What's In A Name

John 8:58

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

I was so touched by a book I borrowed from my daughter that I thought I would share a little of it with everyone.  I’m going to go over a few of the names that we call on in the midst of trouble in this issue of the banner, I hope to encourage and show you the love of Jesus and power we poses when we speak His name.

As we walk through this life there are dangers and troubles on every side and we know that it so close to the time of His coming. When we face these troubles and we have nowhere else to turn we call on the one that has promised to walk by our side, the one that caught Peter by the hand to pull him from the raging sea, the one that walked in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrew children, the one that guided the stone for David’s sling to the center of Goliath’s forehead, the one that closed the mouths of the lions for Daniel. He is the same one that died for all of us; He loves us so much that He gave everything He had so that we might live.

Immanuel

In Matthew when Joseph had decided to divorce Mary quietly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save His people from their sins.” God also confirmed this prophecy through Isaiah (7:14) when he spoke of the virgin and He shall be called Immanuel meaning God with us.

Our sins had made it impossible for us to come to him so God took this outrageous step of making himself susceptible to sorrow, with temptation and vulnerable to sin’s disruptive power. So remember this next you feeling a bit discouraged all alone, or feel as though you can go no further. Jesus is still Immanuel – he is still God with us.

Light of the World

John spoke of Jesus as the light that vanquishes the darkness brought on by sin – a darkness that ends in death. In John 8:12 it states that when we believe in Him we are moved from darkness to light meaning from death to life. God was so determined to draw us into His light that He spent nine months in the darkness of the womb in order to become one of us.

Many times we get so caught up in the things of this world that we forget that we are waiting for Jesus to return to this world. We plan for the future of our children, for our retirement, or even our next vacation which means whatever you’re waiting for is what you’re living for. So let’s continue to take care of our daily tasks but let’s also remember that Jesus is coming back soon.

Prince of Peace

In Ephesians 2:14 it says that He Himself is our peace, so when we call upon Him we are calling to the one that is the source of our peace. In Mark 5:34 it connects healing with peace when Jesus told the woman He just healed to go in peace.

In Isaiah and Zachariah spoke of the child that will bring peace to God’s people and Jesus said “Peace upon you,” when He appeared unto the disciples after His resurrection. Do we really understand just how hideous the crucifixion really was? He was beaten and ridiculed then nailed to crossbeams with very thick nails and slowly tortured to death in full view of the public. The holes from the nails in His hands and feet are so big they are still there and these wounds are our peace.

No matter what we have done or chaotic our life may become we can still have peace; this is why we are able to go through such turmoil and still have a smile on our face. Let us forgive for we are forgiven and allow the prince of peace to rule our heart.

Christ, Messiah

Messiah is what the Christians called Jesus, Christ means “The Anointed One,” He is the one called and empowered to destroy our enemies and put an end to our troubles. He is the one calling us back to God through His love. Jesus wants to save us it doesn’t mean that He will insulate us from suffering and death. Being in Christ, the anointed one means we are to draw our strength from Him in order to reproduce the patterns of His life; with Him and in Him; we too will suffer, die, and rise.

In Matthew 16: 15 – 23 we read about when Jesus asked His disciples “Whom do you say that I am,” Peter did not hesitate when he answered him saying, “Thou art Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus lets him know that only God could have revealed that information to Him. It is through our weaknesses we are able to trust and know he is there to strengthen and carry us through these troubled times. So when we pray let’s remember once again that we can do all things through the anointed one who strengthens us.

Word

God has always been able to reveal himself to us but the clearest and compelling revelation of who God is – of His holiness, love, and power. Jesus is one with the Father; he communicated God’s heart and mind through His teachings, miracles, suffering, death, and resurrection. Our destiny depends on well we listen; remember you calling on the one that calls us from death to life.

In John 1 we read about how in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. In verse 14 it states that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus was brought here to give us chance to be saved from the awful gulfs of sin. He brought God to us and made a living example for us to follow. In John 14: 9 – 10 it talks about Jesus reaction when Philip asks to see the Father; Jesus told him if you have seen me you have seen the father which is in heaven. I can understand why Jesus asks Philip, “Do you not know me?” the word also says my children know my voice.

The Lion and The Lamb

John saw Jesus as both lion and lamb; through His death and resurrection becomes the ultimate victor and conqueror. When we call upon the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, we are calling upon the one with the power to banish all fear, who watches over us with His fierce protecting love, and the judge of the living and the dead. At one point Peter says that the devil is a roaring lion and he is warning us that he is constantly on the prowl looking to devour us but when Jesus went into the earth He took the keys to death, hell, and the grave; so the devil may be on the prowl but he has no teeth.

Fortunately God has given us His son to be both lion and lamb. As the lamb He took the brunt of God’s wrath when He went to the cross so that we could experience God’s mercy. As the lion He stands in judgment on all who persist in opposing God. Whoever accepts God mercy is freed from His wrath but whoever rejects God’s mercy remains under wrath. Revelation reveals the risen Christ as the mightiest of all victors; he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. When Moses spoke with God in the wilderness at the burning burn he had asked God to reveal his name.

Today as we thank Him for going to the extreme of the cross in order to help us to stop resisting the God who made us. We must remember that one day we will be judged according to how well we have responded to His grace and obeyed His word, allowing it to shape our lives.

I Am

In Jesus we have the richest and vivid picture imaginable; it is no longer big God and little you, instead he bends toward us, sharing our weakness and shouldering our burdens. Through his perfect offering of his life he becomes our way back to the father. He is the loving God who will never abandon us, but will be present with us always, leading us to eternal life.

God did not describe himself as the Living God, the Almighty God, the Everlasting God, or God the Creator. He simply instructed Moses to tell them that “I Am” has sent me to you. Basically the Lord was revealing himself as the God who has always existed and also the God that is always present with His people.

In the garden when Judas brought the soldiers to arrest Jesus he knew why they came so Jesus took control of the situation by asking the soldiers whom they were searching for, and these men that were armed with torches and weapons simply collapsed when Jesus identified himself by saying, “It is I.” When Jesus spoke those words it was translated into “I AM,” his enemies fell to the ground because these men could not stand in the presence of God.

When we stand united with God we are able to experience the God – Blessed Life, which produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self – control (Galatians 5:22 – 23), for we are called to bear fruit that will last. The greatest promise we have is this, “I am the resurrection and the life and those who believe in him shall live even through death. Without this promise all the other promises would expire upon our death but here he takes all the way.

Although these are not just names but titles that through time God, Jesus, and man have used them for a purpose and each name or title carries a powerful meaning behind each one. These are only a few but I wanted to show that when we call upon Jesus during a crisis or prayer when we are searching for an answer He is always there to give us the peace and strength we are seeking. When we speak and stand on the scriptures God has given us in the Bible we have the power beyond measure to fight against the wiles of the devil, just by speaking the name of Jesus, Satan will flee for he know he has no power. At times the devil will attempt to destroy us by reminding us of our past then we must remind him of his future, remember he cannot win.

He is all these things and more – the Almighty, the Everlasting God, the One who is the great I AM!!!!

Written By: Karen ReNee

I used many statements and passes from the book written Ann Spangler called “Praying the Names of Jesus”.