I
just had the most awesome conversation with my daughter about God's holy
name, YHVH (which we pronounce as Yahweh) which means "I am". I always
interpreted His name to mean that He is eternal, greater than all,
sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, creator of all,
protector, provider, everything we need. Unlike polytheists who see each
of God's attributes as too great to be contained in one God so they
create lots of little gods to represent each one,Yahweh is all those
attributes plus more than we could possibly comprehend.
But how many of us have considered how personal God's name is for each of us? Consider that we cannot name, define, or describe ourselves without using God's holy name. Examples: "I am God's child. I am forgiven. I am blessed. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend. I am verbose. Apart from Christ, I am nothing. When I am weak, He is strong." No matter how I describe myself, His name is woven into that description. How fitting given that our identity, existence, purpose, and worth, are all found in Him. "‘For in him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
I wish I had known to apply God's name in that way when I was my daughter's age and going through so many changes inside and out. Teen years seem too consumed with struggling to "know thyself", but the only way to find one's identity, purpose, and meaning in life is by knowing Christ personally as Savior and Lord. Now whenever my sweet girl attempts to define herself, she will be reminded of the great I AM who loves her infinitely and created her in His own image to live in close relationship with Him forever as her perfect Father who has a good, pleasing, and perfect plan for her life. What comfort and confidence there is in that truth! There is no identity crisis to be had when our identity is completely in Him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His love never fails.
This personal application of God's name is recorded more eloquently in Jonathan Cahn's book entitled, The Book of Mysteries. Cahn writes, "His existence is first and your existence flows forth from His....Therefore you must put Him first and then let everything flow from that. ....To not only live for Him, but to live your life from Him, to live from His living, to move from His moving, to act from His actions, to feel from His heart, to be from His being, and to become who you are from who He is.....I am."
I highly recommend reading this book along with the Bible passages upon which each lesson is based as a daily devotion or all at once if you, like me, can't stop reading. If you like Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest, you'll really appreciate this book.
But how many of us have considered how personal God's name is for each of us? Consider that we cannot name, define, or describe ourselves without using God's holy name. Examples: "I am God's child. I am forgiven. I am blessed. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend. I am verbose. Apart from Christ, I am nothing. When I am weak, He is strong." No matter how I describe myself, His name is woven into that description. How fitting given that our identity, existence, purpose, and worth, are all found in Him. "‘For in him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
I wish I had known to apply God's name in that way when I was my daughter's age and going through so many changes inside and out. Teen years seem too consumed with struggling to "know thyself", but the only way to find one's identity, purpose, and meaning in life is by knowing Christ personally as Savior and Lord. Now whenever my sweet girl attempts to define herself, she will be reminded of the great I AM who loves her infinitely and created her in His own image to live in close relationship with Him forever as her perfect Father who has a good, pleasing, and perfect plan for her life. What comfort and confidence there is in that truth! There is no identity crisis to be had when our identity is completely in Him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His love never fails.
This personal application of God's name is recorded more eloquently in Jonathan Cahn's book entitled, The Book of Mysteries. Cahn writes, "His existence is first and your existence flows forth from His....Therefore you must put Him first and then let everything flow from that. ....To not only live for Him, but to live your life from Him, to live from His living, to move from His moving, to act from His actions, to feel from His heart, to be from His being, and to become who you are from who He is.....I am."
I highly recommend reading this book along with the Bible passages upon which each lesson is based as a daily devotion or all at once if you, like me, can't stop reading. If you like Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest, you'll really appreciate this book.
