KNOWING GOD BY NAME Part 1 Kay Keith Peebles June 8, 2018 18.15
Before I knew the Lord, the term “God” was vague to me. I believed there was an “entity” up above who directed everything but had no concern for me. I pictured Him writing down everything I did wrong and waited for Him to “lower the boom” of correction. I never considered any thought that He loved me. In fact, I didn’t even think my family loved me. I had heard that Jesus loved me, but I don’t remember feeling loved by God or Jesus. I felt rejected and abandoned and therefore rejected myself.
After I was married and had two children, the Holy Spirit began to move my heart to seek to know God. I realized I only knew what someone else had said about God and that was from their own experience or opinion of Him. I needed to know if He was real and if so, I wanted to know all about Him.
I joined an international Bible Study which required several hours of personal study each week. The basic premise of the study was for the student to read and study specific passages of the Bible and report back the next week what they learned, in a small group setting. Each week, at the end of the class, the whole group of 500 women would gather in the church sanctuary to hear a lecture on the same materials we had studied. We focused on the book of Matthew for 9 months. I was a part of that Bible Study for seven years.
Through that Bible Study I began to see a totally different picture of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) that I had never seen before. I discovered a loving interactive God who was kind and gentle, thoughtful and powerful. I found a God who not only loved me but would move mountains on my behalf. God not only became very real to me, but the more I studied, my hunger to KNOW Him grew.
I began having a personal relationship with the God who created the heavens and the earth. I also began hearing the Lord Jesus speak to me personally through an internal voice which gave me instruction and encouragement! It was amazing to learn that God not only loved me, He wanted to be involved in my daily life. All I had to do was repent of my sin and ask Him to come in and take charge of my life. I began this life long journey in 1980, and this series: KNOWING GOD BY NAME, is birthed out of my discoveries from spending time with the Lord.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not the only names of God. The Bible is full of names for the Lord. When the Lord encountered men and women and impacted their life, they would often dedicate the place of their encounter by naming it after God. Abraham is our first example.
Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord Will Provide.
The Lord God (Adonai) called Abram out of Haran to follow Him. See Genesis 12. He promised Abram an heir and descendants that would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the sea shore. Abram believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness because Abram did everything the Lord instructed him to do. Years passed and when the promise had not yet come, Abram’s wife Sarai gave Abram her concubine to be her surrogate and Hagar quickly conceived and bore Abram a son named Ishmael. Strife and contention entered their home when Abraham and Sarah tried to fulfill God’s promise through their own way. Whatever we do not surrender to God and His plan for us will cause us to live in fear, strife and contention, which becomes a heavy yoke we were never intended to carry.
The Lord made it very clear to Abram that Ishmael was not the son He had promised to him. See Genesis 17:18-21. He specifically declared that Sarai would have the son of promise. The Lord then established his covenant with Abram who was 99 years old and Sarai who was 89. He changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. The Lord did not allow Abraham and Sarah to provide for their own son through Ishmael. God does not need or want our help in fulfilling a promise He made to us, although He does require us to have faith that He will accomplish all He has promised. The Lord promised them a son and the Lord alone provided for Isaac to come miraculously by quickening their “dead” reproductive bodies to life! Isaac was born a year later, 25 years after the Lord first spoke His promise to Abraham.
Isaac was a young man when the Lord God tested Abraham to prove his faith. He told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his son of promise, in the region of Mt. Moriah. Abraham immediately gathered the supplies for the sacrifice and his son Isaac. With them he brought two servants as they journeyed up the mountain. Isaac, being observant, asked his father what the sacrifice would be since they had taken no lamb with them.
Abraham had learned to believe in God since he and Sarah tried to help God fulfill His promise of a son. He may have wondered if the Lord would raise Isaac from the dead after he sacrificed him. He knew if God could make alive their “dead” bodies He could also raise up Isaac again. He also knew God could provide a sacrifice other than his son. When Isaac asked his father what they were going to sacrifice Abraham calmly replied, “My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering.” See Genesis Chapter 22.
Abraham laid the wood on the place of sacrifice and then he bound Isaac and laid him on top of the wood. With a knife in hand, Abraham raised his hand preparing to kill Isaac if the Lord did not intervene. Just as Abraham was about to thrust the knife in his son of promise, the Lord stopped him. Immediately Abraham heard a ram caught in a thicket. The Angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham, “Do no lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not held back from Me or begrudged giving Me your son, your only son.” Abraham named the place where he was tested, The Lord Will Provide.
God did not require Abraham to sacrifice his son of promise that day. Instead, He provided a ram for Abraham to use. The Lord did give His only son Jesus as a sacrificial “lamb” for Abraham’s descendants millenniums later.
The Lord introduced Himself to Abraham by giving him a promise. Abraham had no sons (children) but at the age of 75, the Lord promised him heirs that would be uncountable if he would re-locate to a land called Canaan. By faith in the God who promised him heirs, blessing and favor, Abraham took his wife, servants, cattle and household to Canaan. It was in the place of promise that he met the Lord who fulfilled his promise of a son.
Today Abraham’s seed is innumerable! His descendants populating heaven are the fruit of Abraham’s obedience because Jesus came through Abraham’s seed. When we encounter God, He will give us a promise for our future. He will speak destiny in our hearts, but He will also call us to move in faith. He is a covenant making and a covenant keeping God. He will provide all that He promised, and He does not need our help. He simply needs our faith and obedience.
The Lord provided all that was needed for Moses to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. He also cared for them in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. He covered them with a Cloud of Glory during the day to protect them from the sun and gave them a pillar of fire at night for heat and light. He rained down manna from heaven which was like bread for them to eat and He provided water out of the rock for them to drink. The Bible says their clothes and shoes did not wear out the entire 40 years they were in the wilderness. He is a great provider!
When one discovers the Lord is their provider, strife and the need to “produce results” is lifted from their shoulders. It doesn’t mean we don’t work hard, it simply means the results are up to God. He provides us with all we need to be successful. Psalm 23 comes to mind when considering the Lord as our provider.
“The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed and guide me], I shall not want. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still and quiet waters. He refreshes and restores my soul (life); He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.”
Knowing God as Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord will provide) enables us to enter a place of peace and rest. It is a place of trust that no matter what situation confronts us all we must do is seek Him and He will provide the wisdom and guidance, the sustenance and the strength we need to be victorious.
The moment the Lord created Adam and Eve He planned for mankind to walk with Him daily as they did. The Lord is a very personal God. He seeks a deep and abiding relationship with all who believe in Him. It is His desire for us to know Him as Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob and David did. We were destined to have incredible encounters with our miracle-working God! He has a great plan for every believer’s life just as He had for Abraham. The only way to discover that plan is to begin to seek the Lord through His written word (Bible), prayer and worship.
The Lord created the heavens and the earth to provide a home for us. He provided all the plant and animal life to sustain us. He provided the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from our sins and the Holy Spirit to empower us to walk in righteousness. He has provided us with His love, mercy and peace so that we will prosper in every area of our life. The Lord has provided the written Word of God so that we can not only know Him but know His ways.
Those who pursue knowing God will experience the awe and wonder of hearing His voice internally. They will see Him move mightily on their behalf. The Lord is Jehovah-Jireh, our provider and when we put our faith and trust in Him we will begin the journey of walking with God!. His name is not just God, Jesus or Holy Spirit, His name is also Jehovah-Jireh, The Lord Will Provide.
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