercy- Psalm 59:10           

           

            Elohim Kol’Erets                                     

            The God of the Whole Earth-Isa 54:5

We also have the Adonistic (Sovereign)Names of God. These names reflect God’s attribute of being sovereign.

Adoni Elohim AB                                     Adoni Sahmmah

The Lord of Our Fathers- Ezra 7:27           The Lord is There- Ezekiel 48:35

Adoni Tsur                                                Adoni `Asah

The Lord My Rock                                     The Lord Our Maker

Adoni Y’Sha                                              Adoni Ga’aal

The Lord Your Saviour- Isa 43:3               The Lord My Redeemer-Isa 41:14

What’s in a Name

99 and a Half Won't Do!

A few years ago Hezekiah Walker had a song that said 99 and a half won’t do. The chorus went like this

 “ Lord I’m running…. trying to make 100, because 99 and a half won’t do”. 

Today, post will get right to the point. 99.5% obedience to what God is telling you to do, equals 100% disobedience to God.  In I Samuel 15 we come across an example.  I am going to paraphrase. The Prophet Samuel comes to Saul to let him know that God has made him king, and to heed (to give careful attention to)to the voice of the Lord.  Through Samuel God is telling Saul His plan to punish the Amalek, and then God gives Saul specific instructions. “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have, and do not spare them. But kill man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (I Samuel 15:3 emphasis added).  What does all mean? The answer is all. These are pretty clear instruction, there is no grey area. God is very specific to the assignment.  Now Saul and his army roll up on the Amalekites and lay the smack down on them. Then we get to verse 8, “he also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive” (I Samuel 15:8 emphasis added). That's not what the plan was, but ok let’s keep reading verse 9 say “but the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatling, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, they utterly destroyed” (I Samuel 15:9 emphasis added).  That was not what Gods  plan was, it is the total opposite.

Paraphrasing in the Maurice version, God tells Samuel that our boy didn’t do what I told him to do.  Go check him.  So, Samuel finds Saul hanging out on the block admiring a monument of himself proud of his disobedience. Soon as Saul sees Samuel, he goes over to him and say “Blessed are you of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (I Samuel 15:13). Samuel response is in verse 14 was “REALLY! Then why do I hear all these animals and stuff”? (paraphrased in the Maurice version).  Then Saul response in verse 15  was “They keep all the good stuff and destroyed everything that was worthless” (paraphrasing in the Maurice version). It became Saul’s will verse God’s plan. He was blatant in his disobedience.  He knew that wasn’t what God had told him to do and he did it anyway.  Some of us are willfully being disobedient and expecting God to still show up on our behalf without realizing that there are consequences that come along with being disobedient.  For those of us that have children we expect them to do 100% of what is asked of them, when we ask.  If they don’t there is a price to pay. Why should we expect God to be any different. We figure we have an escape goat through repentance, but it does change the fact that God is still requiring us to do what was asked. 

As you read on you see that Saul tries to justify his disobedience by saying I did 99 and a half of what You asked and I was going to even give You a sacrifice off of it (I Samuel 15: 20 Maurice version). Let’s look at what God’s response was through Samuel and what Saul’s disobedience cost him. “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15: 22-23 emphasis added). He also adds in verse 23 that blatant disobedience is like practicing witchcraft and worshiping idols (I know you're thinking that couldn't be me).  God is very clear on the consequences “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king” (I Samuel 15: 23b).  What are you costing yourself and your family for being disobedience? Being disobedient removes you from the will of God. It  says in verse 35 "and the Lord regretted that He made Saul king over Israel". Does God regret He placed you where He wanted you, because your disobedience is causing more bad then good? I don't want God ever regretting that He chose me. He says in Isaiah 1: 19-20 "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken".

99.5% Obedience to what God tells you to do, Equals a 100% Disobedience to God !!!!

House of Mirrors.

A house of mirrors or hall of mirrors is a traditional attraction at fairs, carnivals and amusement parks. The basic concept behind a house of mirrors is to be a maze-like puzzle. In addition to the maze, participants are also given mirrors as obstacles, and glass panes to parts of the maze they cannot yet get to. Sometimes the mirrors may be distorted because of different curves, convex, or concave in the glass to give the participants unusual and confusing reflections of themselves, some humorous and others frightening.

In reality, battles sometimes take place within a hall of mirrors. This is a great way to symbolically show the trickery potential of the enemy. He (satin) uses this tactic as one of his best tricks, its misdirection. It takes the attention off of who God says we are and puts on who he suggest we are.

