I’ve been wanting to think more deeply about, and begin to
practice, praying according to the character-revealing names of God. Just stumbled across some really motivating
discussion of this. God intends for us
to know Him better through His names; calls us to understand more of the riches
and power we have in Him by using and knowing His names. So often in Scripture, when I would think
that He would refer to Himself as a Person acting or receiving glory, He seems
to sidestep this to say His name: Instead
of “let us exalt Him together, it says “let us exalt His name.” It’s not “hallowed be You, Lord, My Father”
but “hallowed be thy name”. Not “the
Lord is a strong tower” but “ the name of the Lord is a strong tower.” Not “at the sight of Jesus every knee shall
bow” but “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow”.
Yahweh is the name of worship, the name of generational
faithfulness, the name to which Israel was entrusted. Sylvia Gunter challenges our attentions:
”Does it make us want to fall down and worship Him?” 6,000 times this name in the OT calls His
people to worship Him.
Elohim—“I am infinite
in power, absolute in faithfulness. I am
able. I keep covenant. Trust me.” (S Gunter) 2,700 times in the OT God uses this name,
saying over and over, “Trust Me”.
“When we pray the
names of God, we pray toward Him who is the answer, not towards the
problem…When we pray God’s name, He comes:
”Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you, and I will
bless you( Ex 20:24) When we pray His name, we pray toward His glory….When we
pray the names of God, we make declarations of His covenant relationship with
us…(S Gunter)
Our Defender…our Deliverer,… Jehovah-Jireh our
provider…Jehovah Rapha our healer…Jehovah-Nissi our banner of victory…Jehovah
Shammah the God Who is there…
I am looking forward to incorporating this into my prayers
and thoughts these coming months, and uncovering more of the riches of Who He is.
(Sylvia Gunter has a number of pages on this in her valuable
prayer guide Living In His Presence.)
Thanks, Mom, for posting this! I loved it when you read it at lunch--as I always love what you bring to the "table". :) I will remember all those pages for years to come.
ReplyDeleteLove you!