What’s in a Name? (part 3): Names of God

Psalm 9:10 “They that know Your Name will put their trust in You. For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown Him Lord of all!
Edward Perronet

The Hebrew word (YHWH) that God gave Moses in Exodus 3 has no clear-cut simple translation. The closest translation is “I am who I am”. This not only reveals God as the being who is absolutely self-existent, but here, the “to be” verb means more than just “to exist.”

Waymaker

The names of God describe the wondrous glories and provisions wrapped up in God’s name. However, God reveals these aspects of His nature to us by actually doing for us what He proclaims Himself to be. We are covered on all fronts, so we can always stand confident in the Lord. The more we get to know God, we see that He is giving us an ever-increasing revelation of the awesome character of Himself.

The following are names of God and Jesus in English from the Hebrew and Greek languages:

Yahweh-Jehovah/The Lord is God (Exodus 3:14)
Adonai (Genesis 15:2)
El-Shaddai/The Almighty God (Genesis 17:1)
Jehovah-Elyon/The Lord God Most High (Genesis 14:19,20)
Jehovah-Jireh/The Lord will provide (Genesis 22:14)
Jehovah-Repheka, Rophe, or Rophi/The Lord who Heals (Exodus 15:26)
Jehovah-Elohim/The Lord is God (Genesis 1:26)
Jehovah-Tsebaoth/The Lord of Hosts (Isaiah 37:16)
Jehovah-Rohi/The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
Jehovah-Shalom/The Lord is Peace (Judges 6:24)
Jehovah Makadesh/The Lord who Sanctifies (Leviticus 20:8)
Jehovah-Nissi/The Lord is my Banner (Exodus 17;15,16)
Jehovah-Tsidkenu/The Lord is our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
Jehovah-Shama/The Lord is There (Exodus 48:35)

Check out the lyrics of the chorus of the following song that lists many of the names of God:

You Are Holy

Other names of our Lord:
God is Savior (Matthew 12:1); The Anointed One/Messiah/Christ (Luke 3:21,22); Master (Matthew 8:19); Immanuel/God With Us (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23); Son of God (Luke 1:35, Mark 14:6, Matthew 16:16, and John 11:27); Son of Man (Matthew 24:30);
Redeemer (Job 19:25)

And: Creator; The Way; The Truth; Love; Light; Bread; Wonderful; Counselor; The Word; Lily of the Valley; Morning Star; Prince of Peace; Alpha and Omega (The Beginning and the End); Living Water; Wisdom; Everlasting Father; Friend; The Vine… and more!

“Give unto the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
Psalm 29:2

Growing Wiser While You Wait (Part 2)

It’s very important to choose movies that will help you grow wiser. The following is a short summary of some of the most uplifting movies that you and your family could ever watch, and you may find yourselves enjoying them over and over as you share them with others.

My favorite movies are all of the Sherwood Picture movies produced by the Kendrick brothers, but I will include a few other favorites, too.

Flywheel is about a car salesman, who changes his dishonest ways of selling cars, and sees the fruit of doing things God’s way.

Facing the Giants is a great movie for football enthusiasts that teaches lessons on perseverance, faith, and patience.

Fireproof encourages us to value the marriage covenant more, and to get rid of things that may destroy that relationship.

Courageous shows how a godly father can have an incredible impact on a family.

War Room is a film about prayer, and how God rewards our diligence of spending time with Him.

Overcomer, their newest film, begins by showing the consequences that negatively affect a child when parents make selfish choices; and then shows how God can heal relationships when a parent repents, still leaving a lasting legacy for his child.

Faith Like Potatoes is the true story of Angus Buchan, a Scottish-born African farmer who trusts God completely even when the odds are against him.

Second Chance is about a church that is ministering to the needs in an inner city along with its sister church that has grown into a mega-church and is focused on its own agenda rather than on the needs of people.

Treasures of the Snow teaches the lesson of forgiveness, whether we need to forgive ourself or someone who has terribly hurt us.

Give Us A Sign

Believers and unbelievers alike would often like a sign from God to prove that He exists, or to confirm something that they are praying about. As I compared some of the Scripture related to signs, I discovered that when the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Him for a sign, they were actually testing Jesus, and He sighed deeply in His spirit and responded with the following answer, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 12:39, 16:1-4, Mark 8:12, and Luke 11:29) Although they had the Son of God in their midst, and saw many of His miracles, they were still asking for another sign?

However, when the disciples ask Him what the sign would be in response to His comments about the temple being destroyed, and related to His coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3-42, Mark 13:4-33, and Luke 21:7-36), He shared many signs with them.

In recent years, I have read and heard many testimonies of men and women who asked for a sign when they were in a situation or place where they had never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ (as is the case of many Muslims); or of people who were considering suicide because they reached “rock bottom” and were desperate for help. Since God knows their heart, he has actually given them dreams and other signs to reveal Himself to them. Since God loves everyone so much, and ” He is not willing that any should perish….” (2 Peter 3:9), He graciously uses many means to bring people to Himself.

Let’s not put God in a box, nor think that we always need a sign. Thomas said he wouldn’t believe what the other disciples said (that they had seen the Lord alive again), unless he could see in His hands the print of His nails, and put his finger in them, and put his hand into His side. When Jesus actually appeared to them again, He told Thomas he could do those things, and said, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing”, and He added, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Stop and Smell the Roses

Whether you are a workaholic trying to prove something to someone, or someone trying to get rich, someday you will “wake up” and realize just how much you missed out on by never “stopping to smell the roses”, or by never choosing to slow down and enjoy God, your family, and friends.

Movies and television, video games, shopping, Facebook, surfing the web, etc. are different methods of escape for us, especially when we feel lonely or depressed. However, none of them satisfy our longing for love and deep, meaningful relationships with our family and friends. Instead, when we escape into these things, we often end up getting more depressed, because we wasted the time that we could have spent in God’s Word and prayer, walking, fellowshipping with others, or getting to know our loved ones more personally. Try taking a walk in a park, watching the birds, sitting on a porch swing and talking about your favorite memories, planting a garden together, or just lying down in the grass and looking up at the clouds. Those are just some of the ways that you can find rest, and stop to “smell the roses”.