Question??
What name do you answer to?
Have you ever wondered where your parents got your name from?
Whether or not if it was a name passed down in the family, or just a name they liked when they heard it spoken.
Have you ever wondered what the meaning of your name stood for?
Well, in Biblical days, names meant (A LOT)and spoke (A LOT) as to who that person would be seen as during their lifetime.
Like: Abram “( Gen 17: 4-6) You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you”
Sarai: ( Genesis 17:15-16) ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her”
Jacob: (Genesis 32:24 – 28).
Jacob, the grandson of Abram (Abraham), was given the name Israel (meaning “someone who prevails with the Eternal,”
Saul: (Acts 9/13)
In Acts 9 Saul was baptized
by Ananias and the Spirit of God and his new name Paul, started being used in chapter 13 of Acts
Just to mention a few….
Unlike today, people name their children names with no heartfelt meaning to say the least (why) “just because”….
Today we are going to find out the reason for God re-naming those He encountered along His journey here on Earth, and find out what significance it held.
There are multiple times in the Bible where name changes took place. The reason behind the name change was that God wanted to establish a new identity for that person.
God changed the names of those
He used. He changed the names of those He knew He needed for a special calling.
God changed their name because He wanted them to be seen different then by the names they were given at birth…..
That name change indicated that there was an inside out change.
That something new had taken place or was about to take place in that person, and through that person for Him.
Every name change was personal….It was all for His Glory and nothing more.
Was those name changes something personal between that person and God alone? Yes. It was a reason that He found necessary for that person…
Remember that when God changed someone’s name it was a token, showing to others that God formed a new relationship between Himself and that person, and it also allowed man to acknowledge that – the person was not who they once were, but better.
It showed that a new character trait, disposition, attitude and love had been fortified inside of that person unto Him.
It showed that the person’s name change was the beginning of a new phase of their new formed life.
A name change was big and it was few and in between, cause not everyone that God used received a new name.
Those that God used who didn’t receive a name change, may have been given a new position, a new stance, and a new map to their life, with God’s given instructions and directions.
You may not want to change your name in the natural world.
But God will change your name in the spiritual one….(Revelation 2:13) that He will give them a white stone with a new name that no one knows except the person who receives it.
When you have been taught, learned, and have studied what your identity in Christ is, God is then and only then able to mold you and shape you into who He has called you to be. ( Isaiah 64:8) Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Why not allow Him to shape and mold you for Himself, He is truly the only One that knows who you are.
Believe it or not your birth parents don’t even know who you are…..they learn who you are from birth on up, but the only one that knows you inside and out is God your Creator.(Genesis 1:26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: (Jeremiah 17:10) But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
Back in Biblical days, a name change was very weighty. it was primarily to initiate a persons new identity.
The name change would reveal as well as assure that person that God’s divine plan would be fulfilled in them. It was like a seal…A covenant.
In (Acts 9:17-19) Saul was baptized by Ananias and the Spirit, So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
But, him using his new name doesn’t show up until (Acts 9:13) when Saul’s name was then being called Paul… it’s said that God did not change his name because “Paul” was another name for Saul in his custom, but he also didn’t start using it until after his baptism.
Look let’s be honest, Saul’s name was tarnished because of his lifestyle.
God had to get him baptized and filled with the Holly Spirit, as well as take on another name for anyone to take him serious.
Let me ask…What is it that God can see in you, that would grant you a name change?
Are your actions and motives pure towards God?
Do you have a “Here I Am Lord Send Me” Lord, approach in your heart? Or, are you full of trickery like those deceptive people who were at the Passover Feast??
As stated in (John 2: 23-25)
During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.
Jesus knew exactly who they were. He looked at their hearts and seen that they were all mouth and no action. He knew they were being deceptive in all their ways…
As (Dr.Tony Evans Quotes) God knew their hearts, they were saved but not committed.
And, believe it or not, there are a lot of believers that Jesus just isn’t that committed to, (Why)? because they aren’t that committed to Him.
No matter what you say, how you say it, pray it, or lay it down, if your mouth and your heart aren’t speaking the same language you are only deceiving yourself….not God!
(Jeremiah 17:9)“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
Listen folks, I know you’re always wanting to quote “that God is no respecter of persons”, (which Peter quoted) in Acts 10:34
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Or, ( Rom. 2:11)For there is no respect of persons with God (which Paul quoted).
But, can you believe that He is a respecter of FAITH?? He has to be because that’s the only thing that moves Him, is your faith.
Without faith in Him He will do nothing for you, He can’t. (Hebrews 11:6) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
And granted, that may not be stated in the Bible with book, chapter, and verse, but if you read your Word you will see example after example from Genesis to Revelation how God moved differently for people that believed in Him, that loved Him, and showed Him they loved Him ( How) by (hearing Him when He spoke, listening to His instructions and directions, and obeying no matter the task) !!
(cont. Tony Evans quote)….God wants to know that we are all in, that we are full time Christians and not part time Saints. (1Samuel 16:7 )
The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Be Blessed….
Host Of Angels 