The Importance of What You Name Yourself
Recently, I was inspired to teach from a book I've been reading, Staci Eldridge's Becoming Myself. I bought this book about 6 weeks ago, and have read it through twice now. Each time I read it, God heals and frees me a little more.
The gist of her life message seems to be: what we call ourselves and others is powerful and shapes ours and their destiny. What we name ourselves and others either brings life or death.
When I think back over some of the thoughts I have about myself during any given week, I realize that many of those thoughts are negative like - "Nothing I do ever turns out right." "I might as well quit." "Everything's falling apart." "What I'm doing isn't useful." "I'm never going to be rid of the pain. I'm always going to be walking with a cane." "I'm all alone. No one understands me."
When I hear these things and allow them to occupy my mind, certain things happen. First, I walk around feeling accused and condemned. Then I might isolate myself from God and others because I'm feeling this way. When I do this, I become depressed and maybe even suicidal, thinking what difference has my life made on Planet Earth? From there it's just a gradual spiral downwards.
This downward spiral is just where our enemy wants us to live - CAPTIVITY! He wants us focused on our failures and our "not up to par" selves instead of focusing on God's faithfulness. He wants us to concentrate on our broken selves instead of looking for Jesus, our Healer.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
~ Hebrews 12:2
This is real spiritual warfare. Our mind is where the real battle takes place. Who would have thought that a small space about 6-8 inches wide (right between our ears) is a major battlefield?
What we think about ourselves, what we name ourselves, is vital. Our thoughts and words have power - the power of life and death, blessings and curses - power to affect our destiny and the destiny of others. The words others name us carry the same power.
Why?
In the beginning of our Christian walk, we get so caught up with "rules" and what we do. However, God is more concerned with our heart, with our character than He is with our deeds.
How do we wage war on this battlefield? Our one and only defense is the truth - JESUS WON! He understands us; He gets us; He likes and loves us.
Jesus suffered just as we did and overcame it all so that He could make a way for us to overcome. Look at some of the ways people named Him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces,
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered Him stricken by God,
smitten by Him and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed . . .
He was oppressed and afflicted . . .
By oppression and judgment He was taken away . . .
For He was cut off from the land of the living . . .
assigned a grave with the wicked . . .
though He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in His mouth.
~ Isaiah 53: 2-9
The secret to winning the battle is that WE WIN BECAUSE HE WON! WE LIVE BECAUSE HE LIVES! WE HAVE HOPE BECAUSE HE IS OUR HOPE.
If we live in Him, we are defined by His finished work on the cross, not by our failures or our past or the words and names others call us and we call ourselves.
If what we are thinking or what others are saying does not line up with the word of God, then it is a lie - a lie we need to erase from our thinking. Believing these lies strips us of our authority as a child of the King and causes us to live as a captive in prison somewhere out there.
What is the truth of God? What does God say about us?
We are His beloved children, destined to reign with Him.
We are our Father's delight, the "apple of His eye," the ones He desires.
We are the beautiful, perfect Bride of Christ, His beloved (dear to the heart, admired, cherished, darling, esteemed and favored one, honey, lover, precious, prized and respected one - YES, YOU!)
We are His ally, His friend. We have been given a mission to cooperate with Him in advancing His kingdom here on earth. Our life has purpose and a definite destiny. We were born for a reason, a divine reason.
When we believe something is true, it affects how we live. An old saying says, "Seeing is believing."
In Christ believing becomes seeing. God expects us to believe what He says about us. He expects us to see ourselves and others from His perspective, Heaven's perspective. When we believe these things, we receive and achieve so much: intimacy, joy, purpose, peace, healing. These in turn bring humility and gratitude and a deeper love for, a nearness to Jesus and all that He loves. WE ARE LOVELY TO HIM! PERIOD!!
God is into naming and renaming things and people which should convince us that what we name ourselves and allow others to name us is important.
God's Obsession With Names
- Adam's first job was to name the animals.
- All throughout the Bible, we see a name and then an explanation of what the name means.
- There are lists and lists of names throughout the Bible. So and so begat so and so who begat so and so, etc. Probably about half of some of the early books of the Bible are nothing but lists of names.
- God is not shy about changing someone's name to reflect the person's personality and character traits and his destiny.
- Look at the many names we have for God and for Jesus.
God loves names, and undoubtedly they are important to Him. In fact, we are promised several times in scripture a new name, one from the very mouth of God (Isaiah 62: 1-4 / Revelation)
God desires to bring His light and love and life to every area of our lives. He doesn't want to heal us partially; His desire for us is wholeness.
After He captures our hearts, He begins with our mind. Our old dead thinking has to be buried and then resurrected to believe all that He says about us and all that He has in store for us.
In the beginning, God looked at all that He had created and said, "It is good." Today, He still stands in heaven and looks at all that He has created and says that it is good - HE MADE US AND WE ARE GOOD.
- We are a new creature in Christ.
- We are a conqueror, more than a conqueror.
- We can walk in victory, strong and empowered by Him.
- We are safe in Him, secure and provided for.
- We are a mighty river through which the life and love of God flows.
- We are the BELOVED of God.
This is NOT the power of positive thinking. This is the power and the love of God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe, and of Jesus His Only Begotten Son, and of Holy Spirit, our Guide and Enabler in this life.
If you don't know what your name means, find out. Your parents didn't randomly name you that; God had a hand in it too. Somehow, He influenced your parents in some way because there is destiny in your name. Don't be satisfied with the first definition; dig deeper. Also, ask God what your spiritual name is. Sometimes we can know this.
