What’s in a Name?
Minister Francine Stuart,
She called him Jabez because she had such a difficult time giving him
birth. Jabez means pain, it means
distress. Have you ever been called a name that hurt you? Have you
ever been called loser or stupid? You then can understand that being
called pain must have hurt Jabez.
I don’t know if he ever complained to his mother about the name she had given
him but I do know that he talked to God about it when he became a man. He
prayed, "Oh that you would wonderfully bless me in my work. Please
be with me in all that I do and keep me from all evil and disaster. Chronicles
4:9-10 He knew all about pain and he wanted to
make sure that he wouldn’t hurt someone like he had been hurt. God heard
his prayer and granted him in his distress. What a mighty God we serve!
Let me tell you something. God knew that Adam and Eve would disobey Him
before He created them. He already had made provision. When our
first parents fell into sin, they infected all of mankind. God loved us
so very much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us so that we would
not be lost for eternity. Jesus Christ brought all of our imperfections
and pain with Him on the cross. When He rose from the dead, He brought
back the gift of victory for us. The Hebrew name for Jesus is Yeshua. This means ‘my salvation’. Each time you
speak the name of Jesus, you are calling Him your-salvation.Do
you really mean it when you speak His name?
There was a time when
Have you ever been in love? You loved that person so much that you would
do anything to make them happy. You sacrificed your money, your time and
attention to that person. Actually, you gave them everything you
had. One day that person starts calling you by someone else’s name.
How would you feel?
Hosea’s wife kept walking off on him. He would search through the city’s
streets for her as he called out her name. When he found her with another
man, he would take her home and clean her up. He would continue to love
her as a wife no matter how many times she would go with another man.
Each time we disobey God, (when we let anger, jealousy, gossip, selfishness
overtake us), we are calling Him by another name. We turn away from Him and do
our own thing. Jesus, our salvation keeps calling out our name.
"I love you, Tara. I love you Paul. Please come back. I
will clean you up and keep loving you as though you never walked away from Me. I have a new name that I want to give you. I
will write it down in the Book of Life with My blood that I shed on the cross
just for you. Please come back, I-miss-you."
Minister Francine Stuart
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