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The POWER of God's Name

This essay started out about talking about how to help your friends in a Godly way when they're having trouble. But I was struck by something else after my break. You see, one of my points was that God's comfort is powerful. And...and it is. But I was struck by something else when coming up with my example.

You see, It's not His comfort that's powerful. Though it was, it is and it always will be. But it's what's behind it that's powerful. It's what it comes from that's powerful, and that's God Himself. So I submit that the power of God's name is the most powerful thing On, Under or Above the Earth and Heavens.

When you call upon the power of God's name, and through it, His power, you are invoking the most powerful thing in your life. Your Savior. Your God. Your.....YHWH. YHWH is more commonly spelled in English as "Yaweh" Which is actually pronounced "Yah-Vay" as the Jewish language as now "w" sounds in their language.

This word, this beautiful name, this most holy word is the most powerful thing you can use when praying, communing or worshipping. And God himself shows how powerful He and His name are in several different ways. We'll start with the first example I had come up with for my first attempt at this essay.

Moses and the Isrealites:

A few thousand years ago, the world power of the day was Egypt. Everyone knows the story here. The Egyptians had the nation of Israel captive in the country and they forced them to do....well.....everything. Building, farming, tilling, sheaperding and a host of other work that probably wasn't as pleasent. They were slaves. First and formost they were slaves.

But God says that he heard the groaning of his people. And, from this groaning, he called Moses. Moses was a son of Israel. His mother had, as you know, hidden him in a basekt and sent him down river so that Pharoh couldn't kill him. Pharoh's daughter discovered him and he was raised as a prince of Egypt. (Notice the plug for the move there.)

From there, Moses fled Egypt and went in the desert. But, God called him through the Burning Bush to go, and get his people out of Egypt. He would free the Israelites, with Moses as His servent. Put the Egyptians in their place, and find His people a home. And it was during this that God made a distinction between Moses and the people he lead, and the previous people that God had interacted with. And he does it in a very different, and very personal way.

This, I think, is one of the defining moments in the history of God's People. He ceases to become the un-approachable, stern Lord of all. And becomes the personal, caring, compassionate Lord of All. Though, God is all things. He is still the same God he was, but He, in His wisdom, decided to make a more personal side of him known to His people.

As I said he did it in a most personal way. He told Moses and the people of Isreal his name.

Exodus 6:1-3(NAS Version)

1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."

2God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD*;

3and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD*, I did not make Myself known to them.

*LORD is a translation of the word YHWH (Yahveh). It's the closest translation in the English Language for the word.

He is Yaweh. The great I Am. All Moses had to do was say "I Am sent me." And the Jews knew who Moses spoke of. And the name Yaweh! How personal is that? Your name is you. It's part of what defines you, if not the biggest thing that does. Even if you don't care for your name, you have no other. It's part you. It is you. It represents you.

I'm about to make the same point that Matt Redmon once made "How he must long to be close to us." And I think that's true. Why else would He tell us the most personal thing about Him? The most HOLY name in the entire universe. Even when you say it, you can feel the power it resonates.

Even the great names of the Bible like Issac, Abraham, Jacob, Noah...they didn't know His name. He was "God Almighty." But to this poor wretch, Moses, a murderer, but a man who trusted God, and his people, nothing but slaves for the moment, he said. "To your fathers, I was God Almighty. But my love for you knows no bounds. I will raise you up and give you the likes of which your fathers could never dream of. I love you enough to tell you My name. Yahveh."

Stop and think on that for a moment, if you will. Could you immagine, as someone who didn't already know this, immagine sitting here, reading this. And then, God, is His glory says "Matthew, I love you. You know I do. And because I love you and know you in such an intimate way, I want you to know Me. To know My name as I know yours. My name isn't God, though I am. It is Yahweh. Call on Me by My name. I want to be with you, to be close to you. You are my child, and a child should know his Father's name."

Tell me that's not powerful. God. THE GOD! The Holy of Holies, Told you His name.

God has many titles. (this is a partial list, the whole list can be found here )

El Echad - The One God

El Tsaddik - The Righteous God

El Shaddai - The All Sufficent God

El Elyon - The Most High God

El Olam - The Everlasting God

And probably one of the most personal, because of how much God longs to be with us:

El Roi - The God Who Sees Me (This was coined by Haggar, mother of Ishamel.)

And the one everyone knows:

Immanuel - God is With Us (The Name for Christ)

These are NOTHING, compared to His name. They are descriptors! They are titles. Example: I am an author. My name is not "Author" author is what I do, it's not ME. God is Everlasting, Most Hight...it's all descriptors of him. But He is YAHWEH! He is Lord. Lord is both a title in this case and a Name. It's who He is, what He does and how He is. I can't think of a more perfect thing to be named than something that represents all three things that you are.

So, we know now that God's name is intimate. It's his telling us that's He's longing to be close to us. To have us experiance His love in a more real, and different way each day. But not only is His name personal, but, as I've said, it's powerful.

Now, please, understand how...not worthy I feel to talk about this. I don't feel like...I am worth even writing the name "Yahweh" let alone saying it out loud or teach it to others. But at the same time, this is what I felt that I needed to write. I don't know, maybe there's someone out there who needed to know that God wanted to be with them. And need to know that His name is powerful, more powerful than any adversity they could be facing right now.

So, on to the Power of God's name. And I have the perfect example.

Again, a few thousand years ago, there was a prophet named Elijah. He was...the last of God's prophets. The entire nation of Israel had been swept over by a falso god called Baal. (Bay-el) And the King wanted Eljah DEAD in the worst way possible for refusing to stop preaching the name of God.

And so, prompted by God, Elijah decided he'd had enough. He was done messing around with these guys, and so he called the out.

1 Kings 18: 22-24

22 Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD*. The god who answers by fire—he is God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good."

*Again, LORD means Yahweh

And so that's what happened. The prophets of Baal huffed and puffed for hours, calling on their god Baal. But...nothing happened. So, Elijsh decided to up the ante to prove just how much more his God was. He had people douse his alter in water three times. Then, Elijah called on the name of God.

1 Kings 18:36-38

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

That. That is the power of God's name. Change each of those LORD's into Yahweh again. Look how powerful that is. Calling on God's name alone, Elijah implored God to prove His power so people would turn away from Baal and know that GOD was still in Isreal. And, so...God did. A torrent of fire fell from the sky. It burned EVERYTHING!

Everyone then fell down and worshiped. And Baal's prophets were killed. This wasn't the end of Elijah's troubles, though it should have been, but it was a start. And this alone is a massive showing of the ulimate power that is contained in God's name.

Throughout the Bible there are other accounts. Jesus' deciples, the Apostles, learned to do this as well. They called on the name of Jesus (remeber, God is Three in One) and they cast out demons, brought the dead back to life and spoke in lanugages they had never heard before, let along learned.

There is no other more definitive proof of God's power than that. His NAME and faith in it, brought people back from the dead. It heals people still today. It's made the lame to walk, the blind to see and opened the jails to let those who were in bondage go, and be redeemed.

So, the next time you pray, don't just say "God" or "Father". God appreciates the reverence, I'm sure. But...He is longing for so much more. And He won't FORCE you to do it. But He wants you to be personal with him. Initmate with him. Use His name. Call him Yahweh in addition to Abba Father.

Thank you for indulging me in this change of course,

Have a good evening, and God Bless,