Many of you may recognize this banner from our church or maybe from some other place. It was in our sanctuary for many years and is now in another room:  The many names of God!  And this is just some of His names.  I have a dear prayer partner who often refers to the Jehovah names of God.  Jehovah Jirah (provider) and Jehovah Rapha (healer) are a couple of those names and there are more.  Many people have done studies and teachings on this topic, and I think it is helpful in learning more about and drawing closer to this Amazing God we serve. 

From the Journal . . . . July 1994

The Jehovah’s Witnesses had been to see me and they doubted my faith because I didn’t refer to You once as Jehovah. I thought about that later and wondered if You care what I call you.

Lord, a name is sort of confining.  I think of the foreign god, Baal.  Baal was his name and that is what he was called.  Jehovah or Yahweh is Your name and that is what You were called, but Lord, You are the Most High, Almighty God.  A name can’t contain You.  Lord.  That’s Your name to me.  It’s Your title and it describes our relationship.  Sometimes when I’m sad I say, “Lord.”  When I’m happy I am more apt to say, “Jesus” or “God.”  Oh Lord, do You have something to say to me?

And I Believe God Said:

Read the Word.  My Word to you.  The Bible.

So I opened up my Bible to where I had recently been reading in John 16.   Jesus was speaking and I picked up at verse 23.

John 16:23-27 ²³ At that time you won’t need to ask Me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and He will grant your request because you use My name. ²⁴ You haven’t done this before. Ask, using My name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.  ²⁵ “I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father. ²⁶ Then you will ask in My name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love Me and believe that I came from God.

I paraphrased it like this:

:23 My Father will give you anything you ask in my name.

:25 It seems clear that it’s okay not to understand clearly.  Some time we will.

:27 Jesus is the key to obtaining God’s love. 

Further down I read. . .

John 17:11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.

My paraphrase:  

He said, “Protect them by Your name, The name You gave Me.” 

Well, two things seem clear.  Jesus is the key to God, and Jesus is not to be considered apart from God. 

John 17:6-8.⁶ “I have revealed You to the ones You gave Me from this world. They were always Yours. You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything I have is a gift from You, ⁸ for I have passed on to them the message You gave Me. They accepted it and know that I came from You, and they believe You sent Me.

And I Believe God Said:

The Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t consider Us as the same.  To them We are united but separate.  They don’t worship Jesus as God, so most won’t worship Jesus.  They have the need for it to make sense.  You are growing in faith by not waiting for understanding to precede belief.  My child, be tenacious.  I am pleased when your faith isn’t afraid to admit to your own lack of understanding.

John 14:9-10  ⁹ Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father! So why are you asking Me to show Him to you? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak are not My own, but My Father who lives in Me does His work through Me.

John 10:28-30 ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, ²⁹ for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. ³⁰ The Father and I are one.”

Even today this is still very reassuring.  I tend to overthink, and it usually ends in confusion and not in understanding.  Faith is a decision and act of the will. I believe what He says because I believe He knows.