God has a name
God has a name.
God in & of itself is not a name. It’s a title. There are a lot of gods. But there is only one true God. And He has a name. He has revealed it to us because He wants to be known. He wants to be in relationship. He wants to be intimately aware & actively involved in the details of your life. His name matters because it reveals truth about who He is. It reveals aspects of His nature & character that change the very way we think about Him. When we understand His name we begin to understand who He is & how He loves.
What if we always referred to people by their titles & not by their names?
What if I always referred to Alisha as wife? Wife, come here. Wife. make me supper. Wife, go to the store. if I always referred to Alisha by her title it would indicate that there was a problem. And if you & I spent any time together & you heard me repeatedly refer to her this way, you would know that something was up. That there was a distance between us.
Calling someone by name reveals there is a relationship.
Calling someone by name reveals that you know them & that they know you. Calling someone by name adds value. It reveals intimacy & closeness. And yet we often refer to God as God. We call him by his title, not His name. God is seldom referred to as God in our scriptures. But his name is used over 7000 times. Yet I wonder how many people even know His name?
Throughout scripture, God is called by many names.
He is called….
Adonai – Lord
Elohim – God
El Shaddai – The All Sufficient One
Jehovah Rapha – The LORD who heals
Jehovah Rohi – The LORD is my shepherd
Jehovah-Tsidkenu – The LORD our righteousness
El-Elyon – The Most High God
El-Olam – The Everlasting God
Elohim-Ezerli – God my Helper
Elohim-Kadosh – The Holy God
Jehovah Jireh – The Lord Will Provide
And many, many more names throughout scripture are used to call upon the one, true God.
Maybe at different times in your life you’ve called out to God in different ways. Maybe you’ve known Him as Father or as Provider. Maybe there was a day you called out to him to be your Protector, or Defender. Perhaps you’ve called on God to be your Deliverer, or your Healer. All of these names speak to different seasons, different moments in our lives when we need God in a different way to be present, to be near. All these name speak of an intimacy, of a closeness, of a relationship.
The first time we come across God’s name in scripture happens when a guy named Moses had the audacity, the courage, to ask God his name.
God replied to Moses, “I AM who I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.
This is my eternal name,
my name to remember for all generations.
Exodus 3.14-15
By the way, don’t forget for a moment who Moses was.
Moses should have died as a child by order of Pharaoh. He had declared that every male child should be killed. But Moses was put in a basket in the river by his mother. He was rescued by the princess of Egypt. Moses then lived as a prince of Egypt until he murdered a man. Then he fled the palace life of Egypt & ended up living as a pauper in the wilderness tending sheep. That is until God met him on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere in a bush.
If God can use a murderer like Moses in the greatest story ever told, God can use you.
If God would reveal his name to this prince turned pauper, He will reveal His name to you. And just like Moses felt like He wasn’t enough, sometimes you & I feel like we’re not enough. We’re not good enough, smart enough, strong enough, whatever enough for the task ahead.
But every time, just like with Moses, Yahweh will respond with I AM. I AM enough. I AM.
God has a name. His name is I AM.
So I have to ask you… What are you going through today that you need God to be I AM to you?
Are you wondering, God are you there? He says, “I AM.”
Are you listening? I AM.
Are you working? I AM.
Are you caring? I AM.
Are you aware? I AM.
Are you going to help me? I AM.
Are you going to save me from this situation? I AM.
Are you going to intervene on my behalf? I AM.
Are you…? He says, I AM.
For every question, every worry, every doubt, every problem, every crisis.. God’s name has the answer. Yahweh. I AM.
We have a great God with a great name & a kind heart. God has a name. God wants you to call him by name. Because God wants to be in relationship with you. God wants intimacy with you. He knows your name. And HE wants you to know His name & call Him by name.
Jesus is the Great I AM.
In one of the most powerful moments of Jesus’ life, he finds himself being criticized by the religious leaders. They can’t get their mind around who Jesus truly is. They won’t believe that He’s the Messiah. Truth is, He’s not at all what they expected. These religious leaders pride themselves on being children of Abraham. And Jesus responds with this statement: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8.58
Here in this moment, Jesus, Yeshua declares He is Yahweh. Jesus declares He is the Great I AM.
So whatever you’re going through today, whatever captivity you find yourself in the middle of, whatever difficulty you’re facing… Jesus is I AM. He is with you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He will lead you out of whatever darkness you find yourself into a marvelous light. And when you come face to face with Yeshua you come face to face withYahweh. Just like Moses you’ll fall face down in worship before the name above every name, before the great I AM.
God has a name. Yahweh.
MESSAGE: Carry Your Name: God Has A Name
TEXT: Exodus 3.1-15
PODCAST: Click Here
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I serve as the Co-Senior Minister at First Colony Church of Christ in Sugar Land, TX. I enjoy sports, running, fishing & life with the family. I’ve been in ministry since 1999. My wife Alisha & I have three amazing children, Will, Ella Grace & Emma Love. Thank you for stopping by my website!