Let us take a look at Gods affirmation of Jesus…. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NKJ emphasis added). This is right after John the Baptist had baptized Jesus and God affirmed Him immediately, He was then led to the wilderness by the Spirit (that’s a whole other topic that I will discuss in the future) for 40 days  with food or water. The identity of Jesus was the first thing that satin tried to question… Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread”. (Matthew 4:3 NKJ emphasis added)… and in verse 6 he says “If You are the Son of God”.  He is trying to bring up some doubt about who Jesus was. He had nothing to bring up in Jesus face. I suggest you read Matthew 3-4 in context to get the bigger picture.

Unfortunately, for us when he brings up doubt about who God says we are he has an arsenal of things. You are a liar, theft, idolater, whore (male & female) ect.  He uses the mirrors of distortion and the maze to keep us from recognizing our full potential and authority that we have. He keeps us focused on our insecurities. Yeah, maybe we did all these things, but that is not who we are!! Through the blood Jesus we can become new creatures. We fearfully and wonderfully in the image and likeness of the Father.

To sum it up, if we focus on the mirror that reflects Gods nature and His character; He will navigate us out of the house of mirrors into His divine will for our lives.

Scandal Returns

Bored one day I was scrolling through web looking for nothing in-particular. I came across Scandal. So, I wanted to know what all the fuss was over the show. I did what any normal person with about 8 hours of nothing to do.. would do. Which is watch the full season all 7 episodes without moving. It had me locked in, you could have put an APB out on a brotha, cause I was gone. Okay, let me tell the truth. No, I did watch every episode and no I didn't even watch 1 episode. So, I can't tell you anything about what's happening. What I do know for the Scandalnites it returns tonight @ 10pm/9pm central on ABC <-----y'all like that plug. Men word to the wise don't try to cuddle tonight, let them get it in. Ladies remember this weekend will the be the playoff games, don't try to cuddle Saturday or Sunday.

Making a Shift

First, I would like to thank all of you who have supported this blog. God is shifting me, so I will take a break for the rest of the this month. I will return in January, dropping it likes it's hot.

Funny Friday

This is funny, women what would you have done in this situation?

I Gotta Guy

We all got a “guy” that does something. I need a mechanic…”I gotta guy”. I need a hair stylist… “I gotta guy (non gender specific)”. I need a handyman, guess what….”I gotta guy”.  Maybe you are the “guy”.  There was a time that I had a network of people that could do whatever you needed; ranging from legal help to painting your house.   My mentor told me that there are 5 people I needed in friend circle: A doctor, lawyer, police, mechanic and a home improvement person. These were all people that I connected with and the majority of them became my friends; I was always referring someone to someone else.  You can never under estimate the power of who you know or who knows you. I was very intentional about meeting someone in each of these industries.  I recently meet with “my guy” and he introduced me to "his guy” and we made a connection and it turned out to be a good one.   

Take Time to Smell the Roses

A couple of years ago Allstate had these commercials that stated life happens fast. This one particular commercial showed a husband and wife with a baby in the back in a car seat. They looked back and the baby was still strapped in the seat, but he was about 18. As you can see, time is not waiting for anyone. It's like 2012 just started and in 3 weeks we will be in 2013.  I know that life is moving hundred miles a minute, especially in this season. Take the time to look at clouds, watch birds, smell the roses. Even if it's only for a minute.

Are You Ready to Give an Answer?

First, my thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who has last a love to violence.  Over the weekend a professional football player killed his girlfriend, and then drove to the stadium where he then killed himself in front of the Coach and GM. Leaving a 3 month old daughter behind. I also just read a story where a 25 year old son stabs his father girlfriend 42 times, then drives to his father’s job and shot him in the head with a bow and arrow and then kills himself.  I wouldn't try to figure out the state of mind of someone who does not have a history of violence, but ends up committing a crime like these. A few years ago I spoke with someone who was at their wits end and was about to kill themselves. Now, my thought on this is; if this person was really going to do it, why would they call me and tell me and not just do? Well here is what I came up with.  After, we began to talk I realize that this person wanted someone to talk them out of doing it. They really didn't want to do it, but they thought it was the only way to escape their situation.  At that point they didn’t have a value on their life, so I had to find something that they did value.  Something that made them want to keep living.  Please understand that I am not saying this to toot my own whistle, but to say I was open and available when God needed me to be.

We get so caught up in our own lives that we miss opportunities. If someone called the majority of us right now and said they didn’t what to live, we wouldn’t have a response for them.  We wouldn’t know what to do.  You don’t have the time to get them to your Pastor or to the “church”; they need you to be ready and able to jump into their lives NOW!!!! The Word says” be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you” I Peter 3:15. That is not only referring to questions that they have about the bible, but life. These are some sad situations and my prayers go out to these families. Are you ready to give an answer if you are approached?