I'm sitting here in the Snohomish, Washington city library thinking and praying about what I should be writing tonight and the only thing that I can come up with is this: I just had the passing thought, "If I could say anything to anybody tonight that is going to be reading this blog or just in general it would be this, 'Did you find time to spend with God today?'" When it all comes down to it that really is the only thing that matters.
I've just begun reading a book called Holy to Yahveh and it talks about some of the teachings of Scripture that have kind of been lost in the traditions of man. One of them has to do with the name of God. God said to Moses that His name is YAHveh (Exodus 3:13-15) and that He is jealous for His name. We have lost that name in Christianity as a whole. All the other gods have names, i.e. Dagon, Ashtoreth, and Baal. Our God too has a name and His name is YAHveh. It has been substituted into the English Bibles as the word LORD, but this does not really do Him justice. All of the pagan religions have gods or lords and they all have proper names, such as were mentioned above, and those terms, god and lord, come from the pagan traditions. It is not good or right that we have lost the name of our God and I think that we can all benefit from knowing and using His name. I would challenge you to think and pray about this, and do some more studying if you have too. I want to share one piece of Scripture regarding this and then I will continue on. Exodus 20:24b, "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you." It's worth thinking about, huh?
So, you may be asking yourself, "What does this have to do with anything?" Well, it has to do with a lot of things. Namely though tonight I simply want to make the point that we have been given an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ and in that relationship we are given the ability, better yet, opportunity to speak God's name, YAHveh. Think about this. Do you use the names of people in your relationships? Sometimes we throw out nicknames, terms of endearment or things like mom, dad, bro, or sis that embody one characteristic of what or who that person is but when we say their name we are using that which is an embodiment of who they are. That's the same thing with God. If we simply call Him Father, Creator, or Lord we are simply using a name that fits one characteristic of who He is, but when we say the name YAHveh we are using the name that is an embodiment who He is. Who is He? He gives us that answer when He says, "I am who I am." That is the name that we have been given to call God and it is a truly wonderful thing to do so.
So I ask you once again, "Did you find to spend with YAHveh today?"
"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of YAHveh shall be saved." Joel 2:32
Justin, your post reminded me of the hymn "There's Power In His Name."
ReplyDeleteJesus, the sweetest name I know,
Jesus, I'll tell it wherever I go,
Heals the sin stained soul,
Makes the wounded whole,
There's power in His Name.
There is power, there's power in His name,
There is power, there's power in His name.
There is joy, there's joy in His name,
There is joy, there's joy in His name.
There is peace, there's peace in His name,
There is peace, there's peace in His name.
There is,
Power, Power, Power
Wonder-working,
Power.
Heals the sin stained soul,
Makes the wounded whole,
There's power in His Name.
Thanks for sharing.