I was honored to play keys in my church worship band today. We always do a Worship Team devotional time and today I got to lead. I spent last night looking for something to share, even dusted off some devotionals from my shelves. Once I got to church I got into a conversation before rehearsal about names. I am named after my dad's sister (whom I've never met as she died tragically young) and my mom. She was named after people too. That's how it was in my parent's generation, you passed on names, they have meaning and remembrance.
Then I realized I was meant to share my morning Advent devotional written by Janell Keith "The GIft of Names". Our team can get into heavy devotionals back there sometimes and but this was a light one. I shared that one of my very favorite names for Jesus is Immanuel. God With Us. What we found was for almost all of us our name directly reflected the truth of God on our lives. For instance, my daughter's name means "Gracious Gift of God." She was a miracle baby, one day maybe I'll share that God story. She truly is a gift of God and I know that. Another name meant "Giver of Light" and I had just learned 20 minutes before that she was a missionary. Here's another amazing one, our drummer's name meant "Time Keeper." How about that, he's one of the best too.
Another interesting thought was our favorite names for Jesus. There are so many. Jehovah-Jireh has been one of my favorites and definitely not because of the old Choral song in the '80s. Jehovah Rapha was another. God is definitely our healer. Prince of Peace held special meaning for our rhythm guitarist. There's also Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, Lord, Creator, Son of God, Only Begotten Son, Beloved Son, Head of the Church, King of Kings, Mighty God, Counselor, True Vine, Dayspring, Lion of Judah (that old chorus I love, however), Bright and Morning Star, The Truth, The Life, The Way, Light of the World, and many many more.
On my Christmas tree is Adornaments. They are probably about 15 years old. Each is a symbol of the name of Jesus. A candle, A door, a lion, etc. I remember talking about them with my daughter when she was little. It was really important to me that she remembers why we celebrated Christmas. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the shopping and lights and decorations.
Isaiah 9:6. 6 For a child is born to us, A son is given to us, And the government Is upon His shoulder; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
