Tag: promises

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Called by Your Name

There is nothing more intimate than either giving your own or taking someone else’s name. It implies complete trust, total devotion, and displays to the world a staggering declaration of merged identity. Names help to identify us. True identity, however, goes deeper than our names. Our fundamental identity can be found at the very Beginning, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Not only did God create us in His image, but He chooses to call us by His name (Daniel 9:19, Jeremiah 15:16). God, the King of Kings, calls us by His name.

While God’s name itself is somewhat mysterious, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) to Moses, He clearly wanted to be known to us as a deeply relational God. He also told Moses that He is “. . . ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob . . . thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15). Whether we know His actual name or not, God identifies Himself to humanity as the God who has meaningful, faithful relationship with us.

Appealing to “the name of the Lord,” or to His character, is first mentioned in Scripture in relation to Abram (Abraham), in Genesis 12:8. This is shortly after the children of man’s Tower of Babel efforts failed in trying to “make a name for [them]selves” (Genesis 11:4). God then promised Abram that He would “make [his] name great, so that [he] will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). No one can make a name for themselves on their own strength or efforts. Who we are relies entirely on who God is, thus only the names and purposes that He establishes will be able to stand.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). Jesus fulfilled the promises that God made to Abraham, so that we all can be called by God’s name, heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17), sons and daughters of God the King. This is what I think of when I hear the phrase “identity in Christ.”

When we know the name we carry, we can only respond in humility and love for the Giver of our name. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We find incredible grace and protection in God’s name, something the Old Testament prophets knew to long for, “…only let us be called by your name, take away our reproach” (Isaiah 4:1). Jesus’ name covers us, all of our identity, before God. Being saved from sin and death is to be called by Jesus’ name. In Jesus we are dead to sin, and alive in Him (Romans 6:11, 1 Corinthians 15:22). If you are a believer in Jesus, “. . . you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). There is True life in Jesus’ name. Halleluiah!

Our identities are secure in who God is, going back to the promise He made to Abram that “. . . in [him] all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:7-9). God has been faithful to fulfill that promise; it benefits us today as it’s not only brought Abraham’s blood descendants into covenant relationship with Him, but all people. Jesus’ sacrifice restores what sin distorted for us and our identity; in Christ we are made new, according to the will and loving purpose of the One who gave us our True name in the first place.

No matter what we’ve done, or what we may be going through, God loves us, relates Himself to us, identifies with us, and continues to make a Way for us to take joy in being called by His name. Amen.

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved‘” (Romans 10:13).

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).

“And whatever you do in, word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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More Abundantly

For me, this is the verse that’s summed up this week: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20). At this time last year, I was just starting to feel like myself again after many months. At this time last year, I wasn’t writing at all. Around this time last year, God planted the seed of an idea which is now a business, Your Life with the King. God has done far more abundantly than all that I could ever ask or think!

Soul Crushing

In my journey prior to this, I would describe my soul as having been crushed, as much as I had tried to avoid it. I was living in a way that I felt trapped; my energy was never replenished, and I spent my time working on things I didn’t care about. I didn’t see a way out of it, and my inspiration to write or make art was gone. I had taken big hits spiritually and emotionally and became physically sick. Something had to change. It took time to become clear how, but God gave me a way to walk toward the life He had for me. He never leaves us trapped.

Transformation doesn’t often come without being crushed. We may call it different things, like being broken, being poured out, or being at rock bottom. But God is able to use it for our ultimate good because in our crushed state we are open enough to let Him into our hearts. Jesus Himself was “crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5); yet it was for all of our ultimate good. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). In our brokenness, we are open to receive the love that Jesus poured out for us and our healing.

Yes, being crushed is painful. But God’s healing comes in the transformation and we are offered freedom in Jesus. Being crushed isn’t easy but it is worth it, I can now say from the other side. We can trust that no matter how painful this life gets, God has it all, sees us fully, and cares for each one of us more than we could imagine. God is a Good Father who is excited to do more in our lives by way of freedom, abundant blessing, and grace. The crushing is often a necessary part of the journey there.

Expect Good Things

When we are discouraged from being crushed in life, it can be hard to expect God’s goodness to follow. Knowing God’s character and pressing into relationship with Him and what He promises in Scripture is a lifeline in these times of brokenness. “It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; (Psalm 136:23). God’s love endures, even and especially into the “low estate” times in our lives.

I can struggle with expecting the worst outcome, even though God has shown me the opposite is True, over and over. God wants us to expect His goodness to show up in our lives, to “believe that [we] shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13)! I am encouraging myself as I encourage you to expect good things, and to expect that God will fulfill His promises to you. Even when I get in my own way of accepting God’s amazing abundance in life, He is bigger than that too; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). God is Truly for us, more than we are for ourselves.

Paul wrote from prison, “. . . it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Even when our present circumstances seem anything but good, we can expect God to reveal His goodness and fulfill His promises. We can expect God is trustworthy and True.

He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, and we can expect that He will. To God be all the glory! Amen.


“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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