Biblically when God changes a name it is for the higher calling that person is stepping into, we see it in Jacob, Abraham, Sarah, Esther, and many more. Jesus does this as well with three of his beloved disciples. Peter probably being the most common. Although he would falter and deny Jesus, he would truly become a rock for the early church after Jesus’ resurrection.
I say this because the word of God mentions the changing of names so our ears better be perked up and paying attention. When we accept Holy Spirit into our lives and call on the name of Jesus we are accepting a new name in Christ. I’d love to talk about what it means to live out that new name but the Lord has me taking this a different avenue.
How many friends, family, acquaintances do you speak to, speak to your new name? Do you speak to their new name? Stay with me.
I’ve been struggling with just everyday things and I was sharing these things with my best-friend. Her response to my struggle was so real and authentic. Y’all. She didn’t even entertain my struggle. She spoke to me like I’d already overcome. One of the sentences she said began with “Annalisa you are such an intercessor…” another with, “Is there anything in your heart that could be preventing…” another with “yes, you do need…”
She didn’t even entertain the fact that my struggle was going to stay. She spoke to me like I was free, she spoke to who the Lord has called me to be, and she spoke to the heart issues that are at the root of the struggle. Then left me with practical things to do to move forward. Because the fact is, in Jesus, I am already free. I don’t have to live in my struggle. It doesn’t get to win because Jesus already did.
Y’all, when we speak to our friends, do we speak to them by their new name. The name that Jesus has spoken over them. Worthy, redeemed, free? Do we speak to the gifts they have in Jesus? The gifts they have in Holy Spirit?
When we speak to strangers, do we speak to them by the name Jesus wants to give them? Do we speak to the person they are called to be in Christ or are we speaking to the brokenness they are living in?
As lovers of Christ we can speak to others with a winning heart. We can speak about the broken things of this world with an attitude of victory. When others share a struggle with us are we talking from a place of such hurt for them that we have forgotten Jesus took that hurt already? When we see others make a mistake do we condemn and judge in our hearts and start talking to the person they were before Christ? Or are we encouraging that they remember God of grace and correction. Do they see the God who calls them worthy in the conversation? Do they see the God of freedom? Do they see themselves made in His image?
When I am struggling, Yes, I do want you to share in the burden. At the same time I need you to be someone who knows I’ve already won. Who knows who I am because in the really hard times my heart may get in the way of me seeing who I am. We can meet people where they are at and still see them for who they will become. Jesus did. He is our great example.
The next time you’re talking to a friend, spouse, acquaintance, remind yourself of their new name in Christ. Then talk to them using that name. If they are having some heart issues, remind them whose they are and who God called them to be. Speak to them, don’t speak to their struggle. The worldly struggle does not have a place in the kingdom, but the person walking through it, they do. Speak to them.
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